I would read this a to finish completely (maybe to do something by accident).
I have always understood てしまう to be close in meaning to the way english uses “totally” or “completely”.
as in:
I totally dropped my phone in the toilet.
I totally tripped trying to walk over here.
I completely forgot we had a test today.
etc.
These uses have all of those connotations: completed action, unfortunate, accident.
ちゃう can also be used to express accusation, disappointment.
In this context, I think the sentence can be translated as “WTF, are you
going to sleep without brushing your teeth?” like “what’s wrong with you” sorta feeling to it.
Hello grammar thread! First time poster here.
I’m confused by the use of は here after the time. Shouldn’t it be に? This is in Japanese For Busy People, so I doubt they’re wrong but could someone explain why, please?
は marks the topic, what the rest of the sentence is about. You can think of it as picking a specific item out of the “universe of discourse” that exists between you and the person you are talking to.
so:
a: when shall we meet?
b: three oclock tomorrow (topic) how is that?
a: lets do that way.
は is highlighting 3pm as the topic and then asking how the person feels about it.
(this is where you should not take my advice) I think b could have also said:
３じにはどうですか
but that is a well written book so you can prob take their examples as fairly natural.
Is that a ち after プレセント? Did you mean を? Also, take care not to let your い look like a り. Er, a リ.
Eek, you’re right, it should be を. I need to focus more; my study today has been sloppy and distracted. But I always write in pencil so it’s been corrected now!
And yeah, I actually find い one of the hardest characters to write because it’s so simple. It always looks bad to me.
Right, just wasn’t sure if a time could be the topic. Thanks for explaining. 
The first stroke has a hook at the end, and keep the second stroke short.
You can chuck は in all kinds of places that you might not typically expect based on how it’s taught. Especially if it’s the contrastive は.
悪くはない
It’s not bad… (implied: but it’s not good either)
Can someone explain the difference in meaning/usage between「そして」and 「それに」?
And (pretty please) maybe give an example of each?
そして is like “and then”
それに is like “in addition”
そして shows a progression from one thing to another. It comes from a bit of a contraction of そうして, そう + する in て form. You can still use そうして if you want. (Exception: そして cannot replace そうして when そうして has the meaning of “by doing that” rather than “and then”)
Maybe reviewing the “and” meaning of the particle に will help with understanding それに. You are adding something to それ.
昼は泳いで、そして夕方はさんぽした。
During the day I swam, and then at night I took a walk.
東京は人口が多いし、それに物価が高い。
Tokyo is really populous, and in addition to that the prices are high.
I think you could possibly use それに in the first sentence, but the sense of progression changes to the sense of addition, but I am less confident in being able to swap them than I am in the main meanings I gave above. I don’t think it makes sense to interchange them in the second sentence.
assuming this should be さんぽ。
Thank you
うちの会社では、毎年恒例のクリスマス会があるんだよ。
うちの会社では、毎年恒例 _ クリスマス会があるんだよ。
What’s the difference between adding “no” and omitting it in this sentence? Is it even grammatical to omit “no”?
One option is that this is just colloquial (spoken) Japanese and thus lax on particle usage and omission. The あるんだよ at the end makes it clear that this is casual, but I’m not convinced this is the reason for having the の or not.
From the perspective of whether this is grammatical generally, my gut says that the second one is technically possible, but it would change how I would imagine the whole thing. Like, in one case it’d be “there’s a customary Christmas party” and in the other it would be like “there’s The Customary Christmas Party”. Proper nouns often have the constituent parts all jammed together, and that’s what it feels like to me.
We take the 日本語能力試験 and not the 日本語の能力の試験.
The “Japanese Language Proficiency Test,” and not “a proficiency test of Japanese.”
But anyway, that’s just how it reads to me.
That doesn’t mean it’s actually natural in that form, I can’t vouch for that.
Do you have context to offer? Did you see one and not the other and wonder why?
Quick question that’s come up while making a real-life request. Tried searching and couldn’t find an answer. I’m amazed I don’t actually know the right way to say this.
How do I format a question of “Could you do ____ or ____ for me?” Like, do I only use くれませんか once at the very end? If so, how do I format the first verb? The situation is that I’m messaging someone at my board of education to ask if they can either send me someone’s contact info or relay my request directly (asking to have a projector ready for eikaiwa tonight). I could easily do it in two sentences, but I feel like there has to be a smooth way to communicate it in one. (Though who knows; maybe there isn’t, since natural phrasing in English and Japanese so rarely lines up.)
There are a few options.
Let’s imagine that the two verbs are 送る and 伝える, like you mentioned.
とか
私に送るとか、あの人に直接に伝えるとかしてもらえますか。
なり、なり
私に送るなり、あの人に直接に伝えるなりしてもらえますか。
These do have different nuances, of course. I think なり sounds more stiff and forceful.
You may need to word things slightly differently depending on exactly what you need.
Another common grammar point used for listing verbs, たり、たり, is probably not acceptable, because it means to do several things (and possibly more) rather than just offering choices.
Huuuuge thank you. とか～とかしてもらう（くれる・いただける・など) is exactly what I was looking for, but it’s not a construction I would have thought of myself. Filing away into my notes.
Saw this question above and wanted to pay one forward for being helped earlier. Yes, this is a grammar point that comes up in N3 materials. かける can be appended to stem forms to imply the speaker is either in the middle of, or has just begun, doing something. You also sometimes see this nominalized as かけ, and used as a modifier.
Ex. 読みかけの本 (a book I’m in the middle of reading, and also apparently the name of a K-pop single). 「読みかけの本が多い。」「読みかけの本がたまっています。」“I’m in the middle of a lot of books right now.” “I have too many unfinished books.” (lit. They’re piling up.)
治りかけ - Is a pretty standard phrase for “getting better/recovering from.” I’ve heard and used this as a response to people asking if you’re over a sickness. Ex. 風邪の治りかけの食事 - Meals to eat while recovering from a cold.「治りかけです。」“I’m recovering/getting better.”
食べかけの～ - A ～ I’m still eating, sometimes used to refer to food put into the refrigerator to finish later. Or for, like, “My dog took my melon pan while I was in the middle of eating it” or something.
It’s not a horribly common construction, but you’ll encounter it.
Less frequently, you’ll see it kept in verb form and used as a modifier before 時, which then has a much stronger connotation of “when I’d just …” The classic example for that is 「お風呂に入りかけたときに電話が鳴った。」“Just when I’d gotten into the bath, the phone rang.”
Edit – When I say “in the middle of,” I don’t mean exactly in the middle of, and there are other constructions that have that connotation. It’s just that the action is, at this point, unfinished. If anything, the implication is more that the speaker isn’t very far into whatever it is they’re doing.
It’s the WK example sentence for the vocab 恒例 : 「うちの会社では、毎年恒例のクリスマス会があるんだよ」, translated as: “It is an established practice at my company to have a Christmas party every year” and I wondered if omitting that の would change the meaning.
I thought about it becoming “the Christmas party” instead of “a Christmas party” but I wasn’t sure if you could just keep on adding nouns together without の.
As it turns out it wouldn’t become “the Christmas party” but instead “The Christmas Party”. I hadn’t thought about 日本語能力試験. That’s a great example. Thanks!
Short question regarding 両日 (both days), in the wanikani example sentences I’ve seen it paired up with とも, to form 両日とも.
Example sentences are:
両日とも、会ぎが入っています。I’ll be in a meeting both days.
とうふまつりは、両日ともせい天にめぐまれた。The tofu festival had good weather for both days.
Are the particles と and も always used with this word? I suspect this is indeed the case, due to the inherent meaning of the word, i.e. you have day 1 AND (と) ALSO (も) day 2.
Can someone confirm my hunch or explain to me if I’m completely wrong? Thanks in advance ^^
