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わからへん!!!

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lucasburns
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 21
Joined: May 31st, 2006 2:05 pm

わからへん!!!

Postby lucasburns » July 28th, 2006 6:04 am

Ok, sorry for the Osaka-ben.

Can someone help me. I really have no idea what I learnt yesterday in my Japanese lesson.
Can someone explain what the difference is between:
カレンダーに今月のよていが書いてあります
without kanji: カレンダーにこんげつのよていがかいてあります - which is what I learnt yesterday, and:
カレンダーに今月のよいてを書いた。

I don't understand English grammar (!) so if you know the answer, please don't respond in terms of transitive and intransitive verbs without an explanation of those terms in simple english :oops: :(

Bueller_007
Expert on Something
Posts: 960
Joined: April 24th, 2006 8:29 am

Re: わからへん!!!

Postby Bueller_007 » July 28th, 2006 7:51 am

lucasburns wrote:Ok, sorry for the Osaka-ben.

Can someone help me. I really have no idea what I learnt yesterday in my Japanese lesson.
Can someone explain what the difference is between:
カレンダーに今月のよていが書いてあります
without kanji: カレンダーにこんげつのよていがかいてあります - which is what I learnt yesterday, and:
カレンダーに今月のよいてを書いた。

I don't understand English grammar (!) so if you know the answer, please don't respond in terms of transitive and intransitive verbs without an explanation of those terms in simple english :oops: :(

EXTREMELY easy grammar point that is always very, very poorly explained in texts.

カレンダーに今月の予定が書いてあります。
"This month's plans have been written in the calendar".

カレンダーに今月の予定を書いた。
"[I] wrote this month's plans in the calendar."

Topic of sentence one? Plans.
Topic of sentence two? Me.

So in a way, you can think of it as an alternative to passive voice. Shifting the stress away from the "doer" and onto the "object".

The -te arimasu form is simple. What does "arimasu" mean? "To be". And the -te form can be used to express a means of doing something. So it literally means "to be in such-and-such state", and it's therefore similar to the "-te imasu" form. The difference is that "-te arimasu" implies that "someone or something is responsible".

Check these (famous?) example sentences:
窓が開いています。= "The window is open." (Perhaps the wind blew it open... You don't know. You're merely stating a fact: "The window is open.")
窓が開けてあります。= "The window has been opened [by someone]." or "Someone opened the window." (In this case, you have a reason to believe that someone or something opened the window. It was not the window's own action.)

Note that "-te imasu" takes an intransitive verb and "-te arimasu" takes a transitive verb (in this case).

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lucasburns
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 21
Joined: May 31st, 2006 2:05 pm

Postby lucasburns » July 28th, 2006 8:06 am

どうもありがとうございました!私が思うにわかった。
You are right about the texts. I am using みんなの日本語 and find it very frustrating at times. I know ther are other versions out there, and I should buy the grammar book, but I am using just the kana version. Definitely needs the teacher to go with that one!

It is just to damn hot to go into Umeda! ビユーラさん、大阪にすんでいましたね。どこにすんでいましたか。

Bueller_007
Expert on Something
Posts: 960
Joined: April 24th, 2006 8:29 am

Postby Bueller_007 » July 28th, 2006 8:50 am

lucasburns wrote:どうもありがとうございました!私が思うにわかった。
You are right about the texts. I am using みんなの日本語 and find it very frustrating at times. I know ther are other versions out there, and I should buy the grammar book, but I am using just the kana version. Definitely needs the teacher to go with that one!

It is just to damn hot to go into Umeda! ビユーラさん、大阪にすんでいましたね。どこにすんでいましたか。

去年の十二月まで,豊中(toyonaka)市の曽根(sone)駅の辺りに住んでいました。それに先立ち,吹田(suita)市の下新庄(shimo-shinjo)駅の辺りに住んでいました。ルーカスさんは?

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