340 CHAPTER 8. SET PHRASES
- ”Thank you”
As mentioned in the adjective section, this is an example of classical adjec-
tive pronunciation, and is actually a long chain of conjugations:
in + ( ) in classical pronunciation + in
+
+ + +This literally means ”this is a difficult thing to accept”, stemming
from the concept of becoming indebted to someone who helps you. As
becoming (further) indebted to someone is always a hard thing to accept,
this phrase is used instead of a separate word for thanking.
There are various ways to use this sentence, the most indebting be-
ing , which adds the word to the phrase,
meaning ”in all possible ways”, coming from the question pronoun
(how, in what way) and the generalising pronoun suffix.
Still formal indebting is , or the ”informal”
but still polite.
Just , however, is not polite. It comes down to saying
”thanks”, and pays improper respect to people who do something for you
and are of higher social status. Never just say to your teacher
for instance. Always use.
- Disagreement
The Japanese version of ”no”. Alternatives to are the more collo-
quial , and the more emphatic.
- ”oh no”, ”this won’t do”
This word is often used to express that something will not do, is about to
be done wrong, or is at this very moment going wrong. It’s technically the
short potential form of , , and literally means ”this cannot go”.
Used in this way, it’s typically wriĴen in hiragana only.