コピュラ. Words such as だ・です or constructions such as である which link a noun or adjective to a subject. Similar to English 'be'.
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Questions tagged [copula]
157 questions
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Strange use of であった in narrative
In the middle of the Famicom game Bucky O'Hare, a cutscene starts with this text:
こうして ４人を きゅうしゅつした バッキーであったが・・・じつは それは バッキー オヘアを とらえる ために トードぐんが しくんだ わなだったのだ！！
The meaning of the sentence is obvious -- "Thus Bucky rescued the four, but [etc.,…
Kef Schecter
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Why does 好き use な?
If 好き is a noun, then why does it take the な copula in things like 好きなこと? I thought that copula was reserved for adjectives, and I thought nouns took on the の copula.
user3457
4
votes
1 answer
Dropping だ in sentences
I was again reading Shin Kanzen Master N1 Dokkai when I encountered a passage with a sentence which intrigued me. The second sentence read
最初と言われています。
While I do understand that dropping of だ happens in speech, especially in female speech, I was…
rebuuilt
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Confusing use of plain copula （だ should be だった?）
I am reading Kanon, I will first give the context:
大体{だいたい｝、いつからこの家｛いえ｝の朝食｛ちょうしょく｝は和風｛わふう｝になったんだ…
[Generally,] Since when did we start eating Japanese food for breakfast...
The main character then…
Ubz
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Can the Copula Be Split From its で-particle, as in「学生でも子供でもない」?
The sentence
学生でも子供でもない
translates to
[It is] neither a student nor a child.
Initial Questions:
First, just confirming: the use of でも here is just で + も, and has nothing to do with with the conjunctive でも, correct?
If we instead wrote the…
George
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Understanding 「40秒で心臓麻痺だったな…」
From the first episode of Death Note, the protagonist reads the rules inside the Death Notebook:
“40秒以内に死因を書くとそのとおりになる”
Later, immediately after writing someone's name in the book, he remarks:
40秒で心臓麻痺だったな…
Question: Why is the past tense of the…
George
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Can the である copula be explained as で (particle) + ある (to exist), i.e. "to exist in the form of ~"?
Recently, I read this article which interprets である as described by this post's title, so 学生である would be analyzed as "(I) exist in the form of a student".
On one hand, である originated from にて + あり, with にて being the precursor of で particle.
非回答者 also…
3 to 5 business days
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What is 人 in 人だ (gramatically)?
In the elementary sentence:
人だ
人 is not marked with a particle. So what does it function as, gramatically?
If we translate the sentence as
A person exists.
then presumably "person" functions as the subject of the sentence (so would have to be…
George
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Placing the copula だ not at the end of a sentence
In
お酒は、ほろ酔いのうちが最高だと言われる。
It's said that alcohol is the best while tipsy.
there is a だ placed before the end of a sentence. I was under the impression that だ can only be placed at the end of the sentence (excluding sentence ending particles), or…
George
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How does がんだとわかった work in this sentence?
I grabbed this sentence off NHK news easy, https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012139481000/k10012139481000.html .
The sentence is, 国立成育医療研究センターと国立がん研究センターは、２０１６年と２０１７年,約８００の病院などでがんだとわかった若い世代について調べました。
The following sentence uses がんだとわかった as well.…
UCProgrammer
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the meaning of で in 私は学生で友だちはいしゃです。
Can anyone tell what で means in this sentence: 私は学生で友だちはいしゃです。Thank you. It looks like the で in this sentence means "and" but I'm not really sure.
Bong Marquez
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what is different between "で" and "です" in this sentence?
original sentence is
ついに数日後、無事つながって私の頭の中が解明されました。『脳内イメージ』と題したそのページに映し出されたのは、脳の形。その中のほぼ９割が『遊』の字で、その周りを『悩』と『休』が取り囲んでいます。
what is different between
脳の形。その中のほぼ９割が『遊』の字です。その周りを『悩』と『休』が取り囲んでいます。
and
脳の形。その中のほぼ９割が『遊』の字で、その周りを『悩』と『休』が取り囲んでいます。
?
user25614
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Understanding 「それが人質の証言では」
From the first episode of Death Note:
それが人質の証言では
Question: I'm familiar with ではない, but don't understand what では alone means here?
George
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