Made a mistake during class this week that I just want someone to be kind without a 対象 to be kind towards to, then I should use 優しくいる.
to act kindly toward someone
→ more concrete / action-focused
弟に優しくする。
I treat my younger brother kindly.
to remain/be kind as a state or attitude
→ more abstract / emotional / poetic / self-reflective
どんな時でも優しくいたい。
I want to stay kind no matter what.
I noticed that in my lesson notes this has shown up three times and still yesterday when I encountered:
彼氏のふりしてくれるの本当にありがたい。
Thank you for pretending to be my boyfriend.
Felt like I’ve forgotten this enough times that I need to write it down here!
い-adj
知らないふりをする
pretend not to know
Verb plain form
寝ているふりをする
pretend to be sleeping
な-adj
大丈夫なふりをする
pretend to be okay
Noun
友達のふりをする
pretend to b a friend
本当は悲しいけど、大丈夫なふりをする。
I’m actually sad, but I pretend I’m okay.
I feel like I’ll probably make many posts on how to say “if”, but today in class we talked about these two specifically.
Point of view: On the result
A is the key to B
郵便局に行けば、切手を買えますよ。
Vibe: I want to buy a stamp (result). So someone says if you go to the post office you can buy a stamp.
Point of view: On the current info
A is just the background knowledge of B
郵便局に行くなら、切手を買ってきて。
Vibe: I am not in urgent need of a stamp, so if you go to the post office (background knowledge), you can buy it (but if you don’t it’s totally fine)
I told my teacher that I’m going to 北海道 so we searched the keyword 北海道あるある, and I was like 「あるある？」
It has the vibe of:
It’s like the short form of saying:
そういうことはよくある。
That kind of thing happens all the time.
A: 最近リモートワークしてるんだけど、結局3時間くらいずっとTikTok見ちゃってる…
I started working from home (remote work), but I just end up scrolling TikTok for three hours…
B: それ、あるあるだよね〜！
That is SO me! I totally get it!
真冬でも、家では半袖短パンでアイスを食べるという"北海道あるある"
A classic Hokkaido thing is eating ice cream in a T-shirt and shorts at home, even in the middle of winter.
真冬 – まふゆ
半袖 – はんそで
Actually I’m writing this because I saw this sentence:
批判っぽいコメントも見かけた。
Came across criticism-ish comments.
When I talk, I mostly just use 見る or 見える, so time to add 見かける to my vocab.
見る – This is active. You have the intention to look. Watching a movie, looking at a map, or deliberately checking someone’s social media.
見える – This is passive/spontaneous. It describes the physical ability to see or the state of something being in your field of vision. Having good eyesight, seeing a mountain in the distance, or noticing that a screen is visible.
見かける – This is accidental. You weren’t necessarily looking for it, but you “spotted” it or “ran into” it while doing something else.
見える feels more like “I can see comments on my screen.” (Stating a physical fact).
見かける is closer to what we want to express, like describing an encounter.
They both means not good at something. My teacher mentioned the easy way to use it is 苦手 sounds more polite to use it when you talk about other people.
てもらう and てほしい timeline
While talking about てもらう, my teacher asked me what’s the difference between てほしい 🤔
I was mentioning that てほしい sounds demanding if you’re asking someone to do something for you. If it’s asking someone for a favor and I’d use てもらう. This feels more like てほしい vs. てもらいたい instead.
We talked more on the aspect of “timeline of events happening”.
Basics
- てほしい – Expresses my wish/desire
- てもらう – Focuses on me “receiving” the favor
Timeline of events
- Nothing has happened yet, it’s only me hoping in my head
お母さんに今日の夕ご飯を作ってほしい。- Asking mom for the favor
お母さん、今日の夕ご飯を作ってもらえますか？- After mom agrees, I tell my brother that mom will be making dinner
お母さんに今日の夕ご飯を作ってもらいます。Notes
If still would like someone to do something with てほしい, usually people will add んですが to make it softer
レポートを確認してほしいんですが…
Today during class I made the mistake of saying:
We want to go home and used 帰って欲しい
But this actually will mean “I want someone else to go home,” so looking back at my notes て欲しい is used to express a desire for someone other than the speaker to perform an action.
Remembering things is harrrd 😭
without
朝ごはんを食べずにオフィスに行くと、疲れますよ。
You’ll get tired if you go to the office without eating breakfast.
若い頃は何も考えずに、思うことを全部書いた。
When I was young I wrote down everything I was thinking about without thinking.
So for verbs it’s actually ない form of the verb but remove the ない + ずに. It’s that my verbs used here are all Group II words so it wasn’t obvious.
Notes from 2025-02-18
As always, the nuance in Japanese needs me to document this down.
A: 今日、パスタ食べに行かない？
B: うーん、パスタか… 。昨日も食べたんだよね。
A: そっかー。
[A immediately understands and acknowledges B’s reason for not wanting pasta (ate it yesterday).]
B: じゃあ、和食は？OOOの定食、美味しいらしいよ。
A: 和食か… 。ちょっと高いんだよね、あそこ…
B: あ、そうだった？ランチは手頃な値段って聞いたけど。
A: たしかに、ランチなら大丈夫かも。夜は高いけど。
[A initially hesitates about Japanese food due to price. B provides new info (lunch is cheaper). A uses “たしかに” to agree with B’s point about “lunch price” specifically, shifting from initial price concern to accepting lunch as an option.]
B: よかった。じゃあ、和食にする？
A: まあね、和食もいいね。たまには。
[A agrees to Japanese food, but “まあね” and “たまには (tama ni wa – once in a while)” show subtle agreement. It’s acceptable, but not a passionate “YES! Japanese food!”.]
B: うん、そうしよう。