demo, temo and keredo

[Freedom]

Can i use them interchangably if i want to say ''but''?
What about kamo shirenai and darou, can i use them interchangably if i want to say perhaps?
THX for replying!

[Spaztick]

You could technically use them interchangeably, but there are differences (and hence times when you would use one over the other):

demo is used when starting a new sentence, so it cant be used as a conjunction between two sentences. (...ga tsuyoe. demo, watashi wa...)

keredo is shortened to kedo when not in a formal situation, and this one you use as a conjunction to connect sentences (watashi wa otoko no ko da kedo, anata wa....)

temo I haven't heard used, but someone said that its used at the end of a verb and has a meaning of "even if," and it acts as a conjugation (okane ga kakatemo, tanoshii - even if it costs money, it will be fun). to conjugate i thnk you just drop the -ru and add ttemo, not sure on the -u verbs or on your other question.

[Mukade]

Spaztick wrote:
temo I haven't heard used, but someone said that its used at the end of a verb and has a meaning of "even if," and it acts as a conjugation (okane ga kakatemo, tanoshii - even if it costs money, it will be fun). to conjugate i thnk you just drop the -ru and add ttemo, not sure on the -u verbs or on your other question.

To make the -Temo Form, you put the verb into -Te Form and add mo.

So, for example:

買う　　＝　買っても
食べる　＝　食べても
読む　　＝　読んでも
書く　　＝　書いても

etc.

[Gaijinian]

kedo has more polite forms, and is mainly spoken.
Keredo and keredomo are usually used when it is written.

Kamo sirenai, darou, deshou, tabun ~, ~ to omou... All have "maybe" meanings with slight nuance differences.
________
誠に有難う御座ったんだぜぇえ

[Harisenbon]

外人イアンさん，言葉を返すが，その説明はちょっと簡単過ぎると思います。　「かもしれない」や「だろう」など全部Ｍａｙｂｅという意味もあるけど，もっとぴったりな定義があると思います。全部の意味はＭａｙｂｅと考えたら，正しい使うことを覚えにくなると思います。だから，もっと細かい定義のほうがいいと思います。たとえば，

かもしれない - Probably (after the sentence)
雨が降るかもしれない
It's probably going to rain

だろう - right?
かれはもう行ったんだろう.
He already went, right?

でしょう　- polite form of だろう
今日は休みでしょう？
Today's a holiday, isn't it?

たぶん - maybe (goes before the sentence)
たぶん彼はもう行きました。
Maybe he already went.

とおもう - I think
キースさんが本当に格好いいと思う！
I think Keith is really cool!

そして，敬語を使う時に，「けど」より「けれど」を言うときが多いと思います。

[Gakusha]

Harisenbon, you're good at this. If you have a lot of time you could help Clay with the grammar pages.

[Harisenbon]

I'd love to, if an invitation was extended to me.

Unfortunately I'm really picky about translations, and can be kinda hard-headed about it. It comes from listening to my English teachers give strange Japanese-English translations every day.

*Start Rant*

I mean dear god, why do they think that pretty means かわいい?!? Why do they teach this to my students, who then laugh if I tell them the mountains are pretty! I will destroy them and their butchering of my language!

*End Rant* Sorry. just had to get that off my chest.

[Mukade]

Harisenbon wrote:
*Start Rant*

I mean dear god, why do they think that pretty means かわいい?!? Why do they teach this to my students, who then laugh if I tell them the mountains are pretty! I will destroy them and their butchering of my language!

*End Rant* Sorry. just had to get that off my chest.

I hear you. I'm sick of having to explain that when I'm asking them:
"What kind of music do you like?"

that I don't mean:
「親切な音楽が好きですか。」

It comes from the stubborn desire to continue teaching language using 500-year-old methods. When you learn a foreign language via the Grammar Translation method you get stuck in the mindset that a single word in the native language has a single equivalent in the target language.

And yet after five decades of this method churning out generation after generation of Japanese who can't speak a lick of English despite 6+ years of study it hasn't occurred to anyone that the system they are using isn't worth shite!:@

>Ahem<

Sorry about that. I hadn't intended on adding quite so vehemently to your rant.

[Spaztick]

Eh, that's why we whopped their arses in WWII: unflexibility.

[Gaijinian]

Harisenbon wrote:
正しい使うことを覚えにくなると思います。だから，もっと細かい定義のほうがいいと思います。...

ハリセンボン様は細かい直訳が好きみたいでございますから、お直させ頂ければ、宜しいでしょうか。

「使うこと」の方は、ちょっと困っていると思っております。多分、「正しい使用は覚えにくKUなる」がよし。

して，敬語を使う時に，「けど」より「けれど」を言うときが多いと思います

「けれど」より、「けれども」の丁寧さの方が最高だと思います。
別に、文語体と敬語はよく同じだと思っておりますから、拙者の書いてある文が平気なのです。ねぇ？:o

[Harisenbon]

すみません、きーすですけれど。。すみません、きーすですけれども。。すみません、きーすですけれでも、。。

本当だ。いつも言うけど、気付かなかった。。笑。

本当に直してくれてありがとう。。いつも朝にTheJapanpageを読むから、まだ寝ぼける。今みたいに。使用や使い方のほうが良かったね。

この道は本当に長いけど、毎日毎日一方進んだら、成長します。