Questions about Japanese grammar

[Flying Shogi]

日本語の文法について質問のトピックをようこそ。Hopefully everything was grammatically correct.

Ok, there's something that I've learned and I don't know when to use it. That grammar pattern is ~んです.

My textbook says, you use it when you:

• want to express a reason in the right tone.

Ex: say I'm late to class and I tell my professor that I was late, I would say, using the textbook example, バスが来なかった to express my apologetic tone for being late to class.

• fishing for information

Ex: say someone looks down, I would say, 元気がないですね。どうしたんですか to ask "what's wrong?"

• adding extra comments to what has been previously mentioned

Ex: Using the textbook example,

Person A: とてもいい教科書ですね。

Person B: ええ。私の大学の先生が書いたんです。　

My problem is, I do not recognize situations that I would use this grammar pattern. The thought to use this grammar pattern just doesn't come to me. I got my writing assignment back and one of the corrections my professor made was to add んです and I can see why but personally, I would never have thought to use it. So what are some tips that would suggest the usage of this grammar pattern?

If anyone cares, I didn't ask my professor because he doesn't explain things in a way that I can understand it so I'm asking it here.

[dondon151]

it's kind of like "it's because ____," but not literally

[Fruity Insanity]

I always thought it was adding emotion/emphasis or something.

[Icarusu]

you guys..

[Esau of Isaac]

日本語の文法について質問のトピックをようこそ。Hopefully everything was grammatically correct.

Ok, there's something that I've learned and I don't know when to use it. That grammar pattern is ~んです.

My textbook says, you use it when you:

• want to express a reason in the right tone.

Ex: say I'm late to class and I tell my professor that I was late, I would say, using the textbook example, バスが来なかった to express my apologetic tone for being late to class.

• fishing for information

Ex: say someone looks down, I would say, 元気がないですね。どうしたんですか to ask "what's wrong?"

• adding extra comments to what has been previously mentioned

Ex: Using the textbook example,

Person A: とてもいい教科書ですね。

Person B: ええ。私の大学の先生が書いたんです。　

My problem is, I do not recognize situations that I would use this grammar pattern. The thought to use this grammar pattern just doesn't come to me. I got my writing assignment back and one of the corrections my professor made was to add んです and I can see why but personally, I would never have thought to use it. So what are some tips that would suggest the usage of this grammar pattern?

If anyone cares, I didn't ask my professor because he doesn't explain things in a way that I can understand it so I'm asking it here.

Like dondon said, it's used to indicate or emphasize, and usually used sort of like kara. For example, if you were to arrive in class late, you may say something like 道が混んでいるんだった. "(I was late because) the roads were congested."

[Flying Shogi]

I don't feel like making a new topic so I'll just continue using this one.

So for ~んです/～んだ, I'm getting this feeling that it's mostly used to explain a situation by giving emphasis to something that has acted as an obstacle to your goal.

My next question is more of a cultural question but is there a specific verb for using a Kotatsu? I want to use すわる but that sounds weird. I feel like if "to boil water" has its own term then I feel like Kotatsu needs its own as well.

[Esau of Isaac]

んです has a very wide use. It can also be used to describe making decisions the speaker is making. While I think it is very often used for describing things that are obstacles, I have heard it used for neutral things as well.

For kotatsu I would assume 使う would be fine.

[Flying Shogi]

We recently covered ~てしまう and ～んです/んだ goes really well with it. Looking back at the usage of ～んです/んだ, the other usage that I've heard and used myself is softening the blow of favors. I have asked a senior about ～んです/んだ and he did say that the textbook we're using gave us a really basic introduction on its usage so I think it might be covered more in depth once I enter the intermediate level.

I asked my professor today in class and he said that 入る also works. Somehow 使う never came across my mind.

[Flying Shogi]

Hopefully this doesn't qualify as a warn worthy double post.

Speaking of ~てしまう, can someone explain to me how they got their contractions with Romaji? It was explained to me a few times with Hiragana and I'm still not getting how they got ~ちゃう/~じゃう.

[Rewjeo]

I don't really know, but my own thoughts on it would be this: ch is basically t+sh. That is how the ch sound is written using the International Phonetic Alphabet, and German also sets it up that way (that's why you have words like "Tschüss" with all those consonants at the beginning). It's pretty easy to see at least how the てし part would have become ち. In the case of じ, the English j sound is just a voiced version of ch (basically), and で of course is just a voiced て. As for the rest, I would imagine that the i and m sounds just faded away at some point. You can sort of recreate this by saying, out loud, teshimau, then tshimau, then chimau, then chmau, and finally just chau.

[Esau of Isaac]

What Rewjeo said. I'd thought this was the case, but multiple Japanese professors confirmed that. It's more or less equivalent to contractions in English in that regard.

[Flying Shogi]

Thanks for the explanation. I needed to see how ~てしまう turns into ~ちゃう. For some reason, I never questioned how ~でしまう turns into ~じゃう and just went with it.

~ましょうか have both meanings of "shall I do X?" and "let us do X", right? When I was introduced to this grammar pattern, I remember it as:

1) 手伝いましょうか -> "shall I help (you)?"

2) 映画を見ましょうか -> "(should we) watch a movie?", basically, the "let us do something" but in question form.

Side note: I know #2 is very close to inviting someone in terms(~ませんか) of their English meaning but #2 leans more towards a suggestion than an invitation even though it can be implied from #2.

When I came across どうしよう in my text book, this reminded me of ~ましょうか and thought they are related but that may not actually be the case. I haven't given it careful thought so bear with me as I figure things out.

どうしましょうか -> "What should (we) do?" My reasoning for "we" is because of the "let us" of ~ましょうか

どうします？ -> if this is said to another person, it would be "what will you do?"

-> if someone is saying this as if they're thinking out loud, I think it would be "What will (I or we) do?" In English, this is known better as "What should (I or we) do?"

However, "What should (I or we) do?" is better known as どうしよう？For する:

1) しよう is the volitional form. Volitional form is a way of expression, which fits どうしよう as it's expressing one's reaction to a troublesome situation. (I forgot the purpose of volitional form so I Google'd it as I didn't have my textbook with me right now so don't kill me)

2) ~ましょうか is a simple way of suggesting to do something

So, this boils down to:

1) Are they related in a way that they're just different forms of する and do different things but just have similar meanings in English?

2) Of どうしましょうか and どうします？, does the former lean towards "we" while the latter can be either "I" or "we" depending on the number of people present?

Overall, I think I may be comparing two separate things that don't have much of a relation with each other.

EDIT I looked at my textbook and the first sentence of explanation for volitional form is "a less formal, more casual equivalent of ましょう."

Edited December 7, 2014 by Magician Lugh

[Esau of Isaac]

Volitional form is used as you are here, as a form of invitation.

1.) They are the same form, to my knowledge but one is in desu+masu form.

2.) The first is more like "What should I/we do?" while the second is more "what will I do?"

It's all good! Everyone has trouble sometimes haha. They don't exactly look the same anyways.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Esau of Isaac

[Flying Shogi]

1) desu + masu? I didn't know that was a thing. I thought it was one or the other.

2) That makes sense. I'm forgetting the basic stuff. I should look over the explanations when I get the time.

[Esau of Isaac]

That's just the form name I was taught for polite form. You use desu and masu when you are speaking politely, as opposed to da and dictionary form.

[Flying Shogi]

Now that you mention it, I never really gave it much thought. I was taught masu form and then I was introduced to desu almost immediately after. I know that both are polite form but I never thought of them like "polite form". masu form was a term that was actually said in class but I think everyone just knew that desu is also polite when masu form is said as "polite form" wasn't really something we threw around in class.

I guess da form is another term where we differ. I don't believe it was ever called da form in my class and it was just covered under short form but dictionary form is definitely is a term that we've used in class.

Question:

What is the difference between ずいぶん and とても? They are both listed as "very" and I feel like there is a difference between them. I was reviewing once with my friend and a senior happened to join us and he said that ずいぶん is more like "considerably". He said that it was a stronger version of "very".

[Esau of Isaac]

ずいぶん is used more emphatically, and in my experience is used to express an unexpected amount.

More like the difference between "really" and "exceedingly," I would say.

[Flying Shogi]

Can you use it in a sentence? I think I get it but I want to make sure I understand it for sure.

[Esau of Isaac]

Sure. 「朝寝坊したから昨日僕はずいぶん忙しかった。」

[Flying Shogi]

Sorry, finals week and laziness settled in.

Thanks for the example. I did oversleep a class once. Wasn't a good feeling.

From animes, I'm getting the feeling that 十分 is something like "enough". Is that what it actually is? Is it also used more often than 足りる?

Edited December 22, 2014 by Magician Lugh

[Esau of Isaac]

十分 means "enough," as in "sufficient." I have heard it far more often than 足りる for what it's worth.

[Flying Shogi]

I get 十分 and ずいぶん mixed up sometimes. I remember hearing something like "more than capable of doing x" and "more than enough" in anime sometimes. I think it's ずいぶん.

I watched an unsubbed version of Pokemon X&Y version yesterday. I was glad that I knew enough to understand a good portion of what they were saying and even entire lines from time to time. I've noticed they like to end with ので but it's not translated it as "because". I can see why though.

[Esau of Isaac]

ずいぶん would be used more appropriately as the second one, to indicate that you have an excess of the thing. 十分 can be used to mean "fully," or "plenty," but doesn't seem to carry a sense of excess.

[Flying Shogi]

So... We're learning about honorific verbs and I don't like it. Prepared to never speak with my instructor again

[Esau of Isaac]

For what it's worth even Japanese can be poor at it haha.