2009-03-05, 23:12 | Link #2082 | ||
A Priori Impossibility
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: California
Age: 33
|
Quote:
どの傘が田中さん(の)ですか is the full sentence. If you look at it this way, 傘 becomes the subject (therefore が) and "田中さん (possessive particle)" serves to describe the umbrella. This would be read similarly to "which umbrella is that which belongs to Tanaka-san?" You can "equate" が with English "is" in such a sentence, although they don't have the same semantic purpose (since particles are not formal verbs, and Japanese has its own verbs for existence). Quote:
There are other examples, such as "graduate from high school" being 高校を卒業する instead of "から” which is usually the translation for "from." Just goes to show you that the inherent understanding of grammar between cultures is very different. You need to break it down into individual sections: Kobayashi-san from just (subject particle), reply (second subject particle) not come. It makes little sense to us, but from a literal translation of the different parts of the sentence, it's possible to somewhat make out the overall meaning. が is often used for the second clause in a sentence that otherwise already denotes a formal subject. This is a bit different from English, though, since we would say "The only one that hasn't replied is Kobayashi-san" and thus have a few differences in grammar. |
||
2009-03-07, 00:03 | Link #2083 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
|
Oh thank you very much
About "は" and "が," I wonder if this crackpot theory of mine is correct: は can be used only once in a sentence while が does not have that restriction. Is it correct? Also, a silly question: Natsuki: read Nat su ki or Na つ ki? (the latter is what I usually read, somehow I really like the sound of "つ" ) As for "から:" I've seen this a lot on my flash cards. But well, I feel that its meaning varies a lot. Could you please help me with it? |
2009-03-07, 00:24 | Link #2084 | |||
進む道は武士道のみ
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Dying to get back to Japan (but currently near Chicago)
Age: 35
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
|||
2009-03-07, 00:53 | Link #2085 |
tl;dr
Join Date: Jan 2009
Age: 32
|
I like to think of its meaning as "because" as just being an extension of its meaning as "from." As in, this effect came from this cause, you know?
Also the "ts" is one consonant sound and can not be split up, which is why seriously learning Japanese while thinking in terms of Romaji is bad. The "ts" is only approximating (quite close, but still an approximation) in Roman letters a consonant sound that doesn't exactly exist in English. Same thing with "fu" and the entire ra line.
__________________
|
2009-03-07, 01:33 | Link #2086 | |
進む道は武士道のみ
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Dying to get back to Japan (but currently near Chicago)
Age: 35
|
Quote:
|
|
2009-03-07, 17:44 | Link #2090 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
|
Thank you guys alot
Quote:
|
|
2009-03-07, 20:15 | Link #2092 | |
tl;dr
Join Date: Jan 2009
Age: 32
|
Quote:
And while I don't recall the specific instance you're referring to so I wouldn't know if it's relevant in this case, don't forget fansubbers can make typos too. :P
__________________
|
|
2009-03-09, 07:14 | Link #2100 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Argentina
|
If you use しか the verb must be in negative form, on the other hand if you use だけ the verb goes in affirmative.
昨夜は三時間しか寝られませんでした Last night I couldn't sleep more than 3 hours. 昨夜は三時間だけ寝られました Last night I could only sleep for 3 hours. Last edited by soka; 2009-03-09 at 15:09. |
Tags |
hiragana |
Thread Tools | |
|
|