こんにちは!わたしのなまえはCyborganismです。よろしくおねがいします!

こんにちは!

私はカナダ人です。

1月から、私は日本語をべんきょうしています。すぐ日本へいくつもりですから。

このコミュニティでしつもんしなもいいですか。

私はことばとかんじをべんきょうしなければいけません。たすけがひつようです。

よろしくおねがいします。

21 points · 11 comments · view on lemmy.world

11 Comments

cyborganism@piefed.ca · 4 pts · 1y (4 replies)

しつもんがあります。

I learned that using 「〜なければいけません」means "must do". But literally what does ければいけません mean? I only know to use this "formula" to say that I must do something. We weren't really told that in our classes.

Lumidaub@feddit.org · 10 pts · 1y (2 replies)

なければ is the negated subjunctive of ある, so very literally it means something like "if this isn't the case/doesn't happen/doesn't come to pass". It's not easy to translate.

いけません literally means "cannot go/work".

So what you're saying is "if this doesn't happen (/if I don't do this), it won't do (so I have to do it)".

Edit: Oh and don't expect every grammatical pattern to have a translation that makes sense. Some of them you just need to memorise.

cyborganism@piefed.ca · 4 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Haha, wow! I knew it sounded like a double negation situation, and it seemed oddly complicated.

But as you said, sometimes in Japanese you can't overthink it. Just memorize.

k0e3@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 358d

Native speakers of any language are prone to miss this, but a lot of grammar makes no sense! For example, "I must" translates to "〜なければならない" but "I have to" which means the same thing would literally be "〜持つ(possess) へ (to)". To a Japanese person, it doesn't makes sense that "must" and "have to" mean the same thing.

So, a lot of times, it's best just to go with the flow and not to worry about the little things.

emb@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

That's a tricky construction, I always forget what it is. When it came up in the textbook, I mostly used the shorter form. I could remember なきゃ but not the whole なければいけません thing. The abbreviations are much more casual though, it sounds like. Here's the Tae Kim page on it.

DigitalAudio@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Cyborganismさん。

JapaneseLanguageへようこそ!よろしくおねがいします。

日本語は たのしいですよ。私は 10年間 べんきょうしています。でもまだ たのしいです!がんばってください。

日本に ひっこし(move)ますか?りょこう(travel)しますか?どうぞ 日本を たのしんでください!

あと 一つの こと:

「たすけが ひつようです」は OKですが、「みなさんの きょうりょく(assistance)を おねがいします」はパーフェクトです!

cyborganism@piefed.ca · 3 pts · 1y

DigitalAudioさん、

よろしくおねがいします!

九月日本へりょうこうするつもりです。また、日本でともだちがあります。毎年、ともだちにてがみを書いて。(e-メーリルじゃないです。)

ああ!アドバイスありがとう!

emb@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y (1 reply)

初めまして!

I'm probably not well versed enough to answer most questions, but I'm glad to see someone asking! Reading through these kinds of discussions is usually educational, but also a good motivator and reminder.

Question for you. I was able to follow most of the post text, but this bit I didn't understand:

たすけがひつようです。

What are those words? (I know I could just look it up, but it feels more human to have the conversation.)

cyborganism@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 1y

たすけ means help. が that the topic marking particle, but I bet you know that. ひつよう です means "is needed"

k0e3@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 358d (1 reply)

はじめまして! 僕も(日系)カナディアンです。 沖縄で通訳をしています。 日本語でわからないことがあればなんでも聞いてください!

cyborganism@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 357d

よろしく! ありがとう!