Wednesday, January 30, 2019

hou ga ii 方がいい

In Japanese, hou ga ii 方がいい means "it's better if" most of the time. It can be used in three ways: to advise to do something, to warn them to not do something, or to simply state you think it would be better if something happened or not.

A variant is hou ga yoi 方がよい. It's also spelled hou ga ii/yoi 方が良い, ほうがいい, ほうがよい.

事故は無い方がいいから。
Manga: Mob Psycho 100, Mobu Saiko Hyaku モブサイコ100 (Chapter 53)
Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Warui Slime Janai yo 悪いスライムじゃないよ

The phrase warui slime janai yo, or rather, warui suraimu janai yo 悪いスライムじゃないよ, meaning "[I'm] not a bad slime," comes from the RPG series Dragon Quest: it's a catch-phrase used used by NPC slimes to tell the player they aren't going to fight him.

*「いじめないでくれよー。 ボクは わるいスライムじゃないよ。
Game: Dragon Quest IV, Doragon Kuesto Foo ドラゴンクエストIV

warui 悪い

In Japanese, meaning of warui 悪い would be literally "bad." It's an i-adjective. Note, however, that a lot of times warui and its inflections have other meanings and usage, like to say "sorry," to say somebody is at "fault," to ask what's "wrong" about something, and so on.

Since it can be pretty hard to tell which meaning exactly you're facing in any given phrase, I recommend you to read the whole article to familiarize yourself with all the ways warui can be used, rather than just reading a few sections.
Friday, January 11, 2019

doshigatai 度し難い

In Japanese, doshigatai 度し難い means "irredeemable," "beyond salvation." However, the literal meaning of the word a bit more complicated. And given that this is a catchphrase in the manga and anime Made in Abyss, I supposed it deserves a thorough explanation.

度し難い!!
Manga: Maid in Abyss, メイドインアビス (Chaper 15, 不動卿)

~gatai ~がたい, ~難い

In Japanese, ~gatai ~がたい, also spelled ~gatai ~難い, is an auxiliary adjective that means something "hard to do" because you aren't willing to do it, or it's "hard to happen" because you don't believe it normally happen.

(not to be confused with gattai 合体, which means "to combine.")

度し難い!!
Manga: Maid in Abyss, メイドインアビス (Chaper 15, 不動卿)
Thursday, January 10, 2019

~dzurai ~づらい, ~辛い

In Japanese, ~dzurai ~づらい, also written ~dzurai ~辛い, pronounced the same way as zurai ずらい, and inputted in an IME as durai, is an auxiliary adjective that means a verb is "hard for you to do" because doing it causes you trouble or distress.

古見さんは学校のマドンナでも話しかけづらい美人でもなかった。
Manga: Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. 古見さんは、コミュ症です。 (Chapter 5, 喋りたいんです。)
Wednesday, January 9, 2019

~nikui ~にくい, ~難い

In Japanese, -nikui ~にくい, also written -nikui ~難い, -nikui ~悪い, is an auxiliary adjective that means something is "hard to do." In essence, -nikui ~にくい is the antonym of the auxiliary adjective -yasui ~やすい, which means "easy to do."

く・・・なんだか今とてつもなく恥ずかしいことをしている気分だ・・・ 息が・・・息がしにくい・・・
Manga: Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san からかい上手の高木さん (Chapter 7, 傘)

~yasui ~やすい, 安い, 易い

In Japanese, ~yasui ~やすい is an auxiliary adjective that means something is "easy" to do or to happen. It's also a normal i-adjective that means "easy," yasui 易い. When the word is written with a different kanji, yasui 安い, it means something is "cheap" or "calm."
Friday, January 4, 2019

~rashii ~らしい

In Japanese, -rashii ~らしい is an auxiliary adjective that has a couple of tricky meanings. Usually, rashii means "I heard that," or "it seems that," or "it's like that," or "-esque," depending on how it's used.

胸が小さい女子って、そのコトを気にしてる場合が多いらしいぜ。 quote from manga Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san からかい上手の高木さん
Manga: Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san からかい上手の高木さん