Konnichiwa,
I was watching Naruto and I noticed they use *Sukoshi* for the word *but*. With RJ I have learned that the word for but is *Demo*. So, can you use both, or are there any restrictions?
Thanks.
Sukoshi vs Demo
ashwinr
October 29, 2009
Sayaka-Matsuura
October 29, 2009
Konnichiwa Ashwinr-san,
*Sukoshi*... is a word meaning "little" as in "little portion".
*Sukoshi taberu*... means "eat a little"
*Sukoshi ageru*... means "give a little"
It actually would never mean "but".
You may have heard it in the context...
"*Demo sukoshi...* something something." which translates as _"But a little... something something."_
ashwinr
October 30, 2009
[quo]*Quote from * Sayaka
Konnichiwa Ashwinr-san,
*Sukoshi*... is a word meaning "little" as in "little portion".
*Sukoshi taberu*... means "eat a little"
*Sukoshi ageru*... means "give a little"
It actually would never mean "but".
You may have heard it in the context...
"*Demo sukoshi...* something something." which translates as _"But a little... something something."_[/quo]
Konbanwa,
Arigato for the explanation.
I think I heard wrong. I checked again and heard them say it a few times more.
The word for but they use in naruto is *shikashi*. And that's different from shukoshi :). But they also use demo. So it is a bit confusing. The Japanese language seems to have a lot of different words for the same thing depending on how formal the conversation is.
Sayaka-Matsuura
November 1, 2009
Konnichiwa Ashwinr-san,
Yes!! *SHIKASHI* does mean "but"!! Very good listening comprehension. :P
Let me explain the difference of SHIKASHI and DEMO - both translating as "but".
Think of the difference between these two English prepositions...
1. the more colloquial sound of *_"but"_* and
2. the more formal sound of _*"however."*_
DEMO is usually used instead of SHIKASHI in casual colloquial conversations. While SHIKASHI is somewhat 'official' -sounding.
So, しかし (shikashi) and でも (demo) are actually the same in meaning, though the formal *shikashi* leans more towards the English expression - _"however"_ while *demo* is more like the casual expression - _"but."_
ashwinr
November 1, 2009
Konbanwa,
Arigato gozaimasu. This was very helpful.
Sayaka-Matsuura
November 3, 2009
You're very welcome!
Dou itashimashite. :P
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