で Particle

In Japanese, the de で particle has various functions.

• Instrument
  
  • Material
    
    • Requirement
    • Limitation
  • Manner
• Location
• Te-Form
• Copula
• Circumstance
  
  • Feeling
• Cause
• Time
  
  • Period
• Conjunction
• Origin
• Compounds
• References

ら抜き言葉

In Japanese, ra-nuki kotoba ら抜き言葉, "ら-removed speech," refers to a way of talking that omits the ra ら in the potential form of ichidan 一段 verbs, conjugating them like godan 五段 verbs that end in ru る.

For example: tabereru 食べれる is taberareru 食べられる, "able to eat," with the ra ら removed.

• Explanation
• Passive Form

い抜き言葉

In Japanese, i-nuki kotoba い抜き言葉, "い-removed speech," refers to a way of talking that omits the i い at the start of auxiliary verbs attached to te-form, contracting te-iru ている into te-ru てる, te-iku ていく into te-ku てく, de-iru でいる into de-ru でる, and de-iku でいく into de-ku でく, and so on.

For example: miteru 見てる is a contraction of mite-iru 見ている, "to be seeing."

• Patterns
• Usage
• Examples

youkoso ようこそ

In Japanese, youkoso ようこそ means "welcome." It's an expression used when welcoming a guest to a new place, like "welcome to city X" or "welcome to organization Y," and so on.

Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! 魔法先生 ネギま！ (Chapter 1)

• youkoso ❤
  ようこそ❤
  Welcome ❤
• Negi-sensei'
  ネギ先生ーッ
  (character name.)

Above, for example, a teacher is welcomed into a classroom with youkoso.

• Usage
  
  • にようこそ, へようこそ
• Origin

へ vs. に

In Japanese, the e へ particle and the ni に particle are similar in that they can be both used to mark a place for a movement verb.

• gakkou ni iku
  学校に行く
  To go to school.
• gakkou e iku
  学校へ行く
  (same meaning.)

However, there are differences between e へ and ni に that can be noted.

• に行く vs. へ行く
• にある vs. へある
• への vs. にの
• Style
• Other Functions

へ Particle

In Japanese, the e へ particle marks the direction "toward" which an action occurs, or simply means "toward." It's spelled as he へ, but pronounced like e え.

• Destination
• Sentence-Ending Particle
• Toward
  
  • Time
  • Addressee
  • Change
• Compounds
• Kanji
  
  • 辺
  • 江

naku wa nai なくはない

In Japanese, naku wa nai なくはない is the i-adjective or auxiliary adjective nai ない in the adverbial form, plus the wa は particle, plus the auxiliary nai ない again.

If the first nai is an auxiliary, ~naku wa nai ～なくはない means something "is indeed" somehow. If the first nai isn't an auxiliary, then it depends on what the phrase is saying. The exact grammar has been explained in the article about ~ku wa ～くは.

• Usage
  
  • 無くはない

nakunai なくない

In Japanese, nakunai なくない means "is not not" or "there is not no" or "[I] don't have no." It's a double negative, so it translates to the positives "is," "there is," and "[I] have."

Grammatically, it'a the i-adjective or negative auxiliary nai ない, inflected to the adverbial form, naku なく, plus the negative auxiliary nai ない. So it's nai twice.

• Grammar
• Usage
  
  • なくなくない
• 無くない

~ku wa nai ～くはない

In Japanese, ~ku wa nai ～くはない is the adverbial form of an i-adjective, plus the wa は particle, plus the negative auxiliary nai ない. Or it might be kuwanai 食わない, "won't eat."

Basically, ~ku wa nai is used to affirm something "is not" a given adjective.

• warui?
  悪い？
  Is [it] bad?
• waruku wa nai kedo..
  悪くはないけど･･･
  Bad, [it] is not but...
  • It's something else. (this is a contrastive wa は.)

See ~ku wa ～くは for details about the grammar.

~ku wa ～くは

In Japanese, ~ku wa ～くは is the adverbial form of an i-adjective plus the wa は particle. This can work just like ~te wa ては, separating the adjective and an auxiliary into topic-focus, or just mark the adverb as topic.

• Grammar
• Contractions

nakya なきゃ

In Japanese, nakya なきゃ is often used to say you "must" do something. It can also be used to say "if not something, something else."

• ganbaranakya
  頑張らなきゃ
  [I] must work hard. Try my best. Put effort.
  • ganbaru 頑張る
    To work hard. Try your best. Etc.
• yasukunakya urenai
  安くなきゃ売れない
  If [it's] not cheap, [it] can't be sold.
  • yasui 安い
    Cheap.

Grammatically, it's either a contraction of nakereba なければ, the conditional ba-form of the i-adjective nai ない, "nonexistent," which can be suffixed to verbs and adjectives to create their negative forms.

This nakya なきゃ is almost synonymous with nakucha なくちゃ, which contracts nakute wa なくては instead.

• Grammar

~kya ～きゃ

In Japanese, ~kya ～きゃ is a contraction of ~kereba ～ければ, the conditional ba-form of i-adjectives. Or some sort of fangirling shriek: kyaa! きゃー！

nakucha なくちゃ

In Japanese, nakucha なくちゃ is normally used to say that you "must" do something. For example:

• ganbaranakucha
  頑張らなくちゃ
  [I] must word hard. Try my best. Put effort.
  • ganbaru 頑張る
    To work hard. Try your best. Etc.
• nigenakucha
  逃げなくちゃ
  [I] must run away.
  • nigeru 逃げる
    To run away.

Grammatically, it's a contraction of nakute wa なくては, which is the te-form of the i-adjective nai ない, "nonexistent," plus the wa は particle. See the article about ~te wa ～ては for details.

• Grammar
• Usage

~cha ～ちゃ

In Japanese, ~cha ～ちゃ is a contraction of ~te wa ～ては. Although sometimes it means "tea," ocha お茶.

~te wa ～ては

In Japanese, ~te wa ては is the te-form of a verb plus the wa は particle. This can have two different functions.

• Auxiliary Focus
• Condition
• Contractions