nihongo wo benkyou shitai

日本語：	[verb (plain)] でしょう
日本語：	[adjective] でしょう
日本語：	[noun] でしょう
English:	Probably..., Isn't that so?, Isn't that right?

It's always embarrassing to have to admit my lack of understanding of rudimentary Japanese, but here's another basic point that I've only really just comes to terms with. Today, we'll look at でしょう and it's casual equivalent だろう.

To be fair, I've known since my first year of study that でしょう is a sentence-ending conjugation that adds an element of uncertainty to the statement that comes before. I covered the concept of conjecture last year when looking at かもしれません, and from that we discovered there are different degrees of uncertainty. でしょう is used when the the likelihood of the statement coming to pass is high. It can be seen as being the equivalent of the phrase most likely.

What I didn't really understand is that it can also be used as a tag question. In sentences where we want to seek confirmation from someone as to the statement we've just made, we can add でしょう to the end and instantly we have the Japanese equivalent of isn't that right? or right?. Not a big thing, but one that makes for a much more natural sentence.

The conjugation is pretty straightforward: it follows the plain form of verbs (so bases 1, 3 and 7), adjectives and nouns. To use as a tag question, both でしょう and だろう are spoken with a rising edge.

English:	After last night, Matt will surely have a hangover.
Jenglish:	[last night][after],[Matt][hangover][have + surely]
日本語：	昨夜の後でマットくんは二日酔いがあるだろう。

English:	Because it's new, you probably can't download it.
Jenglish:	[it][new][because][download][can + negative + probably]
日本語：	これは新しいからダウンロード出来ないでしょう。

English:	If I go to confront him, you'll come too, right?
Jenglish:	[him][confront + go + if],[you][also][come + right?]
日本語：	彼に直面しに行ったら、あなたも行くだろう。

今はインターネットで、例を探そう！

一番目の例：

この例はこのサイトで見つかった。

日本語：	皆さんもよく経験があることだろう。
Jenglish:	[everyone] [too] [often] [experience] [have] [thing] [probably]

じゃぁ、この例は簡単なようだね・・・On the face of it, this sentence may seem a little unusual, but it is taken from an ongoing conversation on the site. Other than some mild confusion about the use of こと (which I believe is preceded by my favourite grammar - the subordinate clause), nothing really seems too challenging. So my translation is: A thing that probably everyone often experiences.

二番目の例：

二番目の例はこのサイトで見つかった。面白そうだ。

日本語：	終電に逃げられた人は、毎夜一杯いるだろう。
Jenglish:	[last train] [on] [escape] [people] [TM] [every evening] [a lot] [are] [probably].

Again, other than a new verb (逃げる) nothing really challenged me too much. Yet another subordinate clause (honestly, I don't go looking for them). My translation is: There are probably a lot of people who, every evening, escape [home] on the last train.

じゃぁ。。。またね！

罪を犯される！最近TESCOと言うスーパーは「Finest」ブランドからレーズンとナッツのチョコレートを作り終わった。最悪よ！！一番のレーズンとナッツのチョコレートだ！

東京で新しいTESCOはまだ売れてるかも。

日本語：	[verb (base 6)] も
日本語：	[い adjective] くても
日本語：	[な adjective] でも
日本語：	[noun] でも
English:	Even if...

Recently we had a look at the use of でも after nouns where it could be used to say things like even such-and-such or so-and-so or whatever. Today we'll look at another use of でも after nouns as well as it's use after adjectives and verbs. In such circumstances, it's English translation is even if...

There's not an awful lot to discuss on this point, other than to look at the conjugation. After verbs in base 6 (ーて form) add も. With adjectives, we also move them into ーて form, so we drop the い in い-adjectives and add くても whilst the な in な-adjectives becomes で followed by も. With nouns, the です becomes で followed by も.

Let's look at some examples!

English:	Even if I study everyday, my Japanese doesn't improve.
Jenglish:	[everyday][study][even if],[Japanese][doesn't improve]
日本語：	毎日勉強しても、日本語を上達しないでしまう。

NOTE: 23/06/2007 - Actually, after re-reading my post on しまう and the comments, I think that it's use here may not be correct...

English:	Even if you take care when drinking, you always have a hangover next day.
Jenglish:	[drinking][when][take care][even if],[next day][always][hangover][have]
日本語：	飲むの時は注意しても、翌日にいつも二日酔いがある。

It's also worth noting that ても/でも can be used with interrogatives. In this case it's takes on the meaning akin to no matter.... The below example is taken from Jim Breen's web site:

運転する時はいくら注意しても注意しすぎることはない。

If we break this down literally, we get:

[when driving] [how much] [take care + even if] [take care + too much] [is not]

The combination of the interrogative (in this case how much) and ても can be translated as no matter how much. So the best translation I have is No matter how much you take car when driving, it not too much.

じゃあ、インタネットで例文を探そう！

一番目例文：

Here's an example from this web site.

日本語：	「ただ乗り」されてもグーグルのトラフィックは必要？--ジレンマに悩む新聞業界
Jenglish:	[free ride] [to do + passive + even if] [Google traffic] [TP] [necessary?] [dilemma] [DP] [to be worried] [newspaper industry] [world]

Well, a bit demoralising to be honest. I had a nice start on this, but the first bit totally threw me. ただ乗り means 'free ride' but then we get される. The obvious translation to 'to do free rides' but that doesn't really make sense. 30 minutes later, I'm still no clearer so I'm leaving my translation as Even if it's free access, is Google's traffic necessary? The dilemma that the world of the newspaper industry worries about. Please help!!!

二番目例文：

Well, taken from this web site this example looks like the title of a drama.

日本語：	日が暮れても彼女と歩いてた
Jenglish:	[day] [SM] [to get dark + even if] [her] [with] [to walk (past progressive)]

Let's take a risk and not think about this one too much: My first thought is I walked with her, even if the day got dark. I'm guessing that 日が暮れる is idiomatic and translates to something like 'things got tough'. Come to think of it 彼女と歩いていた is probably also idiomatic and means 'I stayed with her' or something. Any ideas?

またね・・・

日本語：	[noun] でも
English:	even..., or something...

It's been a while since I dared have a look at the bane of my life - particles. So here's one that cropped up recently and caught my eye.

I'm sure that anyone who's studied Japanese will have come across でも very early on as one of the (many) ways to say but. However it has a much broader range and here we shall concentrate on it's use directly after nouns. In such instances, it can be used in a couple of ways:

1. As a means of emphasising the noun. For example:
   

   When he came home, even the dog was quiet.
   

2. To highlight that the noun it follows is just one of a list of possible items. For example:
   

   After the film, would you like a coffee or something?
   

So, it seems to be a useful bit of grammar and certainly allows more natural-sounding sentences to be constructed. でも can also be used after nouns to mean even if, but that's a separate blog entry!

Let's see it in use; first in some of my Japanese and then in real Japanese!

English:	When he came home, even the dog was quiet.
Jenglish:	[he][home][came],[dog][even][quiet]
日本語：	彼は家に帰った時、犬でも静かだった。

English:	After the film, would you like a coffee or something?
Jenglish:	[film][after][coffee][or something][drink + ?]
日本語：	映画の後で、コーヒーでも飲みませんか。

次、インターネットで調べよう・・・

一番目例文：

この例文はこのウエブサイトに見つけました。

日本語：	猫でもわかるプログラミング
Jenglish:	[cats][even][understand][programming]

Well, I think this is a nice one to start with. A quick scan shows a verb in base 3 (plain) form followed by a noun, so we have a subjunctive clause here. So my guess is: Programming even cats understand.

２番目例文：

もう一つ例文は・・・今回このサイトからです。

日本語：	絵日記でもかいてみようか
Jenglish:	[Illustrated diary][or something][write + try + let's]

A bit of a verb conjugation going on here. I did struggle over which meaning of でも　to use. I've guessed or something in this case. As for the verb, it's the volitional form of write in it's ーてみる form. So I think it says: Let's try and keep an illustrated diary (or something like that).

またね・・・

日本語：	[い adjective] くする
日本語：	[な adjective] にする
日本語：	[noun] にする
English:	Change into..., make...

Recently we covered one use of にする and found that it could be used to mean to decide upon or choose some object. Today we'll look at another meaning: to change something into or to make something . In essence it is similar to になる, but whereas になる indicates a natural change in state, にする indicates that the change is brought about by some external entity.

Usage is pretty straight-forward: with い adjectives, drop the い; with な adjectives, drop な. With nouns, simply add にする to the noun.

English:	His mood was pretty bad so I told some jokes. In short, that made him happy.
Jenglish:	[his][mood][pretty][bad][because][jokes][told]. [In short] [that] [happy + made]
日本語：	彼の機嫌はかなり悪いですので、冗談を言ったんだ。つまり、そのは嬉しくした。

English:	The film plot was not very good, but because Koyuki starred, somehow it made it interesting :-)
Jenglish:	[film plot][good + not very][but][koyuki][starred][somehow][interesting + made]
日本語：	映画の筋はあまり良くないけど、小雪さんを主演したから、なんとなく面白くした(^o^)

インタネットで調べよう！

Example 1:

Here's a book title found here.

日本語：	シカクいアタマをマルくする。
Jenglish:	[square] [head] [round + make]

Well, on the face of it, all seems easy enough, however I suspect that this is some kind of idiomatic expression. My translation is Make square heads round, but I can only guess a to the meaning. Any ideas?

Example 2:

Here's another more translatable (can I say that??) from a technology blog.

日本語：	注射針を不要にする新技術(下)
Jenglish:	[needle] [unnecessary + make] [new technology]

Nice and simple one here and even the subjunctive clause didn't cause much confusion. My translation is New technology that makes needles unnecessary.

Example 3:

もう一つ例文・・・今回このサイトから取りました。

日本語：	Webアプリケーションのオフライン動作を可能にする「Google Gears」
Jenglish:	[web application] [PM] [offline] [action] [OM] [possible + make]

OK, so slightly more tricky due to the lack of particles, subject, topic etc... but I'm guessing Offline web application actions made possible: Google Gears.

またね・・・

日本語：	[verb (base 2)] たがっている
日本語：	[adjective] がっている
English:	Shows signs of...

Here's another little surprise; I had never heard of this grammar point before last Thursday and now that I've looked into it a bit, it seems (a) to be very common and (b) very useful. In fact, it's so closely related to the ーたい conjugation that we learn in first year Japanese that I am surprised that I haven't come across it before.

I haven't written a blog entry on the たい conjugation yet, simply because I was pretty sure that I understood it. Not so, it appears; at least not fully. たい is a verb conjugation that adds a want to... aspect to sentences. For example ビールを飲みたい. What I did not realise is that たい can only be used when the subject of the sentence is either the first person (I/we), or the second person (you) in question form. If the subject is the third-person you have to use がっている. When used, it adds a wants to... or seems to... aspect to the sentence.

The conjugation is pretty easy; with verbs you move the verb to base 2 and add た (as in たい), then add がっている. With い and な adjectives, drop the い and な respectively.

English:	He wants to move to Japan this year.
Jenglish:	[this year][he][Japan][move + want]
日本語：	今年、彼は日本に引っ越したがっている。

English:	She looks like she wants to leave.
Jenglish:	[she][leave + looks like]
日本語：	彼女は帰りたがっている。

English:	Despite the warm breeze, they seem to be cold.
Jenglish:	[warm][breeze][despite][they][cold + seem]
日本語：	暖かいそれ風のに、彼らは寒がっている。

インタネットで調べよう！

Example 1:

The first example is the title of a very business-like example about some problems with Japanese Airlines.

日本語：	JAL経営陣との決別！パート２世界の投資家はJAL筆頭株主の座を欲しがっている
Jenglish:	[JAL] [management ranks] [of] [separation/farewell]! [part 2] [world] [of] [investor] [SM] [JAL] [first on list] [shareholder] [of] [seat] [OM] [shows signs of wanting]

Ummmm, a simple-looking sentence, but one with lots of kanji jammed together like sardines. The first problem was the use of との in the first part. Couldn't find a reference to it's meaning and so I've translated it as of. After that we have the subject ('the world of investors') who want something (欲しがっている). I was getting a little confused here so I simply 'ignored' a couple of words. So my translation is: JAL management farewell! The world of investors want JAL shareholders top of the list.


Example 2:

The Japanese are going green like the rest of us. Here's a quick example.

日本語：	企業はごみを欲しがっている！
Jenglish:	[enterprise] [SM] [rubbish] [OM] [wants]

I'm going to be bold here and just translate it - I'm THAT confident! I get Enterprises want rubbish!. It's so easy - it just has to be wrong. Anyway interesting article on eco towns sponsored by the ministy of economy, trade & industry (METI) and the ministry of the environment.

またね・・・