Category: N1 Grammar

すまない and おかない すまない (To nicely end) and おかない (to stop) are words used in expressions to mean “won’t end” or “won’t pass by”. There’s not a huge difference, and すまない is a little...

ではあるまい As covered previously, まい is the negative volitional form. This page explains ではるまい and its variants/expressions: ではあるまい – ではないだろう – It very likely isn’t ではあるまいか – ではないだろうか (Its not is it) ではあるまいし –...

であれ and かれ This page explains more ways to express irrelevance: であれ – Nouns/な Adjectives かれ – い Adjectives For verbs see ようがまいがSee also にしろ であれ A or B, It doesn’t matterNoun A +...

たりとも and として+ない This page explains 2 negative literary expressions that mean “Not even 1”: たりとも – Not even one として + ない – Not even one/Only one See also だに たりとも Not Even...

だの Stupid things like/Crap likePlain form word + だの + Plain form word + だの だの is a negative nuanced version of や. The Japanese meaning would be something like “などのくだらないこと”The things listed by...

だに Not at all/Even JustNoun + だに だに is a word meaning “Not at all” or “Even Just”It is essentially a more literary version of さえ. It is mostly limited to novels and sometimes...

ずじまい, 始末, and 最後 This page explains some patterns dealing with bad results: ずじまい – Ending without doing something good 始末 – Bad ending たら最後 – Too late, something bad is going to happen...

More こと Expressions This page explains some more こと expressions, though they should be easy at this point. ことだし – Well its X so.. ことなしに – Without ことのないよう – So as to not… をいいことに...

ごとく This page explains ごとく (sometimes written 如く) and it’s variants: ごとく – Adverb ごとし – Noun ごとき – Adjective Person + ごとき – Something inferior ごとく and its variants are all formal literary...

が早いか, そばから, and なり This page deals with some common N1 time expressions: が早いか – As soon as そばから – (Always) Right after…(Opposite) なり – As soon as they… が早いか Right after/Same timePlain form...