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In the Japanese language, aizuchi (Japanese: 相槌 or あいづち, IPA:) are interjections during a conversation that indicate the listener is paying attention or understands the speaker (backchanneling). In linguistic terms, these are a form of phatic expression. Aizuchi are considered reassuring to the speaker, indicating that the listener ...
Japanese is an agglutinative, synthetic, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment .
Whether dodging traffic in Tokyo or eating your way through Osaka, knowing some common Japanese phrases before you go is a must. A land known for honor, Japanese people will bestow kindness and ...
Ka shira is like ka na, but is used more by women. See also Gender differences in spoken Japanese. Etymology: ka + shira, the irrealis form (i.e. negative form minus the -nai) of shiru "to know" Phrases Kare wa ayashii hito ka shira. 彼は怪しい人かしら。 I wonder if he's a suspicious person.
The copula da/desu and the polite form -masu can be abbreviated when ga is added, e.g. "This is Nagaoka." "This is Nagaoka." which would be rendered in standard Japanese as Koko wa Nagaoka na n da (ここは長岡なんだ) would be Koko wa Nagaoka n ga (ここは長岡んが) (Note that na has also been lost).
Yoshioka did not consider shizuka-da/-desu and shizuka-na as different forms of the same word, but different words, despite the fact that in his analysis, shizuka-da/-desu lacks an attributive form (there is no * shizuka-de inu (静かで犬)), while shizuka-na lacks a terminal form (there is no * inu-wa shizuka-naru (犬は静なる)).
In common Kansai dialect, there are two forms for the continuous and progressive aspects-teru and -toru; the former is a shortened form of -te iru just as does standard Japanese, the latter is a shortened form of -te oru which is common to other western Japanese.
Shikata ga nai (仕方がない), pronounced [ɕi̥kata ɡa naꜜi], is a Japanese language phrase meaning "it cannot be helped" or "nothing can be done about it". Shō ga nai ( しょうがない ) , pronounced [ɕoː ɡa naꜜi] is an alternative.