Does this make sense?

[WalterWills]

Firstly, I thought of a joke/play on words. It's not particularly funny even if it does make sense, and I think the response would generally be "samu"!!

"Watashi wa wakarinikukunai dewa arimasen."


Perhaps, this means "I am not not confusing", although I've probably made a mess of what I hope is the negative form of what I think is an "i" adjective....LOL




Also, earlier today I wrote what was probably the most complex sentence I've ever attempted in Japanese:

"Watashi no tomodachi wa eiga ga aru kara kyou watashi wa eiga o mita hajimete deshita."


What I hope this means is "My friend has the film so today I watched it for the first time."

There's three things I've probably got wrong there:

1. Word order- I wasn't sure of where to put "kyou" in the sentance, bearing in mind that I didn't want the sentence to read "Today, my friend has the film.." Did it need a particle afterwards? I know the word often has "wa" afterwards but that's as in- "As for today....." right?

Also, I wasn't sure of my use of "hajimete deshita".

One other thing, I know people often make the mistake of saying "watashi wa" unnecessarily, but I thought in this case it was important to say it was ME who watched the film and not my friend.


2. The particles..was it right to use "wa" twice? Also was I right to use "ga" for "aru" and "o" for "mita"?

3. Thirdly, I read that in a sentence with more than one verb, you're meant to use plain forms for all of them except the last one, right? However after reading the sentence again I think the last verb was "mita"- or does "deshita" count?


I know that perhaps even if I did get it all wrong a Japanese-speaker would probably be able to get at what I was trying to say, but I'm striving for perfection here!!


So desu ne!!

[jkeyz15]

The way you worded the sentence I probably would not even include "eiga" at all as it seems to be the obvious context. Also something about the sentence meaning doesn't seem to flow well in Japanese and English.

Anyway,

[Eiga wa] Watashi no tomodachi ga motte ite, kyou Watashi ga hajimete mita you ni narimashita.



Something along those lines. There's probably a better way, but this makes sense to me, yet it's still a little strange.....(or maybe it's just me)

[Lostaholic]

I have a question to, if I ask someone's name in Japanese:

Anata no namae wa do desu ka
あなた の なまえ わ ど です か

Is that correct?

Or is it:
Anata no namae wa nan desu ka
あなた の なまえ わ なん です か

but maybe thats just all wrong :p

[jemstone]

the second would probably make more sense. at least to me.

the informal would probably be
あなたの　なまえ？
with a little bit of intonation at the end, they'll know it's a question.

[Rizu]

I think you can even omit the あなた, right? I thought あなた wasn't used too often...

Anyway, I think if it is clear who you are talking to, you can simply say to the person:
なまえはなんですか。

Also watch your use of the topic particle "wa". It is written は, not わ.

[markdweaver]

It seems like the focus is on the film - your friend having it, and you watchhing it for the first time. Perhaps the film should be marked as the topic. Also, it seems like it's a specific movie, no just any old movie. Perhaps you've already been talking about it or something. How about this:

Sono eiga wa ne, tomodachi ga motte iru kara, watashi ga kyou hajimete mimashita.

or

Sono eiga wa, tomodachi ga motte iru kara, watashi ga kyou hajimete miru koto ga dekimashita.

[Jason]

Also something about the sentence meaning doesn't seem to flow well in Japanese and English.

Yes, even the English is awkward. I would flip it around and say something like:

-今日はその映画を初めて見ました。友達から借りました。
-I saw that movie for the first time today. I borrowed it from a friend.

Saying you borrowed it from a friend implies that they have the movie, so it gets rid of that awkward statement.

[Javizy]

the second would probably make more sense. at least to me.

the informal would probably be
あなたの　なまえ？
with a little bit of intonation at the end, they'll know it's a question.

From what I've heard, this is the most common way of asking someone's name:

お名前は（何ですか）。

Since the honorific prefix お is attached, it's obvious you are speaking about the second person's name, and consequently you don't need to use a pronoun (あなた in this case, which should be avoided unless absolutely necessary). The latter part can be omitted as well, since it's obvious what the question will be.

However, I think it would be more polite to introduce yourself. The pattern for introductions seems to be pretty well set out, so the other person will likely introduce themselves straight after.

[WalterWills]

Thanks very much for the response and corrections guys.


About the English.....I think, why it sounds awkward is because we were actually talking about a computer game, not a film. He had asked me why I didn't have it, because it was so popular, so I replied along the lines of "Well my friend has it so today I played it for the first time and I didn't like it."

[Jason]

Grammatically the English is fine, but it just doesn't flow very well. Something can be grammatically correct and still not sound right.

[WalterWills]

Yeah I agree- I made an edit to my last message which might explain it!!