We're doing our best to prepare for, and hopefully, to help you prepare for the 日本語能力試験１級, but please remember: 1級, by its very nature, consists of grammar that is difficult, highly nuanced, and most of the time, rarely used in regular conversations. That's why it's important that you use our posts as references, to be compared with other study sources, and even more important that you CHECK THE COMMENTS after each post. We're lucky to receive corrections and clarifications from native speakers and other foreigners more knowledgeable than we, and they don't always make it back into the body of the post. Thanks, and 頑張って！
1級 Grammar 16-20
Another week, another set of grammar points - these ones focusing around some changes I'm going to implement to the Yoji as soon as I've ousted Jeff in a duel. PREPARE YOURSELF(Jeff and readers!)!
16. ～こととて
Because of ~,
Owing to ~,
This phrase is particularly prevalent with a followup that has the "押し訳ない" vibe to it, ie "I'm really sorry about this, but..." or "I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience, but...". To further shock you all, I will reveal that it is mostly used in formal conversations or in writing. Surprise!
Ex. 不景気のこととて、ザ・デーリー・四字の会員料金を５倍増加いたします。誠に申し訳ございませんが、皆さんのご努力をお願いします！
17. ～ことなしに
Without ~
～しないで
～せず
This one actually breaks down exactly how it looks - plug in the dictionary form of a verb behind it and you're in business! Try and save it for your written Japanese, though, or risk sounding a little pompous.
Ex. 精力を使うことなしにジェフを倒すと１６番の利益をゆっくりと楽しむ。
18. ～しまつだIt's come to the point where ~
This one is actually kind of fun - you list some kind of cause and effect and throw this on the end to emphasize how desperate a situation has become. 「最近、食料品を買ってないので、お腹がすいたらご飯に塩食をかけて食べるしまつだ。」 Good times. Make sure you use it when you're talking about the result of something else!
Ex. この俺様とジェフめが切磋琢磨で日本語を美味く話せるようになって、狭い佐賀が足らなくて一人だけ住めるしまつだ。ジェフ！かかってこい！
19. ～ずくめ
Nothing but ~
A ton of ~
I know all of you wanted another way to say ばかり, so here you go! Put this after a noun, especially an adjective paired with こと, and you're in the money.
Ex. 俺がザ・デーリー王様になると、ヤンキー語とナンパに関する記事ずくめのブログになるんだよ。楽しめ！
20. ～ずにはわかない
Have no choice but to ~
絶対に ~ する
～ずにはいられない
In a rare twist, this grammar point appears to lend itself mostly to spoken situations. Employ it when you want super-extra emphasis.
Ex. でもやっぱり、ジェフをぶっ殺しても、二ラブがまだ残っている。彼は北斗神券を極めた天才だ。ただ、そいつも決闘ずにはわかない。二ラブ！がってんしょうちのすけ！ああああたたたたたたたたたたたたた！
8 comments:
Very nice photoshopping there!
Hi, I'm here again.
First of all, 「申し訳」shoud be used instead of 「押し訳」. (^^)
不景気のこととて、ザ・デーリー・四字の会員料金を５倍増加いたします。申し訳ございません。皆さんの努力で頑張りましょう！
I'd say like this:
「不景気なので、....を５倍に増額いたします。誠に申し訳ありませんが、皆様のご協力をお願いします」
Ex. 精力を使うことなしにジェフを倒すと１６番の利益をゆっくりと楽しむ。
Oh, my. it's hard for me to get what you tried to say... 下ネタに聞こえるけど、そうなの？ If so, I can't seem to help you with this. XD
「食べ物を最近全然買ってないから、腹へってただのご飯と塩食べるしまつだ。」
I'd say, 「最近、食料品を買っていないので、お腹がすいたらご飯に塩をかけて食べる始末になっている」
To me, 「ご飯に塩をかけて食べる有様だ」sounds perfect in this sentence/.
Ex. この俺様とジェフめが切磋琢磨で日本語を美味く話せるようになって、狭い佐賀が足らなくて一人だけ住めるしまつだ。ジェフ！かかってこい！
Umm, this sentence makes me confused a bit. Can I change this a little? How about like this.
「オレ様とジェフは切磋琢磨し、日本語が上手く話せるようになった。狭い佐賀では住み足らなくなって（誰がかな？ ２人ともかな？）、今では１人で住んでいる始末だ。
ジェフ、かかってこい！
Still, this sentence is confusing...
Ex. 俺はザ・デーリー王様になると、ヤンキー語とナンパに関するポストずくめのブログになるんだよ。楽しめ！
Umm.. sorry, I don't get this Japanese...
Ex. 彼は北斗の拳の天才は残念だが、そいつも決闘ずにはわかない。二ラブ！がってんしょうちのすけ！ああああたたたたたたたたたたたたた！
I'd say, 「彼は北斗の拳を極めた天才だ。ただ、こいつとも決闘してみなければ（勝負は）わからない。二ラブ！ 覚悟しろ！」
若くて熱い記事の内容に、ちょっとついていけなかったかも...。はっきりしないアドバイスばかりで、ごめんなさいね。
Clay - it's the most fun I've had making something in awhile :D found just the right pictures, too - though if you know anything about how to swap around skin-tones with photo-shop (is there a color-swap function? I have one on my camera that could do the trick...) I'd LOVE to hear it. This is not the first time where the color could stand some correction...
Emi - Thanks for your help! I've made some of the changes you suggested, but don't forget that we make the example sentences expressly to give an example for a grammar point.
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I'd say like this:
「不景気なので、....を５倍に増額いたします。誠に申し訳ありませんが、皆様のご協力をお願いします」
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If you change it to "なので", it might be a better sentence...but it doesn't help us explain how to use the grammar point, which is "こととて". If you can't get the sentence to work with "こととて", that's fine! But it would be great if you could tell us why it doesn't work, since that's the hardest part for us!
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精力を使うことなしにジェフを倒すと１６番の利益をゆっくりと楽しむ。
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Haha - I meant to say that I would defeat Jeff without effort. He would be an easy opponent. Then I would enjoy the profits I got from grammar point 16, which I would get from requesting 5 times the normal membership fee. I hope that helps... Sometimes my sentences are interrelated.
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I'd say, 「最近、食料品を買っていないので、お腹がすいたらご飯に塩をかけて食べる始末になっている」
To me, 「ご飯に塩をかけて食べる有様だ」sounds perfect in this sentence/.
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Thanks for the new sentence! But again - we need to use the phrase しまつだ. Any idea how we could do that?
As for the last sentence, just like before, we're trying to use that grammar point... any way to do that?
A lot of times, our Japanese doesn't quite work out. But don't give up after reading it one time - each example sentence is not "an island unto itself"! Sometimes we make sentences that talk about old posts, or recurring jokes in the blog as rewards for returning readers...and just to have fun amongst ourselves ;)
Thanks again for all your input!
OMGLOLLOL
i've got some comments, but you'll have to wait until I finish my homework.
Yeah, we really like getting the corrections, but the most important part for us is to try to learn how to use the new grammar, so if you can offer advice there, よろしく。
I'm gonna get long-winded, but I think we have two main problems with the 1級 Grammar examples.
The first one is the big one: we don't deal with this grammar anywhere else. When we were learning 2級, even when we learned new points, they were often things that we had heard people use in conversation or seen in writing a million times. Thanks to that, you develop a sense of how and in what circumstance a word is used and how/when it isn't. The high-level of 1級 means that the points are rarer, which means we don't have the ability to compare the things we want to stay against the storehouse of listening/reading experience that we have. We try our best to understand the nuance of the grammar points based on the 3 or 4 example sentences and explanation that our book gives. This has its drawbacks.
The second problem is that, because we're doing strict book studying for these points, we tend to understand their meanings literally instead of conceptually. Look at Brett's example for ずくめ：
俺はザ・デーリー王様になると、ヤンキー語とナンパに関するポストずくめのブログになるんだよ。楽しめ！
If I translate this literally into English, it makes perfect sense: When I become the king of The Daily Yoji, it'll be nothing but Yanki-talk and Nanpa posts.
I don't understand why it doesn't work in Japanese, but apparently, it doesn't.
These are the kinds of things we need help with. Thanks.
Hi,
I think No.19 is slightly incorrect, but the small mistake changes the meaning a lot.
If I correct that, it would be..
俺がザ・デーリーの王様になると、ヤンキー語とナンパに関する記事ずくめのブログになるんだよ。楽しめ！
The change of between ’が’ and ‘は’ often changes the meanings a lot.
And also, in this case, ザ・デーリーの王様 is much better than ザ・デーリー王様. You could use キング though.
And, I guess ポストmeans articles, notice or information, right? If so, in my opinion, 記事 or 投稿 is better.
By the way, Nirav's picture is awesome! Great job!
Thanks.
Changed! Thanks, Ryuichi! We call them "posts" in English, but as with so many other things, I guess it doesn't translate directly :)
19. ～ずくめ
Nothing but ~
A ton of ~
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I've always thought of 尽くめ （ずくめ） as meaning "full of xxx" or "all xxx"
例： どうにかしてハーバードに入学が認められたけど結局その大学は思ったより規則尽くめだったから、退学した。
Somehow I managed to get accepted into Harvard, but in the end it was full of rules, and I dropped out.
Wow, that was long-winded.
Just a warning, too: Be careful of mixing up 尽くめ and めく (to have an air of xxx). They have similar sounds and meanings that can be easily mixed up. If you haven't already, I'm sure ya'all will come across it soon.
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