I know that no one may care to answer this question, but it's really been bugging me. I'm in Japanese I at my high school and right now we're studying verb forms. I don't understand how people decide this is going to be an "u" verb, this is going to be a "ru" verb and this is "irregular" what makes the word so that the "dictionary form" is a certain way? Anyone? ...sorry it's just really been bugging me. Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
That is one of the many mysteries of Japanese... Wait until you get to verb conjugation and saying I gave my plant water, my son gave me a cookie and I gave my boss a flower. *ShuddeR* Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
quote:Wait until you get to verb conjugation and saying I gave my plant water, my son gave me a cookie and I gave my boss a flower.
You must mean the use of honorifics. You use a different verb, depending on the social status of the recipient of the action. You give the flower UP to the boss, the cookie goes DOWN to your son, and water goes WAY DOWN to the lowly plant. At least the son knows that he ranks higher than a plant.
How do you say "cookie" in Japanese?
Posted by Taalcon (Member # 839) on :
Probably クッキー
Japanese love stealing our words.
(That may not display correctly unless you have the Japanese language pack installed)
[ March 01, 2004, 10:36 PM: Message edited by: Taalcon ]
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
I envy you people. I have to wait a while to start learning Japanese. I only know a little bit right now...
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
You might want to check this site out.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
(groans) All right Cow, for that you get a pieing.
(pies Cow)
Posted by JaneX (Member # 2026) on :
Yatta! Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Taal, can you please explain to me how to type the Japanese characters? I think I've downloaded everything I need but I'm finding almost nothing explaining how to actually DO it and it's driving me INSANE.
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
Here's a page copied from my buddy's easy conjugator book (looks like he studied while cooking):
To type, you'll need a Microsoft IME. That pages gives you information on what it is, and lets you download it. Then, once you have the Katakana or Hiragana selected, you just type phonetically. You can also set it to automatically convert to Kanji (which takes a small amount of doing to get the character you want).
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I have the IME and I've tried all that. I can't figure out what's wrong.
Nevermind. The word "phonetically" was the key. I assumed that there were kana corresponding to keystrokes.
[ March 02, 2004, 12:25 PM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
...sorry it's just really been bugging me. ![[Grumble]](graemlins/grumble.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
I assumed that there were kana corresponding to keystrokes.