as much as

[danfernold7261]

こんばんは Dan です

I'm looking on "as much as" right now, and (yet again) a question has popped up.
Is the general pattern "V1" dake .... "particle" "V2" (with the suitable tenses on each verb)

Now, the reason I'm asking is because of a sentence I saw on Wikipedia's page on japanese particles. The sentence was: netai dake nereba ii (with the translation: You can sleep as much as you want (to sleep) (with google translate, in my opinion, far from that))

Is Wikipedia's right? If not,. おしえてください

Until your reply, よろしく

Dan Fernold

P.S: I have now also, started looking at "as adj. as" and think that "A wa B-dake ku-form adj. you ni" might be right. Is it? D.S.

P.P.S: google translate uses "A wa B o onaji kurai "adj." "eru-form verb/"verb" koto ga dekimasu. D. D. S.

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,
Wiki is right. It's just the special expression rather than fixed pattern.
To say "can do as much as you want", we use "[volitional form of verb] + dake [same verb] ba/reba + ii".
This expression has basically two important points:
1. [volitional form of verb] dake [same verb in dictionary form] (like "netai dake neru")
2. conditional using "ba" (as in "nereba") + ii (like "nereba ii)
So, now I'm not too sure which pattern I should give you as advice, to be honest.

As to the adjective version as well, I'd like some example sentences before answering to your question.
Like Google translation showed, you can use the expression "to onaji kurai", and there're other
possibilities. These expressions "as much as" and "as [adjective] as" are not something we can
simply convert into another language. So I might not be able to give you a straight answer.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Ok. Here´s some examples

I can run as fast as you
I can sing as good as that
I can walk as slow as that
and finally, I can jump as high as him

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,

1. I can run as fast as you
"anata to onaji kurai hayaku hashiru koto ga dekimasu."

2. I can sing as good as that
Why does this sentence end with "that"? Do you mean "that person"?

3. I can walk as slow as that
Same as above.

4. I can jump as high as him
"kare to onaji kurai takaku tobu koto ga dekimasu.

I think what you want to know is basically "watashi wa [person] to onaji kurai [ajective adverbial form] [verb]
koto ga dekimasu". This is not the only pattern.


Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Natsuko-sensei

In the sentences ending in "that" it is in comparison to what someone has previously done.

and I can understand that it´s not the only pattern, but in this cases it seems to fit.

Can you maybe give me some examples, showing some other patterns?

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold

[mmmason8967]

2. I can sing as good as that
Why does this sentence end with "that"? Do you mean "that person"?

3. I can walk as slow as that
Same as above.

This use of "that" is quite idiomatic. It means "that example". That probably doesn't help at all, so I will try to illustrate what I mean.

Suppose you listen to Bob Dylan singing "Blowin' in the Wind". When it finishes you might say "He is not a very good singer. I can sing as well as that". This means "I can sing as well as Bob Dylan does when he sings 'Blowing in the Wind'". However, this is not quite the same as saying "I can sing as well as Bob Dylan".

Now imagine you listen to Bob Dylan singing "Shelter from the Storm". This time you say "I can't sing as well as that". Put both sentences together and you have:-

"I can sing as well as that..." (i.e. Bob Dylan singing "Blowin' in the Wind")
"...but I can't sing as well as that" (i.e. Bob Dylan singing "Shelter from the Storm")

Hope that helps.

マイケル

[danfernold7261]

Ok, so what you´re to say is that it should be more precise.

i.e. take my examples: (the two without translation)

I can sing as good as [person] just did.
(i checked this and it became "anata dake de okonatta you ni watashi wa yoi utau koto ga dekiru" (lit. as you just perfomed, I can sing good.)

and

I can walk as slow as [person] just did.
and this then should be "anata dake de aruita you ni watashi wa osoi aruku koto ga dekiru."

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san, マイケルsan,
ah...I thought so...
Well, it's not impossible to say "I can do as good as that" kind way, but if we use the word "are/sore/kore"
in the place of "that" in Japanese, it could add the connotation of "looking down" or "mocking" the other person
depending on the context. For example, if you mean a performance (playing guitar, singing a song, etc.) by "that",
it might sound like "I can do at least as good as THAT; that's nothing".

In Japanese, we need to keep the same topic as well as same "level". This means, if the topic is "watashi",
the object you compare should be also a person. For this reason too, it's better to mention the "person"
instead of "that".
Of course, if you compare your skill or project itself to someone else's, you might be able to use the word
"kore" or "are".


Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com