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日語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread2 質問

Name: Anon 2008-03-22 1:37

If you have a question about the language, ask it and fellow 4channers might see it and answer it for you.

Japanese - Ask questions thread
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1174719097/l50

Name: Anonymous 2008-06-29 6:53

>>224
Strictly speaking, 年上 and 年下 implies the gap is greater than one year or they are/were in different years at grade school (Skipping/failing a grade is quite rare in Japan). So, in written language, I would say:

AさんはBさんより3ヶ月若いです

or use a different wording like:

Aさんの誕生日はBさんより3ヶ月早いです or 遅いです
when A is older or younger, respectively.

That said, 年上 and 年下 are loosely used especially in spoken language. So it's not very unusual to say:

AさんはBさんより3ヶ月だけ年下です
AさんはBさんより3ヶ月年上です.

だけ ("merely" in English) is placed to emphasize that the gap is less than one year. I omitted the word in the second sentence because using だけ can be impolite when you're referring to an elder person depending on the context. Also, 年上/年下 may sound funny/humorous when the gap is measured by weeks/days/hours/seconds. So a Japanese twin may make a joke like "私は弟より1時間年上です."

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