The suffix -残す is only one of several that enable you to express how just how incompetent you are. Here are other suffixes of this kind (all coming to you from Naoko Chino’s Japanese Verbs at a Glance):
-かける (-kakeru: to fail to complete something)
This expression makes a lot of sense if you think of leaving something hanging (掛ける: kakeru). People write this suffix in hiragana. We explored -かける thoroughly a long time ago.
-違える (-chigaeru: to make a mistake)
We’ve seen this in the following expressions:
履き違える (hakichigaeru: to put on another’s shoes; to be mistaken)
shoes + to make a mistake寝違える (nechigaeru: to sleep in an awkward position and wake with a crick in the neck)
to sleep + to make a mistake in
performing an action-間違える (-machigaeru: to make a mistake)
This is interchangeable with -違える, though the more compact version seems more common. An example:
漢字を読み間違えてしまった。
Kanji o yomimachigaete shimatta.
I misread the kanji.漢字 (kanji) Chinese + characters
読み間違える (yomimachigaeru: to misread)
to read + to make a mistake-忘れる (-wasureru: to forget to do something)
持ち物を置き忘れないように。
Mochimono o okiwasurenai yōni.
Don’t leave your things behind.The Japanese sentence is incomplete; native speakers omit 気をつけてください (ki o tsukete kudasai: be careful; watch out) at the end, because that part is obvious.
持ち物 (mochimono: one’s personal property)
to hold in one’s possession +
thing
置き忘れる (okiwasureru: to leave behind, misplace, forget)
to place + to forget-落とす (-otosu: to omit something unintentionally)
アメリカ人は何を見落としているのだろうか。
Amerika-jin wa nani o miotoshite iru no darō ka.
What are Americans overlooking?-人 (-jin: people)
何 (nani: what)
見落とす (miotosu: to overlook, fail to notice, miss (seeing)) to see + to miss
