\uff29 don’t know how far Japanese language education has progressed in recent years, but back when I was a student, we were taught to use \u300c\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u300d for “why”. This was great until I went out into the real world and found out that people used another word that I was never taught: \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d. Huh? What the-? Why wasn’t I taught the real deal instead of being handed down a second-rate word that nobody uses? Why eat a California roll when you can have real sushi?<\/p>\n
\nNow that I know some more stuff (you know… stuff… and things…), I can think of two reasons: 1) \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d is a bit informal and would not be appropriate in some written contexts, and 2) \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d has some “issues” and they didn’t want to confuse the poor students (we were confused enough as it was).\n<\/p>\n
I can understand why you would rather teach \u300c\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u300d as a teacher. It’s perfectly normal Japanese and you can use it just about anywhere in any context and be “safe”. The only problem is that Japanese people don’t use it that much. Why? Probably because \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d is shorter and easier to say.<\/p>\n
\nUnlike \u300c\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u300d, you have to be a little more careful when using \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d. First of all, it’s more for conversational Japanese so you don’t want it use it on, for example, official documents. In this sense, \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d is kind of similar to “how come” instead of just “why”.<\/p>\n
\nSecond, things can get kind of confusing because \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d in kanji is \u300c\u4f55\u3067\u300d and \u300c\u4f55\u300d is the kanji for \u300c\u306a\u306b\u300d. \u300c\u3067\u300d is also the particle for describing means. You can see the problem this overlapping might cause.\n<\/p>\n
\u30b9\u30d1\u30b2\u30c3\u30c6\u30a3\u306f\u3001\u4f55\u3067<\/b>\u98df\u3079\u308b\u306e\uff1f
\n-A: With what (by what means) do you eat spaghetti?
\n-B: Why do you eat spaghetti?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nThe sentence above can have two meaning and there is no way to tell without any context. The dictionary says<\/a> that \u300c\u4f55\u3067\u300d\uff08\u306a\u3093\u3067\uff09 means “why”. But if you write it in kanji, it looks identical to \u300c\u306a\u306b\u3067\u300d. There’s even a Japanese page with a survery of \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d vs \u300c\u306a\u306b\u3067\u300d<\/a>. In general, \u300c\u306a\u3093\u3067\u300d means “why” and \u300c\u306a\u306b\u3067\u300d means “by what means” so when you want to make things absolutely clear, you should write it in hiragana.\n<\/p>\n
In terms of ambiguity, \u300c\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u300d also has the same type of issues because \u300c\u3069\u3046\u300d means “how” and \u300c\u3057\u3066\u300d is the te-form of \u300c\u3059\u308b\u300d.<\/p>\n
\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066<\/b>\u3044\u3044\u304b\u5206\u304b\u3089\u306a\u3044\u3002
\n-A: I don’t know what I should do (how to do so that it’s good).
\n-B: I don’t know why it’s good.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe first translation is more likely, but the second interpretation is possible as well. There’s no way to tell for sure without more context. (Aren’t you glad you didn’t pick an easy, sissy language to learn?)<\/p>\n
Because two just isn’t enough<\/h3>\n
\u300c\u4f55\u6545\u300d is yet another word that means “why”, which we need because… I’m pretty sure there’s a good reason. \u300c\u4f55\u6545\u300d is more formal than the other words for “why” and has, I feel, a sharper sting to it, if that makes any sense. It’s more suitable for when you want to ask hard-hitting questions such as, for example, a narrative for a documentary. As a result, you don’t hear this too often in regular, everyday conversations.<\/p>\n
\u4e00\u4f53\u4f55\u6545\u3001\u3053\u3093\u306a\u3053\u3068\u306b\u306a\u3063\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u304b\uff1f
\n-Just why, exactly, did this happen?<\/p><\/blockquote>\nConclusion<\/h3>\n
Now that you know all the ways of saying “why” in Japanese (minus local dialects I’m not aware of), you can ask questions like the following in a variety of ways.<\/p>\n
Why, Lord, why, is Japanese so complicated?!!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There, aren’t you happy now?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\uff29 don’t know how far Japanese language education has progressed in recent years, but back when I was a student, we were taught to use \u300c\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u300d for “why”. This was great until I went out into the real world and … Continue reading