I'd like to answer as an ordinary Japanese not as a Japanese grammarian.
1. "shinjiru"
"Sono dôtoku WO shinjiru" OK You can say this and it is the only answer.
But "Sono dôtoku NI shinjiru" sounds strange. Maybe you translate the
English word "in" into "ni", just like "Watashiha nihon ni sunde imasu."
You wrote the use of "wo" implies that the subject was not involved. To me
"wo" sounds more direct than "ni". But in most case those words are not
interchangeable. Sample: Anata wo (x ni ) aishiteimasu. ( I love you.); Anata
wo (xni) shinjimasu. ( I trust you.); Watashi wa benkyou ni (x wo) akimashita.
I am tired of study. Here "ni" means 'in terms of'. I'm tired in terms of
study.
2 (1) "Karera wo waratta" means "I laughed AT them", Yes, and this phrase
usaully means "I derided at them (because they did something stupid or made
mistakes). If you see a loving person like a child trying to immitate his/her
mother's words, you smile at him/her. In Japanese, to smile means hohoemu. For
example, kodomo ni hohoemu.
(2) "Karera ni waratta" doesn't mean "I laughed with them". If you want
to say "I laughed with them" in Japanese, you say "Karera to watatta." "to"
means "with". For example, "Karera to tenisu wo shita. ( I played tennis with
them.) When "karera ni waratta" situation takes place, they do some
interesting thing to amuse viewers intentionally or unintentionally. When a
student do some funny, but lovely thing, The phrase "karera ni waratta." is
too intricate or situational, so I cannot find out a good sample sentence. I
myself have not used it. Instead I use "they are interesting" or "they are
funny," looking into the face of the person next to me or patting him/ her on
the shoulder, expecting his/ her agreement.
3 "Kanojo ni mimashita" This expression sounds strange. You never use 'ni'
when using "miru" Instead, Japanese use "Kanojo wo mimashita"
To me "ni" first reminds me of the similar Japanese word "e" .For example,
"Gakkou ni ikimasu." "Gakkou e ikimasu."
Here are samples of "ni".
"koko ni iru." ( I'm here. )
"kinou soko ni itta." I went there yesterday.
"kare ni tegami wo dasu." ( I'll send him a letter.)
"koko ni ite kudasai." ( Please stay here.)
"hon wo hiraite kudasai." ( Open your book.)
"shorui ni kinyu shite kudasai." ( Fill out the form please.)
You might have misread what's in the grammar book written by Hamano
Shoko、because the explanation of the usage of 'ni' seems wrong.
I'm not a teacher of Japanese, just an informant. I hope I can help you
learn Japanese. Please feel free to ask me.
See you.
ai3131 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A question. In using words like "shinjiru" (to believe in sthg.),
would
it be better to say, for example, "Sono dôtoku WO shinjiru" or "Sono
dôtoku NI shinjiru" [I believe in this morality.]?
I remember reading in "JAPANESE GRAMMAR" by Hamano Shoko that, whereas
something like "Karera wo waratta" means "I laughed AT them", "Karera
ni waratta" means "I laughed with them". Also, "Kanojo ni mimashita"
[I saw her (and had a chat)] vs. "Kanojo wo mimashita" [I happened to
see her (but did not talk to her)]. The use of "wo" implies that the
object received the action, but the subject was not involved, while the
use of "ni" implies that the object received the action and the subject
was involved.
- Arian I.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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