ah. i have one
how come "omoshiroi"
オモシロイ ----- 面白い having said funny ---- interesting

howd that happen when the same term is used?? DD:

thank you

@kaito
オモシロイ is written in Katakana, which is the alphabet in Japanese usually used for foreign words, but it can also be used for common interjections such as サヨナラ (Sayonara, goodbye)

面白い- is the Kanji (and dictionary) reading of the word おもしろい (omoshiroi)

Omoshiroi in Katakana and Kanji in essence have the same meaning which is 'interesting' or 'amusing', it just depends on the context in which it is used.

To take a guess, I think the オモシロイ written in Katakana is like an expression or interjection.
eg: Somebody tells you a dream they had, and you reply 'オモシロイ' in order to say, that's amusing or that's funny.

The 面白い in kanji would be treated more like an adjective.
eg: that dream is 面白い. or in Japanese その 夢 ( ゆめ ) が 面白い.

Good explanation Jibba. .clap.

Recently, a lot of Japanese are using common words written in Katakana as opposed to their "katai" (hard/stiff) Kanji equivalents. Also, remember that Kanji themselves are not uniquely Japanese - they are imported from China. So, writing the word in one of the two Japanese syllabaries, along with reading it the Japanese way (obviously) is kind of a way of "Japanasizing" the word completely. Of course, when writing a formal document, you'd never "Japanasize" a word in that way, as Kanji are the academic standard in Japan.

Mainly a question for Tenjou, but I'm confused to the meaning of the following sentences using passive form when changing the particles.

私がされたこと
私にされたこと

君がされたこと
君にされたこと

I kind of understand the meaning of されたこと, which is the passive form of する, so I think the meaning is Things done by 'subject'. 　

Thanks for your help!

i wanna ask how to translate 'too' in japanese??
for example 'this car is too expensive'?

I think the way you say "too..." is "...すぎます."
Too late is "遅すぎます."
Too big is "大きすぎます."
I thought "too expensive" was something like "高すぎます.", but google translate is giving me "too high." for that, so I'm not sure if I'm not quite right or if that's the literal translation...

320x200 wrote:I think the way you say "too..." is "...すぎます."
Too late is "遅すぎます."
Too big is "大きすぎます."
I thought "too expensive" was something like "高すぎます.", but google translate is giving me "too high." for that, so I'm not sure if I'm not quite right or if that's the literal translation...

You are very correct 320, and so is Google. 高い can mean either high (as in the opposite of low) or expensive. And the v. stem + すぎる is the correct way to describe "too (adj.)" as an adjectival verb.

As a side note, this form of "too" is not the same as the "too" indicating "(noun) as well", which is the function of the particle も。

This question just popped up in my mind and I thought I'd just post straight away.

With regards to the question on 'too' (すぎます), what would be the past tense of it?

For example, 'this car is too expensive' vs 'this car was too expensive'.

I haven't learned about it before, so my guess, judging from the posts by 320and tenjou, is この車は高すぎました. This would be the polite form, no?

Looking forward to being enlightened.

chiy102 wrote:This question just popped up in my mind and I thought I'd just post straight away.

With regards to the question on 'too' (すぎます), what would be the past tense of it?

For example, 'this car is too expensive' vs 'this car was too expensive'.

I haven't learned about it before, so my guess, judging from the posts by 320and tenjou, is この車は高すぎました. This would be the polite form, no?

Looking forward to being enlightened.

すぎる is the dictionary form of すぎます, which conjugates as a る verb, so yes, you're right; the polite past tense would be すぎました. The informal past tense would be すぎた.

I posted my class notes on how to use すぎる on page four
or click here https://www.scandal-heaven.com/t2555p60-nihongo-kyoushitsu
2nd last post.

Also still patiently waiting a response for my question .hail.

Jibba wrote:Mainly a question for Tenjou, but I'm confused to the meaning of the following sentences using passive form when changing the particles.

私がされたこと
私にされたこと

君がされたこと
君にされたこと

Sorry for the wait Jibba - haven't had full internet access at times here in Arizona.

The difference between your two sentences is simple:

に when used with passive indicates responsibility for the passive act. Therefore:
私にされたこと　ー＞Things done [to the subject] by me
君にされたこと　ー＞Things done by you [to me (assumed subject)]

When が is used, it becomes the subject marker just like in a normal active sentence. Therefore:
私がされたこと　ー＞[the] Things done to me (emphasis on subject "me")
君がされたこと　ー＞[the] Things done to you (emphasis on subject "you")
Notice how neither of these indicate who or what did the things - it simply emphasizes that things have been done.

To review, take a look at this sentence:

彼が殺されたことは、まだ親に認められていない。
The fact that he was killed is still not being accepted by his parents.

Hopefully this makes it clear in one go.

Thanks for your question!

I see. Thank you for the answer, thoseguiltyeyes.

@tenjou
.hail.
Thank you very much! I understand it perfectly now

.hail. thanks a lot jibba.. i understand it now...

ooh.. me too, i wanna follow up my question (//w//)

1.) when and where do i use ～ておく　and ～てある？
2.) and about the conditionals, do you always use ～たら for past conditionals? then, when do i know when to use ～なら　or ～ば？

ありがとうございます！！

@yurisaku ... I'm not as good as Tenjou-san but here is how I see it...

ておく　＆　てある are related to transitive verbs (verbs that need an actor).

These structures relate to each other, in that te oku indicates that you have done something in advance for some future convenience, and te aru then describes the state that results from the te oku action. Te aru implies that the state is a result of someone's intentional action, even though the agent is not clearly stated. It's not about who has done it, but that the action has been done (is how I think about it lol).

パーティをするので、ケーキを買っておきました。 Because I am throwing a party, I bought some cake (in advance).

ケーキを買ってあります。 The cake has been bought (implication: for some purpose).

Using たら： As the tense of the sentence itself is based on the tense of the last verb, there are some rules about that... but if you're talking about the conjugation of the たら　form itself, then yup, the first statement will always be in past tense.

But as for なら　and ば、 I barely know how to use it myself, so I can't explain it very well. ^^; Sorry!

But I have a question!

What is the difference between わからない　and 知らない？ They're interchangeable to an extent but not at the same time, it's always puzzling.

Thanks Tanya-san for your answer, I was also unsure how to use ておく ＆ てある.

@yurisaku
Funnily enough, today in school my Japanese teacher answered your question!

I took a photo of the whiteboard.

So basically with ~たら
-the action which you propose will take place, occurs AFTER the initial action.

So in the example うんてんしたら、じこをおこすでしょう. (If you drive, you may cause an accident)
The accident occurs after you start driving. Also たら suggests the action might happen, it's not certain that it will (unless you add an adverb such as ぜったい or きっと)

With ~なら
-the action occurs BEFORE the initial action.
So, うんてんするなら、れんしゅうがひつようです。(If you drive, practicing is a necessity)
In this case, you must practice before you start driving.

With ~ば,
I'm still a bit unsure, but I think this is always used in the present tense to indicate something that will happen in the future. eg from above: うんてんすれば、色々な所に行けます (If I/you drive, we can go to various places)
So that will occur in the future

With ~と
This is the same as たら but the proposed action WILL happen. So from above, うんてんすると、じこがおこります。(If you drive, you WILL cause an accident). It is almost always used in present tense, my teacher said it is not really used in past tense.

Hope that partly answers your question,

it was a quite hard one, I'm not too sure I understand it completely myself still.

uwaa!! this is helpful enough. i've been having too much problems with conditionals too D: thank you senseis!! woo :D

Is this the correct way to write "but I'm not good yet." ?

でもまだ上手じゃありません。

Google translate never translates "じゃありません。" properly for me so it makes me wonder if I'm my spelling is wrong...

320, that is indeed a correct way of describing lack of skill at something. You can also say まだ上手ではありません。Google might have a better time translating that.

Thanks for your question! .balloon.

Cool, thanks! :)

これは、おそらくこのスレッドで私の最初の投稿です

Hello everyone, I'm willing to join these mind filling lessons I won't start from scratch but may I suggest that we add romaji for people who still do not understand other Japanese characters

それは単なる提案です

So if you don't like it it's fine with me and if you do...

ありがとうございます！

On twitter the girls often tweet this after a show, but I can't quite work out what it means.

みんなほんまにありがとう！
Min'na honma ni arigatō!

Thanks everyone for... ?

320, they're simply saying "Thank you so much everyone!" - you're probably being thrown off by the ほんま, which is Kansai-ben for 本当.

Oooooh. Yeah, I couldn't figure out what ほんま was. :) Thanks!