こんにちは

hi

[eveninginparis]

[speciesbarocus]

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein manuscript.

[roseydoux]

Colette (2018)

[beautifultravelerreview-deactiv]

[zhooniyaa-waagosh]

Can any other Japanese learners explain the purpose of the ん in this sentence? There's no explanation and google isn't helping. Any help would be appreciated.

[asa-meshi-mae]

Here's an explanation from Genki I (Chapter 12 | Page 230):

There are two distinct ways to make a statement in Japanese. One way is to simply report the facts as they are observed. This is the mode of speech that we have learned so far. In this lesson, we will learn a new way: the mode of explaining things.

A report is an isolated description of a fact. When you are late for an appointment, you can already report in Japanese what has happened, バスが来ませんでした。This sentence, however, does not have the right apologetic tone, because it is not offered as an explanation for anything. If you want to mention the busses failing to run on time as an excuse for being late, you will need to use the explanation mode of speech, and say:

バスが来なかったんです。 (As it happens,) the bus didn't come.

An explanation has two components, one that is explicitly described in the sentence (the bus not coming), and another, which is implied, or explained, by it (you being late for the appointment). The sentence-final expression んです serves as the link between what the sentence says and what it accounts for. Compare:

あしたテストがあります。 I have an exam tomorrow. (a simple observation) あしたテストがあるんです。 I have an exam tomorrow. (So I can't go out tonight.)

[belladonnablue-deactivated20250]

contents

[shlrleystudies]

rare occasions when my roommates are out and I get the whole house to myself

[susiephone]

emma woodhouse is the funniest jane austen heroine solely because she spends 95% of her precious free time shipping her friends and trying to set them up and being convinced she is the world's greatest matchmaker and talking about how great it will be once her bestie has her perfect true love and then when she's asked if she's considering getting married anytime soon she's like pfffft GOD no why the FUCK would i do that

[triflingthing]

chai, weird magazines, & Indian art books for 2

[arearchive]

Sean Spellman’s home and studio, Westerly, Rhode Island 

[afinaland]

The library of Umberto Eco

[galina]

Fellows’ dining room, so pretty – I was told the panelling is from the Tudor period 🦉

[galina]

A lil coffee in the fellows’ chamber at Christ’s college

[galina]

Campus is a really nice place to be at the moment, everything is blooming

[galina]

Flying visit to Cambridge this weekend: empty glasses, wooden steps worn away and bending, a low church bell, a deserted pool at dusk surrounded by looming busts 🫗

[banksalec]

[somisi]

I did it! Master’s 2023