Lesson 35: Yori, no hou, ippou- how they MAKE SENSE!

[@georgematthews6200]

I am still slowly learning to accept her absence, but I am still always so thankful for these videos which never cease to illuminate things I am stuck on. If you can hear this from wherever your brilliant mind now is, thank you, Cure Dolly!

[@vinilzord1]

The Bowser jumpscare made this lesson so unique hehe :)

[@nyorgeth4505]

I really wish languages were taught this way more often-so many of our abstract expressions are, at their core, spatial metaphors, and if only we built up from these basic metaphorical insights rather than impatiently reaching for our familiar, native ways of coordinating ideas, we'd realize that there's nothing alien or awkward about expressions like 方 at all: we intuitively grasp them, we've just heretofore overlooked their analogies to some specific abstract ideas. Thanks as always for the insightful, clear, and entertaining lesson. Your channel and writings are a real delight.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Thank you! To me it seems the most natural way to understand language - see how it really fits together rather than use quick-but-inaccurate "definitions". Not many humans seem to do it that way though.

[@darkhorse7148]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Oh, do you know of any other humans who do?

[@cryptodisco4361]

there she goes again clearing up a subject i been confused by for years in less than 15 dang minutes

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

And thank you for taking the time to comment.

[@stay_coolXD]

"It takes a genius to make a complex subject simple"

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Thank you so much.

[@rokucon4218]

の方 has been slightly troubling me for some time - but no more. Her concise and logical lessons remedy my beginner 'wobbles.' Thank you.

[@nickinlondon4644]

What a useful lesson! Thank you so much. PS. Poor little Mary - she's just as pretty as Sakura really.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

She is - and her little lamb will one day grow up into a Round Sheep and star in videos.

[@ElonMusk-qe3fe]

さくらとメアリーは同じきれいですね? :D

[@Noelciaaa]

The timing in which I got to this lesson in the playlist is perfect! I've encountered in sentence in a manga and struggled to make sense of より there「部屋で二人きりになるよりはいいか。。。」But your explanation made the meaning clear as day! If I'm thinking correctly, it should mean something like "I guess it is better than it being just the two of us in (my) room...". Thanks to your lessons overall, I was able to transition from quite shallow anthologies to normal length multi volume manga and follow the plot, the intricacies of the character's thoughts, intention, nuance of emotion (which is vital because that's a slowburn romance manga)

[@seventhsheaven]

さすが先生！よく分かりました！ Another fantastic lesson, thank you 🙏 I’ve been learning 一方 for jlpt3 (which is next weekend and I probably won’t take it because there’s no way I can learn 600 odd vocab in a week!!) but as usual they never explain why it means ‘meanwhile’. I suppose ‘on the other hand’ might be a better way to look at it? Plus now I know why ほう ‘s Kanji is 方! For anyone studying Japanese, I know it’s hard but keep going! I can now understand around 80% of most manga, and it’s a great feeling after studying for years and getting nowhere. Dolly sensei’s videos have helped so much on the grammar side!

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

You're right! 600 vocab in a week is pushing it a bit! "On the other hand" is exactly the right English phrase to translate the conjunction function of いっぽう(で) in fact it's almost literal if we take "hand" to mean "side" (as in left hand side, right hand side) - which I think is possibly what the English _does_ originally mean. The "meanwhile" meaning is almost identical (it is essentially an implied conjunction with what went before). In English we wouldn't actually _use_ "on the other hand" here, but the construction is the same.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

PS - isn't it great when you get to the stage where you can understand 80% of a medium you love! Then you really have embarked on _living_ Japanese and not just _learning_ it. You're still learning too of course but we always are. I don't think we ever stop learning English if we have a curious mind!

[@aocchan]

Thank you for the words of encouragement and congratulations on your progress (:

[@AMLCerb]

All of your videos are a resource goldmine for me but this one is of exceptional quality. Thanks so much for all that you do.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

And thank you so much for your kind appreciation.

[@Garbaz]

I always found ほう quite understandable, but より rather confusing. Thinking of it the way you explained here makes so much sense, and greatly helps with my understanding of it, especially when used alone! Thank you! And I completely agree that introducing the two as an pair is a bad idea, since that just results in confusion, when they appear alone.

[@ozthekeymaster]

Love your lessons but this is the best I've seen so far. Thank you! ドーリー先生のレッスンはすべてのが大好きですけど、他のレッスンより素晴らしいです。どうもありがとうございます。

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

こちらこそありがとうございます。レッスンが役に立てて嬉しいです。これからも頑張ってください。

[@donconore]

It's funny that you mentioned cycling in Japan, because that is what I did for the first time today! I biked around the Asuka region (Nara, Kansai) in glorious sunshine. On a more serious note, that video was excellent. You surpassed your usual magnificence in helping break down the language into something so much more meaningful and comprehensible than the textbooks or other sources ever could. ありがとうございます、先生。

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Thank you so much. I'm happy to know that you are enjoying cycling in Japan too. What a lovely thing to share! Really happy this lesson was helpful. 頑張ります！

[@zamyrabyrd]

I was always afraid I might put the noun or adjective on the wrong side of yori or no hou. Thanks to your explanation, this has been straightened out in my mind.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

I know - it's like trying to remember a throw of five dice the way it gets taught! Sad when it's all so logical really!

[@Noondestroyer]

This video is a godsend.

[@retronickmusic]

やった! 分かったよ! 「より」 = 「>」? すごい! 先生は天才だよね。

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

ありがとう。お役に立てて嬉しい。

[@gamingwithyoty7725]

I see cure dolly finally finished captain toad and moved on to super Mario Odyssey.

[@darkmattergamesofficial]

Bowser jumpscare really got me!

[@gregorsamsa9762]

This made ippou actually click for me! Thanks heaps!

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

I'm happy that I was able t help!

[@SeaTheLion]

ドリー先生は一番好きな先生だ

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

ありがとうございます。

[@ViewtifulJosh388]

Thanks for the video. Really does help. Choooo choooo!

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

I'm happy to hear that! And glad you're aboard!

[@cure3245]

@6:24 continue from here

[@kunslipper]

Thank you so much.

[@Eltr10n]

Ah. Thanks, very useful as always. A far contrast from being told to memorize の方 as a set expression for comparisons and leaving it at that. キュアドリの方が分かります

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

ありがとうございます。

[@ムネタ]

I remember learning those two as a set in Genki. I thought this was the only way of comparing whatever. Oh, and then he also made the claim of "these two might be interchanged in the wild". That threw me for a loop. Thank you Cure Dolly! Also, your explanation on words like kara and demo really explain how they mean what they mean. I think "but" and "from" simply are the closest we have to those, but still can we really put their full implications in words? I wonder how I would feel like if I grew up as a Japanese native speaker and learnt a different language. Japanese is so different...

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Elsewhere I introduce the concept of the "meaning spectrum" - the idea is that beyond very basic words, it is the exception rather than the rule for a Japanese word to have an _exact_ equivalent in English. They usually cover overlapping but not identical areas of the meaning spectrum. I introduce this concept (and why it isn't really a problem) in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eaHMdn-mfLdgjLc

[@ムネタ]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Will take a look, thanks!

[@FcoTrillo]

Thank you for your lessons, Dolly. I was hoping you could help me understand a sentence I came across that uses "yori". For context, a girl is made to wear a shawl by her aunt and complains about it being too hot (this happens in the Alps :wink). Her aunt answers with: 荷物になるよりましでしょ I'm very new to japanese, so I had to look up pretty much every word. 荷物になる I translate as "to become a burden" and まし I guess is 増し which means better or preferable. So if I try to translate this literally it would be something like: "It is better than the shawl becoming a burden" The way I understand the structure, 荷物になる has a ga marked subject which is the shawl. And the copula at the end has another ga marked subject "It". And both clauses are connected by より. The english subtitles say "but this way you won't lose it, right?". Which I'm guessing isn't very literal. Could you explain how the sentence is put together? Also, do you have a lesson on だろう/でしょ? Thanks a lot.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Ah I am guessing that you are watching アルプスの少女ハイジ。Dictionaries are such a pain sometimes. 荷物 is literally baggage and になる means what it usually means, which is "become". So all she is saying is that "it's better than its becoming baggage". Or it's better than carrying it. I am not sure why it would be better than carrying it without more context - perhaps as the subtitles suggest because it is safer from losing it or maybe they were already carrying a lot of things.You are right about the zero particle being the shawl. でしょう is an interesting word (I should cover it). Although it is the volitional form of the polite copula it is often not used either as a copula or as polite (it is used in the midst of casual speech). It simply adds the don't you think, wouldn't that be the case etc. Sometimes genuinely wondering - sometimes rhetorically pressing the point, sometimes just adding some "I think" to something - なんてきれいなお花でしょう (what a pretty flower).

[@Aerderranissar]

Thanks for your lessons! They are the best ones I've found since i started learning japanese 12 years ago =D So many nuances explained in a simple logical way! Btw, I found that often, japanese has more similarities with russian (which is my native language) then with english. We also use "С одной стороны"( "from one side") and "С другой стороны" ("from the other side") that is exactly like 一方, for example.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

I always think that there is a common human "box of tricks" (fundamentally metaphors like the spatial one of direction in this case) from which all languages draw. So even unrelated languages will have some of those "tricks" in common and even related languages won't have all of them in common. One could say that the "box of tricks" arises from the fact that they all have the same physical environment from which to draw metaphors for the conceptual world.

[@Aerderranissar]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 true! Finding the original "code" of languages is very interesting topic. Not only to know how language evolved, but also to have easier time learning new ones =D

[@mikomichael9555]

I love your voice❤️

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

ありがとう

[@martindappiano4314]

Hi, i love your videos, they're pretty helpful. Something I've seen in grammar books is that they explain ほうがいいです as a grammar point meaning "something you should do". Now I'm reading the following sentence: 食べ物を持っている人は注意したほうがいいでしょう which would mean something along the lines of "people bringing food should probably be careful/watch out" But, if I want to transliterate how Japanese really works, it would actually mean "As for people bringing food, being on the side of watching out would probably be good" So ほうがいいです would be "being on X side is good" Am I correct in analyzing the sentence that way?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Yes, that's right. It can be more or less forceful depending on context and manner of saying it. At root it means X is the best way, the preferred way, originally out of two or more, but nowadays it could be out of several. So it can often mean X is what you ought to do.

[@martindappiano4314]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 thx a lot =)

[@temphy]

I think English actually has a very very similar phrase (if not an exact replica) to 「注意したほう」and that is "to err on the side of caution", which I find really interesting. There's a comment above this where Cure Dolly and another commenter discuss that human's have this common "box of tricks" that they've pulled from to form languages and this is a very good example of that. Just thought this was interesting :)

[@HyperLuigi37]

So 一方 kind of serves the same function as “on the other hand,” except the literal usage is “this one point is the first hand,” and then you just say the other side. Interesting.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Yes, that's right.

[@ct_warrior]

This was a good video. I liked the verbal explanation of yori, but when I went to look at the pictures again I felt a bit puzzled. In the Sakura(B)wa Mary(A) yori sentence, we see "A (small arrow)->

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

The idea of the two arrows, was to distinguish より from から by showing から as a connecting arrow, and より as a separating but comparing arrow, showing the A and B as separate but face-to-face (in comparison) and with B inferred as the greater (in whatever quality we are discussing) of the two. It is a slightly tricky concept to represent visually but that was my attempt! Every language has its particular words used in particular circumstances. I think から would work just as well as より on a letter, but より is the one that has become associated with letters, so から would seem unnatural. As to why, well I think looking back to the days when it was first used - when delivering a letter from one place to another was quite a time-consuming affair (even compared to modern snail-mail), から implies that the recipient has already received the letter. Which of course if she is reading it, she has. But from the point of view of the writer, all she really knows is that it is leaving her and with luck will arrive at her correspondent some time in the future. This is just my guess of course but I suspect may have something to do historically with the establishment of より rather than から for letters and such.

[@littlemumyou]

As always, a fantastic lesson sensei, although I have to admit that I'm still confused about one part. I think for the most part I understand the use of の方, but the part that confuses me the most is when 方 is applied on a verb or adjective. In a sentence: 僕は元から胃が弱いほうだ。-- I’ve always had a weak stomach (As for me, I’m the one who always has had a weak stomach) What does the ほう do in this sentence? If I had to guess we're putting the direction in a metaphorical sens (as explained in the lesson) to 弱い (is weak) which put some kind of emphasis on the adjective? I don't know... I feel like I'm missing something, especially when used with a verb or adjective?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Literally in the weak direction - tending to be weak.

[@littlemumyou]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 It's really just as simple as that, ah! Thank you for your answer sensei, it's very much appreciated.

[@thepowerisyetunknown7710]

I don't know if you've explained this in another video, but this seems to be the closest one to it. I would like to know more about による,　or just よる for that matter. My guess is that it is an inflection of より the way で is to だ but clarification would be nice. If this has been discussed before I am sorry.

[@200300646]

The power is yet unknown I wonder how she would explain it. Because ni yoru is like “Due to....” “Depending on...”I normally come across that function in articles and news sites. Yori is a particle but Yoru is a verb so the thought changes depending on the conjugation and the function grammatically is different. For example: “習慣は国によって異なる・しゅうかんはくにによってことなる“. Customs differ depending on country to another. “天気予報によると、今日は雨だそうだ・てんよほうによると、きょうはあめだそうだ” According to the weather forecast, today it seems it will rain. “To” is the quotation particle usage here. I hope that clears up a portion of the meaning but, I do wonder what curedolly would add. In my mind, Yori and Yoru are two different functions. The first being a particle and the latter a verb.

[@patrickr.1433]

@@200300646 i'll get something like により and it being used as a modifier to a noun, just like によって, rather than the "particle" よりwhich would treat said noun's relationship to the preceding information completely differently. The particle would mean "separating from [preceding info]"... the にparticle plus verb (as you put) combo would mean "in connection to [preceding info]". I wish Cure Dolly Sensei were here to clear this up...

[@manuelcapela7620]

Kono chaneru wo miru ippou da!1😁

[@Yudokuma]

Hello Cure Dolly-Sensei. I just want to confirm that what I just realized is actually correct. I remembered the previous lesson on modification structure, and was wondering if the same effect was happening here. Ex: (Sorry I have not learned Kanji yet) - このむらのじんこうがへるいっぽうだ - [This villages population (Does) to decrease] -> [Modifying ippou] is One-Direction / Is one side (But no other side after so it must only be decreasing) Is this the reason for the "こと box"? And why Koto is applied to the clause following? Ex: - しゃべるウサギをみたことがない - [(0 ga) Talking rabbit seen] -> [Modifying Koto] is-not-exist Same with all nouns, which have a similar function (dake/shika/bakari/sou/you etc..) So then when we have those nouns we automatically assume everything before is modifying them (Unless in a logical clause itself)? Also I hope you are doing well! Thanks again!

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

みたことがない means fact-of-seen does not exist and is the standard way of saying one has never done something (in this case seeing). このむらの modifies じんこう. いっぽうだ should be seen as an information-adding ender.

[@starpeep5769]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 What about yoru, and yotte?

[@arpitkumar4525]

Do we use the て-form of the copula だ(で) with いっぽう to connect two clauses or is there some other reason?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

That's right. The simplest way of joining two clauses we put the engine into the て-form. Since the いっぽう is already stressing the contrast we don't use a contrastive conjunction.

[@arpitkumar4525]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Thank you sensei!

[@Narulopo]

Thank you sensei ♡ I have a doubt with this sentence ふん。。。 なかなか持った方じゃないか Sometimes I put it in a translator and I think it puts 方 like かた and this is confusing so much because I think is actually ほう But my question is what can possibly be the translation to that sentence? That the person hold it more than the regular? That the person didn't hold it too much? That the person it's being sarcastic about the other person not being able to hold it for a extended period of time? There is no ほうが structure here so it makes it more difficult for me 😿 The context that I have is about a boy holding a pipe and he then let all the water be splashed on the girl but I don't know if she is actually praising him or making fun of him with her words

[@aaaab384]

2:56 寒いからコートを着る = From the fact that it's cold, I'm wearing a coat. I don't understand why "着る" here is translated to "I'm wearing". Shouldn't the present-tense form be 着ている? I'm confused, because sometimes I see the plain form instead of the ている form to express the present tense. Why is that so, and how can we tell present and future tenses apart in general if verb forms seems to be often misused?

[@oogenesis]

it's translated that way because 'i wear a coat' in that sentence would sound unnatural in english, and because english doesn't make a strong distinction between 'i wear' and 'i am wearing/continue to wear'. also, japanese only distinguishes between 'future tense' and 'present tense' by context. there is no separate conjugation for it. hope that helps.

[@RameshKumar-mv3jd]

Thank you for the lesson. I hope Mary never watched this!

[@beaucaverly1598]

Thank you for the lesson! However, there is something about it that is confusing me: when you said 'から marks the A in 'A from B' in such a way that it is treating 'A' as the starting point or the point of origin'. I am not sure if this is right, but isn't it really that から is treating the B in 'A from B' as the starting point? For example, in '寒いからコートを着る' if you think of 寒い as the cause/starting point (B) and コートを着る as the result (A), it works - コートを着る from 寒い (A from B). If A were being treated as the starting point, 寒い would be the result of コートを着る, which doesn't make any sense. I am not trying to be nit-picky here, I would just like to know if have missed something and that is why I am finding this confusing. ありがとうございます!

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

I hope I didn't express it too confusingly. から marks the A of "from A to B" both spatially and logically. I think I indicated this but if I misspoke at some point, I apologize.

[@beaucaverly1598]

There is no need to apologize, but thank you anyway. I am just glad that I didn't completely misunderstand something.

[@日本語できないよ]

Sooo, I guess sensei's a vtuber, huh.

[@GarrisonMorton]

So I would assume in a sentence like "In the end Darth Vader turned FROM the dark side" you'd probably use より instead of から correct?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

These moving/changing from A to B constructions mostly use から. There isn't an absolute rule, but it doesn't really matter since you will know them when you see them. On the whole if you are using them, choose から most of the time unless it is a situation where you know より to be common (such as sending letters - and even then it is mostly only used by the sender in the salutation).

[@GarrisonMorton]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Ah I see. I got a bit confused since you said より is a “distinction“ word.

[@louieberen4293]

Hi Cure Dolly, I received this reply from a 日本人: さきほど彼より送られてきた予定表をみると。。。 It looks like よりin the above sentence means から. I assume that 日本人 can use both から and より interchangeably.

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Not in all cases, but when something is being sent we can mark the sender with より (as I mentioned in the video we often use our own name plus より signing an email or something ("from me"). But it would sound weird to say 東京より来た instead of 東京から来た.

[@louieberen4293]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 Thank you so much!!

[@amarug]

I see how you want to stay with the plain form "da" first instead of "desu" as you are building a logical system here. but i think these videos are especially useful for people that already learned quite a bit and come here to clean up confusions and i can immediately apply everything to the polite form etc . however since language at the end is still here mostly just for interhuman (and droid?!) communication, i think for the new learners it would be good to have some "disclaimers" here. especially something in the lines of that we are here building a logical structure to make people understand and appreciate the beauty of how japanese is constructed, but not to immediately go talk like this. as if you say "dolly da" instead of "dolly desu" or at least "dolly da yo" when meeting someone for the first time you sound like a silly bossy anime character and no human actually talks like that...

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Something I say very often (more in other videos than this structure series, but here too) is that structure is _not_ a means of acquiring Japanese it is a set of equipment to make the acquisition of Japanese faster, easier and more accurate. The old school (literally) idea that you "learn Japanese" out of a textbook and then go speak it is something I am trying to demolish. _You acquire Japanese from immersion and from nothing else._ Everything else, including structure, is nothing more than necessary equipment. You may have a very hard time climbing a mountain without ropes and other equipment. But if you confuse acquiring and learning to use the equipment with actually climbing the mountain (as the old school does) you are in for some very disappointing surprises.

[@amarug]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 yes that makes complete sense, i fully agree!

[@oogenesis]

the underlying structure being taught here applies to polite forms too, by the way. and people do speak that way if they're close/know each other well.

[@woah5333]

The use of arrows for explaining より and its comparison with から is confusing to me

[@coloradoresellers7190]

I love your videos, but listening to the electronic voice is difficult for me. I looked for a way to disable it, but the option to do so is missing. :-(

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

Hmm? If you don't like my voice you can turn the sound down. There are full subtitles that you can enable. I am afraid there is no option to add a human voice. I am an android and don't employ a human.

[@coloradoresellers7190]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49ごめんあさい、 よくわかりました！

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

@@coloradoresellers7190 いいえ、こちらこそごめんなさい。声が悪くてすみません。

[@chadvader974]

What about 幸せなほうだと思います in response to 幸せですか？

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

This is somewhat unusual Japanese.

[@chadvader974]

@@organicjapanesewithcuredol49 I was watching a conversation between two people speaking Japanese.. the person who said this was native.

[@chadvader974]

Let me try and find the link

[@chadvader974]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/a528gYebg5l8rtE it's literally the first sentence. Also.. what's your opinion on using this kind of video as beginner learning material as opposed to making the jump to anime straight away?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

@@chadvader974 Interesting - it's rather odd Japanese and I haven't heard this in ordinary conversation but she seems to be thinking hard, trying to find simple ways of putting things for foreign listeners. But I do think this is good. It doesn't matter that it might sometimes use slightly over-simplified Japanese - it makes a very good starting-point and is definitely a good pre-anime stage where the Japanese is not for-natives but being carefully tailored and slowed down to help foreign learners.

[@mikomichael9555]

Thank you for this lesson! Can you make more worksheets to consolidate all those lessons?

[@organicjapanesewithcuredol49]

I might do that but I'm not sure I have much talent for things like worksheets. They aren't the greatest and they take a huge amount of time - much more than you'd think - probably because I'm trying to do a job I wasn't programmed for.

[@colonelvector]

Excellent explanation i̶n̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶a̶r̶i̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶l̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ as usual. Again this is something that should be taught properly, but isn't.