All Questions
15
questions
6
votes
3
answers
2k
views
回｛まわ｝り as a counter for 12 years?
In Ryuu ga Gotoku 8 (aka Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth), when asked about getting with a younger lady, a character says the line "[彼女｛かのじょ｝]下手｛へた｝すりゃふた回｛まわ｝りも年下｛としした｝だぞ" ("at worst, [...
- 2,219
2
votes
1
answer
426
views
Why are there so many words that mean "first" (and other ordinal numbers)? What are the differences?
Here are the words that roughly mean "first" that I'm aware of, but feel free to add more:
最初
一番
一番目
一次
第一次
第一
第一位
一位
首位
What are the differences (if any) between all of them?
- 135
1
vote
2
answers
595
views
How does one express uncertainty when describing numbers e.g. 170-odd cases
I found myself stuttering when I tried to tell my boss that I had finished sending a-hundred-some-odd emails yesterday.
I've ask a similar question on HiNative a long time ago, and here I quote the ...
- 1,242
4
votes
1
answer
651
views
The meaning of 四五町ほど(隔たる)
While reading Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's "In a Grove," I came across the sentence; 「山科の駅路からは、四五町ほど隔たって居りましょう。」山科 I understand to be a place and everything else is understandable for me other than 四五町. ...
- 51
0
votes
1
answer
144
views
How do I count pieces of Halloween candy of different shapes?
I know that a bag of candy is counted as fukuro. Are the pieces counted differently based on the shape, long, thick, square, round, triangular, or is everything ko?
- 6,767
1
vote
1
answer
309
views
Are Japanese counters the same when viewing items online?
As an example, I read three books online, would the counter 冊 still be used? I know that counters are based on size and shape of physical items, do the same rules apply when reading a book online?
- 6,767
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Would the same counter be used to order a slice of pizza and a whole one?
When I order a pizza, would I use ichimai 一枚 to order a slice or the whole thing? Thank you.
- 6,767
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What is the term used for a baby's age at birth?
Is a babies age determined by date of conception or date of birth? What is the term used for determining the age? A Japanese friend told me that a pregnancy is 10 months. I have always used tanjoubi ...
- 6,767
-1
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How to say "The other sister" and "I don't have any brothers"
Can someone explain to me how to say the other (younger) sister when talking about family? I have to younger sister and want to discuss their professions, like in
One sister is a... and the other ...
- 11
2
votes
1
answer
248
views
What does this mean in context? [幾本も幾本も]
From 銀河鉄道の夜（宮沢賢治）
二人がその白い道を 、 肩をならべて行きますと 、 二人の影は 、 ちょうど四方に窓のある部屋 の中の 、 二本の柱の影のように 、 また二つの車輪の輻のように幾本も幾本も四方へ出るのでした.
What does 幾本も幾本も mean exactly and how is it used?
How is it pronounced? Is it ...
- 549
0
votes
1
answer
121
views
Letter change in counting strides
Here is something that has been bothering me for a while now: How to know how the letter changes inside words like for example 一杯、二杯？
More concretely, I really need to know how to correctly count ...
- 787
3
votes
1
answer
10k
views
What's the counter for episodes?
How can I say "I watched 13 episodes so far" in Japanese? What is the counter for episodes?
I also would like to know the right word for episode. Is it 挿話? That's what I found on jisho.org but since ...
- 787
5
votes
1
answer
428
views
"Line of code" in Japanese
I've been doing a bit of work with rendering 縦書き【たてがき】 in HTML, and was having a running internal monologue in Japanese about how things were progressing when I hit on a missing word: "line" as in "...
- 5,250
8
votes
1
answer
654
views
Does 両目 have a special meaning or is it just a mistake?
Today I found this sentence on my Japanese textbook (みんなの日本語中級I - 本冊 pg. 70) And it didn't make any sense to me.
前から２両目の電車を降りたところで待っています。
I looked for 両目 on 電子辞書 and it says it means both eyes. ...
- 429
11
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why is 「人口」 used to denote population?
I'm just curious at the appearance of 「口」 that makes this word mean "population". Why should it be 「口」 as opposed to any other body part or anything else? Is there a definitive reason or story ...
- 6,563