Thanks Tony. I didn't know that the 'tsu' is really 'tu'. Thanks for informing me about that.

Anyway, my sensei said that not all Japanese speak Japanese to perfection. There are many in Japan who speak broken Japanese.

What do you guys think? Is it true?

Max-san,

Maybe I should say that another way.

As I'm sure you know, the syllables are organized in groups of five, one for each consonant sound. One of those groups is

ta, ti, tu, te, to

when spelled in a system called kunreisiki (kunreishiki), the system of Romanization which nihonjin find most logical.

For foreigners, and especially for English speakers, these syllables are often spelled:

ta, chi, tsu, te, to

This is supposed to help with pronunciation, but it makes the grammar rules harder to learn.

Hi, I have a few questions that I need clarification. First of all, I would like to know why was 'nara' added into the following sentence?


1. Donna hito nara kekkon shimasu ka.



As for question number 2. What is the meaning of 'ano hoohoo de yarimashoo' and why is it 'hoohoo de' instead of 'hoohoo o'?

Personally, I feel that 'betsu no hoohoo o tsukaimashoo' or 'hoka no hoohoo o tsukaimashoo' suits the sentence below slightly better. I could be wrong though.


2. Kono hoohoo ga dame nara, ano hoohoo de yarimashoo.



Question number 3, 4 and 5 are:


3. A: Bideo ga tsukanain desu ga.
(The video is not on)

B: Kono batan o oseba, tsukimasu.
(If you press this button, it will on)


4. A: Sentakuki ga ugokanain desu ga.
(The washing machine is not moving.)

B: Futa o shimereba, ugokimasu yo.
(If you close the cover, it will move)


5. A: Otsuri ga denain desu ga.
(The change is not coming out)

B: Shiroi botan o oseba, demasu yo.
(If you press the white button, it will come out)


What I would like to know is, why was 'ga' added after 'desu'? I doubt it means 'but'.

Max-san, konnichi wa.

1. This usage of "nara" is new to me. I will be interested in hearing about it, too. I would have expected the particle "ga" here instead of "nara," since "donna hito" is a question phrase.

2. "ano houhou de yarimashou" = "Let's do it that way (using that method)"
yaru is a casual equivalent of suru here; "de" is being used in the sense "by means of." The method is not what is being done (in which case "o" would make sense), but the means by which something not mentioned is being done.　Your alternative, "houhou o tsukaimashou," is also correct.

3.,4.,5. I'm not sure why you are rejecting "but" as a possible translation; the following sentence seems entirely natural to me in English, for example:

The washing machine is not going, but if you close the cover, it will start.

However you want to translate it, the "ga" in each case softens the assertion in the first sentence of each pair, and prepares the way for a further explanation of the situation in the second sentence.

"ga" is sometimes tacked on to the end of a sentence to indicate that there is an explanation, even if the speaker does not intend to offer it. It is also often used to soften an assertion, almost as if the speaker were saying "... but that's just what I think."

PS re 1.: I found a couple of sources which describe "nara" as an alternative topic particle, particularly when changing to a new topic of conversation. I have not found anything which describes how it compares to "wa(ha)" for this purpose, however.

Thanks Tony. What do you think about this sentence 'Densha ni wasuremono o shitan desu ga, doo sureba ii desu ka.'

My guess is, it means 'I left something in the train but, what I should I do?'

The thing is, I am not sure what 'shitan' is used here.

The "n" at the end of shitan is just the casual equivalent of "no"; so "shitan desu" has the same meaning as "shita no desu."

I'd translate the sentence as "I left something on the train, but I'm not sure what to do about it (I don't know what would be good to do)."