Japanese sentence

Dochi ga ii ka yoku wakaranai - I don't know which one will be better



Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

Xmas in Japan

Christmas in Japan is no such thing. The closest thing the Japanese have to X-mas is their tradition of eating X-mas cake. Do they believe also in a Sandy Claus? Just about as much as people in the US believe in him.

Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

A so ne? A sayo^ desu ka.

A so ne? - Is that so? ( but insinuating to one's self with the ne)

A so^ desu ka? Is that right?

sayo^ = so^

so that

A sayo^ de gozaimasu ka can be used instead of A so^ desu ka when wanting to talk in ultra polite language.

To desu ka - used with base II of a verb as in

ikiyo^to^ desu ka? You are going?

Hakata dialect.


Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

A Snack in Japan

When I hear the word, "snack", I think of things you can eat, or snack on. In Japan the word snack has an altogether different meaning. If you were to say, "snack" to a Japanese person, they would think you were talking about the local bar, where you have a chance to get to know everyone's names. In Japan,  a snack, or スナック  is a night club, or a bar. It is not a Dorito, or a Frito, peanuts or popcorn. A snack bar is a place where you can maintain a personal tab, so you can drink now, and pay later. You can even buy your own personal bottle of whiskey or brandy (although at a much heftier price than buying it yourself), keep it at the bar, and drink from it everytime you go to the bar. Once you buy your bottle though, you are as good as in the club.

Snack - スナック - night club or bar in Japan

Japanese grammar - Japanese Intensifiers

Intesifiers in Japanese
Japanese intensifiers


Put a Japanese verb into its extensor form, Base II, then add + any of these to make the verb easy or hard to perform:


1. yasui – easy; simple
2. tsurai – hard to deal with, handle; hardship; difficult.
3. nikui – difficult;hard


1a. add yasui to yaru
やりやすい – yariyasui  - easy to play, do


1b. add yasui to suru
しやすい – shiyasui - easy to do


1c. add yasui to taberu
食べやすい - tabeyasui – easy to eat


1d. add yasui to noru
乗りやすい - noriyasui– easy to ride


2a. add tsurai to suru
しづらい - hard to do

2b. add tsurai to yaru
やりづらい - hard to play, do

3a. add nikui to hiku
引きにくい – hikinikui - hard to play, or pull

3b. add nikui to hanasu
 話しにくい– hanashinikui - hard to speak

3c. add nikui to miru
見にくい– Minikui - hard to look at; ugly


* tsu becomes dzu or zu when compounded
or しづらい not しつらい.
dzu not tsu after the shi in shidzurai (shizurai). Yarizurai – hard to do, shitsurai or shizurai – hard to do*

Japanese grammar tame ni additional uses

Tame ni can also be used in past tense to mean because of something; for example

byo^ki ni natta tame - because he got sick etc otherwise I always considered tame ni more to mean for the sake of; for example

gakko no tame ni - for the school's sake

okaasan no tame - for mom

Its dangerous - Abunai

abunai
abunai da
abunai desu

abuno^gozaru
abuno^gozaimasu
o abuno^gozaimasu


bonus sentence - ancient Japanese grammar
base I + zaru bekarazu
iku in base I = ika
ika +zaru bekarazu
ikazaru bekarazu! - must go!



Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki