is this how you directly address the person in Japanese? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 1 month ago by maniel@sopuli.xyz to c/japaneselanguage@sopuli.xyz

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maybe it's another Duolingo bullshit they push upon us or maybe a typical thing in Japanese? namely in phrases like けんさんは二年生ですか it could mean both "Is Ken a second year student?" and (according to duolingo) "are you a ~~second year student~~sophomore, Ken?" how do i know if it's directly addressing the person? which is which?

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[-] Binette@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm not a fluent speaker, but I'm pretty sure it depends on who is being talked to. Like if you're talking to someone else, it would mean the first one, and if you're talking to Ken, it would mean the second one.

In text though, it would give you context for you to guess who is talking to who. For example, someone could ask the question, and in the next line, Ken answers. Or maybe only this person and Ken are in the room.

Edit: autocorrect

this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024

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