The quick or short Language Questions Thread (not grammar)

I think that would be a different usage of 結構 though. So that’s why it might not ring a bell for mariodesu.

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This isn’t that strange. I notice a lot of speakers of European language make mistakes in English by using “have” or “make” in unnatural ways, because in their language that’s the verb for doing a particular thing, but it’s different in English. Sometimes the languages just don’t line up completely.

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Italian is a mix, we say ‘I practice bodybuilding’ for example, but we also say ‘I play football’ and also ‘I make/do sport’ (literal translation) so I’m not sure how in japanese I should translate these instances
and
If there is a general rule I should follow or it can change from case to case, just as in Italian
Stop me if this is a concept I shouldn’t be worrying about at my level

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Yes sports are with shimasu in japanese.

Generally a good idea before using a noun + verb comibnation is to search for it and see if it is a thing. It’s called “collocation”. Some combinations feel wierd from a italian point of view but the more you see it used the more natural it will feel.

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する and やる are pretty versatile. They can be used for many, many things that might have different verbs in English.

Another pair that trips people up I think is シャワーを浴びる (where 浴びる is specifically a verb for having something pour over you), and so it’s not とる (American English uses “take” a shower) or する (but I think some people do say this in slangy ways).

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I’m actually having the impression that Japanese is way more similar to Italian, than to english :joy:

Ok, I guess in this case I just need practice and to find them in the wild to get a feeling on it right?

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Good day people,
Question

Why does the に particle mark the performer of the action instead of the receiver as normal, in the passive sentences with the helper verb れる?

I got bit by a dog.

Why does the dog takes the に ?

It actually sounds very natural and right to me, I’d just like to understand the logic behind it

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The に particle works in both directions actually. It’s either “to/for something/someone” or “from something/someone”. So in passive voice it’s “from something/someone”. It’s just that in English it’s “by” as in “bitten by the dog” which coincides with the tool/means usage of で which in English translates to “by” as in “by train” (電車で) if one were to translate word for word.

To avoid stringing に and confusing the reader/listener, から can also be used in general, but not sure if it’s also applicable to passive voice.

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Grammar dictionary says that に indicates the speaker’s psychological closeness to the human source, whereas から does not, therefore に is ungrammatical if the source is, say, an impersonal institution to which one can hardly feel close to, which it illustrates with the sentence ヒルさんは文部書(から/)奨学金をもらいました. It does not otherwise explicitly require or preclude the use of either in other contexts.

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Thanks for the explanation, I didn’t think it was this easy, even tho I’m lost on your last part about から, maybe I still haven’t studied the concept you’re referring to :thinking: no need to provide an explanation if it’s something I have to study yet :ok_hand:

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It’s something you will stumble over pretty soon. から is a particle generally meaning “from”.
I think in Genki you learn it first when telling a time interval. (“From 5 to 6 o’clock” as an example)

To maybe make it clearer. This particle can be/needs to be used instead of に in some cases (see Belthazars example sentence)

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Clear :ok_hand:

I take the opportunity to ask a couple question that came to my mind while studying genki lesson 4

  1. Which is the etymology of the word おまえ (you)? Is it made of the honorific お + まえ (in front of) to say something like ‘honorable you in front of me’? This word today is considered rude, right? I remember reading somewhere (but could easily remember wrong) that once in the past these personal pronouns where honorable and formal and they became rude with time, is this true?

  2. On the genki book - lesson 4, I found the word 一人で that is presented as ‘alone’. What is the で here? Is it the で particle as to say ‘alone in that place’?

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Exactly, though without the second person pronoun - more like “the honorable (person) who is in front of me”.

Yeah, in the scale of politeness for second-person pronouns, it’s definitely towards the less-polite end, but keep in mind that in general, Japanese tends to avoid second-person pronouns altogether.

I’d say it’s closest to the “by means of” で. I did it by means of one person, sort of thing.

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Everything is clear except of this, ‘by means of’ is an english expression that I never fully comprehended, would you explain it in another way if possible?

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How did you come to the party?
I came by car. くるまできた
I came by train. でんしゃできた
I came by myself. ひとりできた

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That almost sounds like you used yourself as a means of transportation :smile:

Honestly, I think “by means of” is a bit of a contrived way to approach the use of で here, though I’m not sure what a better way would be. I’ve always just accepted it as “you use で here”.

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で has a lot of uses. I think this definition from weblio is the most relevant:

動作作用行われる状態を表す。「みんなで研究する」「笑顔であいさつする」

盗人なる心—、否(え)、主、かく口きよくな言ひそ」〈今昔二八三一

which roughly translates to “expresses the circumstances an action happens in”

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Aye, precisely my thinking. :stuck_out_tongue:

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honestly, it just feels like the て form of だ to me but I’m not sure how correct that is

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