#JapaneseGrammar

you can say ながら to say you do something, while doing something else

for example

'talk while drinking coffee"

コーヒーを飲みながら話します [コーヒーをのみながらはなしします]

here the 'main" action is talking, not drinking, this is important, because of the order it's said in Japanese, you say the main thing after ながら

other combinations are possible using this, for example

'let's talk while drinking coffee" would be

コーヒーを飲みながら話そう [コーヒーをのみながらはなそう]

'wouldn't you like to talk while drinking coffee?" would be

コーヒーを飲みながら話しませんか [コーヒーをのみながらはなしませんか]

'I want to eat chocolate while listening to music"

音楽を聴きながらチョコレートを食べたい [おんがくをききながらチョコレートをたべたい]

I'm having trouble sleeping... so I'll write something new

continuing with the "verbed" nouns

you can also do other forms

for example to say "there are many ways to learn Japanese"

you say

日本語を学ぶ方法はたくさんある[にほんごをまなぶほうほうはたくさんある]

here
日本語 = Japanese language
を = marks the object
学ぶ = study (verb)
方法 = way/method
は = marks the topic
たくさん = many/lots of
ある = "there are"

also ある is the informal form of あります

we omit の before 方法, before it's not "the way", not just because we are saying there are many ways semantically, but we are not referring to a specific way

oh, 学ぶ is a group 1 verb, it's て form is 学んで

another example, this time with the た form of a verb

て形 = て form

作る[つくる] means "to prepare" or "to make"

お母さんが作った料理は一番美味しい[おかあさんがつくったりょうりはいちばんおいしい]

I omitted putting です at the end, because it's not necessary, but you might see it in a textbook example

お母さん = mom
が = subject marker
作った = 作る[つくる]のて形
料理 = cuisine/cooking
は = topic marker
一番 = the most/No. 1
美味しい = delicious

the translation would be "the cooking made by my mom is the most delicious"

in English, you would omit "made by" to sound more natural

so the sentence in English would go "My mom's cooking is the most delicious"

or to be even more natural-sounding, it'd be "My mom's cooking is the best"

fun thing, when using a verb's て形 for "sequencing", you should take care to understand what you're saying

if you wanted to say "come over for drinks!" (let's say you were at a bar, and calling a friend over)

if you said 「飲んで来てね」what you would be saying is "drink (or "get drunk"), and then come over"

you would have to say 「飲みに来てね」

so instead of　飲んで [のんで], you use 飲みに[のみに]

the first is "drink" (the verb to drink, in imperative mood), the second is "do X in order to do drink" (yeah, に used in this way conveys "do X in order to drink"), where X is the verb that comes before, in this example, it's "to come" = 来て[きて]

I'll go over this in more detail later

oh, 作る[つくる] is a group 1 verb

group 2 verbs are the easiest of all, you basically change る from the dictionary form into whatever, so for the て form, you change る for て, for the ます form, you just change the る for ます

for example:

dictionary form (also, present indicative, informal): 食べる
ます form (present indicative, polite): 食べます
て form: 食べて
negative form: 食べない

there are more forms, you can see them in tools like Japanese verb conjugation websites/applications/lists, but these are basically the most common you'll see, and others basically can be derived from these, and you should practice all forms several times to not really have to think about them anyway

if you wanted to use conditional sentences, you would use the た form, which is basically the same as て form but with た, and adding after ら, here's an example:

運動しなかったら太る[うんどうしなかったらふとる] "if you don't exercise you'll get fat"

運動 [うんどう] = exercise
太る = "to get fat" (group 1 verb)

now, しなかったら is a bit packed with meaning, so we'll go through it bit by bit

する is the present form, it means "to do", it's used with nouns, like 'exercise', or 'study' (think about 勉強する [べんきょうする])
the past form (the た form) is した (する is a group 3 verb, it's irregular)
the negative form is しない
the negative past form is しなかった (yeah, you change い for かった)
then, adding ら at the end, changes the meaning from "negative past form", to conditional
so しなかったら means "if not do (the thing before)"

now, it is "you'll get fat" and not simply "get fat" because the dictionary form of the verb can mean present, or future, and because of the context, of course

that's why 運動しなかったら太る which is roughly "exercise if not done get fat", means "if you don't exercise you'll get fat"

猿も木から落ちる [さるもきからおちる] "even monkeys fall from trees", really if you take it literally it's more like "monkeys too fall from trees"

猿[さる] = monkey
も means "too", or "as well" or something else depending on context
木 = tree, or wood
から is like "from", could be "because" if you're saying the reason for something
落ちる[おちる] = fall, to fall

that's a phrase that means something along the lines of "everyone makes mistakes"

oh, and 落ちる is a group 2 verb

しか can mean "nothing but"

for example, in episode 3 of Overlord Season 3, minute 13:45, the clerk says

アダマンタイト級冒険者でしかお引き受けできない案件でしょう

アダマンタイト級冒険者 = "adamantite-plated adventurer(s)
で = indicates a means here
しか = only with [the previously mentioned]
お引き受け = "undertaking" in this case, it's the request done to the adventurer(s)
できない = negative form of "can" or "able to" (so "cannot" or "not able to")
案件 = "matter" or "case"
でしょう = kind of like ですね, that is, like saying "right?" at the end of a sentence, but this is more formal, and could be taken as "I believe"

so the sentence is more or less

"I believe for this matter nothing but adamantite-plated adventurers are able"

if taken literally, a more natural translation would be

"I believe only adamantite-plated adventurers are able to undertake this matter", or "I believe only adamantite-plated adventurers can take this request" (taking into consideration the context of an adventurer's guild receiving requests)

アダマンタイト級冒険者でしかお引き受けできない案件でしょう

is read

アダマンタイトきゅうぼうけんしゃでしかおひきうけできないあんけんでしょう

I think with longer sentences like this, it gets easier to understand why having kanji is useful, with only hiragana, it's difficult to know where a word ends, and a new one begins, there's also a certain elegance to having a lot of meaning packed into a few characters

alright, the new semester has started, so I've been a little irregular with new stuff, I'll have a 3-day weekend starting tomorrow, so I'll be going over some common words, which I think will be useful

I don't mean to abandon the channel, but a close family member died recently, and I haven't had the time or energy to post here, or to practice or study Japanese, I will be back, just not right now

喧嘩売ってる？ [けんかうってる?] literallly means "are you selling a fight?"

but is used to mean "are you looking for a fight?"

I'm back, just not on a regular schedule, at least not yet

you might remember this from Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii, episode 6, about 2 minutes in, Narumi says this to Hirataka

適当 [てきとう] is a rare case of a word that can mean something, and something that is opposite of its other meaning

it can mean "appropriate" or suitable"

and it can also mean something like "sloppy", "careless", or "careless"

for example

適当な語で空所を満たせ [てきとうごくしょをみたせ]

means "fill the blanks with approriate/suitable words"

and

適当なことを言う [てきとうなことをいう] means "make irresponsible comments" or colloquially "talk out of one's ass"

I was reading some manga, and I saw some kanji that I didn't know the meaning of, but I had seen before

I thought

あの漢字見た事あるけど意味がわかんない [あのかんじみたことあるけどいみがわかんない]

"I've seen that kanji, but I don't know it's meaning"

here I use the た form of the verb 見る, and 事ある [ことある] to mention something I've done before (or not done, if using the negative of ある, which is ない)

けど and でも can both mean "but" or "however" but I think けど is more common when "talking out loud" like I was doing