*I know nouns are 体言, so by conjugation I mean the addition of な・の・である・だ in various grammar structures.

First of all I want to ask a clarification question - is な what's left of なり or something else entirely?

Then, as to why they are conjugated in grammar structures the same as nouns my guess is because one meaning of なり was of 断定 (i.e. である) and so when なり stopped being used である and it's short version だ replaced it.

How wrong am I in any of this?

Happy Tuesdays!

Every Tuesday, come here to Introduce yourself and find your study group! Share your discords and study plans. Find others at the same point in their journey as you.

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 EST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

Wednesdays - Materials and Self-Promotions

Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk

I'm really scratching my head over this! I've lived here since March, have a JP address and a JP phone number. I've placed orders on Amazon here with zero issue and for now have used the cash on delivery method. I even added my credit card information everywhere I could as well, and still nothing...

Despite this I still had to change my address manually to view JP content on the kindle following these instructions. Sadly, the 'transfer' button did not show up anywhere on the Amazon app itself nor the website version, and my Kindle app content is still US. Even trying to buy the damn books on the website version is being uncooperative, giving me physical-only options, but I prefer digital for my circumstances. What am I possibly missing at this point???

Another question that pops up is that on the Amazon app I can easily switch between US and JP, and my purchase history for both countries show up no problem. However when trying to log into my same account on PC, my JP purchase history is nonexistent! My wish list items I added from the app don't show up on the website either... That's another thing I'm trying to wrap my head around..

I passed N2 eight years ago, spent one year and nine months at a language school in Tokyo, lived in Japan as a student then worker for a total of seven years. To be honest I sort of cruised through language school. Language is the only thing that comes easy to me, so I never had to make much of an effort. Now it’s starting to show.

I no longer live in Japan (but plan on returning once I get my Bachelor’s) and I’m no longer attending language courses. I want to study on my own, but it’s something I’ve never done and I think I’m a little overwhelmed by the options (course books, anki, reading, italki etc etc…).

I think a lot of people on here study on their own, which I think is really inspiring.

So my question is, how do you study? Focus on one thing at a time or a little bit of everything at once?

Speaking and listening are my strong points. Areas I know I need to improve are reading and vocabulary.

Reading more seems like the obvious answer here, but I don’t know how to go about it. Should I look up every word/grammar I don’t know? Make anki cards of them all? Time myself?

I understand that what works for one person might not be the right way for someone else, I just want to get an insight to how everyone goes about this :)

Thanks in advance!

Am I missing something here? This word makes no sense to me lol.
Anyone else got some words that don't add up to what their kanji mean at all?

Very often I will see a word with multiple entries, and the first will have the uncommon readings, and the second will have the common one. Does anyone know what this is all about? And is there a way to reorder this?

Example:

https://imgur.com/z2Z1EN4

For instance, if one wanted to know what the top 1000 words (outside of particles, etc.) are in Junji Ito's works, how would that be compiled? Short of buying all of the books somehow. I imagine there would be a lot of body parts lol.

Best JPN Dictionary Anki Add-on?

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I searched through some threads asking the same; while it's cool seeing a huge spreadsheet, it'd be nice to hear about what people's personal favorites were, like what actually grabbed you.

I was looking through Japanese news articles today and I saw a lot of articles with 亡くなった in the title. I looked it up and saw it meant to die. So, why don’t the articles say 死んだ？Is it more polite to put 亡くなった? What exactly is the difference between these two verbs if there even is one?

So I'm probably at around N4 listening ability in Japanese... barely. Searching around for a show on Japanese Netflix that I might be able to understand somewhat, I tried this tonight and was pleasantly surprised that I could get a good amount of it, at least so far. I haven't seen it mentioned here in any of the "shows to watch" lists so I thought I'd mention and recommend it, and also check if anyone else has watched it and see what you think, learning Japanese-wise.

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Every Monday, come here to practice your writing! Post a comment in Japanese and let others correct it. Read others' comments for reading practice.

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 EST:

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It's a rhetorical question, please accompany me on this journey.

I've been learning for a while now, and of course, as I am an adult, I tried the apps and the books and all that jazz. But nothing really clicked for me as everything seemed to be so disjunct. I kept struggling to remember Kanji, as they were just presented as new vocabulary accompanying the lesson.

I was getting frustrated until I reread the first lesson of my workbook again, and there was a sentence I seemingly forgot, telling me about chinese readings of kanji. How the right part of the Kanji can tell you about the reading, even if you don't know the Kanji.

This put me on a journey to write flashcards (on paper, sorry Anki) for every Kyouiku Kanji, grade by grade. Writing down the most important on and kun readings for every kanji showed me so many patterns I just wasn't able to grasp before.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but being able to see that adjectives and verbs are mostly kun-readings and most する-Nouns are on-readings made it so much easier for me.

And here is where not being a grade-schooler comes into play. Because I picked up japanese through cultural osmosis, I can decide for myself if I want to include more "complicated" words earlier. 永遠 is an N3 word? Well but I do know it already, so why wouldn't I include it.

What do you think, did you have a similar moment?

Would I have grasped all this earlier if I would have just done WaniKani like I was initially recommended?

I've been studying pretty regularly for the past 3-4 months, and I'm now feeling a little lost. I'm trying to just build vocab and grammar slowly, and within the context of my study I feel confident, but then lose a lot of it when reading news, watching japanese TV, etc. It can be disheartening because I might feel proud having read or understood someone speaking within my study sessions easily, but then natural japanese media makes me feel like I've learned nothing.

Where do I go from here? Am I just in the grind stage now where the excitement is gone and I just need to continue doing what I'm doing? Or am I lacking because I can only study a couple hours a day most days?

Hi, I was wondering the difference in usage in -てもいいですか, and potential forms like れる.

From what I understand, -てもいいですか is sort of asking for permission, 写真を撮ってもいいですか? and Potential form, indicates an ability/opportunity to do so (写真を撮れますか). However in English (and also in my Mother Tongue Mandarin), "Can I take a photo" can be translated to both and is based on context whether someone means permission, or ability, do correct me if I'm wrong on this.

My main question is that in Japanese rules, in a scenario where I'm asking someone if I can take a photo of them, would I be right to assume 写真を撮ってもいいですか be the proper use and if so, are there any exceptions where the potential form should be used instead?

Thanks for the help guys

Hi! I’m struggling with remembering 限り and all its forms (限って、限りに、限らない) because there appears to be no consistency in its meaning. Supposedly the kanji means “limit” and in some circumstance it mean “limited to,” but in others it can mean, “as long as,” “the best,” “the last person to,” “not necessarily,” etc. This is a nightmare for my brain and without something linking these meanings, I’m never going to remember it. Is there logic behind it or am I cursed to have to memorize it as if its entirely separate words that just sound the same and have the same kanji. Please help!

Edit: Thank you to everyone who replied, but I think people are misunderstanding my frustration. I want to understand the Japanese nuance connecting them. I want to understand how each of these variations express “limit.” I am struggling to do so no matter how many times I study this concept. I was hoping from some clarity and someone to kindly help me to conceptualize it, but I’m being told to just “expose myself more” and “stop thinking in English,” which is not an easy thing to do. Textbooks, my Japanese teachers, and the internet are the ones providing various different English definitions not me. That’s confusing and I wanted to understand the underlying meaning because clearly for someone Japanese they are connected. I’m not willfully reproducing the problem I am experiencing.

Do you know any good japanese tech channels similar to MKBHD? Preferably with a slow and clear speaking creator.

The media I like to consume online tends to be horror, true crime, psychology, mythology, and thrillers (though I do like a good comedy). One American youtuber I absolutely love is Stephanie Soo. She recaps true crime stories as well as dramas and books. I'd love to find channels/pods in Japanese that are similar to that. They don't have to be a one stop shop, but if they hit any one of those interests that would be amazing. Longer episodes are appreciated but I'll take what I can get!

Emphasis on recaps rather than reviews when it comes to books/shows.

Also, I've already got a few channels for horror playthroughs but those are good too! Especially if they're like オダケン

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Seven Day Archive of previous threads. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

Instructions:

Pick one or two of these. Study them once a day for 10 days in a row and you'll probably have it down for a while. Then just retire those and pick another two. I do this after anki and it takes about 1 extra minute.

Note: When two words are listed in a line, it's a trans/intrans pair, in that order

Cold

冷たい						つめたい
冷やす 冷える					ひやす ひえる	to chill something (make it cold)
冷ます   冷める 				さます さめる	to cool something (let a hot thing cool to room temp)

Closing

閉める			しめる				TRANS close  doors/windows/lids
閉じる			とじる				TRANS/INTRANS SHUT books, mouths, eyes, drawer, a meeting(?)
閉まる			しまる				INTRANS close  doors/windows/lids
閉ざす			とざす				TRANS shut to keep out (shut a door to keep cold out)	or for It’s abstract, mental, non-physical, shut your heart

Going through with 通

通す				とおす				TRANS to stick through
通る				とおる				INTRANS to pass through
通う				かよう				INTRANS to go to and from (a place), to commute; to frequent​
通じる			つうじる			INTRANS to be open to traffic, to flow, to be understood

Passing along info/following along

伝える				つたえる		TRANS tell/report or teach/bequeath or propagate
伝わる				つたわる		INTRANS spread rumor or hand down or travel/convey
伝う				つたう		INTRANS follow along

おさまる and things it's easy to confuse it with

修める			おさめる			to study, order your life, or repair one's fault
収める			おさめる			to put away, to restore
治める			おさめる			to rule, to subdue; to suppress; to quell; to settle
納める			おさめる			to pay (taxes, fees, etc) or to finish
求める 			もとめる			request, wish for, demand, seek
認める			みとめる			to recognize, admit, acknowledge

Note 2: The reason for all those おさめる was, there are so many kanji options for this word, I was confusing it with 認める and 求める at times, and I had to untangle that

Life

生かす・生きる	いかす・いきる			to live
生む・生まれる	うむ・うまれる			to birth
生やす・生える	はやす・はえる			to grow (to sprout)
生				なま					fresh

Being honest

正直				しょうじき			honest/straightforward
素直				すなお			honest/frank/docile

Stopping

止める			とめる・やめる		(TRANS) とめる is for persons/objects, やめる is for ACTIONS
止まる			とまる			(INTRANS) intrans form of とめる (やまる is too rare to consider)
止む			やむ				(INTRANS) stop an ACTION, this pairs with やめる
止す			よす				(TRANS) よす is to stop BEFORE you do it (avoid doing it)
～止す			さす				can also be さす as a suffix, stop in the middle of doing something

Passing Time

経つ					たつ			INTRANS to pass (of time); to elapse​
過ごす・過ぎる			すごす・すぎる	spend time or overdo or exceed or pass through

Hi,

I've been learning Japanese for 15 years but I still struggle with typing Katakana. So I made this chart with ChatGPT to describe keystrokes for the hard katakana, so if something is wrong I can fix it. The one on the left is the katakana and the right are the keystrokes needed. Hope some find it useful.

Do you take your time trying to recall the card or do you only give yourself a couple seconds to try and remember it?

Do you have any tips how to study grammar? I feel there is so many points to remember and many is very similar with slightly difference.

How do you remember them all? Not all of them are used on daily basis or in dramas etc. Even if so have no problem to communicate sometimes I feel I have lack of grammar in my sentences🫠

I'm currently reading Saint Seiya and I have come across this usage with a name or pronoun

Examples　このキグナス 　　　　　この俺 　　　　　この紫龍

It follows kono with a name like above, which are characters names or "I". Does it simply mean "this shiryu" or "this Cygnus" etc...? Oh also この日本. This is a mistery to me...

This thread is for all simple questions, beginner questions, and comments that don't need their own post.

Welcome to /r/LearnJapanese!

• New to Japanese? Read our Starter's Guide and FAQ

• New to the subreddit? Read the rules!

Please make sure if your post has been addressed by checking the wiki or searching the subreddit before posting or it might get removed.

If you have any simple questions, please comment them here instead of making a post.

This does not include translation requests, which belong in /r/translator.

If you are looking for a study buddy or would just like to introduce yourself, please join and use the # introductions channel in the Discord here!

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Seven Day Archive of previous threads. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.