Hey guys, I'm just want to see if this sentence makes any sense, I'm trying to say that I was the last guy able to buy cake, the catch is I have to start the sentence with "私まで", so, how is it?
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Anonymous2011-03-30 1:00
>>927
＞”I have to start the sentence with "私まで"
Why? In my experience, that construction sounds a little awkward for the kind of sentence you're looking for. I would say:
（私は）最後のケーキを買えた人でした。
”I was the last guy able to buy cake”
The only way I can think to compose that sentence is:
私までケーキを買うことが出来ました。（買う可能性がありました）
Up until me, it was possible to buy cake.
It was the teacher's condition. We were doing a particle exam and we all bombed. And thanks!
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Anonymous2011-03-30 9:42
>>928
God damn that sounds so stiff... Why do teachers do that?
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Anonymous2011-03-30 17:13
One problem I've been running into while studying vocabulary is I'm practicing, trying to use the words I've learned but then I end up using something that isn't used colloquially, only in text.
How the hell do I find out if something is colloquially used besides being told I'm incorrect?
At what point is it acceptable to assume I'll never be about to understand spoken Japanese? I have done over 5,000 Japanese sentences as per the AJATT method, gave that up for vocab in isolation and recently started a Anki deck where I am required to hear the word and translate. You'd think I'd be better at it by now. Granted there are periods of true clarity as though it were my first tongue but those are extremely few and far between.
What pray tell should I look for upon Googling "L-R"? By the by, I've cached roughly 140 hours in listening. Yes, I realize that isn't enough but frankly it's disheartening.
Nevermind about the "L-R" business, a bit of Google-fu eventually paid off. I've heard of this method but I never put much stock in it. While I'm not opposed to trying it, at a cursory glance it doesn't seem like the sort of magic bullet people make it out to be. Not that I am looking for one mind you, I'm just skeptical.
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Anonymous2011-03-30 20:43
>>937
There's a lot of threads out there about it, just google around a bit more. I've just started with it for Spanish, so I can't comment, but there's quite a few people who have used it (albeit a little bit modified to fit their tastes) with good results. Some people have said that when they did it at the intermediate level it really helped with aural comprehension.
And while the creator of it says it works best when done for a shit ton of hours at a time, some others have said they've have good success with just 2 or 3 hours a day when at the intermediate level, but most everyone agrees that when starting as a beginner you need to do like 5 hours a day and crazy shit
Can someone help me out with understanding the usage of 出せる? My Googling has taught me that it's the potential form and is apparently a contraction of "dasu koto ga dekimasu". So from my understanding, 出せる is like saying "to be able to show", right?
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Anonymous2011-03-31 10:42
>出せる is like saying "to be able to show"
That is the definition of the potential form, yes, 出せる is being able to do 出す. But it has many more meanings than simply "to show". Hopefully this isn't the first time you've run into potentials or how to conjugate; and if it is: stop, go back, and study.
「やっと宿題を終わらせたため、明朝の提出期限までに出せます」
”I finally finished my homework so I'll be able to turn it in tomorrow"
「大震災のせいでそのテレビ局は新たな広告を出せないみたいです」
"It looks like that TV station won't be able to run their new ad because of the earthquake"
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Anonymous2011-03-31 22:40
大学に何を持ってきますか。
What the hell is this asking? 'What did you carry in the university?'? I don't get it.
Even in English, "What did you carry in the university" is a very awkward sentence. "What did you carry 'to' [or bring to] the university" flows better with the actual intention behind the sentence.
"What do you bring [or will you bring] to the university?" is the actual meaning here.
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Anonymous2011-03-31 23:22
>>943
Yeah, I knew that but it slipped my mind when typing and I didn't bother correcting it.
Thanks.
I guess the question just sounded weird to me, like something you normally wouldn't ask someone. It's like asking "What do you take with you when you go jogging?".
There's something I'm curious about. I'm not studying Japanese, but I've watched some noticed in Japanese videos/movies/song lyrics that whenever someone says something like "help", "look", "don't do this", the verb ends in the vowel 'e'.
Does ending the verb with 'e' make it a command/imperative? Or something like that.
>955
It's called a dakuten.
It's a voicing marker. For characters that start with a plosive consonant, the consonant becomes voiced, and for everything else, a B is added. That's the gist. Rule of thumb: if there's a "soft" version of the consonant, that's usually what it turns into.
So か ka becomes が ga, た ta becomes だ da, etc; へ he becomes べ be and ほ ho becomes ぼ bo.
There are some complications, though; for example ふ fu with a dakuten ぶ is not vu but bu. If you know what voiceless plosive consonants are you'll probably be able to see the regularities, but otherwise I think you're better off just memorising which become "soft" versions and which get a B instead.