I’m also still working on this and on my end I think the key for me is “practice.” With AI around I usually ask it to give me 10 questions on the sentence I got wrong. For example, I’m really bad with the particle に. When I get it wrong, the sentence sometimes mean something completely different. For example:

留学している妹に、母が手紙を送りました。

弟に宿題をさせました。

I kinda get confused who was the person that did the action to whom. And if that’s messed up, it changes the meaning of the sentence a lot.

I think it would help if you share some sentences that you had trouble identifying. Maybe I’ll struggle with it too 😅

れば vs なら

I feel like I’ll probably make many posts on how to say “if”, but today in class we talked about these two specifically.

A れば B

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.

なら

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)

試験 related

• 試験を受ける – take the exam
• 試験に受かる – pass the exam
• 試験に落ちる – fail the exam

いつも忘れちゃうから、書きました🫣

tokidokitokyo:

どんくさい

slow; clumsy; stupid; irritating

(note: from Kyoto dialect; TIL: くさい is not related to bad smell, but rather in Kyoto dialect it means っぽい or みたい and is thus used to soften the blow of the どん which means “slow” or “inept”)

彼はどんくさいけど、優しいところが取柄やねえ。
かれ は どんくさい けど、やさしい ところ が とりえ やねえ。
He’s clumsy, but his kindness is his best quality.

プーさんはちょっとどんくさいね。

あるある – Typical thing

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:

• Typical for ______
• That is SO me! I totally get it!

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.

例文

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

Reference

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"｜AKIYO SUZUKI（鈴木明世）

何も vs. 何でも

The way I remember this (probably only works for me), was when I was watching Chobits, there was a book in the anime called 誰もいない町.

So drawing from that context:

• 何（なに）も + negative
• 何（なん）でも　+ positive

For example:

何も食べません。
I’m not eating anything.

何でも食べます。
I’ll eat anything.

Other examples:

どれも選びません。
Not choosing anything.

どこも行きません。
Not going anywhere.

誰でも参加できます。
Anyone can join.

どれでも選べます。
Can choose anything.

どこでも行けます。
Can go anywhere.

Exception: どこも

When describing a state, どこも + positive is used.

どこも混んでいます。
It’s crowded everywhere.

Reference

Reading this reference helps me make sense of the exception too. The grouping is like Everywhere—this place, that place, and that place—is crowded.

The reason for using 何も+negative, but 何でも+positive

ない/ていない/まだ/もう

I know the difference between ない and ていない, but the others aren’t that clear to me. So making this as a reference.

❌ The Negatives (Not eating)

Notes: ない is for making this personal decision to not eat, I don’t feel like it, I don’t want to kinda vibe. ていない is more of expressing the state of whether one ate or not.

• 食べない I won’t eat / I’m not eating.
• Vibe: I’m choosing not to eat.
• 食べていない I haven’t eaten (yet).
• Vibe: I want to eat, but haven’t yet.
• まだ食べない I’m not eating yet.
• Vibe: I don’t feel like eating right now.
• まだ食べていない I haven’t eaten yet.
• Vibe: “I haven’t eaten, but probably going to soon.”
• もう食べない I’m not eating anymore.
• Vibe: I’m full / I don’t want to eat anymore.
• もう食べていない I’m no longer eating.
• Vibe: I’m full / I’ve stopped the action of eating.

✅ The Positives (Eating)

Notes: もう食べる is the most confusing one for me. I’m thinking it’s just like an emphasis of I AM going to eat. (“on my way” type of emphasis?)

• まだ食べる I’m still going to eat.
• Vibe: I want more or I’m not finished with my plans to eat.
• まだ食べている I’m still eating.
• Vibe: I’m in the middle of my meal!
• もう食べる I’m about to eat.
• Vibe: Haven’t started yet, but I’m literally sitting down to do it.
• もう食べている I’m already eating.
• Vibe: I’ve already started.

バッチリ vs. ぴったり

I was trying to use 見てもらえる and 見かける in my diary today, as I recently just had a note on 見かける.

I was curious if I used it correctly so I asked AI for feedback and then checked with my Japanese teacher.

• For my use of 見てもらえる, the feedback was 一番ぴったりです。
• For 見かける, the feedback was 「見かけた（noticed/spotted）」と言うのは、過去形でバッチリです！

So I was curious what was the difference between バッチリ and ぴったり

• ぴったり: Used when a word “fits” a situation perfectly. It’s all about the match.
• バッチリ: Used when you “nailed it.” My grammar was correct, so the result was spot on.

ぴったり is about alignment, バッチリ is about success/outcome.

ぴったり is also very common when talking about whether a physical size or space fits, for example:

この靴は私にぴったりです。
These shoes fit me perfectly.

見る/見える/見かける

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.

So why not 見える in my example sentence?

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.

どんぐらい、どれぐらい、どのぐらい

Heard どんぐらい in a YouTube video (will mention below), and wanted to write down now I know three ways to ask!

All three can be used interchangeably. Ask about quantities, time, distance, degree, etc.

ぐらい and くらい is also the same, with ぐらい being more used in everyday (informal) language.

どのぐらい: Standard and polite. Safe for most situations.

東京から京都まで、新幹線でどのぐらいかかりますか？

どれぐらい: Also standard and very common in daily conversation.

昨日のテスト、どれぐらい難しかった？

どんぐらい : A casual, contracted version. It’s “slangy” and best used with friends.

昨日の夜、どんぐらい寝た？

All example sentences can swap out with each of the choices 🙂

Reference

どのぐらい・どれぐらい JLPT – 日本語文法

どんぐらい | Kansaibenkyou.net

The video I was watching, probably an interesting topic for Japanese learning too: イケメン日本男子のリアルデート事情, talks about a Japanese dating 5 women at the same time 🫣

The YouTubers are from Taiwan, but this episode is in Japanese. If you hear the weird English dubbed version, remember to switch to the original audio ❤️