Essential Japanese Vocabulary by Akira Miura

Author:Akira Miura
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 978-4-8053-1127-1
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

In a narrow sense, however, namae 名前 means “given name” only.

EXAMPLE:

(2) Kare no myōji wa Tanaka de, namae wa Tarō da.

彼の名字は田中で、名前は太郎だ。

His family name is Tanaka, and his given name is Taro.

Nan da なんだ What!; Why!

Nan da なんだ ordinarily means “What is it?”, as in

EXAMPLE:

(1) Kore wa nan da.

これはなんだ。

What is this?

Nan da なんだ, however, is sometimes used not as an interrogative but rather as an exclamation of surprise, disappointment, or disgust. For example, suppose you hear some noise at the door and open it, expecting a visitor, but find only a stray cat. In that case, you are likely to say.

EXAMPLE:

(2) Nan da, noraneko ka.

なんだ、野良猫か。

Why, it’s a stray cat! (implication: To my disappointment, I find only a stray cat.)

Nan no hi 何の日 what kind of day

Nan no hi 何の日 literally looks like “what day,” but it does not really mean that. In English, if one asks “What day is today?”, it normally means “What day of the week is today?” In Japanese, on the other hand, if you want to know the day of the week, you must ask Kyō wa naniyōbi desu ka 今日は何曜日ですか, not Kyō wa nan no hi desu ka 今日は何の日ですか. Kyō wa nan no hi desu ka is used only when you are wondering whether today is any special day. Suppose you are walking along the street in Kyoto with a Japanese friend and suddenly see a long procession. You wonder what the procession is commemorating and ask your friend Kyō wa nan no hi desu ka, and your friend would say, for example, Kyō wa Gion Matsuri desu yo 今日は祇園祭ですよ (“Today is Gion Festival Day”).

Naosu 直す to correct, to repair, to cure

Naosu 直す basically means “to make [something] right” and is used to mean “to repair, to correct, to cure.”

EXAMPLES:

(1) terebi (tokei, kuruma, etc.) o naosu

テレビ（時計、車、 etc.）を直す

to repair a TV (watch, car, etc.)

(2) machigai (sakubun, bun, etc.) o naosu

間違い（作文、文、 etc.）を直す

to correct errors (compositions, sentences, etc.)

(3) byōki (byōnin, kaze, etc.) o naosu

病気（病人、風邪、 etc.）を治す

to cure an illness (sick person, cold, etc.)

Thus, naosu 治す has a much wider range of usage than either shūri-suru 修理する or shūzen-suru 修繕する, both of which can only mean “to repair.” Shūri-suru or shūzensuru can therefore replace naosu in (1) above, but not in (2) or (3). Shūri-suru and shūzen-suru are synonymous and can be used more or less interchangeably. Tokugawa and Miyajima (p. 194) suggest, however, that shūzen-suru might sound a little more dated than shūri-suru.

Narau 習う to study, to take lessons

Although narau 習う is often equated with “learn” by American students of Japanese, it is more like “study” in the sense that it does not imply mastery as does “learn.” (1) and (2) below are therefore correct, but (3) is not.

EXAMPLES:

(1) Uchi no musume wa ima piano o naratte-imasu.

うちの娘はいまピアノを習っています。

My daughter is taking piano lessons.

(2) Eigo wa roku-nen mo gakkō de naraimashita ga, jōzu ni narimasen deshita.

英語は六年も学校で習いましたが、上手になりませんでした。

I studied English for six years in school, but I never became good at it.

(3) *Aoki-san wa san-nen Amerika ni ita aida ni eigo o hitori de ni naraimashita.

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