ni wa

[MikeCassidy]

Been pulzing over にわ as in:

私にわわかりません。

how is that differenet from just wa. At the moment I'm translating as "As for myself I don't understand" as oppose to "I don't understand."

Thanks.

[Bueller_007]

Been pulzing over にわ as in:

私にわわかりません。

how is that differenet from just wa. At the moment I'm translating as "As for myself I don't understand" as oppose to "I don't understand."

Thanks.

From a Japanese person on a blog:
--
I think "私には"　means "to me", but I've never thought of that kind of things, why it's required...???
Hope someone give you a clear explanation.

「彼が来るかどうか、私には分かりません。」
「彼が来るかどうか、私は知りません。」

Maybe you can say 「彼が来るかどうか、私は分かりません」, but 「私には分かりません」 sounds more natural to me.
But you can NOT say　「彼が来るかどうか、私には知りません」。It sounds too strange.
--

[tintinium]

So, i would assume it's to put more emphasis on the "me" part?

[Jason]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_particles#ni_wa

What they don't mention is using it in a possesive sentence. There are 2 ways to express possesion in Japanese depending on the nature of the possesion. For physical, tangible objects, you can simply use the verb 持（も）つ. Like:

私は携帯（けいたい）を待っています。
"I have a cell phone."

However, if what you or someone else has is a person or some intangible something (like homework or work), you can't use 持つ. So what you do is use the standard way of expressing existence: (location)に（thing)がある/いる. But you use the person who has the thing as the location and replace に with には. In this way, は makes the person the topic of the sentence, and the に essentially points to the person as the possesor of (thing). So it's like saying "As for (person), (thing) exists to them." A person can't be a location, so I guess this kinda makes a person a sort of "pseudo-location" so that it fits in with the grammar.

私には宿題（しゅくだい）が全然ないよ。
"I don't have any homework at all."

彼女（かのじょ）にはお姉さんが二人（ふたり）いるらしいです。
"I've heard she has 2 older sisters."

BTW, 持つ can also mean "to hold." It originally only meant to hold. So that's why you can only use it to mean "to have" with physical objects.

[tintinium]

But wouldn't 私は携帯がないよ。be just as natural?

I hear it a lot in terms of time. 僕は時間がないよ。

Maybe I never noticed the に before.

Btw, anyone know a shortcut key to change between input modes with the language bar in Windows?

[Jason]

But wouldn't 私は携帯がないよ。be just as natural?

I hear it a lot in terms of time. 僕は時間がないよ。

Technically, it should be には, but particles tend to get dropped in speech. So it may sound natural, but it's technically not correct.

Btw, anyone know a shortcut key to change between input modes with the language bar in Windows?

Alt+~

[tintinium]

Gotcha. I must say, Japanese is easier and more consistent than English... when you think about it.

[Jason]

Gotcha. I must say, Japanese is easier and more consistent than English... when you think about it.

Well, standard, normal politeness Japanese is definitely. When you start getting into dialects and informal stuff, not so much. Keigo gets kinda weird too. Like the polite, present, affirmative form of いらっしゃる is いらっしゃいます. :/

[Jonas]

Most of the "keigo verbs" are irregular. Good thing there isnt that many of them

e.g. mairu -> mairimasu and not maimasu
gozaru -> gozaimasu and not gozarimasu

But unlike english irregular verbs, even japanese irregulars conjugate in a predictable fashion! if Japanese was engish, gozaru would conjugate to gosofeximusu or something

[MikeCassidy]

I want to thanks everyone for their replies - they have helped.

[JockZon]

I like the gosofeximusu comparision

[Brody]

But unlike english irregular verbs, even japanese irregulars conjugate in a predictable fashion! if Japanese was engish, gozaru would conjugate to gosofeximusu or something

ha ha! English conjugation is ridiculous. I'm thankful everyday that English is my native language.

[Jason]

But unlike english irregular verbs, even japanese irregulars conjugate in a predictable fashion! if Japanese was engish, gozaru would conjugate to gosofeximusu or something

ha ha! English conjugation is ridiculous. I'm thankful everyday that English is my native language.

Yes. English has a tendency of not following its own rules. XD

[tintinium]

But unlike english irregular verbs, even japanese irregulars conjugate in a predictable fashion! if Japanese was engish, gozaru would conjugate to gosofeximusu or something

ha ha! English conjugation is ridiculous. I'm thankful everyday that English is my native language.

Yes. English has a tendency of not following its own rules. XD

Well, there never really was any to begin with. Just a whole bunch of other language's rules superimposed onto English.

[Fiducio]

Can には also be used as 'for' when using it in context for someone else?