tenten 点々

In Japanese, tenten 点々 means "dots" or "points." It's a reduplication of ten 点, which means a "dot" or "point."

The word is sometimes used to refer to symbols that look like dots, such as dakuten 濁点 (゛) and the ditto mark (〃), which are also called chonchon ちょんちょん, *striking repeatedly* (phenomime), due to how your hand moves in order to write them.

Manga: Hikaru no Go ヒカルの碁 (Chapter 1, 棋聖降臨)

• miro yo
  見ろよ
  Look!
• koko ni chi no ato mitai ni ten-ten to......
  ここに血のアトみたいに点々と･･････
  In here, [something that] looks like blood marks [is stuck] in drops.
  • ato 跡
    Something left behind by something else, usually as evidence.
    Tracks, traces, marks, scars, etc.
  • tenten to 点々と
    Scattered around as spots, dots, points.

転音

In Japanese, ten'on 転音, also called boin koutai 母音交替, "vowel change," is a change in pronunciation where the vowel of a morpheme changes in order to connect to another morpheme in a word.

Examples include:

• fune-ashi ふねあし
  funaashi ふなあし (舟足)
  Boat speed.
• kaze-kami かぜかみ
  kazakami かざかみ (風上)
  Upwind.
• kami-nagara かみながら
  kamunagara かむながら
  As a god.
  As in the age of gods.
• ame-kasa あめかさ
  amagasa あまがさ (雨傘)
  Umbrella.
• sake-taru さけたる
  sakadaru さかだる (酒樽)
  Alcohol barrel, cask.
• ue-ki うえき
  uwagi うわぎ (上着)
  Outer garment. Coat.
• ki-tachi きたち
  kodachi こだち (木立)
  Tree grove.

Note: in the words above, ka becoming ga, ta becoming da, and ki becoming gi consist of a different change in pronunciation called rendaku 連濁.

onbinkei 音便形

In Japanese onbinkei 音便形 is a verb form that has been affected by onbin 音便, by changes in pronunciation. This term is used to distinguish between the original forms and forms that were changed due to euphony.

In general, onbin seems to affect only the ren'youkei 連用形 form of verbs when they come before the jodoushi 助動詞 ~ta ～た and ~te ～て, so you have the normal ren'youkei, and the onbinkei used before ~ta and ~te. For example:

• kai 書い
  The i-onbin of kaki 書き.
• to' 取っ
  The soku-onbin of tori 取り.
• shin 死ん
  The hatsu-onbin of shini 死に.
• tanou 頼う
  The u-onbin of tanomi 頼み.

The u-onbin also affects the ren'youkei form of i-adjectives. Their onbinkei are:

• arigatou ありがとう
  The u-onbin of arigataku ありがたく.
• tsuyou 強う
  The u-onbin of tsuyoku 強く.
• samuu 寒う
  The u-onbin of samuku 寒く.
• yoroshuu よろしゅう
  The u-onbin of yoroshiku よろしく.

onbin 音便

In Japanese, onbin 音便, often translated as "euphonic change," refers to four types of changes in pronunciation that affect, among other things, the ren'youkei 連用形 conjugation of verbs. Such changes exist to make the words easier to pronounce. They are:

1. u-onbin
   ウ音便
   Changes a kana to u う.
   Example: omohi-te 思ひて
   Becomes: omoute 思うて.
2. i-onbin
   イ音便
   Changes a kana to i い.
   Example: kaki-te 書きて
   Becomes: kaite 書いて.
3. hatsuonbin
   撥音便
   Changes a kana to n ん. This n ん is called hatsuon.
   Example: shini-te 死にて
   Becomes: shinde 死んで.
4. sokuonbin
   促音便
   Changes a kana to the small tsu っ, which represents a "geminate consonant," sokuon 促音.
   Example: tori-te 取りて
   Becomes: totte 取って.

連声濁

In Japanese, renjoudaku 連声濁 is a change in pronunciation similar to rendaku 連濁, where the first syllable of a suffix gets a "diacritic," dakuten 濁点. Unlike rendaku, renjoudaku merges a nasal or voiced syllable with another syllable, and can affect syllables beyond suffixes.

For example: nado など, "et cetera," comes from nani-to なにと, or nanto なんと. While shinda 死んだ, "died," comes from shini-ta 死にた.

• Definition
• 連用形
• Other Words
• References

連声

In Japanese, renjou 連声 is a change in pronunciation that generally happens when two kanji form a single word, and the last sound of the first kanji is the nasal vowel ~n ～ん, or from the m~ or t~ rows, while the first sound of the second kanji is a vowel, or from the y~ or w~ rows, and they combine to form a syllable from the n~, m~, or t~ rows.

For example: hannou 反応, "response," is formed by han はん and ou おう, but since han はん ends in ~n ～ん, and ou おう starts with a vowel, ou おう becomes nou のう.

• Examples
• References

撥音便

In Japanese, hatsuonbin 撥音便 is a change in pronunciation of a word where a kana 仮名 is changed to the nasal n ん, also known as hatsuon 撥音. This mainly happens in the conjugation of certain verbs.

For example: shinda 死んだ, "died," is supposed to be shini-ta 死にた, but ni に and ta た are pronounced merged together.

Note: not to be confused with hatsuon 発音, "pronunciation," which is a homonym.

• 連用形
• Nouns
• References

ウ音便

In Japanese, u-onbin ウ穏便 is a change in pronunciation where a kana 仮名 becomes u う.

For example: arigatai 有り難い, "unlikely," "thankful," becoming arigatou 有り難う in arigatou-gozaimasu 有難う御座います.

Game: Gyakuten Saiban 2 逆転裁判２

• 連用形
  
  • ～うございます
  • ～うて
• Other Words
• References

イ音便

In Japanese, i-onbin イ音便 is a change in pronunciation often seen in conjugations where a kana 仮名 of the word gets pronounced as i い instead.

For example: the past form of sagasu 探す is sagashi-ta 探した, but the past form of kaku 書く, isn't kaki-ta 書きた, it's kaita 書いた, with an i い.

• Explanation
• 連用形
  
  • ～います
• 連体形
• References

desu shi ですし

In Japanese, desushi ですし is the polite copula desu です plus the shi し particle. It works the same way as dashi だし, which has the plain copula da だ instead.

• tetsudatte-kuremasu ka?
  手伝ってくれますか？
  Will [you] help [me]?
• ii desu yo, douse hima desu shi
  いいですよ、どうせ暇ですし
  Fine, since [I] have nothing to do anyway.

The only different, as usual, is when dealing with i-adjectives.

• kawaii shi
  可愛いし
  Since [it] is cute.
• kawaii desu shi
  可愛いですし
  (polite variant of the above.)
• kawaii da shi
  可愛いだし
  (this is wrong, because da だ can't come immediately after an i-adjective, even though desu です can.)

dashi だし

In Japanese, dashi だし is the da だ copula plus the shi し particle. The shi し particle is used to list facts, reasons, and so on, and it comes after the predicative form of words.

For some words, the predicative form ends in the da だ copula, that's when it forms dashi だし, but for other words, like i-adjectives, it does not, and you end up with just shi し.

Beware of homonyms: dashi 出し, "putting out," the noun form of dasu 出す, "to put out," can also mean a Japanese kind of soup stock.

Manga: Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. 古見さんは、コミュ症です。 (Chapter 14, あがり症です)

• Context: regarding Komi-san 古見さん.
• bijin dashi,
  atama mo ii shi,
  ninkimono dashi,
  美人だし、頭もいいし、人気者だし、
  [She] is a beautiful-person, [she] is also smart, [she] is a popular-person,
  • atama ga ii 頭がいい
    Literally "head is good."
    To be smart.
  • Here, shi し comes after words in their predicative forms.
  • For adjectives like bijin and ninkimono, those forms are bijin da and ninkimono da, with the predicative copula da だ.
  • For an i-adjective like ii いい, "good," the da だ copula isn't necessary, so shi し comes right after it.

し Particle

In Japanese, the shi し particle is a conjunctive particle used to express the reason, or reasons, for something. More generally, it's used to emphasize facts regarding something.

For example: in douse hima da shi どうせ暇だし, the shi particle expresses that douse hima da, "I'm free," in the sense of "I don't have anything better to do anyway," is the reason for doing something.

Not to be confused with the homonyms: shi し, the ren'youkei 連用形 form of suru する, shi 死, "death," or shi 四, the number "four."

Manga: Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san からかい上手の高木さん (Chapter 2, プール)

• Grammar
• References

Auxiliaries

An "auxiliary" in Japanese might be any of the following things:

1. jodoushi 助動詞
   Morphemes suffixed to verbs and adjectives in order to inflect them, like ~tai ～たい.
2. Auxiliary adjectives.
   Including suffixes of compound adjectives, and adjectives like ii いい,"good."
3. Auxiliary verbs.
   Including suffixes of compound verbs, and verbs like suru する, "to do."
4. hojo-yougen 補助用言
   An umbrella term for auxiliary words that go after the te-form of verbs: the hojo-doushi 補助動詞 and hojo-keiyoushi 補助形容詞.
5. keishiki-meishi 形式名詞
   Formal nouns, like koto こと.
6. rengo 連語
   "Collocations" are sometimes referred to as auxiliaries, like kamoshirenai かもしれない, "might be," which is composed by the particles ka か, mo も, and the verb shiru 知る in its negative potential form.

Auxiliary Adjectives

In Japanese, auxiliary adjectives are auxiliaries that work like adjectives. This single English term, "auxiliary adjective," has been used to refer to various things in Japanese, like:

1. hojo-keiyoushi 補助形容詞
   "Support adjectives."
   Adjectives that come after the te-form of a verb, or after the adverbial form of an adjective.
   Example: in tabete-hoshii 食べてほしい, "[I] want [you] to eat [it]," the auxiliary adjective hoshii ほしい.
2. fukugou-keiyoushi 複合形容詞
   "Compound adjectives."
   The ones where an adjective is attached to the noun form of a verb.
   Example: in tabe-yasui 食べやすい, "easy to eat," the auxiliary adjective yasui やすい.
3. jodoushi 助動詞
   "Helper verbs."
   The ones which inflect like adjectives.
   Example: in tabetai 食べたい, "want to eat," the ~tai ～たい suffix.
4. The adjective ii いい.
   Just... the adjective ii いい. And its conjugations.
   It doesn't fall in any of the categories above, but it's practically an auxiliary.
   
   

In Japanese, the term hojo-keiyoushi is sometimes used to refer to words that aren't technically hojo-keiyoushi. As far as I know, only hoshii, and perhaps nai ない, are hojo-keiyoushi. Everything else is something else.

Auxiliary Verbs

In Japanese, auxiliary verbs are auxiliaries which are verbs. This single English term, "auxiliary verb," has been used to refer to various, completely different things in Japanese, like:

1. hojo-doushi 補助動詞
   "Support verbs."
   Verbs that come after the te-form of another verb, or the adverbial form of an adjective.
   Example: in tabete-iru 食べている, "to be eating," the verb auxiliary verb ~iru ～いる.
2. fukugou-doushi 複合動詞
   "Compound verbs."
   The ones composed of two verbs, where the suffix is the auxiliary verb.
   Example: in tabe-yagatta 食べやがった, "dared to eat [it]," the auxiliary verb ~yagaru ～やがる.
3. jodoushi 助動詞
   "Helper verbs."
   Verbs, and other morphemes, that come after one of the basic forms of another word.
   Example: in tabesaserareru 食べさせられる, "to be forced to eat [it]," the auxiliaries saseru and rareru.
4. Light verbs.
   Like suru する, its irregular potential form, dekiru できる, aru ある, and naru なる.

In Japanese, sometimes the term hojo-doushi is used, perhaps mistakenly, to refer to the suffixes in fukugou-doushi, and even to some jodoushi, which, as far as I'm aware, aren't technically hojo-doushi, they just kind of work like auxiliary verbs.