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Questions tagged [plurals]

複数. Words or grammatical constructs that express multiplicity.

See also

  • 複数 on Japanese Wikipedia
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Pluralization in Japanese: usage of -たち and -ら

I know that -たち and -ら pluralize the nouns they come after (or indicate a group that the noun is part of), but most of the time the plural in Japanese is implicit. When is it appropriate or necessary to use -たち or -ら? (Bonus question: is there any…
Amanda S
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What is the difference in usage between a plural using (a) the kanji repetition character 々, (b) a plural using -たち, and (c) the singular?

I know that there are some noun that are made plural by the kanji repetition character, such as 人々 and 国々. My question is, how does this differ from using the non-plural form of the noun? And how does 人々 differ from 人たち?
rurouniwallace
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Does 友達 have the plural marker たち "built-in"?

I cannot recall this very clearly so I'm sorry if this is all not correct but someone once told me that the word 友達{ともだち} has the plural marker たち "built-in" and therefore you cannot say 友達たち about friends in a situation where you could normally use…
Szymon
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What are the rules for the plural suffix ～ら

I came across the following in a newspaper article: 藤沢健太教授（宇宙物理学）らの研究グループ The first part (藤沢健太教授) is the name of a professor (Professor Kenta Fujisawa). The parentheses say "Astrophysics", and the last part (の研究グループ) indicates his research group.…
silvermaple
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Equivalent of 【一人で】for a multi-person group unit

I am trying to translate the English expression "left to their own devices"/"left to themselves"/"in a vacuum" into Japanese, and the best I could come up with would be something involving 「ひとりで」, but I am trying to describe a group of people who I…
archaephyrryx
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か as a suffix to mean "a few": Why is 何__かがVERB not allowed

Here is yet another puzzling sentence for me from a dictionary I am using: 何ページ か 欠けている。 A few pages are missing. (研究社) My understanding is that while 何ページ ambiguously means "what/which/how many page/pages," adding か as a suffix to it limits the…
Yeti Ape
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When is it inappropriate to use the pluralizing suffixes -たち, -ら?

In "A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar", it says that there are cases where -tachi cannot be attached to a noun, as in: a. 川本と柴田は大学の教師(*たち)だ。(Kawamoto and Shibata are college professors.) b. 彼には子供(*たち)がある。(He has a child/children.) "Except…
kinai
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What rules should be followed when saying "we"?

I know that, in Japanese, you can say X達【たち】 or Xら (where X is a first person pronoun) to say we. However, what rules should be followed for choosing that "X". Can I use whatever I would use to refer to myself and then add 達 / ら, or should I use a…
atlantiza
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Plural in ancient Japanese?

It is known to Japanese learners that the Japanese verb isn't affected by the subject (number or gender). Today, a linguistics professor of my university told me he heard from his teacher that ancient Japanese had some kind of plural declension. I…
Dor Nisenhouse
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Do genitive numerical phrases block the plural?

Context: [両]{りょう}の[貴様]{きさま}は[明日]{あした}の[末]{すえ}に[亡]{な}いです。 with the intended meaning Both of you will be dead by the end of tomorrow. This question is about the 「両の貴様は」. I understand that the "plural/collective" is not used if there is a…
Q Science
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Referring to Group of Differentiated Objects

This is a bit esoteric, but it is something that came up recently when I was thinking about how to translate a piece of writing I have been working on for a while into Japanese. In any case, one of the things that I wanted to refer to were "four…
archaephyrryx
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Addressing a group of people with -tachi (たち) and name of one

I knew the general idea of -tachi, as explained e.g. here: "Hey Bro!" how to call out friends However, in one ラノベ I read the following situation: Assume there is a supervisor Asahi and 2 employees Kimi and Mashi of same "grade" sitting at the same…
Mike Makarov
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Question about the sentence 私が手伝いましょう。

Im using an Anki deck to study vocabulary. It's translation for the sentence 私が手伝いましょう is "Can I help you?". Im a bit confused, as I see no question marker in that sentence. I would guess it's meaning to be "I (We?) will help you (us?)". I'm a bit…
Enrico Borba
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Is たち in 子供たち redundant?

In my understanding, 達{たち} is a suffix used to pluralize a countable noun. For example, 私 (single) becomes 私たち (plural) あなた (single) becomes あなたたち (plural) According to most dictionaries, 子供 can be translated as either child or children. As a…
Second Person Shooter
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Plural reflexives: among themselves

Suppose there are two groups/teams A and B within the same conversational space, and I'm in group A. How would I say: "they (group B) discussed among themselves" (as opposed to discussing with group A) "they quarrelled among themselves" (as…
Flaw
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