Learning Japanese - Useful resources

[Mephisto]

wa -> topic marker

ga -> subject marker

ga -> emphasis on thing preceding ga

[crunchytaco]

How do you interpret me asking you this?

Kanojo wa imasu ka? 

 

vs

 

Kanojo ga imasu ka?

[Mephisto]

"Is your girlfriend in?"

 

"Do you have a girlfriend?" 

[crunchytaco]

"Is your girlfriend in?"

 

"Do you have a girlfriend?" 

[Mephisto]

It's definitely true that it could be, because in simplistic sentences there is no real distinction between the topic and the subject. 

 

彼女はいますか？ -> have [subject] (in reference to people) or -> is in? 

彼女がいますか？ -> have [subject] (in reference to people)  

 

君は彼女がいますか？ -> have [subject] (in reference to people)

 

This is the standard way of phrasing it. (君は is implied in the earlier phrase too, as you probably noticed) 

 

君は彼女はいますか？ This is wrong. In general, you want to avoid having は twice in the same clause, although people will generally still be able to understand you. It's just weird. 

 

As for when you would use は twice in a sentence? For contrasting two subjects / topics. It's helpful to note that には and stuff are a thing within themselves 

 

私は彼女がいませんけど、遊星はいるだと思う。　[topic 1] does not have [subject], but I think that [topic 2] has [implied subject] 

 

 

Have to go do some stuff, although there's some more stuff to talk about on this topic probably. There aren't a lot of hard solid rules regarding が and は since it's language, but the good guidelines to follow are :

 

ga -> specifically marks something 

wa -> marks a topic

ga -> marks a subject 

 

It actually doesn't take particularly long to pick up as long as you are reading things in japanese, but learning how they work textbook style can be a little frustrating. 

[Nagisa_Fawkes]

About two weeks ago, I finished the RTK book, and just today, I finished Tae Kim's grammar guide. Now, what I want to do, I to get me some vocabulary, which I lack. So I want to ask if there's any website out there with vocabulary mnemonics, since I just can't make them on my own. For RTK I had to use Koohii stories, but still proved effective.

[theboxcarracer]

I've started trying to learn Japanese, too. I found this for learning how to pronounce the hiragana characters, and I'm starting to get the hang of it. I am wanting to start kicking my learning into a higher gear, soon,though.

[crunchytaco]

いる＋ある usage

 

I have this fill in the blank assignment, I need to use either/or to complete the sentence. Then I translate it. This sentence seems like I could fill in either verb though, depending how I translate it into English.

 

Here's the given incomplete sentence: Nihongo no kurasu wa maishuu getsuyoubi to suiyoubi ni.

 

I translated into English as "I have Japanese class every Monday and Wednesday" and I used the verb form imasu because of the animate thing, "I have."

The book's answer however was "My Japanese class is every Monday and Wednesday," and it used arimasu to describe the inanimate, "class."

 

Was I completely wrong in the first sentence?

[Mephisto]

I don't know what you mean by "animate thing, 'I have'".

 

An animate object is like something that is alive, to say 月曜日と水曜日にいます is to say that [something alive] is present on mondays and wednesdays.

（私は毎週月曜日と水曜日が日本語のクラスにいます） or something. 

[Down]

いる＋ある usage

 

I have this fill in the blank assignment, I need to use either/or to complete the sentence. Then I translate it. This sentence seems like I could fill in either verb though, depending how I translate it into English.

 

Here's the given incomplete sentence: Nihongo no kurasu wa maishuu getsuyoubi to suiyoubi ni.

 

I translated into English as "I have Japanese class every Monday and Wednesday" and I used the verb form imasu because of the animate thing, "I have."

The book's answer however was "My Japanese class is every Monday and Wednesday," and it used arimasu to describe the inanimate, "class."

 

Was I completely wrong in the first sentence?

[Nagisa_Fawkes]

私は毎週月曜日と水曜日に日本語のクラスがあるます

[Down]

 

I could be terribly wrong here, given I'm a beginner at this and you all know more than me, but isn't the "Masu" form of "ある" " あります"?

[crunchytaco]

Typo

 

How dare you give misinformation to people learning Japanese.

 

Anyway, thanks for the help you two . I also looked back in the chapter and there were some information I overlooked that matched up with what you guys explained. Sorta. It has a slightly different idea of what's alive and what not, or maybe I'm just interpreting it different once again. 

[Nagisa_Fawkes]

I just found out that 青 can not only be used for "blue", but also for "green".

Why would they do that if we already have 緑 for "green"?

[Down]

I just found out that 青 can not only be used for "blue", but also for "green".

Why would they do that if we already have 緑 for "green"?

[Mephisto]

It's just a thing, not entirely sure how to describe why. Will mostly see this in older settings. 

[Nagisa_Fawkes]

Do any of you know good sites to read raw manga scans? Besides nyaa, I can't find what I want on nyaa.

[Funnerific]

It's killing me. I tried googling both the English and Japanese internet for it, but found no answer, only that it's some manga title. It's not on jisho either.

 

 

What does いいんちょ mean?

[Zakamutt]

What springs to mind right away is a more colloquial way of saying いいんちょう (cf. おはよう vs おはよ etc)

[Mephisto]

It's the president of something, the kanji is 委員長 

[Heizei_koukousei]

If you ever get frustrated while you're learning Japanese and need something to brighten your day with a few laughs, watch Namasensei's videos.

Its entertaining and educational

[Nagisa_Fawkes]

Some japanese words are quite intriguing, but maybe that's just me.

For instance 正月, even though it uses the character for "month" (and I checked that it also can mean January), the main meaning it holds it that of "New Year". I find that quite curious.

[zoom909]

Some japanese words are quite intriguing, but maybe that's just me.

For instance 正月, even though it uses the character for "month" (and I checked that it also can mean January), the main meaning it holds it that of "New Year". I find that quite curious.

 

It doesn't really "mean" January, more like, it falls on January.  See, Japan didn't always use our Gregorian calendar.

Shougatsu was the first month of the year in old Japan.  It coincided with the Chinese New Year (no surprise there).  In modern Japan, they changed to celebrating our New Year's Day (on January 1st).  But they still call it Shougatsu.

Well, anyway, that's why 正月 means New Year's

[John117]

Adding my "John 117's guide on learning Japanese for playing Eroge and Galge"

 

link = https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/6716-john117%E2%80%99s-guide-on-learning-japanese-for-playing-eroge-and-galge/

 

It got lots of tips and learning tactics on Japanese. The guide use native Japanese resources to learn Japanese and serious self learning. Please do visit the topic and if you have any questions on Japanese learning just comment over there, maybe I can be of help.

[Nagisa_Fawkes]

I've just finished all of the N4 level vocabulary. Is there any simple VN out there I could read just with N4? Or should I go for N3 now?