Nihongo Noto

こんにちは皆さん、これは私の日本語のノートです。

A bit about this blog: I'm learning Japanese by studying the みんなの日本語教科書 and using Duolingo! I understand both English and Mandarin.

I created this blog in an attempt to organize my learning progress. As I'm learning alone without a teacher for guidance, I'd really appreciate if the tumblr community would kindly correct me if there's anything I may have understood wrongly! I know you guys are really 頭がいいですね！

よろしくお願いします！

UPDATE:

I've finished the three Minna no Nihongo textbooks that I have with me... from here on I'll be relying on online resources for my self-study!

I'm still going to revise the textbook content because I haven't fully internalized all of the vocabulary yet (￣～￣;), but I have to continue learning grammar!!

So yes I will continue to jot down my learning points in here.

一緒に頑張ります！___〆(・∀・)

I came across this grammar point before I actually learnt it, so I remember always being confused about its meaning. Looking it up now, I realize that it's actually very straightforward.

It is simply used to refer to a third person and their wants/ intentions.

This is how to use it, as ripped off from JLPT-sensei:

弟はゲームをしたがっている。

Noting down the mistakes and learning points:

I went with ところ for this, but it's wrong because only ばかり is supposed to be used to modify nouns. I'd made a post about this before...

For this, I forgot that たら is supposed to be used with the た-form of verbs/ nouns/ adjectives.

I chose しなかった, but for this I'm not sure why it was wrong :( but I suppose since the earlier part of the sentence was in ている-form, the second part of the sentence should be the same.

I thought really hard between the correct answer and 汚したくなかった。Well, I guess getting it wrong is a good way to drill into my head, the grammar point たがる. Gonna make a post on this later!

The grammar point tested in this question is supposed to be N3 level =.= but it's okay, all part of learning XD I went with 行って as in the grammar point てもいい, which on hindsight is obviously wrong, heh

The site below helped me to understand the difference pretty quickly.

Basically:

くらい／ぐらい is used for durations of time, e.g. 2時ぐらいかかります。

ごろ is used for specifying the point in time, e.g. 2時ごろに始まります。

I wasn't sure whether it should be 止まる（とまりました）or 止む（やみました）and ended up guessing wrong. This teaches/ reminds that tomaru is to stop in terms of movement/ action, and yamu is used for the weather.

Also to note that the kanji for them are similar (止) so one must be aware when encountering them!

While looking this up, I was once again reminded about transitive and intransitive verbs.

Transitive: paired with を and a direct object. Verbs tend to be in the form -eru.

Intransitive: paired with が and no direct object. Verbs tend to be in the form -aru.

This is a real tricky question here that I fell prey to! I went for かかります because I saw the いちじかん, but I failed to notice the particle で! かかります should be paired with が.

For this one, I am honestly a little puzzled. I chose わかい (it means young/ youthful), but apparently ちいさい is the correct answer. Is it because the sentence already mentioned kodomo, so describing them as young is redundant?

I read きゅうに (急に) as きょうに (今日に)... This is why kanji is important zzz.

This mistake reminds me that I'm still not familiar with the two uses of のに which I recorded before in this post.

I don't know why I chose など for this even though I know that など is used with や. Silly mistake.

I struggled to understand what this sentence was saying, but after seeing the answer, and recalling what I learnt in this post, it makes sense now. Also, I believe "ことん" is just onomatopoeia.

My answer was the first option, but I think it was wrong because the phrase continued with "するもんだから". Revising the use of し with this post.

Also, a couple of new vocab I picked up from other questions in this exercise:

うんと - a great deal, a lot, very much/ with a great amount of effort

The message given by the question sounds really grim... I went with the fourth option, but I guess "かどうか" is more appropriate.

This mistake was a good lesson to teach me that までに is used for "by XXX deadline" and for verbs (actions) that are shorter in duration, and まで is used more with verbs (actions) that continue for a period of time.

までに - by the time, before

まで - until

I just learnt this phrase from N5 Reading Exercise 10, passage 3.

It means, "long time no see" or "I'm sorry for not contacting you for a long time", somewhat similar to お久しぶりです (ohisashiburi desu).

I've still been keeping up with my Duolingo, learning kanji, but I have not really progressed in grammar.

Anyway, I just wanted to note down the mistakes I made in this exercise:

Editing this post to add that 同窓会 is read as どうそうかい。It means class reunion.

Got this question above wrong because I forgot what ほとんど meant. Need to review the stuff from this post regularly.

For this question I chose ところで (which means "by the way"), which I don't suppose is actually wrong, but じつは (which means "to tell the truth") is probably more appropriate.

I struggle to remember the numerous ways verbs are conjugated, but I found this website that has a really comprehensive table!

I think the ones that I forget most easily are the passive and causative forms, so I'm going to specially mention them here for myself:

Passive form conjugates to（あ-form/ら）れる

酒池肉林 （しゅちにくりん）＝ sumptuous feast, debauch

眼鏡キャラ （めがねきゃら）= glasses character

ろりしょた = lolita boy

ストイック系 （すといっくけい）= stoic type

近親相姦　（きんしんそうかん）＝ incest

Starting from N5 Grammar exercise 22, got this one wrong:

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Got many wrong in exercise 23...

Was careless for this.

For this question 6, honestly I think that ふります isn't wrong, but oh well. If anyone can explain to me... that would be appreciated.

For this, looks like I still can't differentiate between the use of で and に well.

Reminder!!

に defines the location where someone or something is

で defines the location where someone does something

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When will I remember that 時 (とき）is preceded by the dictionary form or the past tense form? Ahhh this is from exercise 24: