I love to write about parts of Japanese that are almost always left out of the standard Japanese language curriculum. This usually applies to vocabulary that can be considered “inappropriate” for the classroom. I also like to talk about topics where the explanation is usually glossed over or oversimplified because the concepts are too difficult to explain in English. I say “bah humbug!” to all that, which is why you can come here after class to get the full, unadulterated version.<\/p>\n
So when I thought back to Japanese 101 and the time the teacher told us to only use the negative with \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d I thought, “Hey, wait a minute!” I now know that you can<\/i> use \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d with the positive, the only difference is that you get the opposite<\/em> meaning of the negative version. Makes perfect sense, right? Of course things aren’t actually that simple, so read on if you want to get the full scoop on \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d.<\/p>\n \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d is a pseudo adverb\/adjective version of the verb \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308b\u300d\uff08\u4f59\u308b\uff09, which means for something to be left over. So, when you use \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d with the negative, you are essentially saying there is nothing left over. For example, \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u3088\u304f\u306a\u3044\u300d literally means there is no “goodness” left over. Ok, so that doesn’t make much sense. A more natural definition would be the one we all learned in Japanese 101, “not very” or “not that much”. However, it is useful to know where \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d originally came from to see how the meaning changes if we don’t use the negative tense.<\/p>\n If the negative tense means there’s no leftovers, the opposite would obviously mean that there are<\/i> leftovers. In other words, something is so excessive that there are leftovers you can’t deal with. As opposed to \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u3088\u304f\u306a\u3044\u300d\u3001 \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u306b\u3044\u3044\u300d means that something is so good that the goodness is just overflowing with leftovers. For example, \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u306b\u3044\u3044\u5929\u6c17\u300d means “weather that is excessively good”. This is slightly different from \u300c\u5929\u6c17\u304c\u3088\u3059\u304e\u308b\u300d meaning that the weather is too<\/i> good, which has a negative connotation. \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u306b\u3044\u3044\u5929\u6c17\u300d just means that the weather is really, really good. It’s so good that the goodness is just overflowing and the leftover goodness is just strewn about all over the floor.<\/p>\n \uff11\uff09 \u5929\u6c17\u304c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u3088\u304f\u306a\u3044<\/b>\u306e\u3067\u3001\u6563\u6b69\u3059\u308b\u306e\u3092\u3084\u3081\u305f\u3002 \uff12\uff09 \u3042\u307e\u308a\u306b\u3044\u3044<\/b>\u5929\u6c17\u3060\u3063\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3001\uff11\u6642\u9593\u3082\u6563\u6b69\u3092\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002 You may have noticed the positive version uses the \u300c\u306b\u300d target particle as in \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u306b<\/u>\u3044\u3044\u300d. This is normal because you need to use the target particle in order to make adjectives into adverbs such as \u300c\u4e0a\u624b\u306b\u300d or \u300c\u7c21\u5358\u306b\u300d. The irregularity instead comes from the lack<\/i> of any particles for the negative case. I first described \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d as a pseudo adverb\/adjective because you don’t need to use any particles when using it with the negative tense. It is very similar to \u300c\u540c\u3058\u300d, which also doesn’t require any particles to use as an adverb\/adjective. Words like \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d and \u300c\u540c\u3058\u300d are difficult to categorize for this reason. However, with \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d, when you are using it for the non-negative tense, the normal rules apply and you do<\/i> need attach the \u300c\u306b\u300d particle in order to use it as an adverb.<\/p>\n A) \u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u306f\u3042\u307e\u308a\u96e3\u3057\u3044\u3088\u3002 B) \u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u306f\u3042\u307e\u308a\u306b<\/u>\u96e3\u3057\u3044\u3002 A) \u307b\u3089\u3001\u96e3\u3057\u3044\u3067\u3057\u3087\uff01 Since we’re having so much fun, I thought I’d mention a couple other things related to \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d. First, because the Japanese are always trying to come up with easier way to say things, we have the casual equivalents: \u300c\u3042\u3093\u307e\u308a\u300d and \u300c\u3042\u3093\u307e\u300d. I would say \u300c\u3042\u3093\u307e\u308a\u300d is used even more than \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d in conversational Japanese while \u300c\u3042\u3093\u307e\u300d sounds a bit masculine due to it’s short length.<\/p>\n \uff11\uff09 \u6642\u9593\u304c\u3042\u3093\u307e\u308a<\/b>\u306a\u3044\u3093\u3060\u3088\u306d\u3002 \uff12\uff09 \u6642\u9593\u304c\u3042\u3093\u307e<\/b>\u306a\u3044\u3093\u3060\u3088\u306a\u3002 As for using this slang for the non-negative case, while googling for \u300c\u3042\u3093\u307e\u308a\u306b\u300d<\/a> did yield a sizable number of results, \u300c\u3042\u3093\u307e\u306b\u300d didn’t turn up much so I suggest using \u300c\u3042\u3093\u307e\u300d only for the negative tense.<\/p>\n Finally, \u300c\u4f59\u300d, the kanji for \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d is also used in a some very useful words like \u300c\u4f59\u88d5\u300d and \u300c\u4f59\u8a08\u300d. \u300c\u4f59\u8a08\u300d, in particular, is a word you’ll see all the time once you learn it. It’s very useful for when somebody says or does too much. Essentially, you can use it to tell people that it’s none of their business.<\/p>\n \uff11\uff09 \u4f59\u8a08<\/b>\u306a\u304a\u4e16\u8a71\u3060\u3088\uff01 \uff12\uff09 \u4f59\u8a08<\/b>\u306a\u3053\u3068\u3092\u8a00\u3046\u3093\u3058\u3083\u3044\u3088\u3002 As we have seen, there is a lot more to the word \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d than what is normally taught to beginning Japanese students. I suspect this is the case because \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d is most often used with the negative tense and covering any more would confuse the poor students. Apparently, Japanese students are very easily confused and should not be exposed to the scary parts of the language so that they can stay in their safe and comfortable cocoon of polite, “proper” Japanese (whatever that means) .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love to write about parts of Japanese that are almost always left out of the standard Japanese language curriculum. This usually applies to vocabulary that can be considered “inappropriate” for the classroom. I also like to talk about topics … Continue reading Sorry, we’re all out of whatever it is you’re looking for<\/h3>\n
Those leftovers are excessive, man!<\/h3>\n
\n– The weather wasn’t very good so I quit going for a walk.<\/p>\n
\n– The weather was so good that I took a walk for a whole hour.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n– Japanese is so difficult, you know. (grammatic error)<\/p>\n
\n– Japanese is so difficult.<\/p>\n
\n– See, it is<\/i> hard!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nMore fun with \u300c\u3042\u307e\u308a\u300d<\/h3>\n
\n-Hmm… there’s not much time.<\/p>\n
\n-Hmm… there’s not much time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n– None of your business! (lit: You’re unnecessarily taking care of me!)<\/p>\n
\n– Don’t say things that are none of your business. (lit: You don’t say unnecessary things, you know.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nConclusion<\/h3>\n