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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Tyr Senior Member Sweden Joined 5780 days ago 316 posts - 384 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 1 of 4 18 November 2013 at 7:40am | IP Logged |
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I'm studying for the N3 and in reviewing everything a few questions have come to mind:
1: When would you use の in the requesting an explanation form as opposed to the standard question particle か？ What is the difference? 2: When would you use the て form of a word to list them, rather than the たり-する form? 3: When would you use the て form on its own as opposed to ている？ Both mean something equivalent to -ing forms of words in English right? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| osoymar Tetraglot Pro Member United States Joined 4734 days ago 190 posts - 344 votes Speaks: English*, German, Portuguese, Japanese Studies: Spanish, French Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 4 18 November 2013 at 7:49pm | IP Logged |
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1. When talking about the の/のです/んです forms, I like to look at what the grammar is
doing on a really basic level- you're taking a verb or adjective and making it into a noun. Fundamentally the の in もう食べたの？ is the same as the の in 食べるのが好きです. So a hyper-literal translation of もう食べたの（ですか） would be "is it that [you] already ate?" You're asking for an implied explanation of something. Whereas もう食べた？（たべました か）is a neutral "did you already eat?", you might say もう食べたの if your conversation partner said that they aren't hungry, for example. Or if you invite a friend to dinner and he shows up and says he's full, you might say もう食べたの？！ Note the （ですか） that I put at the end- this is implied, although if it is actually said then the の will turn into ん. か is still there in spirit. Also keep in mind that の at the end of a question is informal and somewhat feminine. But if I recall correctly N3 doesn't trip you up too much with register, so you can set that information aside for another day. 2. The most neutral translation of "I'll go to the store, buy milk, assassinate the president, then eat sushi" is 店に行って、牛乳買って、大統領を暗殺して 、すしを食べます. (The commas are optional). Note that you're saying you'll do these things in that order. Also note that the final verb is in the standard form- it could also be in the past to say that you did those things in that order. If you say 店に行ったり、牛乳買ったり、大統領を暗殺 したりして、すしを食べたりします your statement is much more vague- you're basically saying that you plan on doing all those things, but maybe you'll be full and won't need sushi, maybe the voices in your head will stop bothering you and you'll decide to leave the president alone. The order is completely unspecified. Some more likely sentences for this grammar pattern: 東京で何をしましたか？東京スカイトリー見 たりお好 み焼き食べたり飲みに行ったりしました。 Or どうやって日本語を勉強する？会話したり本 を読んだりして勉強しました。These lists are open ended- of course you did more in Tokyo than just check out tokyo sky tree, eat okonomiyaki and go drinking, but with the したりする form you don't need to list everything. You can even have just one item in your list: 飲んだりした。 3. I think you might be confused on this one. て at the end of the verb with nothing after it is generally the imperative. ている does correspond to "is -ing" for the most part. Good luck with N3! The fact that you're asking these questions already puts you ahead of the curve. For better of for worse, these tests are fairly grammar-centric. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Tyr Senior Member Sweden Joined 5780 days ago 316 posts - 384 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 3 of 4 22 November 2013 at 5:26am | IP Logged |
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OK Thanks a bunch.
I get 2. So 1....no is with an implied answer? Like "You're from China right?" as opposed to ka which would just be "Are you from China?"?? I can't remember what I was thinking with 3...It was to do with multiple words iirc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| osoymar Tetraglot Pro Member United States Joined 4734 days ago 190 posts - 344 votes Speaks: English*, German, Portuguese, Japanese Studies: Spanish, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 4 25 November 2013 at 8:33pm | IP Logged |
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Hmm... It's kind of a subtle difference, and the answers I'm giving are based on daily
conversation so it's a bit difficult to explain. That being said, I think it's less of an implied answer, and more of an implied... something. Maybe another question, or a remark, or something. Some examples, since this explanation is absolutely terrible. 中国人なの？へぇ。。日本語うまいな。 中国人なの？韓国人に見えるけどな。 中国人なの？いつから日本に住んでる？ 中国人なの？僕はペキン語を勉強しているん だけど、ちょっと話してみていい？ Just the question on its own seems to imply something- maybe one of the above, maybe something else, maybe just "woah." I would be more likely to translate it with " So you're from China?" The ", right?" corresponds pretty well with よね。 So "you're from China, right?" would be 中国人ですよね？ Don't worry about #3. Looking back on it, there really are a lot of grammatical forms that are very similar but have totally different meanings. Once you get used to it, it's second nature, but it takes a while for that to happen! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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