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 ❤️

待ちきれない

I found this phrase while I want to express “I can’t wait”, meaning I’m anticipating it very much.

So this is actually 待ち＋きれない

切る（きる）

means to do something ‘til the end/finish something

• 食べ切る -> eat it all
• 食べ切れる -> can eat it all
• 食べきれない -> cannot eat it all

So 待ちきれない literally means I cannot finish waiting

Notes

The polite/more formal way to say this is 楽しみしている, 待ちきれない has a stronger feeling and is used more in casual cases.

For example

お腹もペコペコでもう待ちきれない。
I’m starving, I can’t wait (to eat)!

I think starving is a strong feeling, and there are words like hangry that has emotions linked with it 🤣

たって

I had a bit of trouble remembering this one until I saw this example sentence:

N1 に合格したって、日本語を話せない。

The other part about たって is that it is common a verb will become 〜ったって and I find it hard to pronounce. For example:

タクシーを乗ったって間に合わないよ。

派手な服を娘に買ったって着ない。

The little pauses are kinda hard to master, does anyone have any tips on that?

The other similar grammar I know is ても, it is more formal than たって during my quick research.

Reference

JLPT N3 Grammar: たって (tatte) Meaning – JLPTsensei.com

看圖便懂【たって・だって】變化・用法・中文意思

Making decisions – にする、ことにする、ことになる

Decided to summarize expressing decision making as I already know three ways to do it!

Noun/な-adj + にする

コーヒーにする。
I will have (decide on) coffee.

にしている

This infers that ongoing effort is made, for example like a preference or a habit.

部屋をきれいにしている。
I keep my room clean.

ことにする

Now we can add verb + ことにする, so I can express decisions on actions too and not just a noun.

日本に行くことにした。
(I decided that) I am going to Japan.

ことにしている

Like にしている but can use verbs.

毎朝ジョギングすることにしている。

ことになる

The nuance here is that the decision is not made you. I remember this by like なる is become, so something becomes a decision, doesn’t mean that I made the decision.

日本に行くことになった。
(It has been decided, or some other external factors) I am going to Japan.

ことになっている

Usually used when it’s like a policy, a rule, for example it’s a company policy that every Monday there is a meeting:

会議は毎週月曜日ことになっている。

A 時 B

Came across this card in the Migaku course. The sentence I had a bit of issue getting through was:

フランスへ行く時、帽子を買う。

Order of actions implied:

1. Buy the hat
2. Go to France

So the translation is more like: When I go to France (on the way there/before leaving), I will buy a hat.

Scenario: You are at the airport in your home country or shopping a week before your flight.

AI suggested a helpful way to remember this: Think of the dictionary form (行く) as “the act of going has not been completed yet.” Therefore, the hat-buying happens while “going” is still a future or ongoing plan.

Another example sentence makes this more obvious:

学校へ行く時、傘を持っていく。

Before going to school, I will bring the umbrella.

If it were:

フランスへ行った時、帽子を買う。

This one is pretty obvious buy a hat AFTER getting to France.

バタバタ – 忙しい

When you’re soooo busy you’re all over the place バタバタしてる.

今日は朝からバタバタしていて、お昼を食べる時間がなかった。

Using バタバタ feels a lot more visual than just saying 忙しい.