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Combining "either... or..." with other particles.

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thegooseking
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Posts: 216
Joined: October 17th, 2008 8:24 pm

Combining "either... or..." with other particles.

Postby thegooseking » February 18th, 2014 12:32 pm

みんなさん、こんにちは、

I've looked up several source, but they've all tersely informed me that the way to express "either... or..." in Japanese is …か…か (at least with positive verbs; with negative verbs it becomes …も…も). I'm still a bit confused about how to incorporate this into a sentence.

In English, we can interchangeably say both:-
"Mastery is decided either by natural talent or by practice."
"Mastery is decided by either natural talent or practice."

Is the same true in Japanese? I.e., are both of the following correct?

会得は天賦にか練習にか決定づけられる。
Etoku wa tenpu ni ka renshū ni ka ketteidzukerareru.

会得は天賦か練習かに決定づけられる。
Etoku wa tenpu ka renshū ka ni ketteidzukerareru.

Or is one more correct than the other? Or am I totally wrong?

よろしくおねがいします、
小狼

community.japanese
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Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: Combining "either... or..." with other particles.

Postby community.japanese » February 20th, 2014 1:43 am

Hello 小狼さん、
会得 means understand, comprehend, grasp.
I change the word and your sentence should be
卓越した能力は天賦か努力か(のどちらか)によって決定づけられる。
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

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thegooseking
Expert on Something
Posts: 216
Joined: October 17th, 2008 8:24 pm

Re: Combining "either... or..." with other particles.

Postby thegooseking » February 21st, 2014 2:53 pm

由紀先生、

あらいがとうございます。

もしほかの問い掛けることがよかったら、「…か…か」も「…か…のどちらか」も「…かそれとも…か」もはどう違いますか?

If I were to guess, I'm thinking that AかBか just means "A or B", whereas AかBのどちらか is more emphatically "either A or B". I know that それとも is a conjunction meaning 'otherwise' or "or else", so would AかそれともBか mean "A or else B"? Would that be right?

小狼

community.japanese
Expert on Something
Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: Combining "either... or..." with other particles.

Postby community.japanese » February 24th, 2014 4:07 am

Hello 小狼さん、
どういたしまして。
どちらか and それとも are emphasising.
Yuki 由紀
Team  JaanesePod101.com

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