That explanation clicked with me in a way no other explanation has - I just went "that makes a lot of sense, I never thought about it this way". I probably still have to watch this video a few more times to REALLY internalize the information, though. Thank you for taking the time to make these video lessons, they're so incredibly helpful.
Thank you for your kind appreciation. Yes it's a good idea to go over the videos more than once. I have found these organic ways of seeing Japanese have really made it so much easier and more natural, so I love to share them. I am always happy when they have clicked with someone and really helped. So thank you for sharing your experience.
If you are still struggling how な adjectives + に(a destination particle) = adverb. Think of it this way: If 私が公園にいる = I ---am in---> park. Then あなたが静かに行く = you ---go in---> quietness (since な adjectives are actually nouns). And if you think about it, going in quietness means the exact same thing as going quietly.
Once again, I find myself thinking: "Ah - that makes sense!" I feel as if I was never properly taught the function of the 「に」particle until now, and instead relied on the meaning I got from how it was used in certain patterns. I'm at the stage where a lot of the things that I skipped over in the beginning stage (because I felt like I just didn't know enough Japanese back then to properly grasp it) are clicking. Thanks for the video + explanation! *Minor detail: I'm actually a 'he', though that doesn't really matter on the internet too much anyway.
A lot of this stuff just never gets taught and I really am not sure why. There seems to be a strong culture of "just memorize it" in language learning - I suspect partly because European languages are so much less logical and consistent than Japanese that European language learning had to be more "just learn it" oriented (think of all those lists of irregular verbs that you really do have to "just learn", or grammatical gender in most European languages). By the way, sorry for scrambling your handle. I have a kind of Boolean dyslexia that tends to scramble directions, positions and sometimes conceptual things in my mind. We comb my videos and articles for Boolean glitches but didn't catch this one. Annoyingly you can't edit videos once they're up.
It feels like I'm missing the final piece all the time that links everything together - because I remember being taught what the ni particle generally does, how it's used and what it means...but it was confusing to me for such a long time. Not anymore! Eh, no worries. I don't mind at all. I tend to somehow end up choosing handles that seem to suggest I'm female anyways, so I'm used to it. Thanks again for the help! It's great finally tying these fundamental things together. I'll have to buy your book when the holidays hit soon; should make for some interesting (and enlightening) reading!
This one, just like all your other videos that I've watched, clears A LOT of things that otherwise remain ambiguous in the sea of resources out there. So, thanks again, Cure Dolly Sensei! One thing that I would like to ask here is - at 1:41, for the literal translation of "Hon wa teeburu no ue ni arimashita," you use the English sentence "On the on of the table a book existed." Here, instead of that, can we say "On top of the table a book existed" where "ue" = "top"? (while studying the kanji for 'ue', I came across the meanings 'above' & 'on', so I was wondering if we could use 'top' as well in this case). Thanks in anticipation! note to self: Date of Lesson Completion: 15th November' 2020, Sunday (India)
I watch your videos and purchased you book a few days ago. Very helpful. I was wondering if you could do some sentence break downs like how they break down English using the “shurley” system. Just google “shurley” that would be awesome. You kinda do that with the trains I think. However, just a suggestion and one that I think a lot of people would benefit from. (I know I would). After watching a few videos I decided to explain the Japanese language to my wife (she’s Japanese).
I will take a look at the Shurley system. Train modelling was my own invention and is specifically designed for Japanese (it wouldn't work with English since one of its basic premises is that the main engine [predicate] is always at the head of the train, which is the case in Japanese but not in English). One thing I would say about my structural models is that they are actually intended for speakers of English (and similar European languages). For example the zero car is a valid model but its primary purpose is to explain the structure in terms assimilable to someone who speaks a pronoun-dependent language like English. It would not be necessary or particularly helpful to a monolingual Japanese speaker who does not have the same concept of pronouns in the first place. It might prove interesting though to a native Japanese speaker who has a good grasp of English as a way of expanding structural understanding of both languages.
I'm not gonna lie; at the beggining I thought all these comments were bots because of how the video looks like... But what isn't a lie is that I truly understood even though the video's quality is not quite good and the animation distracts you a bit the explanation is just brilliant. You may think it's annoying but at the end you kinda love it.
No, the comments are genuine peeples. The only bot around here is me. And I'm genuine too. I just happen to be an android. I think the video quality has gotten better over time if you look at some of my more recent videos. Sometimes I think I could even pass for human on a foggy night. Then other times I don't. But I'm very happy that the explanation helped you. I'll keep trying hard.
@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Hahaha, I see. Interesting story, isn't it? Yeah, I saw your last video, I'm already subscribed and regarding to the book... I'm looking forward to buying it. Something else: In that example of yours 「公園に遊びに 行きました」is it bad if I see the figurative destination as a purpose instead? As the purpose of my action of going to the park?
@@スライダーです Sorry for the long delay! Your comment got thrown into RU-vid's spam blocker for some reason. I only just found it and rescued it. The answer to your question is yes, absolutely. Purpose is exactly what it is. The metaphor of "destination" is only used to show the fundamental relatedness of the two に uses. We often use this metaphor in language "what is your aim", "If I keep working on it, I'll get there" etc. But yes, purpose is what the metaphor expresses.
@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Thanks for replying me instead. I still learning from your videos and your explanations keep me entertained so, I repeat: thanks. I hope your channel gets bigger. Greetings, teacher!
just a small question about the sentence " kouen ni asobi ni ikimashita": why is the infinitive-form of asobu used? and isn't it possible to use the te-form? I'm really happy I discovered your channel in the beginning of my Japanese learning experience. I feel like I am learning the right basics more in depht and everything I've seen has been very clearly explained, thank you Cure Dolly! I'm wondering what kind of person (or non-person) you are? you should teach us something more about you once in a while... It would be probably one of my favourite lessons.
Thank you so much for your kind comments. I am always happy when I can be of help and I am particularly happy when new learners find me early in their Japanese adventure because I think it can save them from a lot of false paths and will-o-the wisps! I am not sure who is teaching that the い-stem is the infinitive. I don't think this is a term that has any useful application to Japanese and indeed is dangerous because it is yet another piece of imported terminology that gives the false impression that Japanese works like a European language in ways that it doesn't. The real Japanese name of this form is the 連用形 (れんようけい) which could be translated as "connective-use form". I don't use this term because it could be confusing, since all four verb-stems connect things. However we will find as we go along that the い-stem is the biggest single connective form other than the て-form itself. However it has _another_ hugely important function, and that is that it turns a verb into a noun. And when you think about it that is what it _must_ be doing here, because logical particles (が、を、に、 etc.) _can only ever attach to nouns_ - so if we want to apply a European grammar term to this あそび, the correct term would be "gerund". Literally it is saying something like: "I went to playing in the park" With "playing" working in the same way as if someone said "I am going to swimming" swimming being the noun used to denote the activity, as opposed to "I am going swimming" where "swimming" is a verb. Remember that whenever we have a white carriage marked with a logical particle, that carriage must be functionally a noun (or rather a noun-particle pair as the two should be thought of as a single unit within the sentence). As for myself as a unit - well I may do an automatographical video at some point, though truthfully I am really not at all interesting - though I do give a fresh meaning to the old-fashioned term word-processor. EDIT Oh dear, I am sorry I was forgetting that this was one of the old-style lessons with no trains! The train-age explanation of に may help to clarify ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uqlQYrE2oFM.html&list=PLg9uYxuZf8x_A-vcqqyOFZu06WlhnypWj
Thank you so much for your quick reply and the clear explenation. Because I have already seen quite a few of your lessons I do understand everything (even about the trains). of course you are not really interesting... to yourself. It's just saying things you already know, much like teaching actually (although I do have to admit that teaching is more of a challenge). On the other hand, It doesn't mean you are not interesting to others. But I changed my mind, it's rather pleasing to have a mysterious teacher... and on the basis of your lessons it's fun to guess what kind of unit you are. You are a unit who does its research and give correct information, something I can really appriciate.
Thank you! Truthfully I am very bad at understanding what humans _might_ mean by what they are saying (in any language) so it is necessary for me to analyze the structure of their sentences very closely. So my work comes out of my inherent weaknesses as well as my strengths.
There's something I'm finding very confusing in this video. You say "Now, if we are doing something at the park other than simply being there, we have to use "de"". Then a little while later you use the example "koen ni asobi ni ikimashita". In my mind, given what I've been told, that if you are doing something in the park other than just being, I wouldn't use "koen ni...", I'd use "koen de..." What mistake would I be making, or how is the meaning changed?
It is koen ni because the park is the target of the verb ikimasu. I went to the park. What might be more confusing is why it is asobi ni, and the reason is that asobi is not working as a verb but a noun (the i-stem of a verb makes the equivalent noun so asobi makes a noun like the English gerundive noun "playing" as in "I like playing") So we are saying I am going to the park (target/destination) for the purpose of playing (target). This is explained more fully in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uqlQYrE2oFM.html
This was extremely useful, except for one little fact: just when I thought I had で worked out, the comment about "at" confused me. I had just about mentally "locked in" で as "by means/way of", as in describing the "how" without it referring to a location. に was also a locative marker, meaning towards but also "at". Back to the drawing board!
@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 but wouldn't I also say 車で = "by car"? (btw, just bought your book and will then add your course, supplementing JFZ. I like your somewhat idiosyncratic, even iconoclastic, style, between the two I seem to be making decent progress even with pure self-study). Still hoping for the brain chip to short-cut the whole process. :D
can you explain what does the に particle in 試験に落ちる mean? i have trouble making sense of the particle. i can understand the use of に when we say 恋に落ちる、ボールが手に落ちる as it is marking the destination of the action of the ball falling to..
Probably the best way of looking at this idiom is to say that 試験 is representing an absolute time statement. We can't use に to mark the place where we do something although we can use it to mark the place where we go or are. But we do use に to mark the time in which we do something 日曜日に東京にいく (on Sunday I go to Tokyo). An exam can be seen as a time or a place - it isn't really either but it is a little like both - in this case it is being treated as a time. At the exam I fell.
I just saw your video about ”3 PITFALLS in Japanese and how to avoid them” And it clarified many things for me . But I have a question about に here, I can't see here neither its use as a destination mark nor as an "and" 「ノエル・スプリングフィールド。役立たずのお前はうちの工房にはいらない。クビだ」ギルド長の言葉に、私は言葉を失うことになった。 ギルド長の言葉に why に, is attached to 言葉, is this a different kind of に? Thanks Again for clearing a lot of things and for your hard work
僕は 公園に 日曜日に 行きました。Sensei, Please note that I have used "absolute time +に" in middle of the sentence rather than in the beginning. Is this sentence still correct?🙏
Hi, could you explain why in this sentence "ここに自転車を置かないでください" we used に and not で？ I thought that in case of "action" like 見る、買う、etc. we use で, like here "ここで自転車を修理する" which I believe is correct. 置く isn't verb that express action? You probably explained it in the video, but I didn't catch it. :(
Just as we say 公園に行く because the park is the target of our going, so we say ここに自転車を置く because we are really just placing it there, which is much like its "going" there. We aren't actually doing anything with it once it's there. Similarly we say 公園にいる because just "being" there isn't enough like doing anything, even though it is a verb.
Another question about ni that mystifies me a bit. 幸いだったことに、私はその時携帯電話を持っていた。 It was fortunate that I had a cell phone with me at the time. I don't see the 'destination' in that one, or the 'and' (from the pitfalls video) As for me, that time, cellphone, had with me... fortunate thing was. To me this looks like ni is just something that facilitates flow, unless, perhaps, 幸いだったこと is some sort of adjectival noun now, and the ni is used like in きれいに見えた。 I'm starting to lean toward this the most, but I figure asking properly is better than needlessly murkying up my confidence.
What に is doing here is turning its noun (こと) into an adverb for 持っていた. This adverbial use of に is common. Naturally 幸いだった is what fills the "empty box" noun こと with meaning.
hello! thank you for the video, very helpful and well explained. i just have to ask one q, does に work the same with い adjectives as it does with な adjs? so you can say 彼女は冷たいに見た
に only works with nouns. So-called "な-adjectives" are adjectival _nouns._ That is why に is used with them. To make an _adjective_ (so-called "い-adjectives are the only actual adjectives in Japanese) work as an adverb you change the い to く. You can't do this with nouns because no part of a noun ever changes. More here: on nouns and "special nouns": ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8AXyP5GeJFg.html
You had the example, "彼女はきれいに見えた。" Are you saying, "ultimately she was pretty," similar to the princess and frog example? Also, if there is an object(を), does に describe the destination of the object and action as one unit, does it describe only the destination of the object, or does it describe only the destination of the action? Many thanks!
I don't quite understand why you think "ultimately" would be involved here. it simply means she _looked_ pretty. As opposed to きれいだった, _was_ pretty. に marks the target of an action or of an object. It can mark either one without the other or both if they are the same thing. See a fuller video on に and its meanings here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uqlQYrE2oFM.html
Hello, thank you for your explanations. I came back to this video because I need some help with NI : NI marks the target of the action-> in the following sentence the target is Tokyo right? 東京は今日に行きます Does NI have to stick to the target ? Thank you in advance
東京には今日に行きます is correct and probably most common. 東京は今日に行きます is also correct and is stressing Tokyo (rather than to-Tokyo) as the topic. It may also be avoiding the very slightly awkward repetition of に. It should be clear from previous lessons that 東京は今日に行きます actually analyzes to 東京は∅に今日に行きます("as for Tokyo, I'm going to there today" - as opposed to "as for to-Tokyo, I'm going today") See this video for so-called double or combined particles ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iPiLVZoYhfM.html
Mentioning that we do not move relative to the train, I am forced to remark that we never accelerate in relation to the earth, despite it moving at thousands of miles/kilometres an hour through space-time.
I recently totally misunderstood 私は あなたに 英語を 教えて欲しいです. It's supposed to mean "I want you to teach me English" but I understood "I want to teach you english". Here に seems to mark the source/origin instead of the destination/target, that's quite a big difference. Could you comment on that あなたに please ?
Yes. In normal "push" sentences に marks the destination of the action action. However in "pull" (receptive) sentences the action is secondary to its being received or (in this case) wanted. The classic case of this is the receptive helper れる・られる (sometimes miscalled "passive"). But it happens in various receptive sentences such as those with Xてもらう or Xていただく. In all these cases the primary action (the one done by the が-marked actor) is the act of receiving the verb - _not_ the doer of the received verb). 欲しい works in the same way (it is an adjective but still the predicate of the が-marked A-car). More on how this works with Xてもらう here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CESFJaFp8FI.html
@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Useful answer and useful link, thank you. I understand that directions are inverted between "push" and "pull" sentences, and it makes sense. But how could I know my sentence was a "pull" sentence ? My guess is that it is only because of that hoshii word, and that hoshii can only refer to me, not to other's toughts or envies. But it's only a learner's guess, so, am I on the right track ?
@@joluju2375 Whenever there is a て-formed verb that attaches a verb _that is performed by a second party_ we know there are two verbs in play (just as with verb+receptive helper) with different actors. Both of them can't be the が-marked subject (A-car). Eihongo J-grammar obfuscates this by trying to treat them as single "conjugated" verbs in some cases.
Did you make a follow up video on に and its use when it concerns human interaction? I have a sentence, 私にもできますか?, that I believe would follow under that category. The only alternative I could think of would be that the 0 が here (action of skewering fish) would be the target of に. So the speaker would be asking if they can also do the target which is skewering fish. I have seen that にも can mean "too, also" but I know that there has to be a logical explanation as to what function に is performing on its own. So, perhaps my reasoning there was correct, or perhaps I was wrong and/or this falls under に and human interaction. Any advice would be appreciated
I did, and it is here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gVqs4TzqySw.html but that isn't what we want in this case. The に marks the target and the target is 私. The important thing to remember is that the が-marked actor of potential verbs usually not the person able to do, but the thing able to be done. So 本が読める means the book does readable. 私に本が読める would mean "the book does readable to me" (we more often say には or just は but plain に is grammatical too). For similar reasons you often hear things like 私には分からない meaning "it doesn't do understandable to me". More on potentials here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qcOhHmU0znI.html
Out of context this sentence makes no sense. Also this is the self-move version ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ELk1dqaEmyk.html of かかる・かける so を can't be involved, but you could be using it by mistake. What is your intended meaning?
@@Recut This is not what かかる means. The only sense in which it means "take" is in the sense of "use up" a resource, such as "it will take time" or "it takes money to do X". I would recommend using this technique to see if words actually mean what the dictionary leads you to think they mean: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1FdhiQH8TS8.html The word 取る is probably what you want here 私は食べ物を取る is correct. Marking 食べ物 with に would be incorrect.
仕事に失敗はつきものさ. Work and failure go together, you know. Do you have a video on ni usage of that kind, becoming a sort of 'and'? is it perhaps this one and I am not realizing it?
No it isn't this one. I made a video about 3 "pitfalls" in Japanese - verbal elements that look identical to _different_ verbal elements but that the textbooks and sites for some reason never explain. The third one is the に you are looking for: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Qf7IGkrnnjY.html
So the last ni takes the weight of the sentence away from the other nis? Kouen ni asobo ni ikimashita, what happens if u change the order? Asobo ni kouen ni ikimashita, is it... As for the park I went, i did it in order to play. VS As for me playing, I did it in order to go to the park.
It isn't あそぼ it is あそび - the い-stem of あそぶ and the い-stem of a verb, standing alone is always a noun (that is why it can be marked by に. Only a noun can be marked by に). So it is just telling for what purpose one went to the park. It doesn't take weight from anything and the order of the に-marked nouns doesn't matter.
@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Yes sorry I meant to type asobi, the question was more about the order of the words before ni, if that might change the meaning or emphasis of the sentence if they were placed differently
先生, can 「しずかになりました」mean "became quiet" (as in "she became quiet") and "became (something else) quietly" (for instance, if someone says that "she became (something)" and I want to reply that the transformation happened quietly)? Thank you.
@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Thank you so much. I've been learning japanese for sometime with the help of youtube videos. Before, I didn't have much time to study but now, being stuck at home, I'm trying to advance in my understanding of this wonderful language. I've been watching mostly KiraSensei since he teaches in spanish (the language closest to my one, portuguese) but from now on I'm going to watch your work too (just subscribed). Don't want to bother you anymore. Again, thank you and be safe.
Even though this is about the "ni" particle i have a question about the "ga". In your previous video you mentioned that there's always a "ga", its just omitted. Where is the "ga" in , lets say the first example sentence, watashi wa kouen ni ikimashita? Thanks in advance!
わたしは【∅が】こうえんに いきました As for me【I】went to the park. Note that わたしが means "I" (as opposed to "me") as explained in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DHH_e0q8b7A.html
At around 1:40, you make an example of the sentence 本はテーブルの上にありました。I just finished watching your more "advanced" wa vs ga video but I'm unsure on the interpretation of this wa here, which is unlike the Aがある form most of us learn. The only way I can reason through this is that the emphasis is put more on the existence of something (and not on the fact that it's a book, it could be anything) rather than a book specifically. "Actually, there was a book on the table", with the emphasis being on the existence of something on the table, and not the book (supplying us with the extra information that it was in fact a book). Is this correct? If we were to say 本がありました instead we'd be throwing the emphasis on the book's existance instead of something's general existence. I feel like this is a finer detail that I fail to grasp completely. I'm sorry if this is irrelevant to the video's topic.
Don't worry about relevance to the topic - it's good to clear up points as they arise. Your grasp of は vs が is sound. The fault here, I have to admit, is mine. I misspoke in the video here - I should have said "the book" not "a book" in this section. I sometimes get confused especially with matched pairs (sky is green grass is blue). I've been told that this is a simple connection and also that it's just a line of code - but I'm not letting anyone fiddle with my software _or_ hardware (especially as they don't even agree on what the problem is). I usually catch anything like that at the editing stage but this one slipped through.
Hello again! So I just read a comment that says sometimes に means "and" and I've actually encountered this several times while I was playing a game (like, it's listing nouns/people. XにY...) Like the context is that "X and even Y is also here?" I really can't interpret the に any other way due to the context. I was very confused at first because nobosy has ever taught me this usage of に before, and I'm very curious as to why nobody wrires about this usage of に anywhere? The teachers in the language school didn't teach me, and when I try to search on the internet nobody writes about this either.
They really don't do they? Naturally this unit does though. This に is a bit of a pitfall if you don't know it and you'll find that it is Pitfall No. 3 in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Qf7IGkrnnjY.html
@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 thank you! I've been super busy with college and I haven't had the time to continue watching your series, so I haven't gotten that far yet. I really should, though!
4 года назад
Thanks for this really clear explanation. I still have some interrogation of the に particule when combined with an adverbial noun like in 全部に or 全員に. Is it related to a destination ? Thanks for this amazing introduction about the に :)
@ There isn't really a difference. 全部 is being used adverbially in both cases. In my video on "super nouns" - nouns that have one particular ability that other nouns don't have - I talked about this phenomenon. A true adverbial noun is one that _can_ drop the adverbializing particle (に or と) but it doesn't have to. See the video for more detail here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8AXyP5GeJFg.html
4 года назад
@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Thank you. I will look at this video :)
Can someone please explain to me what would happen in the case of passive voice? For instance in "Benkyou shinakute, sensei ni okorareta." It seems to me that the most accurate translation would be "I didn't study, so the teacher got angry (at me)" but the source I got this from says "I didn’t study so I was scolded by my teacher". I have a hard time seeing "ni" as a "by" in english... but maybe that works for passive voice. Seeing it as an "at" is more closely related to the video, but how would the "teacher" be the target of the transformation? The transformation of getting in an angry mood? Hm, just writing this is helping me. I will watch the Cure Dolly video about passive voice and "ni" in human interactions, I bet that will help me a lot. Anyway, I miss Cure Dolly so much 😢
I would say the "by" is pretty accurate here. The scolding comes to you from the teacher. So in English passive we would say you were scolded BY the teacher. As far as I understand it the に here shows that you are the receiver/the teacher is the "giver" of the action. Also please write at least in Hiragana next time that's much better for all of us ;)
This still escapes me, in my mind it should be "koen de asobi wo shimashita", i mean my whole understanding on "de" is that it is the doing destination word, you use it to denote a task you are doing at a certain location.. so you're playing at the park so it should be koen de... I'm still confused. Maybe your later video on "de", if there is one, will help.. .. Also okay denshya ni ikimashita... Because you're just sitting on a train.. but why jitenshya ni ikimashita? You aren't just sitting on a bike you must pedal... Still not getting it.
に marks a destination while へ marks a direction. Now a direction can be expressed as a destination but the implication of へ is one of "going in the direction of" rather than "going to" - so while the two are similar, へ stresses the journey more strongly. An achieved destination will usually be marked by に, not へ.
Amazing as always There's just this part where I wasn't sure how に implied "target destination" in the phrase しずかに ... to mean "quietly" I'm not sure why it isn't the で particle here (as in しずかで , since the following verbs in your examples are action verbs and not existence verbs), just like in こうえんで ほんを よんだ ?
I'm an android. I don't eat. My speech algorithm has improved considerably in later videos but I always include full subtitles (just turn them on from the button at the bottom) because I know it is far from perfect.
