--- In [email protected], "DH Dynamint" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "Watashi no chichi ha toshiyori desu" is fine. I'm not so sure about the second one, though. "Toshiyori na hito" brings up 983 hits on Google, so it's not impossible. Usually, though, when nouns are used to modify other nouns, "no" is used rather than "na", and Google backs that up with 19,200 hits for "toshiyori no hito".> OK... As far as I know, "noun" adjectives (ending in "-na") refer to changeable states, otherwise known as "fuzzy". So "tosiyori-na" would not make sense since "tosiyori" refers to an unchangeable state. So, to say that the man is old (of course an unchangeable condition) one would write "tosiyori no hito". > "Atsui" and "atatakai" as well as "samui" and "tsumetai". I'm blanking on the exact differences, though, and how those change depending on, say, the kanji you use for atsui, so I won't try to explain. ^^;;> Samui (cold, as in temperature) vs. tumetai (cold, as in emotion). Which is why it is often easier to understand written Japanese than spoken Japanese. (I wonder, apart form context, how they can make out the contents of a conversation with so many homophones.) > They can be in both places; it depends partly on the sentence. For instance, if you're modifying the adjective in some way (~sugiru, ~ku naru) it would usually go after what's being described. E.g. "Reizouko ha samusugimasu" - 'the refrigerator is too cold', or "tenki ha samuku natta ne" - 'the weather's gotten cold, hasn't it'. If that phrase is the beginning of an idea, though, it goes in the beginning - "samusugiru reizouko ga kowareta" - 'the too-cold refrigerator broke down'. I'm sure there's a more natural way of phrasing that, though. Perhaps "reizouko ha samusugite kowareta" or something.> OK. Complex noun phrases are worth studying. One I would like to write down in Japanese is, "The house that you bought in 1968 does not meet public housing standards nowadays. Thus, you may have to do a few adjustments to it." (A man is speaking to someone who is about 10 years older than him, but is poor and does not hold any really high rank in society.) > Ah, I was understanding 'aru uchi' as 'there is a house'.. Well, by now you should know that in Japanese the verb always follows the noun, when the noun is the object. < Aaron-san already pointed out that yes, "iru" is used for animals. It doesn't matter if the organism is in a place, it is still "iru". A tricky thing here, that you may or may not already know, is that it's not quite an animate/inanimate divide. It's more of a can-move-by-its-own-power/can't-move-by-its-own-power divide, so plants are generally described with "aru" despite being animate.> Ahh, now I understand what is meant by animate/inanimate. > In your sentence, if you replace the "aru" with "iru", it's correct, but I still have a really strong urge to change "futoi neko ga imasu" to "futoi neko mo imasu", to show that they're both in the house. It should be fine without it, too, though, so just ignore me.> I could use "mo", but I was using "neko" as s singular entity, rather than as part of a group, which meant I used "inu" as a reference. Had I wanted to say, "In the house where there is a black dog, there is also a stocky cat", then I would include "mo" to represent inclusivity. For example, "In the house of the boss even a rat got to eat", I could say "Shachô no uchi de nezumi mo tabesasemasita." As far as I understand, I could have used "mo" to "complete the picture" and thus indicate that both dog and cat were in the same place. > As far as I know, what I've said is correct, but please, if I'm making mistakes, correct me so I can improve. > > ~Dynamint> I'll do my best, but I don't claim to be an expert, despite the fact that I consider linguistics one of my favorite hobbies. -Arian I. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/9rHolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Japanese_Language/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
