縮約. The omission of sounds or letters from words. Contractions can be characteristic of dialects or modes of speech. A frequently observed contraction may become a new word in a language.
Questions tagged [contractions]
181 questions
51
votes
6 answers
What does っす at the end of a sentence mean?
I saw a sentence like:
「それ使{つか}ってるっす。」
and none of my dictionaries have an entry for just "っす". Is it a verb form, gobi, or something else?
sartak
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34
votes
3 answers
What connotation does なんだ add?
Specifically, in the expression
好きなんだ (I love you)
why not just say
好きだ
or
好きです
?
Goku
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27
votes
1 answer
What does っつの mean?
I recently saw 冗談だっつの. What does it っつの mean, or how does it modify the meaning of a sentence?
Louis Waweru
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25
votes
1 answer
What is the meaning of りゃ in this phrase?
I came across this phrase while reading an interview.
そういう時はなんて答えりゃいいんだ。
I think it means "At a time like that, such a reply/response is good."
But I don't understand the usage of りゃ. I couldn't find any reference as a suffix or conjugation.
user3169
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21
votes
3 answers
Is the word 「やんな」positive or negative?
I found that in a website 〜やんな is a colloquial form of 〜やるな meaning 'Don't do...'
However, I have seen the word in a manga with the following sentence.
A: おい あかりを消してやんな。新入りさんがまぶしくてねむれんといかん。
B: じゃあ 消すぜ
While B speaking, he also turning off the…
George
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18
votes
5 answers
のだから vs のだ (んだから vs んだ）
When I learnt this grammar point a while ago, my teachers told me not to use it with "から". There reasoning for this was that のだ already implies a reason or supporting information for a conclusion.
Even reading through the answers for "What…
phirru
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17
votes
2 answers
Why is the て-form being used before ん？
In the following sentence:
誰｛だれ｝探｛さが｝してんの
What is the grammatical reason for 探｛さが｝す to be used in て-form before ん?
Quince Blossom
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17
votes
2 answers
What is the difference between そうか and そっか?
Is そっか just more slangy? Is そうか the same as saying ああそう? Or, is this more a spoken thing? If so, what is used when writing?
Michael
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16
votes
4 answers
Use of ～のか (～んですか) in questions not seeking a yes/no answer
I would like to know if there is a shift in nuance in questions such as these:
誰が参加したんですか。 vs. 誰が参加しましたか。
いつ着いたんですか。 vs. いつ着きましたか。
I wish to limit discussion to only non-yes/no questions (so questions asking Who? When? Where? Why? and so on). I…
Derek Schaab
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16
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1 answer
Where does the verbal form しとく come from?
In a manga I am currently reading, one of the character exclaims:
安心しな。秘密に しとく から。
The general meaning of the second part ("I'll keep it a secret") is quite obvious, and it seems that "しとく" (ostensibly derived from し, with a suffix appended) has…
Dave
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14
votes
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Difference between ~なきゃ and ~なくちゃ
I know that one of them is なくてはいけません and the other one なければなりません, I just don't know which is which, also a few example sentences would help a lot, thank you.
Raido
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14
votes
3 answers
Can I end sentences with ん?
One friend of mine told me when she was living in Japan, she liked to end her sentences with ん (maybe instead of の).
Examples:
明日学校にいくん？
明日学校に行かないと思う…風邪引いたん。
Actually I've never seen it! But my friend told me they used it!
I just want to know if…
daniel tomio
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13
votes
3 answers
Where does the suffix 〜がる come from?
I've read that several bits of Japanese come from contractions with ある:
だ comes from で + ある (source)
なる comes from に + ある (source)
たり comes from て + あり (source)
たり comes from と + あり (source)
Adjective forms like たのしかった come from inflecting たのしく +…
user1478
12
votes
3 answers
What are the rules for substituting の with ん?
I've noticed that sometimes the hiragana の can be shortened to ん.
For example,
部屋のなか → 部屋んなか (inside of the room)
俺のうち → 俺んち (my house)
俺のところ → 俺んとこ (my place)
(More examples can be found in Derek's post.)
Is there some explanation or rules that…
Pacerier
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12
votes
1 answer
Contraction of particle の to ん before nouns in colloquial Japanese
I am familiar with contraction of の to ん before です (and variants で, だ, でした etc) but I noticed that の is also contracted before 家 in spoken set-phrases like あたしんち and おれんち.
Are there any other instances where の is contracted before some particular…
Lukman
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