is my sentence correct?

[C0kaCoLa]

Watashi wa ojisan ga sore o baka o oshiete--->my uncle taught that baka

watashi wa ojisan ga sore o baka o taberu oshiete.-->my uncle taught that baka how to eat

i know its a stupid sentence but just wondering how 2 use the wa,wo thing if the sentence has many nouns...just trying to understand how 2 make long sentences

so many wa ga and o around in this sentence that i dont know which to use for which...

and also how do i say this:
why did you do it?
how was it?

why is doushite rite? and how is dou...then past tense for how is also dou deshite? and past for why is doeshite deshite?confusing...help me please..

[richvh]

C0kaCoLa wrote:
Watashi wa ojisan ga sore o baka o oshiete--->my uncle taught that baka

Watashi no ojisan ga sono baka ni oshieta.

watashi wa ojisan ga sore o baka o taberu oshiete.-->my uncle taught that baka how to eat

I'm not as sure on this one, but I think it's:

Watashi no ojisan ga sono baka ni taberu koto o oshieta.

If the topic is your uncle:

Watashi no ojisan wa sono baka ni taberu koto o oshieta.

If the topic is that fool:

Sono baka ni wa watashi no ojisan ga taberu koto o oshieta.

If the topic is the subject taught:

Taberu koto wa watashi no ojisan ga sono baka ni oshieta.

(Substitute oshiemashita for oshieta for polite form in all sentences above.)

i know its a stupid sentence but just wondering how 2 use the wa,wo thing if the sentence has many nouns...just trying to understand how 2 make long sentences

so many wa ga and o around in this sentence that i dont know which to use for which...

and also how do i say this:
why did you do it?

Doushite shita-n-desu ka?

how was it?

Dou deshita ka?

why is doushite rite? and how is dou...then past tense for how is also dou deshite? and past for why is doeshite deshite?confusing...help me please..

Don't confuse doushite (why) with dou deshita (how + was).

[C0kaCoLa]

ok.understand most of it but a few got question..

isnt sono use to refer something that belongs to someone??example:Sono wa kamera desu ka.

hhmmm..i dont really know how to use this word after trying to think of some example...

isnt ni use to show going to somewhere?example:Parkson ni ikimasu.

wat does the -n- in doushite shita-n-desu ka means?and can the sentence be doushite deshita ka?

[Gaijinian]

Sono for a spesific object (sono pen)
SoRE for "that" in general
So-- Sore wa kamera desu, not sono wa

[richvh]

C0kaCoLa wrote:
ok.understand most of it but a few got question..

isnt sono use to refer something that belongs to someone??example:Sono wa kamera desu ka.

Sore/sono was already explained by someone else.

isnt ni use to show going to somewhere?example:Parkson ni ikimasu.

Yes, ni is used for a destination, but it is also used to indicate an indirect object, the receiver of an action.

wat does the -n- in doushite shita-n-desu ka means?and can the sentence be doushite deshita ka?

The -n- is a contraction of no, which in this case is asking for/giving an explanation. If you change the question from doushite shita-n-desu ka to doushite deshita ka, you change it from Why did (you) do (it) to Why was (it)? Deshita is the past of desu, and shita is the past of suru (to do).

[marshal]

hmmm... you guys are alittle more advanced then me hehe, but useful information thank you.

I have a sentence that I'm not sure about:
watashi wa eigo to suppanisshu ga hanashimasu demo, nihongo ga suki desu. shoshite sukoshi hanashimasu. ma, moshi anata ga misu he te kure anata wa yasashii.

I speak english and spanish but, I like japanese and speak a little. Well, if you show me you are nice!
-- is this correct? What I really want to say is: well, if you teach me that would be really nice, but putting so many nouns/adjectives in a sentence is so hard for me... can any of you tell me how to know were each noun/adjective goes either with the object or with the subject?
example: The black cat ate the yellow bird.
sono kirei neko ga kiiroi tori ga tabemashite.

help?

[Harisenbon]

marshal wrote:
watashi wa eigo to suppanisshu ga hanashimasu demo, nihongo ga suki desu. shoshite sukoshi hanashimasu. ma, moshi anata ga misu he te kure anata wa yasashii.

I speak english and spanish but, I like japanese and speak a little. Well, if you show me you are nice!

What does it mean when I can't understand what you want to say in English or Japanese? What does "Well, if you show me, you are nice" mean?

The first part
私は　えいご　と　すぺいんごがはなせますけど、にほんごが　すこししか　はなせません。　

I changed the meaning a little, as you can see. The problem is that you say that "I speak english and spanish BUT I like Japanese and speak a little." You shouldn't use a but there, because you're not contradicting anything. When you use a but, you are refuting something that you said earlier.

Does that help?

As an aside:

I'm actually getting kind of weired out by some of the English I'm starting to see. People have really bizzare phrases that people would not say in English or Japanese that they want to say in Japanese. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with it, but I'm just curious why there are so many unnatural English sentences floating around.

[marshal]

Basically, what you quoted is the part that is japanese and its translation. I said I was not sure how to say 'Well, if you teach me (jap) that would be really nice.'
That is why I said 'ma, moshi anata ga misu he te kure anata wa yasashii.' because I could not figure out a way to write it the way I wanted to.

Well, I was introducing myself in Japanese and saying which languages I spoke, BUT I liked japanese alot and only spoke a little. (so kinda of a contradiction)

btw, I know what you mean about the way English and Jap people are writing weird hehe, but hey we all get lazy sometimes

Also, I cannot read what you translated for me because I can't see kanji on this crappy computer, could you write it in roomaji? and also tell me if the buttom part of the post is correct? the one about the black cat and yellow bird.

( sorry, I am just a begginer(in japanese), but I can pick up the language well with the right help thank you. )

[richvh]

marshal wrote:

example: The black cat ate the yellow bird.
sono kirei neko ga kiiroi tori ga tabemashite.

help?

Kuroi neko ga kiiroi tori o tabemashita.

Kirei is beautiful/pretty, not black; sono is "that (near the listener)", not "the", so I left it out. The bird is the direct object of the eating action, so it gets the o particle. Finally, past tenses end in -ta, not -te.

[Harisenbon]

marshal wrote:
Basically, what you quoted is the part that is japanese and its translation. I said I was not sure how to say 'Well, if you teach me (jap) that would be really nice.'
That is why I said 'ma, moshi anata ga misu he te kure anata wa yasashii.' because I could not figure out a way to write it the way I wanted to.

Well, it's not really Japanese/translation because neither of them are correct. Normally, when you refer to a translation, you are referring to taking a grammatically correct sentence in one language, and then putting it into another language. Since you are not a native Japanese speaker, one would assume that you thought in English, translated into Japanese, and then back into English, thus creating that strange phrase.

Also you didn't say if you teach me Japanese, you are really nice. You said "Well, if you show me you are nice!" I have no idea what that means.

I'm not trying to pick on you, but one thing that you need to understand is that when trying to convey your ideas, especially in a foreign language, it is important to have a solid foundation grammatically and to make sure that you know what you want to say both in your native language, and the target language. If you're wishy-washy about what you want to say in English, you won't be able to put it into Japanese.

Here's the Japanese version in romaji.

私は　えいご　と　すぺいんごがはなせますけど、にほんごが　すこししか　はなせません
watashiha eigo to supeingo ga hanasemasukedo, nihongo ga sukoshi shika hanasemasen.

[marshal]

Thanks, yeah I know, I didn't mean it was the translation. I meant that, that was what I wanted it to translate to.Yeah, I am a biginner, give me a month or so I just started this week and am trying to figure out how to make long sentences make sense, do you guys know of any other great websites?

btw, thanks alot for the translation all of you!

[danvx6]

Harisenbon wrote:
私は　えいご　と　すぺいんごがはなせますけど、にほんごが　すこししか　はなせません
watashiha eigo to supeingo ga hanasemasukedo, nihongo ga sukoshi shika hanasemasen.

What does the "shika" before hanasemasen mean?

If translated to English, this sentence should mean "I can speak English and Spanish, but I like Japanese and I can only speak a little.", right? I'm not sure because it seems like everyone got a different meaning out of marshal's sentence.

[AJBryant]

"Shika" before a negative verb is an intense limit indicator.

１００円があります。I have 100 yen.

１００円しかありません。I have but 100 yen (and I really need more).

兵士が１００人います。We have 100 warriors.

兵士が１００人しかいません。We only have 100 warriors (and they have a whole army).

ビール一本飲みました。I drank a bottle of beer.

ビール一本しか飲みませんでした。I only drank one bottle of beer (how dare you say I'm drunk)!

母が一人しかいない. You only have one mother (so treat her right!).

Tony