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votes
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What's the difference between 腹切り and 切腹?
I need to add a body to submit my question, so I'll just say the Mortal Kombat seemed to believe that the term 腹切り (はらきり harakiri) was more appropriate for self slaughter (i.e., throwing a boomerang hat that cuts one's own head off); however, I…

Wolfpack'08
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Does it matter whether you drop vowels in spoken Japanese?
(This question started as a dual question about when to drop vowels and whether it matters. The first question is well answered at What are the rules regarding "mute vowels" ("u" after "s" and "i" after "sh")?.)
I'm just starting to learn Japanese,…

MattK
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How can verb て become an adverb?
I found a sentence
医者が「大丈夫ですか」と重ねて尋ねた。
with translation
The doctor repeatedly asked "Is it OK?".
As far as I know
The concatenation of て verb represents several actions which are done one after another. For example, 持って行く means "bring" followed…

Second Person Shooter
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11
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Difference between チケット, 切符 and 乗車券
チケット (chiketto) 切符 (kippu) 乗車券 (joushaken)
All words mean ticket -Is there any difference among them? When is appropriate to use them or not?
The only one thing I found yet, is that the last one means passenger ticket or train ticket in detail.
Are…

mpasko256
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このとおりよ as an expression
In a manga I'm reading a boy accidentally broke a friends toy, after which he says in an apologetic fashion :
あなたの言う事何でも聞くよ!
このとーりよ!
I understand the first part, but the second part which apparently means "like this" or "in this way" doesn't…

Lyle J
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3 answers
女子 vs 女の子 nuances
I was wondering when to use one over the other, when talking about a girl. I've seen 女の子 more often, but would like to know the nuances.
Interesting enough, I've only come across 男の子 for boys. But then again I haven't had the chance to read a lot of…

manonthemat
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3 answers
How long of a time period does 最近 cover?
Can it cover an entire month? Two?

Louis Waweru
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11
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2 answers
Meaning of volitional passive form
お姉ちゃんに何を言われようが、まる子はウキウキ気分なのであった。
What was said by her sister ???? but, Maruko felt cheerful.
I can't think of any way in which something which is passive can also be volitional. How do I understand this construction?

user3856370
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11
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1 answer
In Japanese, can we say an object asks a question?
I was just wondering, because in English we can say "This story begs the question" etc. The wording for English is very versatile, and I was wondering if Japanese has this as well, for example in this sentence:
このゲームは質問を頼む

GasterSans
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votes
1 answer
How to invoke God/spirits in Japanese
No, this is not about any Buddhist chant or mantra that can be used to call forth Japanese gods or heavenly spirits, but rather about any specialized words or interjections that attract attention of the God/spirits that we want to communicate with.…

Lukman
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11
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1 answer
Colloquial contraction of だろう into ろ after past tense verb (e.g. 言ったろ)
I noticed in many anime I watched that 「言っただろう」 is often contracted into 「言ったろ」 in conversations between friends and families. I'm guessing this contraction is both colloquial and standard (as in, everyone understands it).
But I'm wondering if this…

Lukman
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11
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2 answers
Can I use suffixes (な、ね、さ、わ...) before と思う?
I always hear ~なぁと思った, but I don't know if it comes from:
食べるかなーと思った。 or like
きれいだなーと思った。 or
寒いなーと思った。
I think this sound なーと思う is so relaxing and so nice, that I want to use it. But actually I would like to know how is used and where.
Related to…

daniel tomio
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Why 次第 instead of によって in this very example?
I was randomly browsing this page and came across this sentence:
砂糖{さとう}は作{つく}るものしだいで使用{しよう}します。
This recipe happens to have a French equivalent
En fonction des recettes, on utilise du sucre.
Depending to recipes, we use sugar. (literal…

永劫回帰
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11
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おしまい {oshimai} vs おわり {owari}
Are there any differences between using おしまい {oshimai} and おわり {owari} to mean "the end" (both with neutral and negative connotations)? Are they always interchangeable?
E.g:
テスト失敗したらおわりだぜ。
テスト失敗したらおしまいだぜ。

Lukman
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11
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Can と and を be interchanged with 思う the way I think they can?
Compare the following two sentences:
あそこに[行]{い}こうと[思]{おも}っている
あそこに[行]{い}こうを[思]{おも}っている
If I'm right about this, they both mean that the speaker is thinking of going somewhere.
However, the difference is that in the first case, the use of と…

Questioner
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