RE: Was hast du heute/gerade neu gelernt?
ich habe gerade gefunden:
ちょっと is one of the more useful and commonly used words in the Japanese language. Even if you're very new to Japanese, it's pretty likely you've come across ちょっと before, because it's short, simple, and easy to say.
But not all ちょっとs are alike. For example, two of ちょっと's meanings, "little" and "very," contradict one another.
If I combine ちょっと with a word like 難しい, meaning "difficult," it can mean either "a little difficult" or "very difficult."
und da geht es noch weiter....
Seven Meanings
The word ちょっと as we know it today actually has seven different, distinct meanings—the only reason we didn't include it on our list of The 100+ Most Important Japanese Words was because explaining all of the different contexts and nuances would have been too much for one list to handle. If you're going to learn how to use ちょっと, you need to see it in action to really understand both how it's used, and why relying on dictionary definitions alone simply isn't enough.
1. A Little (Quantity, Amount, Degree, Extent)
woman showing her two fingers to signify small amount
The most standard meaning for ちょっと is "a little."
Since English likes to use more than one word for different types of "little," it's translated into variations like:
a bit
a little bit
a few
some
slight
slightly
somewhat
Another thing to keep in mind is that in Japanese ちょっと functions as an adverb. But, just as the meanings vary in English, so do the possible parts of speech. It can be both an adverb and an adjective in English translations.
The best way to understand ちょっと is with examples, so let's look at some example sentences! Pay close attention to all the different ways this can be expressed in English, compared to Japanese.
ちょっと食べる。
I'll eat a little.
ちょっと知っている。
I know it a bit.
ちょっとしかない。
There are only a few.
ちょっとコウイチを見た。
I glanced at Koichi.
Here it's literally saying something like "I looked at Koichi a little bit," but we have a verb for that in English: to glance.
「コウイチって知ってる?」「うん、ちょっと。」
"Do you know Koichi?" "Yeah, somewhat."
ちょっと花粉症なんです。
I have some allergy symptoms.
この発音はちょっと難しい。
This pronunciation is a bit difficult.
韓国語はちょっとだけしか話せません。
I can only speak Korean somewhat.
もうちょっとで電車にひかれるところだった。
I nearly got run over by a train.
You didn't get a little hit by the train (you'd probably be dead), instead there was just a little bit of space between not getting hit and actually getting hit. So you nearly got run over.
もうちょっとで宿題終わるよ。
My homework is almost done.
ちょっと聞いたんだけど、学校やめるの?
Someone told me that you're going to quit school. Are you?
Think of this like, "I heard a little something."
2. A Little (Time)
ringing alarm clock
This meaning has the same concept as #1, but it's used specifically for time. Because of that, this ちょっと is often translated to different words in English:
a little while
a moment
a second
a minute
a short time
Let's look at some examples and try to think about how these differ from the examples in 1.
ちょっと待って。
Wait a sec.
ちょっと待ってください。
Hold on a second, please.
These aren't literal seconds, but rather short amounts of time.
ちょっとお待ち下さいね。
Can you wait for a moment?
東京から大阪へ行く途中でちょっと名古屋に寄った。
I paid a short visit to Nagoya on my way from Tokyo to Osaka.
ちょっと考えさせて。
Give me a minute to think about it.
Again, this is not a literal minute, instead what we mean is, "Can I have a little time to think?"
コウイチはちょっと考えてからそのメールに返信した。
(Dieser Beitrag wurde zuletzt bearbeitet: 07.12.24 22:09 von yamaneko.)
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