くらい (kurai) VS ほど (hodo) What they mean and why they mean it.

[@RameshKumar-mv3jd]

"You've passed the upper limit of stupidity" is a great insult.

[@ezdlc2693]

This is one of those videos where you just blew my mind. Before this, it's impossible I would have understood "冗談にもほどがある" in the wild. It's insane how other sources simply slapping lists of random translations became the norm. Meanwhile you're here doing the real work and not being appreciated enough :( BUt some day you shall blow up in the Japanese learning community, for sure :)

[@T--xk3hf]

..... blew your mind because it's so unbelievably creepy??????!!!!!!!!! Jeeezzz.....

[@Frizod]

@@T--xk3hf ?

[@CyclingCornwall]

thank you for making learning Japanese so clear .

[@goldeer7129]

*ーTIME STAMPSー* Time stamp for the basic explanation of ほど/くらい : 1:11 Here are *all the examples* (w/ time stamps) given in the video. _(so that you can Copy/Yomichan/Anki them etc.)_ Example sentences using ほど : 2:14 これほど悪いとは思わなかった 2:35 それほど悪くない 3:52 私は彼女ほど若くない 4:26 不可能なほど 4:52 不快なほど失礼 5:24 不思議なほど 5:46 冗談にもほどがある 6:02 ばかにもほどがある 6:44 死ぬほど暑い 6:52 肌を刺すほど寒い 6:58 信じられないほど美しい景色 Example sentences using くらい/ぐらい : 7:30 到着するのは８時ぐらいです 7:41 八百円ぐらいです 8:07 どのくらいかかりますか 9:18 今日くらい家族と過ごそう 10:14 すくなくとも「ありがとう」ぐらい言ってくれてもいいのに These are all the examples given in the video (whether they appear on screen or not). They go along with the explanations of how ほど/くらい work, at the beggining of the video or sometimes preceding certain time stamps. The time stamps mark precisely the moment when Dolly starts mentionning and explaining the sentence.

[@goldeer7129]

If you want only those that actually *appear on the screen* : Example sentences using ほど : 2:14 これほど悪いとは思わなかった 2:35 それほど悪くない 3:52 私は彼女ほど若くない 4:19 不可能なほど 6:02 ばかにもほどがある 6:52 肌を刺すほど寒い Example sentences using くらい/ぐらい : 7:30 到着するのは８時ぐらいです 9:18 今日くらい家族と過ごそう 10:14 すくなくとも「ありがとう」ぐらい言ってくれてもいいのに

[@mornon2394]

One word that seems kinda slippery as meaning is 一応: sometimes I can understand it like "more or less, tentatively, just in case", other it doesn't seem quite to fit those meanings.

[@pazispeace]

i'm on lesson 8b yet but, just coming here to say I love your videos, lots of love cure dolly. Thank you so much for everything

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Thank you so much for popping in to the latest to say hello. がんばってください。

[@vanessameow1902]

Not a single dislike. さすがですね、先生.

[@mattheww.4726]

I don’t think you have an explainer yet on ただ. For my first attempt in immersion I’m working through 「キセキ」 by Greeen, and though I’m a little more than halfway through it, I struggle to grasp what ただ functions as. Thank you and keep up the amazing work!

[@azer84]

Great video, it clarify some of the use of くらい that puzzled me before. But there is still some aspect of くらい that I've seen during immersion that I don't get. (I couldn't find them exactly again, so I took some similar sentences from the Basic Dictionary of Japanese Grammar) 私達は一歩も歩けないくらい疲れていた。We were so tired that we couldn't even take a step This is exactly the kind of sentence in which I expected a ほど, as a comparison, an image/exaggeration of the extent of the tiredness. So why くらい here ? Maybe the part modifying くらい is not an exaggeration, those people were actually tired to the point of not being able to make a step anymore ? 山田さんくらいよく物を忘れる人はいない。There's no one who is as forgetful as Yamada あの時くらい苦しかった時はない。I have never suffered as much as I did that time. Another case were I would have expected ほど instead. Both sentence seems to be about a great extent, an upper limit even. I can't really see the logic if くらい is a extent considered small, less than we expected.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Yes, in the second kind of statement くらい and まど can both be used. My theory is that くらい here stresses the smallness of the thing stressed. For example out of all the people in the world _only_ Yamada is so forgetful. The first kind of statement くらい is again stressing a low limit - not even a single step could one walk.

[@Knight-Cyberia]

くらい is one of those words that in some way I just learnt with the pass of time, but it helps a lot to know that nuance of limits. xD Almost in the same situation, I've been struggling with the meaning of 一応. I'm using the main meaning "though not quite satisfactorily" and often it fit with the contexts, but there is also situations where it doesn't seem to fit... or something like that. As always, thank you for your marvelous videos Dolly-sensei.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Will add this to the list.

[@Soulskinner]

Thank you for that video. I actually like this kind of grammar videos and would be happy to see more of them about different "grammar words". Hm. And as I get ほど is the opposite of より? Like if より indicates "starting point", ほど - indicates "ending point"?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

より represents movement of a kind and therefore is best compared with から. I talked about より in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5KUqo2tqZaLd8U - ほど represents degree or extent.

[@Soulskinner]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Actually, I've understood these details about より, from this video. But it's often used as an "abstract" "starting point" like: この車はその車より大きい。Which can be seen as degree or extent. Or not?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

​@@Soulskinner Yes I see your point now. In that sense より tends to designate the lesser of two alternatives while ほど designates the greater. Good point.

[@EXTREMEKIWI115]

I was literally just wondering what くらい meant during immersion earlier today. Wwww

[@Flash20093]

One word I’ve come across literally every day since actively immersing myself is とりあえず I’ve heard it being used at the beginning of a sentence, and every time I hear it, I wonder what meaning it could have.. I guess it depends on the context of the situation. It’s kinda in the line between “for the time being” or “first of all” etc.. I’d appreciate you bringing some light on this mystery of a word

[@barrydanser4334]

It's one of those that I will go back to. Very useful

[@barrydanser4334]

I just came back again to be even more impressed

[@LimeGreenTeknii]

I feel like in English in America, we need to say something like 冗談にもほどがある more often.

[@aocchan]

Another great video, thank you

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

その猫 means "that (particular) cat". そのほど would mean "that (particular) extent" as if the extent were something in its own right and we were just talking about it with その, like the cat. But それほど means "the extent of that (existing thing)" which is what we want to say. Does this make sense?

[@aocchan]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 it totally does! Thank you a lot for the help.

[@chungkng]

Hello, Dolly sensei! Maybe I'm the only one finding this hard, seeing as nobody else made a request for it, but anyway: I'm having a lot of difficulty with the word かける during my organic study of Japanese. This word seems to carry a lot of nuances, while at the same time seeming to be determined by context to a great extent. I just don't know what to make of it, so it would be great to see it on your channel. Thanks for the video and thanks for being so helpful.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

The lesson on this is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z37FoqCQhd6GhrM

[@chungkng]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Oh, I'm sorry, I must have missed that! Thank you so much, sensei. It makes much more sense now :)

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

@@chungkng That's good.

[@Nic0Flores]

as usual, excellent video! I have just one question. Is there any difference between くらい and ぐらい? or maybe "a rule" when are they used? Thank you in advance

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

No difference really. ぐらい is considered a little more informal and is used when it feels better in the mouth (no particular rule). Being formal one may stick to くらい but it's not an important matter.

[@Gankoittetsu]

I'm back again with this video, because i step aside this channel few months ago.. And the reason is the way she speaks it's like a stitched words it's hard to listen, but i like the way she teach real grammar.. I will just read the subtitle to better understand... Too bad cure dolly is gone now.. Some says she died, some says she's still alive..

[@odd1ty612]

I'm finding なんか and なんて very difficult to understand. It seems like they replace は sometimes and it's used for emotional emphasis? I think I, and many others, would really appreciate a Cure Dolly explanation on this tricky word!

[@kingsmans4741]

I dont even know what なんか means someone please explain it I hear it all the time!!! :(

[@attilagoijra54]

I cane across なんか yesterday and it confused me a lot' so u second this comment

[@kevitokagamine5404]

Kingsman S なんか is when you don’t know what to say next. For example some people say something and then they say “LIKE.......” it’s not that difficult but there are also other meanings.

[@kingsmans4741]

@@kevitokagamine5404 that sounds about right. I remember a teacher telling me that it meant something like that of a filler word. but sonething about Japanese every word has more than 1 meaning and diferent ways that it is used 😂

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

The video is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZ24eGyvopKVars

[@stanleykparker]

Excited to see hodo expained but then puzzeled as to why the expression naruhodo was not here as that is the useage I always seem to notice.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Actually なるほど has changed its meaning over time and now means something quite different from what it used to mean. なるほと originally had a meaning close to できるだけ but the expression changed its meaning to the present one over the years. The connection of はどwith the concept だけ (in the sense of as far as) is clear enough but it no longer means that in this expression.

[@stanleykparker]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 あぁ、なるほど。

[@甲斐愚純な外人]

CURE DOLLY FAN! I SUPPORT YOU 100%

[@sprite_goblin]

Have you ever thought of doing a sequel to this video for さえ? :)

[@BATMAN10N]

Thank you.

[@BackiNator123]

great that you released that video. i came over a sentence which i mostly understand but the くらい always bothered me a bit. Context: Aさん sees smth and is scared, then tells Bさん to look. when Bさん looks its gone and he sayz　妄想と現実の区別くらい付けようね this くらい alwazs confused me. is it the same *at least* in at least differenciate between delusion and reality ? thank you :3

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Yes. The best translation would be exactly that. Of course Japanese expression strategies are not identical to English ones but that comes very close.

[@The_DoubtingThomas]

ありがとう

[@fontolan942]

if hodo is a noun, why don't you need the no particle to connect it with other nouns ?

[@haygamtheocachcuaban]

Can you explain what happens in this sentence, i saw it in 段ボール📦 when i work in combini. 自販機での販売で来ません。自販機では販売できません。did it work like what you said in the first lesson that だ is the て form of で or that is the word for explain the place. I am so confuse of it. Thanks for all lesson.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

This is the particle で used in the sense of "by means of". "Cannot be sold by means of vending machine".

[@LimeGreenTeknii]

Wait a minute, Duolingo told me about 8 o'clock is 八時ごろ. Is ごろ just a different way of saying ぐらい?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Yes, ころ/ごろ is like くらい/ぐらい but it is limited to time expressions.

[@DeHaos]

『約』や『ほぼ』の違いを説明する動画を作成しても構いませんか。 追記: 先生の作った動画は役に立ったので、見てから明らかになりました。

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

「約」は「ほど」よりも「くらい」のような意味を表します。 「約200円」= 「200円ぐらい」

[@DeHaos]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 ええ、そんなことを知りませんでした。違うことだと思ったんだ。勉強になりました。先生、お礼を言う。

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

@@DeHaos どういたしまして。

[@Dedu_]

What does 儘/まま actually means ? The dictionnaries translate it as "as it is" but it doesn't make sense to me in a lot of contexts since it's a noun

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

The lesson on まま is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHTHmXd5os2AkMU

[@Dedu_]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Thanks. I should've checked if you had already made a video about it before commenting, my bad.

[@wardm4]

Do 頃. I see it in light novels all the time. When you learn from a textbook, it makes sense in the context of time "around" 3:00. But I actually almost never see it in this situation or referring to time. I get that it just muddies the sentence to be vaguer. But I usually can't tell which part is the "approximate" thing it's modifying. Or maybe it is always time-related and I'm missing that? Something like 子供の頃は would just indicate "around when I was a child."

[@Soulskinner]

I would listen the answer. But, as I get, it means something "when"/"in time when..." and this kind of stuff. Like some period of time.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Yes that's right. 子供の頃 literally means "around when I was a child" though of course actually means "when I was a child" and is probably commoner than 子供の時 but it is still a time-reference. I think it reflects not only the Japanese penchant for non-precise expressions but also casts a slight nostalgic mist over one's childhood.

[@aphixe]

What about ちゃんと、 or 感じ. I know first is like translated properly. but not fully clear to me. and second being feeling? but feeling also doesn't fully make sense always.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

感じ has a meaning spectrum quite a bit wider than the usual English uses of "feeling". I am putting this on my list.

[@dolfos7571]

Could you explain what the にも in 冗談にもほどがある does? Is the に turning 冗談 into an adverb, which modifies ある? My Guess about the も is, that it is making the sentence more extreme/surprising. That construction seems pretty weird to me. I would have written it as something like 冗談のほどもある

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

The に here is marking the conceptual "place" in relation to which a limit exists (you could see this as quasi-adverbial just as in (○○が) 森にある, the 森に is quasi-adverbial). Literally we are saying "in jokes also limit exists". This kind of "also" would often be expressed in English as "even" - and you can see the relation. For example we can say "poor people also have money" and that makes sense, but in English we are more likely to say "even poor people have money".

[@dolfos7571]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 It now makes sense. Thank you.

[@DrAgoti-jk2ff]

i have also seen people use hodo in sentences that got translated as "the more i do xxx, the more yyy happens". What's that all about?

[@kevitokagamine5404]

こんにちは Cure Dolly 先生。 Could you make a video explaining the difference between: 今日 今 ここから塾がある (From this moment there is cram school) 今の音 (that sound just now/ the sound that just occurred) And please explained other time expressions such as 最近、時期(その時期色々があった)、時 and other common time expressions. I hope you can make a video for my request. お願いします😊

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

The problem with making videos is that in my case I can't just make regular "Japanese vocabulary" videos like the ones you can find anywhere. Before I make a video I have to have something important and valuable to say that isn't readily available elsewhere. It seems to me that you have just defined these words for yourself and I don't see that there is very much to add to what you have said. ここから means "from here" but as is so often the case (in many languages) "place" can also mean "time". So it can also mean "from now". Similarly in English "from here on" usually actually means "from now on". 今 means now but can also mean "very recently" (like "just now" in English) 最近 means "most close" and with the usual time-for-place phenomenon also "(most) recently". その時期 is even simpler. It means just what it says: "(at) that time". I just don't see material for a video here. I would be telling people (including you) what you already know.

[@kevitokagamine5404]

Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly thank you sensei, I get your point. I’m sorry if I was asking for too much. I’m glad you explained this to me. I can’t wait to see what the next video is gonna be about. ありがとう😊 I have a suggestion for you. I remember you did a story telling analysis of the story Alice in wonderland, are you going to continue or it already ended. I also thought you could do something similar with a Hatsune Miku song so that you can become more discoverable and searchable. I’m just giving suggestions to you. Please don’t take it the wrong way. I’m sure you have must already content planned for future videos. また色々ありがとう😊

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

​@@kevitokagamine5404 First of all, my apologies for the slow reply. And thank you so much for the helpful suggestion. I have done a number of story analysis videos since the Alice ones - I am thinking of putting them together into a single playlist. You might find this video a good starting point for working on text with audio: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKHQaqydeNqojtE The Hatsune Miku suggestion is a good one and I appreciate it. My main problem here is that I am quite nervous of using copyright material. I know a lot of people do get away with it, and I am not sure what exactly constitutes "fair usage" (I know that Japanese copyright law is much less permissive than American - that's why Japanese Wikipedia looks so under-illustrated). So while using a famous name could definitely help the channel's popularity, I tend to err on the side of caution.

[@kevitokagamine5404]

Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly I completely understand where you’re coming from. My channel got suspended for 3 years by mistake and I was able to get it back but it’s not fully functional for now, but I’m grateful to be able to watch my old videos from 2013. I think I’m gonna start making videos explaining the lyrics of famous Miku songs and I hope you can help me if I run into a sentence that I’m not able to understand. Thanks to you, I feel so confident about my Japanese. I can’t thank you enough. You restored my passion for Japanese. 💗ありがとう😊

[@dorklymorkly3290]

So, is the meaning of なるほど something like the growth in insight about the topic at heand is a large (preferred) amount, then?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

The etymology here doesn't help us as the meaning of the expression has changed significantly over time and no longer relates to the literal meaning of its components. gogen-allguide.com/na/naruhodo.html

[@sixpoems]

Playback speed to x1.75. ✔️ Thank you for this video. 💜 SUBSCRIBED. 📬

[@TheLaserman12]

When to use くらい and when ぐらい? The rules seem to be quite complicated and the numerous explanations I've found on the internet often contradict each other. And reading in Japanese on the matter gives me a headache. I often find myself using ぐらい by default, and it seems to be the more common one, but why?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

In modern Japanese there is no difference in meaning and no definite phonetic rules either. There is sometimes a perception that ぐらい is a little more informal but really they are in practice interchangeable.

[@MrKeepItTrill]

this is only based on immersion rather than any factual knowledge, but my experience so far is that the more formal something is, the more likely it is to use くらい exclusively. the more informal something is, the more likely it is to switch between くらい／ぐらい depending on which sounds more natural / is easier to say in terms of moving your mouth less.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

@@MrKeepItTrill I think that's about right.

[@enoleiflow7507]

Off topic question... How do I get an animated face avatar ? what software do you use? Plese reply. Arigato for the good work.

[@pazispeace]

Cure dolly 先生 already is that way!, is an android after all ... But there are softwares, you just need to search them and try

[@user-og9nl5mt1b]

Its not a person, its actually an AI entity existing in the domain of the internet. We dont understand "it". Maybe "it" might take over the internet one day and cause human extinction. Nobody knows.

[@damientrevsky9545]

I'd like to request an explanation on how one would comprehend the usage of このまま and そのまま. I've seen them used with じゃ as well. I've seen them interpreted with meanings that overlap as well, so I find these words very confusing.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

I did the lesson on まま here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHTHmXd5os2AkMU an extended meaning of it in このままでは (じゃ) is "if things continue like this".

[@attilagoijra54]

いくら is a word I have trouble wjth for some reason

[@cynthia_traduit]

Thank you for your explanation. While I was watching, this phrase came to my mind "そんなに悪くない". What would be the difference between "そんなに悪くない" and "それほど悪くない"? Thanks~^^~

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Very little. What is the difference between "It isn't that bad" and "It isn't so bad" and "it isn't all that bad" in English. それほど probably stresses the extent a little more - so perhaps a little closer to "not _all_ that bad".

[@cynthia_traduit]

Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly 説明してくださってありがとうございます😊

[@benjiirokagashima3500]

It truly is amazing, after watching a lot of your videos and after that immersing myself with things like raw manga, I actually knew all the things you were saying, and I understood them exactly that way, but then I realized I had never actually used an explanation about ほど and くらい ever before, and that I just naturally understood it after immersion, I'm not sure if it's the first time it happens to me, but at least the first time I actually actively realize that, so thanks for this video, it actually gave me more proof that you're god itself, keep up the spectacular work! Also I have a couple doubts, about the difference between しか,すら,のみ and their relation and differences with だけ and ばかり for which I believe you made a video about limits for, I'd be most thankful. And also I loved these kind of videos about groups of words that have similar meaning but are slightly different, it feels like it's the ultimate road to achieving fluency, so I hope you can keep doing them in the future, hope to see you in the next lesson!よろしく！

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

That's the best way to learn. My "limiters" video covers all the words you mention except すら and this I would tend to pair with さえ but if you have any particular question please let me know.

[@goatmeister8253]

I’ve recently seen the “continuative form” in Japanese, and I haven’t had much luck looking up info on it. How is it different than present progressive?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

A different name for the same thing - except that without specifying "present" it presumably also includes the past progressive or continuous form.

[@goatmeister8253]

I see. Thank you!

[@Someone-pj2qe]

At the end, why is there no と after the brackets around ありがとう?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Because the ぐらい displaces it. You could say that it becomes zero-と

[@nabrajghimirey7965]

すこし vs すくない???? What's the difference between this??

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

The first is a adverbial noun and the second is an adjective.

[@岩77]

Could you eventually do a vid on: www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/must I am now past this point, but for the first 4 months this concept killed me. Not sure if there is any hidden elucidation you can apply, but I think any beginner would appreciate a dolly version of this.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

I talked about this in the ば / れば lesson kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWmUdoN5qLWIptk - see if this clarifies or let me know if still feels like a problem.

[@attilagoijra54]

I was just playing final fantasy 7 and came accross the word どうにか wich jisho says means by any means/somehow but that definition didn't seen to make sense here

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Without the context I am unable to comment.

[@attilagoijra54]

So the main characters are searching for a dress to disguise themselves when they arrive they learn the man or親父 who makes the dresses is in a slum. Then one of the main characters says それじゃ...親父さん、どうにかしないとドレス、ダメってこと I hope this is enough context

[@no.7893]

。。。。。なるほどー

[@takumi04]

なんですか、その声？

[@sprite_goblin]

In a similar vein, I can't seem to grasp what とおり means in a lot of sentences. For example, this from DragonBall after Goku says he can still win a fight: "そのとおりだ！！勝算はもうない！" I really can't wrap my head around what it could mean. I'm assuming it's related to the concept of a path, or passing through something like with 通り

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

It does mean that, but the metaphor of a path extends to following a particular thought or action. So そのとおり means literally "that path" but figuratively "that's right" - a little similar to English "you're on the right track".

[@sprite_goblin]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 That makes so much sense! Thank you!

[@qofkujeceladoojecel5373]

Hodo is my name hello 😂its somalian name, means lucky

[@岩77]

[@audreyc3078]

You guys actually understand what is saying? What kind of accent is that?

[@MrAeplebicques]

Standard British English

[@pazispeace]

I understand clearly tbh

[@user-og9nl5mt1b]

Audio in this one is good, so yes i understand very well.