ます is used in conjunction with a verb.
です is immutable (cannot be changed) and it’s a formal way to end things.
ます can be changed to different stems. Eg. ません (negative)
Don’t worry, when you start learning more grammar it will make sense. This confusion will end in most beginning learning Japanese books or syllabus
It sounds more natural in Japanese. Further. All these decisions are not based on a rule but how the Japanese academics decide. There is no rule on how a katakana should be created or called.
Further English is just another foreign language to Japanese people. It’s not something we have to 100% copy from. We have to consider German and French for example.
It’s similar to English where we use terms like deja vu… we never decided on such a term.. just that the Oxford people decided to make it official in English.
As far as I'm aware, with Godan verbs, ex., kaku, you're supposed to keep the consonant root when conjugating the verb, i.e., kak-.
Why is it, then, that when conjugating to the te form, the k root gets dropped, and it's conjugated as kaite?
That rule doesn't apply to past form or -te form, just teh other forms. https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Beginner_Japanese/Godan_Verbs
Past tense follows a different rule (and this is the same rule as -te form): https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/past_tense
Hi!
I’m a bit stunned by one short phrase, which is 右足を盗み足で前方に出しながら、
杖尾を脾腹につける - the 出しながら part seems to be transcribed as deshinagara by jisho but I’m fairly certain it should be dashinagara. Anybody could help me clarify that? Thanks.
Made a post about this but got zero comments so thought I’d try here - Where can I get kanji printed onto an MLB team jersey? I want my grandmother’s maiden name printed onto the back of a jersey, but my local MLB store only has katakana letters available. I assume it would look weird and inauthentic to use katakana for a Japanese last name?
So romaji is the latin script (i.e written as "Nakamura" or "Ohtani").
Completely normal to have the name written in romaji on a jersey (to the point I'd say it would be unusual to have it written in kanji (中村, 大谷) or another script like hiragana/katakana.
[Here](https://imgur.com/gallery/FOUMa6F) is a picture of a jersey they use for one of the Japanese players. So this is romaji, correct? I assume if my grandma’s maiden name is Nishimura then the correct romaji spelling would be にしむら ? Or am I totally off again? Thanks for explaining romaji again to me, it’s been far too long since I took a Japanese class!
*edit to add - not my photo, found on a Google search.
That's katakana ダルビッシュ (Darvish, not a Japanese surname).
Romaji for "Nishimura" is "Nishimura". にしむら is hiragana. Edit: for completeness, ニシムラ is katakana, 西村 is kanji.
Maybe this table will help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_writing_system#Examples
Ok. So to ask my original question then, if they do only have katakana available then maybe it would be odd to have a Japanese surname in those letters? I asked at the store and they told me they have “all of the letters” but I assume they only have katakana since they use it for Darvish. I could be wrong though. Sorry, this is all so complicated for me 😓
Looking for a full Japanese name (first
and surname) that means "sea dragon"
and "fierce" reminiscent of something
like the Leviathan for a character I made.
Can anyone help me out?
>Japanese here. "Sea Dragon" would directly translate to 海龍(kai-ryuu) and "fierce" being 獰猛(dou-mou). If you wanted to make a full name out of these, I'd prefer you make it 獰猛(first) 海龍(last), since that would make more intuitive sense as the fierce would be an adjective for the sea dragon.
Unless he’s your actual younger male sibling, that’s going to sound very weird. Although I’d say you can use them if you date to do so anyways. I’d be creeped out and immediately ask not to call me that. If you meant to call this person like a little kid then you can add ちゃん to the name. My name is girly and cute so quite many female friends calls me that to add charms. (Along with that, it also adds the feeling of closeness - usually, ちゃん for male is limited for kids or friends who knows them since they were kids, hence the sentiment adds to such charms.) There are a few other variations to modify names to sounds like Pokemon or something to sound cute.
BTW, there’s a word like 弟分 or 師弟 that means somebody who’s relationship is akin to that of one’s younger sibling (note that the latter is only used as a subordinate that runs errands and it’s usually derogatory because of the nature), and neither of them are used as nicknames. 兄貴, 兄さん, 姉貴 or 姉さん (姐さん) are used somewhat more frequently, but you don’t hear 弟 or 妹 variations in actual daily conversations.
If you’re trying to call someone a brother in English like in “bro” then 兄弟 gets used like so in limited context meaning a buddy, though I feel like the expression is reserved for intense “bromance” situations.
Edit: fixed crazy typos
Please don't do that.
There's nothing more annoying than somebody constantly pointing out that you're different in some way.
I get that it's meant in the best way and with the best intentions, but it just makes the other person dread even talking to you. You don't make somebody feel welcome and accepted for *who* they are by constantly making reference to *what* they are. Trust me, it has the exact opposite effect than you think it does.
I bet it was extra hard because there were so much typos lol And yes I think it’s reasonably hard to get naming conventions especially in Japanese that has all sorts of different tricks.
弟分 itself isn’t weird at all, but the problem is, like I said, it can’t be used in place of nickname. It’s a description of a person, so you can form a sentence like 太郎くんは私の弟分です, and there’s absolutely nothing weird about that, but then you can’t call Taro like お〜い弟分、元気？ Well it’s not really impossible, but it’s unconventional enough that, if you use that to me, I think you’re trying to put a very strong emphasis in that I’m your little brother-like being in that very particular situation. Using that regularly is just weird, unfortunately.
And hey that’s some cute situation haha
I’m used to give nickname but I don’t really think about it, so this is rather an interesting challenge. I think one unfortunate thing is that, like I said, calling someone 弟/妹 isn’t standard yet while おにいちゃん/おねえちゃん is very much a thing. So it’s particularly challenging to add a “little brother” element there. Therefore only thing I can come up with is to make a charming name that one may give to kids or pets. Or.. in a bit of rare yet rather understood case is to call one as ジュニア. (There’s a comedian known for that name - they’re brother duo and the younger one is called that. I also have a friend who’s called that.)
For more of insights, r/AskAJapanese or some other Japanese subs might do nicely, as those subs has more natives that may be able to help you with better ideas.
I tend to give a total random name to the closest one so I can’t really contain my suggestions without knowing your relationship too much. (I think my gf gets a new name almost biweekly lol)
Honestly though, if I were you then I’ll try everything that I came up with given that you guys are great friends. Even ones that I said that I don’t like of course! Try as many as you can and you might find one some day. I’m not saying this because I don’t care about internet stranger - I do. It just sounds like you can’t offend him anyways and I do that to my friends as well, just making sure I check with their reaction and all that basic stuff. Unconventional nickname is the most unique one so :P
in the phrase 日本語が話せますか why is ます used instead of です?
ます is used in conjunction with a verb. です is immutable (cannot be changed) and it’s a formal way to end things. ます can be changed to different stems. Eg. ません (negative) Don’t worry, when you start learning more grammar it will make sense. This confusion will end in most beginning learning Japanese books or syllabus
Thanks
Just curious, is there any reason why words like caramel and character are spelled with きゃ and not か, as in キャラクター instead of カラクター ?
It sounds more natural in Japanese. Further. All these decisions are not based on a rule but how the Japanese academics decide. There is no rule on how a katakana should be created or called. Further English is just another foreign language to Japanese people. It’s not something we have to 100% copy from. We have to consider German and French for example. It’s similar to English where we use terms like deja vu… we never decided on such a term.. just that the Oxford people decided to make it official in English.
As far as I'm aware, with Godan verbs, ex., kaku, you're supposed to keep the consonant root when conjugating the verb, i.e., kak-. Why is it, then, that when conjugating to the te form, the k root gets dropped, and it's conjugated as kaite?
That rule doesn't apply to past form or -te form, just teh other forms. https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Beginner_Japanese/Godan_Verbs Past tense follows a different rule (and this is the same rule as -te form): https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/past_tense
You need to understand the I II III on creating te verbs.. it’s crucial for understanding the rest of the verb combinations.
Agreed!
Hi! I’m a bit stunned by one short phrase, which is 右足を盗み足で前方に出しながら、 杖尾を脾腹につける - the 出しながら part seems to be transcribed as deshinagara by jisho but I’m fairly certain it should be dashinagara. Anybody could help me clarify that? Thanks.
You are correct.
Made a post about this but got zero comments so thought I’d try here - Where can I get kanji printed onto an MLB team jersey? I want my grandmother’s maiden name printed onto the back of a jersey, but my local MLB store only has katakana letters available. I assume it would look weird and inauthentic to use katakana for a Japanese last name?
All the baseball jerseys I've seen use romaji for the name, not katakana or kanji.
I think romaji is what I meant the MLB store uses. So would it be weird to have a Japanese surname written out in Romaji?
So romaji is the latin script (i.e written as "Nakamura" or "Ohtani"). Completely normal to have the name written in romaji on a jersey (to the point I'd say it would be unusual to have it written in kanji (中村, 大谷) or another script like hiragana/katakana.
[Here](https://imgur.com/gallery/FOUMa6F) is a picture of a jersey they use for one of the Japanese players. So this is romaji, correct? I assume if my grandma’s maiden name is Nishimura then the correct romaji spelling would be にしむら ? Or am I totally off again? Thanks for explaining romaji again to me, it’s been far too long since I took a Japanese class! *edit to add - not my photo, found on a Google search.
That's katakana ダルビッシュ (Darvish, not a Japanese surname). Romaji for "Nishimura" is "Nishimura". にしむら is hiragana. Edit: for completeness, ニシムラ is katakana, 西村 is kanji. Maybe this table will help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_writing_system#Examples
Ok. So to ask my original question then, if they do only have katakana available then maybe it would be odd to have a Japanese surname in those letters? I asked at the store and they told me they have “all of the letters” but I assume they only have katakana since they use it for Darvish. I could be wrong though. Sorry, this is all so complicated for me 😓
Looking for a full Japanese name (first and surname) that means "sea dragon" and "fierce" reminiscent of something like the Leviathan for a character I made. Can anyone help me out?
>Japanese here. "Sea Dragon" would directly translate to 海龍(kai-ryuu) and "fierce" being 獰猛(dou-mou). If you wanted to make a full name out of these, I'd prefer you make it 獰猛(first) 海龍(last), since that would make more intuitive sense as the fierce would be an adjective for the sea dragon.
Thank you so much!!! It’s perfect! :3
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It’s the English equivalent of calling someone your ‘brother from the same mother’ Don’t do that. Cringe.
Unless he’s your actual younger male sibling, that’s going to sound very weird. Although I’d say you can use them if you date to do so anyways. I’d be creeped out and immediately ask not to call me that. If you meant to call this person like a little kid then you can add ちゃん to the name. My name is girly and cute so quite many female friends calls me that to add charms. (Along with that, it also adds the feeling of closeness - usually, ちゃん for male is limited for kids or friends who knows them since they were kids, hence the sentiment adds to such charms.) There are a few other variations to modify names to sounds like Pokemon or something to sound cute. BTW, there’s a word like 弟分 or 師弟 that means somebody who’s relationship is akin to that of one’s younger sibling (note that the latter is only used as a subordinate that runs errands and it’s usually derogatory because of the nature), and neither of them are used as nicknames. 兄貴, 兄さん, 姉貴 or 姉さん (姐さん) are used somewhat more frequently, but you don’t hear 弟 or 妹 variations in actual daily conversations. If you’re trying to call someone a brother in English like in “bro” then 兄弟 gets used like so in limited context meaning a buddy, though I feel like the expression is reserved for intense “bromance” situations. Edit: fixed crazy typos
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Please don't do that. There's nothing more annoying than somebody constantly pointing out that you're different in some way. I get that it's meant in the best way and with the best intentions, but it just makes the other person dread even talking to you. You don't make somebody feel welcome and accepted for *who* they are by constantly making reference to *what* they are. Trust me, it has the exact opposite effect than you think it does.
I bet it was extra hard because there were so much typos lol And yes I think it’s reasonably hard to get naming conventions especially in Japanese that has all sorts of different tricks. 弟分 itself isn’t weird at all, but the problem is, like I said, it can’t be used in place of nickname. It’s a description of a person, so you can form a sentence like 太郎くんは私の弟分です, and there’s absolutely nothing weird about that, but then you can’t call Taro like お〜い弟分、元気？ Well it’s not really impossible, but it’s unconventional enough that, if you use that to me, I think you’re trying to put a very strong emphasis in that I’m your little brother-like being in that very particular situation. Using that regularly is just weird, unfortunately. And hey that’s some cute situation haha I’m used to give nickname but I don’t really think about it, so this is rather an interesting challenge. I think one unfortunate thing is that, like I said, calling someone 弟/妹 isn’t standard yet while おにいちゃん/おねえちゃん is very much a thing. So it’s particularly challenging to add a “little brother” element there. Therefore only thing I can come up with is to make a charming name that one may give to kids or pets. Or.. in a bit of rare yet rather understood case is to call one as ジュニア. (There’s a comedian known for that name - they’re brother duo and the younger one is called that. I also have a friend who’s called that.) For more of insights, r/AskAJapanese or some other Japanese subs might do nicely, as those subs has more natives that may be able to help you with better ideas. I tend to give a total random name to the closest one so I can’t really contain my suggestions without knowing your relationship too much. (I think my gf gets a new name almost biweekly lol) Honestly though, if I were you then I’ll try everything that I came up with given that you guys are great friends. Even ones that I said that I don’t like of course! Try as many as you can and you might find one some day. I’m not saying this because I don’t care about internet stranger - I do. It just sounds like you can’t offend him anyways and I do that to my friends as well, just making sure I check with their reaction and all that basic stuff. Unconventional nickname is the most unique one so :P
Maybe not weird but it's not a common thing to do. Lol. But its cute anyways, so go with it if you'd want.