Short Grammar Questions (Part 1)

I know から means “because”, but what does it mean it ends the sentence, but there’s nothing afterwards? Like Something-something から. Thanks.

Sometimes it’s just a sentence softener. There are a number of things that you can put at the end of a sentence so you’re not just bluntly declaring things.

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Another conjugation question; I read this passage from Imabi and it really shocked me:

  1. ドアを開あけると、コウモリが入はいってきた。
    When I opened the door, a bat came inside.

Never will you see 開けるら, and never will you see 開けたと. One way to explain this is that Japanese makes a distinction between foreground and background circumstances. When something happens/is so in the background, it usually or must take -RU/U. This means that for 4, the door opening is a pretext for the bat having entered the home. The door is presumably open when the bat enters, and so that clause takes -RU. The bat entering is at the foreground of the sentence and thus takes -TA. In 3, the action of having opened the door is at the foreground when you get to closing it back shut. Therefore, it takes -TA. These examples demonstrate a need to analyze these endings far more closely.

I know Japanese doesn’t have verb tense agreement, but this is first time I heard it explained in terms of background / foreground circumstances. All the strange tense vs aspect conjugation fluidness has kind of mystified me for a while.

So if I’m in a subordinate clause, I use the tense relative to that clause?

花火を見る時は楽しんだ
I enjoyed watching the fireworks.
I’d use the present and past tenses like that?

  • Now that I write it out in English I realize I’m basically doing the same thing with “watching” using the present progressive, maybe this is nothing new?

I guess I need to read more Imabi, because 4 seems wrong to me. I mean, would these be wrong?
ドアを開けてから、…
ドアをあけた時、…

To me using と somehow makes it seem like opening the door caused the bat to enter, when really it just allowed that to happen. But maybe I’m mixing up the several different conditionals.

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Describes some different usages of と as a clause connector. The one the imabi sentence is talking about is not interperated as a conditional. It is convered in the second and third sections of this text from:
https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/how-conditionals-work/

…と: Constant Results and Actual Conditions

春はるになる 桜さくらが(咲さく / 咲さきます)
Condition Constant Result
If it becomes spring, cherry blossoms will come out.

The first function is to express constant results . The conjugation is just to attach the plain (dictionary) form to と. When you use nouns and na-adjectives, you need to attach だ like 春だと. By constant results, we mean that it’s an unchanged fact, e.g. one plus one is always two. You can use this for natural phenomenons, habitual actions, programmed actions, etc.

雨あめが降ふる 涼すずしく(なる / なります)。
If [it] rains, [it] will get cool.
お腹なかが空すく パンを(食たべる / 食たべます)。
If [I] become hungry, [I] will eat bread.
Siriシリに話はなしかける 返へん事じを(する / します)。
If [I] talk to Siri, [she] will reply.
美び人じんだ (モテる / モテます)。
If [you] are a beautiful woman, [you] will be popular.

The second function is to express actual conditions . This might be rather close to “and then” or “when” in English. In this context, と is often used when you introduce something that happened in the past.

新幹線しんかんせんに乗のる 富士ふじ山さんが見みえ(た / ました)。
When [I] took the bullet train, Mt. Fuji was visible.
祭まつりに行いく ボブが(いた / いました)。
[I] went to the festival and then [I] found Bob (Lit. Bob was there).
質問しつもんする 先生せんせいはすぐに教おしえてくれ(た / ました)。
When [I] asked, the teacher taught [me] [it] right away.

This has another function which is to express sequential actions in the past . When you compare the usages between と and the te-form (sequential actions), と is more suitable to describe other people than yourself while て can describe yourself. Note: these are not conditional.

魚さかなを 買かって 、寿司すしを(作つくった / 作つくりました)。
[I] bought fish and made Sushi.
魚さかなを 買かうと 、寿司すしを(作つくった / 作つくりました)。
=> Unnatural!
ボブは魚さかなを 買かって 、寿司すしを(作つくった / 作つくりました)。
=> Natural!
ボブは魚さかなを 買かうと 、寿司すしを(作つくった / 作つくりました)。
=> Natural!

I have a few questions about this sentence (part of a reading about public toilets across the world):

世界にはヨーロッパやアジアといった国々があるのではなく、「トイレ金とり国」と「トイレただ国」とがあるだけだと。

  1. Is といった from という? If so, why isn’t it という?
  2. What does the と at the very end of the sentence do?
  3. What does the whole sentence mean? My guess so far is “It’s not that there are countries (with public restrooms), it’s that there are countries with pay restrooms and countries with free restrooms.”
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I found another interesting aspect in DOJG:

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といった with a list of nouns implies that there are more items in the list that aren’t explicitly mentioned.

The と at the end is the quotative particle and implies some unspoken continuation with a verb that is usually paired with the quotative と. You can imagine several that make sense.

Your general understanding seems fine.

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日本に亡くなます
Would this translate into “to pass away in japan”
I am working on a project where this would be the title. The project talking about cremation and funerals in japan.
Maybe there is a better way to express that statement as a title.

Besides the incorrect conjugation 亡くなます I believe this would fit better: 日本で亡くなります。
I don’t think you can use に in that sense here. に used as in 公園に行く specifies the location that you’re going, where で specifies the location that something takes place 図書館で本を読む. I hope this makes sense why it would use で instead of に.

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Oh okay that makes sense. I’m still learning all the particles and verb conjugations
ありがとう😊

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に can also specify where something takes place. It kind of depends on the activity, or the kinds of activities that usually take place in that location. For example:

うちに住んでいる
図書館に宿題をする
公園に花見する
公園で運動する

Could you point me to any resources that explain this use of に?

I mean, I understand

from Genki teaching that you use に with this verb.

But from what I’ve learned I would have expected
図書館宿題をする

Yeah, に marks location-of-existence - which is to say, only for verbs like いる, ある, and 住む.

These two should both use で
図書館に宿題をする
公園に花見する

(Amusingly, the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar specifically uses 図書館で勉強する as example of a sentence where に absolutely cannot be used.)

に can also be used to indicate the surface on which an action takes place, which could be the source of your confusion. 紙に書いてください = please write on the paper.

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Hey guys, maybe you can help with a question I have?
I’m looking at the N3 grammar point of ほど.
Just looking at the amount of different uses it has made me a little dizzy, but I’ll stick to my main question for this post.
In one of Maggie-sensei’s examples, she writes:
そんなに怒るほどのことじゃない。
Yet in the example before that one, she didn’t use のこと. → 彼の怪我は心配するほどじゃない。
My question is this: when, using the grammar point ほど、do we also use のこと? When do we not use it? It doesn’t seem very clear to me.

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ほどの [こと] … ではない is a set grammar stucture that has a special meaning different from plain ほど. It is decribed in the article below.
So the simple answer to your question is no, you don’t always have to use it. It is two different grammar points.

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この中の80%は、ナイジェリアなどサハラ砂漠より南のアフリカと、インドなど南アジアの子どもでした。
Offered Translation:
Kids in Nigeria, Africa countries to the south of the Sahara, and south Asian countries like India accounted for 80% of the number.

My question is. what’s going on with that より? I thought I knew that grammar point pretty well, meaning something like “rather than” or “even more”. This usage has completely baffled me. Any tip would be appreciated

サハラ砂漠より南 = “more south than the Sahara Desert” or “south from the Sahara Desert”

I don’t think it really matters which literal interpretation you choose.

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Thank you!!

下に下りてきてください。

Please come down.

Isn’t 下に redundant in this sentence, since 下りる means “to descend”?