This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.
The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.
↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓
-
New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.
-
New to the subreddit? Read the rules.
-
Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!
Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!
This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.
Past Threads
You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.
by AutoModerator
10 comments
Hello!
I’m working on Genki 2 Chapter 16 and I have a 3 questions about grammar points during the dialogue. Here’s the dialogue:
Professor: ジョンさん、ファイルはありましたか。
John: はい、駅員さんが探してくれたんです。
Professor: よかったですね。
John: これ、宿題です。遅くなってすみませんでした。
Professor: いいえ。よくできていますね。
John: ええ、駅員さんに宿題を手伝ってもらいましたから。
1. For this sentence: ジョンさん、ファイルはありましたか。Is it by context, because John lost his file, the ありました went from “did it exist” to “did you find it?”
2. For this sentence: 駅員さんに宿題を手伝ってもらいましたから。I understand that it states John received (もらいました) help from (駅員さんに). But what I’m confused by is the 手伝って. I know 手伝って is help, but doesn’t the て-form functions of like an “and”? I know what it means but I’m confused by the flow of the sentence structure.
3. Since the professor said: いいえ。よくできていますね。and then John saying: 駅員さんに宿題を手伝ってもらいましたから makes it seem like John got help doing his homework from the station attendant. Is the dialogue stating John got help from the station attendant for his homework. Or just implying “the homework was done well because the station attendant help him find it?” If that was the case, the dialogue explicitly states the John finished his homework and lost it. That’s where I’m confused.
Thank you for your help in advance! I appreciate the time.
How much do you find JP subtitles help with improving listening skills? My reading is much better than my hearing ATM, so it kind of feels like using subtitles is “cheating’… but without them I can only kind of pick out simpler sentences (since my vocab is still pretty small).
Struggling with starting vocab.
I burned out months ago after learning kana and basic grammar because i couldnt find a good way to memorize vocab in a meaningful way, i am back to my studies and after re-learning everything i am back to the original problem, vocab. The first problem is anki, i admittedly find the srs thing to be very off-putting, its clearly designed to go along WITH immersion but I am just starting vocab so immersion isn’t even in the question yet, I need to learn the first 500 or so words to even give immersion a shot and so i’m in this state where I just want a good way to learn (or really just drill) basic vocabulary. I am using the kaishi 1.5k deck and its a good deck but I am struggling with srs as a whole because I feel like I can’t drill vocab.
How do you learn the basic vocabulary required to even begin immersion?
This question might be somewhat related to Japanese loanwords, though perhaps not directly to Japanese language learning itself.
What I’m wondering is, for example, there’s a Japanese anime called Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. Is there a German version of it?
I ask because the names of the characters and places in the story seem to be “pseudo-German” or “fake German.” It might sound a bit odd to say it that way, but I feel like words that make you think, “Isn’t this originally German?” appear frequently. However, these aren’t always nouns.
So, I wonder if German speakers find it strange when non-noun words are used as character names or place names?
What is the meaning behind ~たいところです?
[https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250721/k10014869061000.html](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250721/k10014869061000.html)
1. 先場所の初めての対戦では霧島が勝っていて、頭をつけて攻める得意の形を作ってまずは勝ち越しを**決めたいところです。**
2. 大の里は、安易な引き技は避けて立ち合いから踏み込んで当たり、持ち味の馬力を生かして**攻めたいところです。**
3. 一方、高安は今場所、大の里の横綱土俵入りの際に太刀持ちを務めていますが、得意の突き押しで攻めて、一門の先輩力士として意地を**見せたいところです**。
super simple question, I’m like very new, and using the Jlab anki deck. For the phrase 大丈夫 僕がいる, why can the だ or desu be ommitted. Like without it isnt i kinda like “I there”?
I’m a casual learner using Duolingo and NHK Easy Japanese. In the latter, I noticed the ‘conjugate verb’ section and I feel intimidated. Do I start memorizing this now, or do I not bother with it until a later stage? Is memorization even the best approach to this?
Someone was getting a haircut and the guy seemed to be talking about the trimmer or trimming the sides and he said something that sounds like わりか and I’m wondering what I could be mishearing
What functions are で and あの performing in this sentence?
>開発は、アレスタなどでお馴染みのあのコンパイル。
It would make perfect sense to me without those words -開発は、アレスタなどのお馴染みコンパイル which I could directly render in English along the lines of “As for development: the familiar Compile of Aleste and such.”
But if I were to transliterate in my head, the original sentence becomes something like “As for development, Aleste and such at familiar that Compile.”
I never learned などで as a construction, is で required to indicate developed “by” here?
I’ve seen あの used like it is here before, but in my head it always reads as equivalent to an English colloquialism like “that ol’ Compile” which I’m not quite sure is right.
胸元もうすくつやを失った
What does すくつや mean here?