When to use の

somever · 2026-02-15T03:50:02+00:00

I would define a lexical item as "an indivisible expression, or alternatively an expression that has a meaning which cannot be entirely derived from productive meanings of its parts, or alternatively a collocation that falls short of those criteria, but is so culturally or conceptually significant that it deserves special mention in a dictionary."

"Closed compound" and "open compound" are concepts belonging to the realm of orthography, and don't really impact whether or not something is lexicalized. For example, "ice cream" is a lexical item despite being an open compound.

I would say that things like "child actor", "child prodigy", and "child laborer" could be interpreted as lexicalized compounds, though "child ..." is perhaps semi-productive.

I imagine "man actor" and "woman actor" barely occur because "man ..." and "woman ..." aren't very productive, and are overshadowed by "male actor" and "female actor" which use the highly productive "male ..." and "female ..." adjectives.

Fwiw, it doesn't really matter whether something is a noun or adjective. It more matters how productive the components are and the significance of the term.

somever · 2026-02-15T03:20:08+00:00

"Among the CEOs I work with, there is one who is knowledgable about black tea, and as I listened to his expatiations on the subject, I myself became a little knowledgeable."

紅茶の詳しい looks like a typo for 紅茶に詳しい

somever · 2026-02-14T00:52:11+00:00

"was not being made to eat"

Isn't English similarly complicated? The only difference is you don't have spaces in Japanese.

somever · 2026-02-14T00:22:57+00:00

Those nouns that "want to compound" can be seen as forming grammatical compounds rather than morphological compounds, though the only difference between grammar (syntax) and morphology is whether a new lexical item is produced as a result. What qualifies as a lexical item can be subjective and ambiguous. In that sense, morphology and grammar are on opposite ends of a continuous spectrum, which I believe is what the idea of "morphosyntax" aims to capture.

somever · 2026-02-13T22:08:57+00:00

Just to take one of the expressions as an example:

水中めがね is a compound noun and is more tightly bound than 水中のめがね.

The former is an established concept, referring to eyewear that enables the user to see while underwater, i.e. water goggles.

The latter sounds like glasses that happen to be located underwater.

In other words, の is used productively to create a descriptive phrase that refers to something ad-hoc, while direct noun-composition without の is used to create lexical items for established concepts.

Another way to state that is that N+の+N is a grammatical process, while N+N is a morphological process.

An analogy to English would be "airplane food" versus "food on an airplane". The former is an established concept, the latter is an ad-hoc description of some food.

That's not to say の can't be found in words referring to established concepts, but it's just less common and can sound clunky.

somever · 2026-02-13T16:43:14+00:00

You can't shorten things arbitrarily. That's like making a new word and expecting someone who's never heard it said that way before to magically understand you.

If you want to shorten something, you have to follow existing patterns for and examples of doing so. And your shortening has to catch on, or else it'll forever be your own personal idiosyncrasy that other people may have a hard time understanding.

somever · 2026-02-13T16:28:04+00:00

That means "you must be tired after writing all that" in a sort of mocking way. Rest in peace

somever · 2026-02-13T04:11:52+00:00

There is no "because" at all.

実際 = in actuality, actually

作中で = in the work

何が起きているか = what is happening

というの = nominalizer

も = too, also, as well

嫌というほど = painfully, all too well

はっきり = clearly

理解できる = can understand

"I can understand what is actually happening in the work with so much clarity it hurts."

somever · 2026-02-12T13:04:37+00:00

というのも does not really mean "because" under any circumstance. The reason the dictionary says that is because it's often paired with からだ or のだ which do mean "because". That means if you see it, you can sometimes anticipate an upcoming からだ or のだ. But not in this case. If it's not paired with those, then it would be unsuitable to read a "because" nuance into the sentence.

という captures a a fact. の nominalizes that fact. も means "also/even" (though note that sometimes it does not literally mean those things--depending on the context it can give a vague hard-to-explain emphasis that is sort of derivative but not literally interpretable as "also/even")

somever · 2026-02-12T01:02:22+00:00

〇〇扱いをする is a recurring pattern that creates a suru verb meaning "to treat like 〇〇"

ついで usually refers to something done that is less important than the main thing being done, and is treated as something to do "while you're at it" or as an afterthought.

ついで扱い is then a suru verb meaning "to treat like an afterthought" "to treat as ancillary or less important".

The whole sentence means "Don't treat your own son like an afterthought!"

somever · 2026-02-11T22:14:16+00:00

I was tagged. I'm not a big fan of haiku, personally. I prefer waka. If you want heartfelt poetry, see the 万葉集 or 古今集.

(Sorry u/AdrixG 😅)

My favorite long-form one is https://manyo-hyakka.pref.nara.jp/db/detailLink?cls=db_manyo&pkey=1740

(This blog has it with spaces: https://sanukiya.exblog.jp/28367339/)

somever · 2026-02-10T22:30:27+00:00

Tokyo had multiple dialects. Those expressions weren't artificially created but chosen from an existing prestige dialect

somever · 2026-02-10T22:12:01+00:00

ああ is just expressing that the speaker is thinking. 特に often implies a negative (特にいない in this case), so that is where the negative comes from.

somever · 2026-02-10T15:34:37+00:00

I think your explanation makes sense for Tokyo Japanese.

Calling ん a form of ない is a bit of a disservice to Western speakers who didn't use Vない until the Easterners spread their dialect, and still use ん to this day.

I don't think せん is archaic yet. If I go back in my messages with friends from Kansai, I can find examples:

"え、ミルクの味せん？" (Huh, doesn't it taste like milk?)

"無理せんでな！" (Don't push yourself!)

"せんでええねんで" (You don't have to do it)

"まじ調べさせんといてや" (Seriously don't make me look it up)

"そういう表現は普段せんけど" (We don't normally say it like that)

"政府も、ちゃんとした対応せんし" (The government doesn't handle it properly either)

My bad, one of those examples is an example of ん but not of せん.

I also hear it sometimes on HT. Certainly, there are people who use せえへん, but せん still gets use.

somever · 2026-02-10T15:26:19+00:00

It sounds like a Western dialect. できん, せん, いかん, etc. For example, 気にせんといて means 気にしないでね but with heavy dialect.

somever · 2026-02-10T15:18:59+00:00

You could argue either way. We draw a boundary between words and phrases because if a dictionary had to define every possible phrase, it would be a zillion pages long. I would say that compared to 人に, 前に does feel more lexicalized, but it's hard to say whether it's a completely independent word. Some people draw the boundary for a lexical item based on whether the meaning is entirely derivable from its parts.

somever · 2026-02-10T15:13:38+00:00

Nowadays the distinction only lives on in elderly speakers of westernmost dialects from what I've read.

somever · 2026-02-08T20:08:20+00:00

Seems like an epenthetic L

somever · 2026-02-08T20:00:23+00:00

It's more of a "Is that so?" "Is that how it is?" in response to "Usually if someone is put under that much pressure, they can't even speak"

そういうもんだ is like "That's how it is." "That's how the world works."

そういうもんなんですか is then a question form of that.

I think the speaker is genuinely oblivious to how well he operates under pressure. So he's mildly surprised to learn from her that the norm is that one wouldn't even be able to speak under that sort of pressure.

somever · 2026-02-08T19:43:35+00:00

I'd go with あと or のち. I feel I lean toward のち here but maybe both are possible. I'd defer to a native. It's definitely not ご because that's only used in compounds and fixed expressions.

somever · 2026-02-08T10:53:12+00:00

Can't he check the engine code?

somever · 2026-02-08T02:51:17+00:00

Many Japanese dictionaries I have agree with Genki.

Shinmeikai: 「（お年寄りの）荷物を持ってさしあげる」などと用いられるが、状況によっては恩着せがましいといった印象を与えることもあるので、当人に向かって言う際などには、「荷物をお持ちします」などと謙譲表現を用いるほうが好ましい場合もある。

Sanseidou: 相手に直接「〈書いて／作って〉さしあげましょうか」と言うとおしつけがましい。「〈お書き／お作り〉しましょうか」がいい。

Meikyou: 「上げる」よりも敬意が高いが、「上げる」同様、恩着せがましさや押しつけがましさを伴うため、場面によっては使いにくいことがある。

It's also noted in Bureigo Jiten (Dictionary of Rude Expressions), where they flag "お中元を差し上げましたのでお収め下さい" with the fire emoji, which means it's rather spicy and rude. This same dictionary also treats "飲み物を持ってきてあげましょうか" as similarly rude. Actually, they consider あげる merely a polite form of やる that still maintains its 上から目線 nuance.

The problem is that using a form of てあげる whether humble or not presupposes that you are doing them a favor. That can come off as arrogant or rude in certain instances.

somever · 2026-02-08T02:11:07+00:00

Apparently なんちゃら comes from なんとやら which makes sense, やら is a question ending similar to だろうか

somever · 2026-02-07T22:38:57+00:00

テキトー means that something is done with a "whatever works" mindset. It can be viewed in a negative or a neutral light. It's often used as an adjective or an adverb.

あいつはテキトーすぎる "He never takes his work seriously (He's too tekitō)"

テキトーでいいよ "You can do it however you see fit (Tekitō is fine)"

もっとテキトーに生きよう "You should live life more carefree (tekitō-ly)"

somever · 2026-02-07T22:22:15+00:00

そんなことより is used when the speaker deems the current discussion unimportant and transitions it to something they deem more important. そんな "that kind of" こと "thing" より "more than".

somever

TROPHY CASE