| Author | Message | ||
     Matjlav |
Okay, I have a question about classifiers. The three main classifiers are people, animals, and things. Well, what I don't understand about classifiers is: For "three mice" would one say: "Sanbiki no nezumi," or just "San no nezumi"? And, if it's "sanbiki no nezumi", would I write it as 三匹の鼠 or 三の鼠? And what other classifiers are there, and in what cases would you use just the lone numbers? I would appreciate it if you would answer. | ||
| Mr.アノニマス |
Hmmm... Very interesting! I've never really given too much thought... Let's seeeee... In general, you must use a counter. Therefore, you must say 三匹の鼠. A 匹 (hiki) is a counter for animals. Some other examples of counters are as follows: 〜倍 (-bai) multiples (二倍(nibai)=2 times as much/many) 〜晩 (-ban) nights (1) hito-ban, (2) futa-ban, (3) mi-ban, (4) yo-ban, (?) iku/nan-ban 〜便 (-bin) airline flights (1) ichi-bin, (2) ni-bin, (3) san-bin, (?) nan-bin 〜部 (-bu) parts, copies (of documents/books/etc) ichi-bu, ni-bu, san-bu, nan-bu 〜分 (-bun) parts, portions ichi-bun, ni-bun, san-bun, nan-bun 〜台 (-dai) machines, vehicles ichi-dai, ni-dai, san-dai, nan-dai 〜ドル (-doru) dollars ichi-doru, ni-doru, san-doru, nan-doru 〜円 (-en) yen ichi-en, ni-en, san-en, nan-en 〜分 (-fun) minutes, minutes-past-the-hour ip-pun, ni-fun, san-pun, yon-pun, go-fun, rop-pun, nana-fun/shichi-fun, hap-pun/hachi-fun, kyuu-fun, (10) jup-pun/jip-pun, (100) hyap-pun, nan-pun 〜語 (-go) words ichi-go, ni-go, san-go, nan-go 〜歳 (-sai) years of age is-sai, ni-sai, san-sai, yon-sai, go-sai, roku-sai, nana-sai/shichi-sai, has-sai, kyuu-sai, jus-sai/jis-sai, (20) hatachi, (100) hyaku-sai, nan-sai 〜羽 (-wa) birds, rabbits ichi-wa, ni-wa, san-wa, nan-wa Here's a side-note: try to say this: 庭には二羽鶏がいる。裏庭には二羽鶏がいる。 (niwa niwa niwa niwatori ga iru. ura niwa niwa niwa niwatori ga iru.) It's a tongue-twister in japanese (or 早口言葉 (hayakuchikotoba))!! When no counter is available (or just not chosen) you append つ (tu) instead of any counter. was that enough counters for you? hehe. i'm sure you can get lists somewhere online (or even in your trusty dictionary). ------------------------------------------------- I think that you are referring to 千の言葉... As for that, i just added back to that thread. ------------------------------------------------- | ||
| Matjlav |
About the 〜晩 counter, would "5 nights" be "itsu-ban," 6 nights be "mo-ban," 7 is "nana-ban," 8 is "ya-ban," 9 "kokono-ban," 10 "too-ban," etc.? | ||
| Matjlav |
Oh yeah, about the 〜倍 counter, am I correct in thinking that 三倍の鼠 would mean "three times as many mice?" | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
Actually, i don't really know above four if it's counted like that or not... usually you wouldn't say anything above three......... if you did want to, you would use 〜日. 〜日 (-nichi/ka) (1)days (as a cardinal) (2)days of a month (as an ordinal) (cardinal)tsuitachi/(ordinal)ichi-nichi, futsu-ka, mik-ka, yok-ka, itu-ka, mui-ka, nano-ka, you-ka, kokono-ka, too-ka, juuichi-nichi, juuni-nichi, juusann-nichi, juuyok-ka, juugo-nichi, etc., nan-nichi NOTE: 24th would be "nijuuyok-ka", but since there are only 31 days in a month, 34-days would be "sanjuuyon-nichi", etc. if you wanna say "six nights ago" you'd better say: 六日前の夜 (mui-ka-mae no yoru) | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
〜倍 (-bai) counter is strange. it must be used in this fashion: ２倍の長さの棒 (ni-bai no nagasa no bou) a stick two times as long. シアーズタワーの1.5倍の高さの塔 (sears tower no it-tenn-go no takasa no tou) a tower one-and-a-half times as tall as the sears tower. and used when meaning "to increase by-" 数(量)を100倍にする (kazu (ryou) wo hyaku-bai ni suru) to increase the number (quantity) by 100. and used when meaning "double" 数が倍になってる (kazu ga bai ni natteru) the number is doubling. So, for rats, here's an example: 鼠の数が倍になりました (nezumi no kazu ga bai ni niarimasita) the number of rats has doubled. 三倍の多さの鼠 (san-bai no oosa no nezumi) three times as many rats. | ||
| Matjlav |
what would it be for "it hurts them 4 times as much" or "it deals 4 times as much damage"? | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
４倍の痛み "four times as much pain" ４倍の損害を与える "give four-times-as-much damage" | ||
| Matjlav |
Er... would you use 与える, really? because I've thought that 与える (ataeru) meant "to give" as in "to award"... and I don't think you "award" damage... | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
Yeah, you say 損害を与える. And, i've heard "award damage" in english before, i think, but I could be mistaken... | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
影響を与える "affect; influence; have an [influence] affect on" 仕事を与える "provide work [for someone]" or "provide [someone] with work" etc. etc. etc. | ||
| Matjlav |
I'm correct in thinking that "? years old" would be written: 何歳 (nan-sai) or 幾歳 (iku-sai) right? And "how old are you" would be 何歳ですか？ (Nan-sai desu ka), right? And can you write 幾歳ですか？ (iku-sai desu ka)? Thanks! | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
aa... 幾歳 is kind of weird... Yes!! 何歳ですか = "how old are you"!!! good job! | ||
| Matjlav |
Could you write ？歳 ? | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
um... maybe? it would depend upon who you are talking with, wouldn't it? | ||
| Matjlav |
What I'm saying is could you write ？歳 to signify "Age: ???" or something? | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
Maybe like: 年齢：？？？ 歳 (sai) is a counter for age... 歳 (tosi) means "year", but the more frequently used is 年. Does that answer the question? | ||
| Matjlav |
yeah, i guess. Thank you! | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
No problem! | ||
| Keyblade |
I'd like to know what the name "Krystle" looks like with Japanese letters. I'd also like to know how "keyblade" is spelled with Japanese letters. Thanks |