nihongo wo benkyou shitai

A bit late with today's example question, but Christmas kind of got in the way...

This question is from the 2002 日本語能力試験 paper, specifically 文字語彙問題V question 5. Presented with a word, you must choose the correct usage of it.

あんぜん

1. この　まちは　よるも　あんぜんです。
   
2. にちようびは　いつも　いえで　あんぜんに　して　います。
   
3. この　きかいは　あんぜんてきに　つかって　ください。
   
4. わたしは　げんきですから、あんぜんして　ください。
   

[
The correct answer is option 1.

The ease with which you can answer this question depends on being able to know what the chosen word is. It may seem an obvious point to make, but unlike other types of question where you could take educated guesses, here you need actually need to know the word.

Hopefully, you'll recognise あんぜん (安全) as a 三級 required vocabulary word meaning 'safe'. If so, it's simply a case of translating each of the four options and seeing which makes the most sense. In Jenglish:

[this][town][night][too][safe][is]
[Sunday][always][house][at][safe][change into + present progressive]
[this][chance][safe + suffix meaning typical][use + please]
[I][healthy][but][safe + to do + please]

Once translated, option 1 makes the most sense. Options 2 and 3, whilst grammatically permissible, don't really make sense. Option 4, as far as I know, is grammatically incorrect in that you can't follow an adjective with the する verb.
]

Today's example question appeared as question 5 in the 2006 三級の読解文法 paper. In essence, this question is a particle test, a subject that constantly confuses me.

いろいろさがした_______見つからないんです。

1. のに
   
2. ので
   
3. のを
   
4. のが
   

[
According to the answer booklet, the answer is option 1.

My first thought is to translate this into English to see if that gives any clues. The Jenglish transliteration is [various] [to look for (past)] [_____] [to not be found] and already I have a vague idea of what the answer is. However, pride comes before a fall, so let's check all the options first.

Option 1 is のに, which has a few meanings including despite, in spite of and because. Option 2 is ので which as far as I know simply means because. Option 3 is のを which is the normalizer の followed by the direct object marker. Finally, option 4 is のが - the normalizer followed by the subject marker.

Option 1 is quite promising. Using のに, my translation in English would be Despite [the fact that] I looked a number of times, it isn't to be found.

Substituting option 2 doesn't work nearly as well: Because I looked a number of times, it isn't to be found.

Given that 見つからない in option 3 is the negative form of the intransitive verb 見つかる, I think we can rule out のを (see point 1 of my description of を and you'll see that it's used with direct objects and intransitive verbs don't have direct objects).

Option 4 could be a possibility. Intransitive verbs use the particle が and it's possible that the normalizer would work here. However the sentence doesn't seem to make much sense when translated.
]

またね・・・

僕はエディンバラ旅行の写真をインターネットの写真帳でやっとアップロードしたところだ。

Another 三級 question today, this time it's question 40 of the 2005 読解文法. This question, rather than test your ability to conjugate correctly, is a test of your ability to read and understand the question and then answer, As such, it is one of the more difficult styles of question in the exam.

「このテストは、ひらがなで書いてもいいですか。」
「ええ、＿＿＿＿＿。」

1. だめですよ
2. かまいませんよ
3. 書きますよ
4. 書きませんよ

[
According the the answer booklet, the correct answer is option 2.

Let’s start by translating the question:

“For this test, is it OK to write in hiragana?”
“Yes,___________.”

It would be tempting to immediately ignore options (2) and (4) as they are both negative conjugations, and the response in the example text begins with ‘yes’. However, be careful when doing this. It’s best to translate all the options first.

Option (1) translates as “It’s no good”; option (2) as “I don’t mind”; (3) as “write” and option (4) as “don’t write”. Option (2) is the sneaky one here as, despite, being a negative verb, it is the negative of かまう, a 三級 vocabulary that means “to mind” or “to care about”.

Slotting each of these possible answers into the example we get:

1. “Yes, it’s no good.”
2. “Yes, I don’t mind.”
3. “Yes, write.”
4. “Yes, don’t write.”

Clearly, options (1) and (4) make no logical sense. Option (3) conveys a logically correct meaning, but comes across as a command, not appropriate in this context. So option (2) is the correct answer.

Could this one be guessed? That’s a tough one to answer. I think that you could eliminate options (3) and (4) on the basis that they are too abrupt. Option (1) can be ignored if you know what だめ means. It’s touch-and-go, but you could get this right by precluding the other three answer... maybe.
]

Today’s example comes from the 2004 三級 paper (question 28 in the 読解文法 section) and is, in essence, a conjugation test. Hopefully none of the vocabulary presents a challenge; other than the use of hiragana for words that would be easily recognizable if in kanji.

図書館でこの町のれきしを＿＿＿＿ことができます

1. しらべた
2. しらべられる
3. しらべる
4. しらべて


Have a go and once you're happy you can see the answer and my reasoning below by clicking and dragging you mouse between the brackets.

[
The answer is option 3.

Each of the 4 possible answers have the same root verb and so this is simply a case of knowing the verb form that goes before ことができる.

Option (1) is the plain past, option (2) could be either the potential or the passive (depending on context), option (3) the plain non-past and option (4) is the て form. I think it’s pretty safe to rule out option (4) immediately as I can’t think of any て conjugation where て is followed by a nominalizer. Nominalizers are used to convert a verb clause into nouns, whereas て conjugations are used to modify the way in which the verb’s result is performed or perceived.

Option (2) is a safe one to rule out as well, in either of it’s meanings. If we take られる to be the potential form, then we have a tautological sentence, effectively mentioning the ability to do something twice. If we take られる to be the passive, then we have a sentence that does not make sense. In passive sentences, the subject is an unwilling recipient of some action, which doesn’t really fit with the use of できる.

That leaves options (1) and (3), both of which are plausible. If I did not know that ことができる comes after the plain non-past (or base 3) form of a verb, I’d have to make a guess based on the English translation. With option (1) we get “You could study this town’s history at the library” which doesn’t seem right. Option (3) would give us “You can study this town’s history at the library”, which just feels better.

So, even if you do not know the correct verb form to use with ことができる, it would be possible to correctly guess this one by looking at the English translation.

つまり、（３）は正しい答えです。
]

Today we see the first of a new feature in the blog and one I want to do once a week at least, maybe more depending on time. The idea is to go through real JLPT questions and analyze them. As I found out during revision, knowing the grammar is one thing, but to answer questions on it's usage is quite another. Hopefully, a weekly question or two will get my mind into the 'JLPT zone'...

Today's example is from 2006, question 34 of the ３級読解文法 to be precise. I picked this question as I got it wrong during my revision, so let's see if I can analyze it. First, the question:

先生がなかなか来ないので、学生がさわぎ＿＿＿＿。

1. つづいた
   
2. はじまった
   
3. おわった
   
4. だした
   

To see the answer and my reasoning, click and drag your mouse over the area between the brackets!

[
The answer is option 4.

On the face of it, the grammatical point is quite straight-forward. I've covered the use of はじめる, おわる, だす and つづける after a verb in base 2 and seen that they mean to start, finish, continue and suddenly start some action respectively.

The question itself also seems pretty straight-forward: in Jenglish we get [teacher] [by no means] [come] [because], [students] [make noise/kick up a fuss], or more naturally, Because the teacher hadn't come, the students _____ kicked up a fuss.

My first reaction, now I've read up on the grammar, is to ignore (1) and (2). All my research suggests that, in compound verbs, you use はじめる and not はじまる. Likewise it's つづける and not つづく. (3) also seems wrong, if not grammatically then semantically. So, by process of elimination, the answer is 4.
]

またね・・・

日本語：	[verb (short)] と思う
日本語：	[ adjective] と思う
日本語：	[ adjective] だと思う
日本語：	[noun] だと思う
日本語：	[verb (base 3,7)] とは思わない。
English:	I think...

Back to basics for today's post, but as it does feature in the JLPT on a regular basis, it's worth a quick look. As we learn in first year Japanese, と思う is the functional equivalent of 'to think', although, there are restrictions on when you can use it:

• You can only use it to indicate your own thoughts on some topic. You can't use it to indicate your intentions. So, "I think it's tasty" will use と思う, but "I think I will go to the cinema." will not. For the latter you need to use と思う after the volitional form.
  
• When referring to someone else's thoughts, you can only use と思う in the question form. To indicate that someone else (appears to be) thinking something, you should use たがっている.
  
• Not so much a restriction, but it is usual to conjugate the quoted thought and not と思う. However, I have seen the English concept of 'I don't think' written as とは思いません. Note that it's とは and not と.
  

Let's try some examples:

English:	I think that the book I borrowed from the library was interesting.
Jenglish:	[library][from][borrowed][book][was interesting][think]
日本語：	図書館から借りた本は面白かったと思う。

English:	I think that the vase was broken by the burglar.
Jenglish:	[burglar][vase][broke+passive][I think]
日本語：	泥棒に花瓶を壊されたと思う。

The second example sentence uses the passive form; another grammatical point that is essential for the JLPT - and very common in everyday Japanese speech. It will be covered soon.

今は、インターネットを探そう！

例一番目：

最初の例文はこのサイトが見つかる。ちょっと面白いと思う！

日本語：	彼氏が浮気したのではと思う態度ランキング
Jenglish:	[boyfriend] [GA] [unfaithful] [NODE] [WA] [think] [behaviour] [ranking]

The first thing that I noticed is that と思う is directly followed by a noun which is our old friend the subordinate clause. In other words, the final part of the sentence is being described by the first part. The final part is, in fact, two nouns without the possessive particle の, but I guess this has been omitted due to the casual nature of the site. So, this final part comes out as ranking of behaviour.

The first part starts with 彼氏が浮気した, which given the use of the particle が make s me think this is in intransitive form. So, with that we have boyfriend was unfaithful. Where I am confused is the use of のでは. Is that ので + は or の + では? I think ので + は makes more sense, which makes the first part of the sentence because [your] boyfriend was unfaithful.So, ignoring the use of は and adding と思う, my translation is:

A ranking of behaviour that makes you think your boyfriend was unfaithful.



例二番目：

この例はここが見つかました。

日本語：	デザインってスゴイんだってことをもっと本気で言わなきゃダメだと思う
Jenglish:	[design] [TTE] [wonderful] [or something][KOTO] [WO] [more] [seriousness] [DE] [say + if one does not] [no good] [I think]

A real tough one this time. Lots of particles and a sentence structure not suited for the western brain. But let's make a start.

Scanning left-to-right, let's identify the bits I don't know. First, we have って, which is a casual way of quoting. Next there's だって which is a colloquial form of ても. The final bit I didn't know was 言わなきゃ, which is a conjugation which adds a meaning similar to 'if one does not...'.

Let's examine the first part of the sentence: デザインってスゴイんだってことを. First it ends in を which likely means that this is an object that some verb will act upon. There's also a こと in there which could be a nominalizer. I think the use of って here is to bring emphasis to the fact that we're talking about the concept of design. So, at this stage, we have Design is wonderful or something [like that].

Scanning ahead in the sentence to find a verb, we get 言わなきゃダメだ. Literally translated, we get 'if one does not say' and 'is no good'. Combining this and the previous translated sections, we get no good that if one does not say design is wonderful or something [like that]

The next bit is もっと本気で. Literally 'more seriousness', the final で is a little confusing. Looking at my blog entry on で, I'm tempted to go with meaning two and translates its use here as 'with'. So, adding this in to our translation gives no good that if one does not say design is wonderful or something [like that] with more seriousness.

It's an awful mess and my only hope is that much of my confusion has arisen as a result of this being pretty casual Japanese. But, with a little bit of smoothing into natural English, I'm guessing the translation is: I think it's useless to say things like 'design is wonderful' if one does not say with more seriousness.

またね・・・