The expressions used to form an opinion or supposition about (something) on the basis of incomplete information – conjectures are really numerous and commonly used in Japanese and are really problematic for language learners. In this post, I will explain you nuances they have. Believe it or not, but once you know them, they become… Continue reading そう、だろう、らしい and よう
Category: Non classé
ないで vs なくて
Almost every Japanese student sooner or later stumbles upon a certain problem – the existence of two negative forms of て. This caused many headaches in the past, but with this (unlike before) Brief article I will try to explain where it’s better to use one or other. So let’s start, with conjugations, so we… Continue reading ないで vs なくて
The passive
The mystery of passive form, it’s uses, history and what it has in common with potential form explained. ` The passive form is one of the conjugations we learn first and causes us many troubles since it is quite different from the one used in English. Therefore I wanted to introduce it (briefly) to make… Continue reading The passive
Common Slang
Contracted forms used in casual Japanese. When Japanese learners start reading or watching shows, they start to encouter numerous expressions like とこ、こりゃ、とる、てんの that do not appear in their dictionary or in textbooks and the reading or watching becomes quite discouraing. So I thought that it would be really useful if there were a list of… Continue reading Common Slang
ている, what is it all about
And what 食べてんの and 食べとる mean. Hey and Good luck on JLPT everybody! And if you are after, then this might be a fun read to get read of stress. Have you been confused by all the ている functions? Well then, you are not alone! And this short article will be perfect for you, explaining… Continue reading ている, what is it all about
の and こと
differences between の and こと and what is this nominaliser THING all about? and also what XVI century has in common with のだ。 Have you ever wondered what is the difference between の and こと? Did you read or heard them being called nominalizers and you didn’t really get it? Or are you curious about… Continue reading の and こと
聞こえる 見える 見られる and 聞ける
What are differences and when to use them? 見[み]える、 聞[き]こえる and 見[み]られる cause a lot of confusion for Japanese learners, so much that many are left not understanding the uses for years. In this post, I wanted to show the uses of those verbs and their brief history. A long, long time ago, before what… Continue reading 聞こえる 見える 見られる and 聞ける
History of だ
And what it has in common with じゃない。 If we want to understand how the だ came to be, we have to back in time to the auxiliary verb にあり which came to be from particle に expressing localization and あり (modern ある) indicating existence. Eventually, にあり was then shortened to なり. And for example… Continue reading History of だ