Some unexplained sentences...

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

LI S5 L10:

Ossu! N, me no shita ni kuma ga aru jan? Dō shita n da yo?
Hey, what's up? Hmm, you've got dark circles under your eyes! What happened to you?

E? Honto? Fuā. (akubi)
Huh? I do?

I'm guessing "fuaa" is the onomatopoeia for a yawning sound. From what I've seen before "jan" is added to the end of sentences for a few different reasons - emphasis, querying, and so on. It's hard to describe exactly how to use it. Ignoring it seems to make no difference to the sentence, so I usually just do that.

Ā, fuminshō tte yatsu ka na. Fuā.
Yeah, insomnia I guess. (yawn)

Fuminshou - sleeplessness, insomnia
tte - quotation mark, perhaps indicating - "[people call it] "insomnia""
yatsu - an online dictionary tells me this means "fellow, guy, chap."

Literally...

Ā, fuminshō tte yatsu ka na. Fuā.
Ah, "insomnia", it's called, by some people, I wonder... (yawn)

Gōruden'wīku ga owa tte kara, zenzen yaruki mo denai n da yo ne.
Ever since Golden Week ended, I haven't had any motivation whatsoever.

The "mo" particle means "too." My "yaruki" ("will to do") has left too. My will to do has left with golden week.

deru = to leave, go out

"Deru" is in it's negative form here though. "Yaruki mo denai" means "will to do has not left."

Why?

A, ore mo! Asa zenzen okirarenai shi, ichi-nichi jū darui n da yo na.
Oh, me too! I can't get up in the morning at all, and I feel so sluggish all day.

juu - I haven't seen this before. Since it comes after "ichi-nichi" I'm guessing by context it means "all day" or "throughout."

ichi-nichi juu - the day, throughout

Sō. Daigaku ichinen no shigatsu wa, atarashii koto bakari de, mainichi kinchō suru deshō.
Yeah. For freshman, April is full of new things, so you feel a bit nervous every day, right?

bakari - just, only

"Bakari" is used to limit the amount of things.

"There are only new things in April for first year university students?"

I don't get it.

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

And some from the PDF...

Kōensha to chigatte kiite iru hito wa kiraku da.
Those who are listening to a lecture have it easy, unlike the lecturer.

Kōensha - "kouen" means "lecture" and the "sha" suffix makes it "lecturer"
to - and/with
chigatte - from "chigau" - to differ
kiite - from "kiku" - to listen
kiraku - easy, relaxed

The "chigau" seems to be marking the difference between the lecturer and the students. They have it easy. He does not. Chigau. Different.

Kōensha to chigatte kiite iru hito wa kiraku da.
Lecturer and [have it different] listening people, [have it] easy.

The beginning and end of the sentence is simple. "kiite iru hito wa kiraku da" - "listeners have it easy." "Kōensha to" - "Lecturer and."

But the position of "chigau" is confusing.

Yaruki ga waite kita.
I'm starting to feel more motivated

"waite" looks like a verb in the ~te form to link it to "kita" ("came"). But what is the plain present form of "waite?"

Harī Pottā o ikki ni yomitōshita.
I read through Harry Potter in one go.

"toushita" looks like a suffix to be added onto the ~masu stem of verbs, "yomu" ("to read") in this case. I don't know what "toushita" means though.

[ericf]

"jan" is a spoken contraction of "ja nai desu ka".

"yatsu" means "thing" (though it can also mean "chap" but I haven't seen it used in that way yet.) So in this case it's that "insomnia thing".

"yaruki ga denai" I imagine that "motivation" is stuck inside you uselessly and won't come out, won't be expressed.

"atarashii koto bakari" (starting university involves) many new experiences, hence being nervous.

[ericf]

okay, I'll attempt to answer your second post...

"Kōensha to chigatte kiite iru hito wa kiraku da." I'd think of it as "In contrast to/compared to/different to the lecture, listening-people have it easy"

"waite kuru" "waite" comes from the verb "wake" to be/get excited. c.f. "wakuwaku suru".

"Harī Pottā o ikki ni yomitōshita." Well, I've never seen the "~toushita" construction before either but I'm pretty sure it'll be the verb "toosu" (note toosu not tousu) which means to go through. So, in this sense it'll mean to do through/do completely; hence "read through".

I think the other conclusions you reached are about right.

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

"yatsu" means "thing" (though it can also mean "chap" but I haven't seen it used in that way yet.) So in this case it's that "insomnia thing".

Now that you mention it, that does sound familiar...

"yaruki ga denai" I imagine that "motivation" is stuck inside you uselessly and won't come out, won't be expressed.

There's a problem with that. If "mo" means "too" then it implies that whatever happens to the character's motivation also happens to the previous clause. In this case, "denai" would also effect the "ever since Golden Week ended" part. I can't fathom that in a way which would make sense.

If what you're saying is right then the particle "o" would be more logical to follow "yaruki."

"atarashii koto bakari" (starting university involves) many new experiences, hence being nervous.

Sorry, this didn't help. Are you saying "bakari" doesn't mean "only" here? If so, what does it mean?

And if it does mean "only" then what is "bakari" being used to limit? For example, from Beginner Lesson 5:

"Watashi bakari (ga) sōji shite iru."
"Nobody but me is cleaning"

Bakari is limiting the number of people who do the cleaning. "Nobody else but me does the cleaning - Only me." "Bakari" limits it to "watashi."

If it means "only" and is used in a similar way in the problem sentence, it would be:

"Sō. Daigaku ichinen no shigatsu wa, atarashii koto bakari de, mainichi kinchō suru deshō."
"Yeah. For freshman, April is only full of new things, so you feel a bit nervous every day, right? "

Which I'm struggling with.

"waite kuru" "waite" comes from the verb "wake" to be/get excited. c.f. "wakuwaku suru".

So literally it's...

"Yaruki ga waite kita."
As for motivation, excitement came?
Motivation came with excitement?
Motivation excitedly came?

Odd...

"Harī Pottā o ikki ni yomitōshita." Well, I've never seen the "~toushita" construction before either but I'm pretty sure it'll be the verb "toosu" (note toosu not tousu) which means to go through. So, in this sense it'll mean to do through/do completely; hence "read through".

Sounds right.

Thanks.

[mmmason8967]

"Sō. Daigaku ichinen no shigatsu wa, atarashii koto bakari de, mainichi kinchō suru deshō."
"Yeah. For freshman, April is only full of new things, so you feel a bit nervous every day, right? "

Which I'm struggling with.

I think bakari is one of those Japanese words that doesn't map very easily into English. It means something along the lines of "nothing but", "only", "pretty much entirely", and so on. So, for example

sakkaa bakari da ne. (sakkaa = football or soccer)

Possible translations: it's nothing but football with him, is it? or he's always on about football, isn't he? and so on. It's quite hard to come up with an adequate translation using the word "only". Maybe it would help to take the target sentence and leave bakari untranslated, like this:-

April is bakari new things, so you feel a bit nervous, right?

Does that help at all?

マイケル

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

"Sō. Daigaku ichinen no shigatsu wa, atarashii koto bakari de, mainichi kinchō suru deshō."
"Yeah. For freshman, April is only full of new things, so you feel a bit nervous every day, right? "

Which I'm struggling with.

I think bakari is one of those Japanese words that doesn't map very easily into English. It means something along the lines of "nothing but", "only", "pretty much entirely", and so on. So, for example

sakkaa bakari da ne. (sakkaa = football or soccer)

Possible translations: it's nothing but football with him, is it? or he's always on about football, isn't he? and so on. It's quite hard to come up with an adequate translation using the word "only". Maybe it would help to take the target sentence and leave bakari untranslated, like this:-

April is bakari new things, so you feel a bit nervous, right?

Does that help at all?

マイケル

Looking over some old PDFs...

Today's grammar point is ばかり(bakari). It is a particle which indicates the speaker's feeling that something is too much or someone is always doing something. It often imply the speaker's dissatisfaction.

Please note that in casual conversation, ばかり(bakari) is sometimes pronounced as ばっかり(bakkari). When ばっかり is used, the noun preceding ばっかり is emphasized more than with ばかり, and it can express the speaker's dissatisfaction more strongly.

Today's Examples:

タローはいつも嘘ばっかり。
Tarō wa itsumo uso bakkari.
Taro is always lying.

⇒嘘(uso) is followed by ばっかり(bakkari) so that 嘘(uso) could be emphasized and it could imply that the speaker complains about how often Taro makes lies.

毎日仕事ばかりしていて、私はいつも一人。
Mainichi shigoto bakari shite ite, watashi wa itsumo hitori.
He works all day long everyday, and I'm left alone all the time.

⇒仕事(shigoto) is followed by ばかり(bakari) so that 仕事(shigoto) could be emphasized and it could imply that the speaker complains about how much he works everyday.

喧嘩ばかりしているんです。
Kenka bakari shite iru n desu.
We are always fighting.

文句ばかり言っていますね。
Monku bakari itte imasu ne.
I'm always complaining, aren't I?

That helped.

Got it now.

[ericf]

"yaruki ga denai" I imagine that "motivation" is stuck inside you uselessly and won't come out, won't be expressed.

There's a problem with that. If "mo" means "too" then it implies that whatever happens to the character's motivation also happens to the previous clause. In this case, "denai" would also effect the "ever since Golden Week ended" part. I can't fathom that in a way which would make sense.

If what you're saying is right then the particle "o" would be more logical to follow "yaruki."

Ahh! Yes, "mo" means "too" but it's not implying that the same thing happens in the previous clause; though I can see how that idea comes about. "mo" is being used as a non-exhaustive list:

gōruden'wīku ga owatte kara, zenzen A mo, B mo, C mo denai n da yo ne.

...where A is "yaruki" and B, C etc aren't mentioned. Either "yaruki" is the most important or only thing in the list, or it's being used in the sense that "not even yaruki ga denai".

Apologies for my explanation of "bakari", it probably wasn't very clear, but I'm glad you've got it now. And Michael, thanks for your help too.

[community.japanese]

Andy-san, エリックsan, マイケルsan,
kon'nichiwa!
Wow, this is a very active thread!

"yaruki ga denai" I imagine that "motivation" is stuck inside you uselessly and won't come out, won't be expressed.

There's a problem with that. If "mo" means "too" then it implies that whatever happens to the character's motivation also happens to the previous clause. In this case, "denai" would also effect the "ever since Golden Week ended" part. I can't fathom that in a way which would make sense.

If what you're saying is right then the particle "o" would be more logical to follow "yaruki."

I liked how Eric-san put That's funny and spot-on!
This "yaruki ga denai" might be one of the very Japanese expressions. We often use expressions and phrases of
"anthropomorphism". I'm sure you all know how to say "I'm hungry" in Japanese. It's "onaka ga suita", but this
actually means (literally) "my stomack made space" or something like that.
"Yaruki ga deru/denai" is kinda similar to this kind of sentences. Yaruki is "motivation", "energy to do something", etc.
The verb "deru" would be "come out". Here "yaruki" itself has "will and rigth to decide" whether or not it "comes out"
and in this person's case, it seems his motivation doesn't want to come out
If you use the particle "o", it must be "yaruki o dasu" where the verb is "dasu" (transitive verb) instead of
"deru" (intransitive verb).

Now, as to "mo", it could be difficult to figure out why "too/also/as well" is used here.
Conversation is about some troubles and/or problems which occured after Golden week, so topics are
all negative things. It's like "This happens. That also happened". First issue was insomnia, and then
there's another "symptom" which is "lack of motivation". If you imagine this person speaks to a doctor
explaining what's wrong, probably it's easier why "mo" is used

"waite kuru" "waite" comes from the verb "wake" to be/get excited. c.f. "wakuwaku suru".

So literally it's...

"Yaruki ga waite kita."
As for motivation, excitement came?
Motivation came with excitement?
Motivation excitedly came?

Odd...[/quote]

Actually, basic verb for "waite kuru" is "waku", "outwell".
So, the concept and/or image would be something outwells like fountain or water coming out from a spring.
"Yaruki" (motivation) is now replaced as something that outwells, maybe "with its own will"?

As for the rest, it seems you all could figure out helping each other! That's brilliant!! Congratulations

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com