Japanese Discussion 日本語の討論会

[Guest suppaazn]

I know I asked this before but I can't find it within this thread...

Can someone explain to me keigo (teineigo, sonkeigo, and kenjyougo)?

Examples would also be helpful, thanks.

[dolcee.]

can anyone clarify for me the conjugations for informal past tense with verbs and adjectives?

and for masu forms in informal, do you just say the verb in dictionary form?

[Guest heart143]

I know I asked this before but I can't find it within this thread...

Can someone explain to me keigo (teineigo, sonkeigo, and kenjyougo)?

Examples would also be helpful, thanks.

keigo is honorific speech - each shows varying degrees of respect.

teineigo is what you would know as polite speech. as when you add ～です and ～ます to words / phrases.

also, when you attach suffixes such as お and ご it is also to show even more respect and to be more polite.

ex) ご家族ですか。

ex) お元気ですか。

sonkeigo is honorific and is ONLY used when addressing or talking about your superiors

people higher rank, older than you. this is also especially used between customer interactions.

it is used in order to show respect to another person.

for example, when you would normally say someone is watching tv it would be

先生はテレビを見ています。

however, to show respect, and also through your speech you let others know that he is your superior you would say

先生はテレビをご覧になっています。

in which the honorific form for to watch is goranninaru.

kenjyougo is used when speaking about oneself. it is called a humble form.

this is used when you want to talk modestly of your own actions, but also sound respectful.

for example

私は来年も日本にいます　＞　私は来年も日本におります。

watashi would be pronounced as watakushi to be more polite as well.

another example - I am interested in the japanese culture.

私は日本の文化に興味があります　＞　私は日本の文化に興味がございます。

I hope that helps for you to distinguish between the forms of keigo!

[Guest heart143]

can anyone clarify for me the conjugations for informal past tense with verbs and adjectives?

and for masu forms in informal, do you just say the verb in dictionary form?

http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?sho...mp;#entry419627

[Guest plumplum]

How can I say 集合・解散 in English?

Assembly and... dissembly? Haha. Dissolution? Separation?

I know what it means, I just don't know how to say it in English, because we normally would just say, "Meet at such and such place".

[Tamago86]

How can I say 集合・解散 in English?

Assembly and... dissembly? Haha. Dissolution? Separation?

I know what it means, I just don't know how to say it in English, because we normally would just say, "Meet at such and such place".

what about meeting / ending ?

like 集合５時　・　解散８時 meeting at 5 / ending at 8

or maybe meeting at 5 / breaking up at 8

i think there's lots of ways to translate it. like i heard 国会を解散 a lot (especially when koizumi was around lol) which in english would actually be dissolve..dissolve the Diet

[Guest heart143]

How can I say 集合・解散 in English?

Assembly and... dissembly? Haha. Dissolution? Separation?

I know what it means, I just don't know how to say it in English, because we normally would just say, "Meet at such and such place".

hi ayappi*

集合 would be assembly and 解散 would be like dismissal in english.

like when someone would say 解散 at a meeting, it'd be like "dismissed!"

then everyone would 'separate' =)

[Guest plumplum]

^ Thanks a lot!

[Guest hellobby]

yea, I think it says help me

and yes that is "HELP (me)"

Thank you both!

Can anyone tell me how to say, "I want to die. I can't handle it anymore."?

I'm asking for such depressing translations, lol. ごめんなさい！ ^^;;

[Guest heart143]

Thank you both!

Can anyone tell me how to say, "I want to die. I can't handle it anymore."?

I'm asking for such depressing translations, lol. ごめんなさい！ ^^;;

死にたい。もう我慢できない！

shinitai. mougamandekinai.

[Guest ErikkuSan]

i studied 4years in HS and 2semesters in college of japanese. After not studying it for 2yrs i forgot ALL MY KANJI! ooo mmmm geee fails!

[Guest bubblegum-chum-cherry-bum]

ohayo gozaimasu

wooo~ go me~! i know japanese!!

[Guest blackvelvetfever]

please write in japanese. i'm still a failure at it =___=

"hi kanon, what do you use to color your artwork? it's really pretty"

and yeah, formally please...and thank you ^^;

I don't think anyone has answered to this yet, so here I go. Also could anyone correct the bolded line because I'm not sure if it's right, it surely doesn't look right to me. Thank you .

カノンさん､ こんにちは！

カノンさんのアートワークは何を彩ますか｡ 本当にきれいです｡

[Guest plumplum]

^ No, it would be:

カノンさん、描きをどうやって彩りますか？

[Guest jaeka]

Hehe, I like it how "dou yatte" sounds informal yet it's acceptable in formal language.

[uruchai]

thanks to those who answered my previous question. sorry if i cant thank you formally.

---

if I want to say, thanks to X, i was able to go to Japan. should i use koto ga aru or koto ga dekiru?

ｘのおかげで、日本に行ったことがあります。

ｘのおかげで、日本に行ったことができます。

---

after reading several jpn grammar lessons online, now i'm so confused as to how these two are used.

[Tamago86]

They're actually very different so I think it won't be hard to remember which is which after you know a few things

one is that できる means 'able to' or 'can'. If you say 'i was able to go to Japan' then you are talking about 'able' to do something so you would have to use できる

If you say ことがあります you are saying you did something, that's all. literally you have the experience of doing something, that's why あります is used

日本に行ったことがあります I've been to Japan

日本に行くことができました I was able to go to Japan

the first one is simply stating something you've done before. have you done it before or haven't you? the second one is talking about your ability to do something. can you do it or can you not do it? were you able to do it or weren't you?

and just to correct your grammar a little you should say 行くことができました for past tense. When you use ~ことができる you should always use the present form of the verb, such as 行く、する、食べる etc but the past tense of できます . So if you are talking about doing something in the past, then just say できました instead of できます, but keep the verb the same. For example

I was able to eat it = 食べることができました　NOT 食べたことができます

I was able to write it = 書くことができました NOT 書いたことができます

see how 食べる and 書く stay in the present tense while できます becomes できました to show it is past tense

so that's why you'd say 日本に行くことができました

わかりましたか？

[uruchai]

thank you, Tamago86.

so keep the present form of the verb for　ことができる。does it work the same way with ことがある?

btw, it's a wrong notion to actually think of ことがある as "can"? because i came across one "lesson" online (in a forum) that says, if you're having a hard time conjugating a verb to its potential form, then just stick "koto ga aru" to it. this was the part that confused me a bit.

eg. if i dont know how to conjugate たべる but i want to say "i can eat", i'll just say 食べることがある。from what i learned, that doesn't translate well to "i can eat", right?

[Tamago86]

yes it's wrong

this is kind of hypocritical for me of all people to say haha but be careful of what you read in forums when it comes to people teaching japanese

if you are looking for a good grammar guide I would recommend http://www.guidetojapanese.org/ the potential form section is here http://www.guidetojapanese.org/potential.html

what the person most likely meant to say, is that if you are having problems remembering the potential form for a verb, such as how 書く conjugates to become 書ける, or 食べる conjugates to become 食べられる or 食べれる, then you can take the safe route and just say 書くことができる or 食べることができる because they mean the same thing.

If you say ことがある、as in 書くことがある it means 'there are times when I write' basically. if you say 書いたことがある it means "I have written it"

ことがある＝

日本に行くことがある there are times when I go to Japan

日本に行ったことがある I have been to Japan before

ことができる＝

日本に行ける　・　日本に行くことができる I can go to Japan

日本に行けた　・　日本に行くことができた I was able to go to Japan

There really are no other meanings for ことがある and ことができる than those I listed above, ことがある will never mean 'i can'

oh forgot your first question, no it's a little different with how it works with ことがある. If you want to say "I've done something" you use the past tense of a verb but ある stays the same

食べたことがある I've eaten it before

見たことがある I've seen it before

whereas just saying ことがある with the present tense means 'there are times when I do X'

[uruchai]

あぁ～　Tamago86さん、今わかります。教えてくれてありがとうございました。