I know this one is on a lot of people’s minds!

Also, Happy Lunar New Year! It’s the year of the 🐅.

　はい
「入れる」
“They can enter.”

  りゅうがくせい
「留学生たちが入れる」
“exchange students can enter.”

• たち refers to the exchange students as a group.
• The が particle points out who is able to do the action.

　　　　　　　にっぽん
「留学生たちが日本に入れる」
“Exchange students can enter Japan.”

• にっぽん is the patriotic way to say the country’s name.
• に means “into” in this sentence but sounds awkward in the translation.

「留学生たちが日本に入れるようにして」
“Make it so that exchange students can enter Japan.”

• Attach ようにする to the plain/casual/dictionary form of a verb.
• This emphasizes that someone is making an effort to cause the action of that verb to happen.
• て-form of a verb is telling someone to do something.

 て がみ
手紙「留学生たちが日本に入れるようにして」
Letter: “Make it so that exchange students can enter Japan.”

せい  ふ
政府への手紙「留学生たちが日本に入れるようにして」
Letter to the government: “Make it so that exchange students can enter Japan.”

• Letters are written directed to someone. へ implies movement (from person to person in this case).
• の must follow because 政府へ explains what kind of letter it is.

にっぽん
日本の政府への手紙「留学生たちが日本に入れるようにして」
Letter to the Japanese government: “Make it so that exchange students can enter Japan.”

• Likewise, the の here tells us the word that describes the government.
• の goes between two nouns.

This one was interesting. I’ll try to find time to do a walkthrough of the article translation.

So far I’ve just been choosing headlines that catch my 👁️. Got any you’d like me to pick apart?

「アイスカルーセル」
“ice carousel”

 の　　　　  あそ
乗って遊ぶ「アイスカルーセル」
An “ice carousel” that you have fun riding on

• The て-form for a verb means ‘and’ usually.
• In some cases, the second verb extends or adds another layer to the action of the first verb.
• Whenever you see a plain/casual/dictionary form of a verb in front of a noun, the verb or verb phrase modifies that noun. In other words, it’s giving more details!

こおり
  氷に乗って遊ぶ「アイスカルーセル」
An “ice carousel” where you have fun riding on ice

• The particle に stands for ‘in,’ ‘at,’ ‘on’ or ‘to.’
• In the context of this sentence, ‘on’ makes the most sense.

まわ
回る氷に乗って遊ぶ「アイスカルーセル」
An “ice carousel” where you have fun riding on spinning ice

• This sentence has two modifying phrases! One nested inside the other.
• 回る is describing 氷 since it is right in front of that noun.

みずうみ
  湖で回る氷に乗って遊ぶ「アイスカルーセル」
An “ice carousel” where you have fun riding on spinning ice on a lake

で marks where an event is taking place by following the location noun.

こお
凍った湖で回る氷に乗って遊ぶ「アイスカルーセル」
An “ice carousel” where you have fun riding on spinning ice on a frozen lake

Yes, you can also use past tense for the plain/casual/dictionary form of a verb in a modifying phrase.

Sorry I’m late with this one. The 🍼 are very clingy right now. If I leave the room, they cry. If I try to work in their line of sight, they’ve got their hands on my devices. 😑

Look forward to hearing from you!

 ね　あ
値上げ
price hike

ドレッシング値上げ
(salad) dressing price hike

こうとう
高騰でドレッシング値上げ
Dressing price hike due to steep prices

• で means ‘and’ when used to connect two separate sentences.
• Sometimes those sentences don’t directly affect each other but if the first half is the reason for the second half then で acts like ‘because’, ‘since’ or ‘due to’ as it does in this sentence.

しょくよう ゆ
  食用油高騰でドレッシング値上げ
Dressing price hike due to steep cooking oil prices

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　いっぽん　　　えん
食用油高騰でドレッシング値上げ　1本222円に
Dressing price hike due to steep cooking oil prices : to 222 yen a bottle

• 1本 is in number+counter format. This counter is for bottles.
• It’s uncommon to hear a number without a counter if you’re specifying a number of something.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　えん
食用油高騰でドレッシング値上げ　1本216円→222円に
Dressing price hike due to steep cooking oil prices: 216 yen to 222 yen a bottle

スタンド
(charging) station

じゅうでん
  充電できるスタンド
station that can charge

• Whenever you see a plain/casual/dictionary form of a verb in front of a noun, the verb or verb phrase modifies that noun. In other words, it’s giving more details!
• You can think of it as answering the question: what kind of charging station?

ろくだい
  6台充電できるスタンド
station that can charge 6 vehicles

• 6台 is in number+counter format. This counter is for vehicles.
• It’s uncommon to hear a number without a counter if you’re specifying a number of something.
• There is no particle between the number of items and the verb.

　 いっしょ
6台一緒に充電できるスタンド
station able to charge 6 vehicles together

でんりょく
 電力で6台一緒に充電できるスタンド
station able to charge 6 vehicles together using electric power

で marks what is being used to do something (if the ‘what’ is a non-location noun).

つよ
強い電力で6台一緒に充電できるスタンド
station able to charge 6 vehicles together using strong electric power

 
 
Did you notice that we basically reversed the entire sentence?

Leave your questions! Or see you in a week. 💨

People have told me their number one issue with Japanese is sentence structure and how to make descriptive sentences. So, we’re going to hack apart Japanese news headlines!

Hopefully this helps you! Feel free to ask about anything that’s confusing.

らっか
落下
It falls

You must be wondering where the verb is in the Japanese sentence and it’s actually 落下する. There are many nouns that become verbs when する is attached.

タクシーが落下
Taxi falls

が follows the noun to mark it as a participant of the action; something is happening to the noun.

　　　　　ごかい
タクシーが5階から落下
Taxi falls from the 5th story

• 5階 is in number+counter format. This counter is for floors.
• It’s uncommon to hear a number without a counter if you’re specifying a number of something.
• から ends the phrase. English prepositions are Japanese postpositions.

タクシーがショッピングモール5階から落下
Taxi falls from a shopping mall’s 5th story

• There is an implied の, meaning ‘of’ or ‘belonging to’, between ショッピングモール and 5階.
• When there are several の in a row, some can be dropped to remove the awkward phrasing.
• の can be equivalent to ” ‘s “.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ちゅうしゃじょう
タクシーがショッピングモール5階の駐車場から落下
Taxi falls from a shopping mall’s 5th-story parking garage

の indicates the parking garage is part of the 5th floor.