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Hey guys. I just want to run a few sentences by you to see if I’ve a) phrased them correctly and b) used the correct nouns (they’re from my passion list)
So my passion list is space and the phrases are:
1) It is a planet － わくせいです。
2) It is not a comet － すいせいじゃありません。
3) Is it not a nebula? － せいうんじゃありませんか。
4) No, it is not a nebula － いいえ、せいうんじゃありません。
5) Was it a solar eclipse? － にっしょくでしたか。
6) Yes, it was a solar eclipse － はい、にっしょくでした。
7) Was it NOT a shooting star? － ながれぼしじゃありませんでしたか。
8) Yes, it was a shooting star － はい、ながれぼしでした。
9) No, it was not a satellite － いいえ、えいせいじゃありませんでした。I hope I’ve got at least some of them correct! I’ve tried to challenge myself here :P Thank you!
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This topic was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by
Viexi.
Your vocab seems right, as far as I can tell. That might be something that is better to ask on lang-8.
The sentences are all correct translations, however, there are some minor (and confusing) issues.
If sentence 4 is supposed to be a response to sentence 3, you have it phrased incorrectly (the same for sentences 7 and 8).
There are subtle differences between ‘yes’ and ‘no in English, and ‘はい’ and ‘いいえ’ in Japanese. It usually doesn’t matter, but when you ask negative questions (like “Isn’t it a nebula?”) it makes a difference.
In English, it is never correct to say “Yes, I didn’t.” because the first word has to match the overall character of the sentence. That is since the sentence is negative (“I didn’t”), we have to start with ‘no’. Hard and fast rule: ‘no’ goes with ‘not’.
Did you go to the bank? – Yes, I did.
Didn’t you go to the bank? – Yes, I did.In Japanese, the first word (はい or いいえ) is either a conformation or rejection of the idea proposed in the question. Therefore if the statement proposed in the question is negative, but the respondent wishes to express a positive, he must start with いいえ. So sentences like “No, I did,” and “Yes, I didn’t” actually make sense in Japanese. Keep in mind the way English sentences are structured by completely rearranging the words. Japanese questions are much more straightforward. They start with a statement, and then add か, just to let you know that they don’t know if the statement is true or not and are looking to you for an answer.
ぎんこう に いきました か？ - はい いきました。
You went to the bank (yes or no)? – Yes, I went.ぎんこう に いきませんでした か？ - いいえ いきました。
You didn’t go to the bank (yes or no)? – No, I did.ぎんこう に いきました か？ - いいえ いきませんでした。
You went to the bank (yes or no)? – No, I didn’t go.ぎんこう に いきませんでした か？ - はい いきませんでした。
You didn’t go to the bank (yes or no)? – Yes, I didn’t.This is confusing, and probably way more than you wanted to know….
Haha oh wow! I will admit it is quite confusing. So in my case I need to change out
Is it not a nebula? － せいうんじゃありませんか。
No, it is not a nebula － いいえ、せいうんじゃありません。With
Is it not a nebula? － せいうんじゃありませんか。
Yes, it is not a nebula － はい、せいうんじゃありません。Is that correct?
I think if I’m understanding you correctly, is that the answer to a question in Japanese first states if the question is correct. So “Is it not a dog?” would in effect be answered with “You are correct, it is not a dog – はい、いぬじゃありません” or “You are incorrect, it is a dog – いいえ、いぬです?”
Exactamundo
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This topic was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by
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