A period of time during which an action occurs throughout (think of a timeline, with the action "bar" covering the entire line) –マイコー

From Wiktionary:
The distinction between the suffixes じゅう (-jū) and ちゅう (-chū) can be confusing:
じゅう (-jū) means "throughout / in all places", as in 一日中 (ichinichijū, "all day long") or 体中 (karadajū, "throughout the body"). Whatever is being described covers the whole span without interruption.
ちゅう (-chū) simply means "within / during / in the middle of", as in 授業中 (jugyōchū, "in class, during class").
Contrast: "I worked on this all day long" vs. "I worked on this in class (but not necessarily for the entire time)".

PS since ちゅう (-chū) only specifies that the thing happened 'within' the span, the context determines whether it lasted for the entire span or just part of it. Both these examples use ちゅう (-chū):
会議中ずっと寝ていた (kaigi chū zutto neteita / "I slept through the entire meeting"), with ずっと (zutto) defining the span.
会議中に電話があった (kaigi chū ni denwa ga atta / "There was a phone call during the meeting")

I gathered 集 my attention 集中 in the middle 中 of the class to focus well on the exam.

I drank JUUice *throughout* the whole night.

"Dju" What? "During". Ah.

中(じゅう) — through the entire period (ALL day/ All year round)
中に(じゅうに) — during/ to the point of a certain deadline (By the end of today/ Within next month)

あく simply indicates space is being created by removing an obstacle (the door). On the other hand, ひらく's focus is more on the trajectory of the door movement, which results in the creation of an opening.

[www.tofugu.com]

Four different ways to say "open":

あける ／ 開ける
あく ／ 開く
ひらける ／ 開ける
ひらく ／ 開く

The ones that start with あ are used to describe "opens" that result in a vacant space (like opening a hole in a wall).

The ones that start with ひら are more about a three-dimensional unfolding, like a bud opening.

あける and あく are transitivity pairs. あける is transitive and あく is intransitive.

ひるける and ひらく are also a transitivity pair, but ひらける is INtransitive and ひらく can be either!

Read more at: [www.tofugu.com]

If you mean a door or window, use:
開く (あく) — when it opens on its own.
開ける (あける) — when someone opens it.

If you mean a meeting, a book, or emotions (e.g. open ones heart), use:
開く (ひらく).

開く / ひらく: (transitive) to open smth with 2 doors (gate, book, cardboard box with 2 top lids etc.).

開ける / あける: (transitive) to open something with one obstacle (a door, a window, a bottle etc.)

In あける (開ける) and あく (開く), the あ focuses on the opening being made, while the ひら in ひらく (開く) and ひらける (開ける) focuses on the movement of spreading out. The difference between the あ and ひら pairs is their transitivity.

Info from [www.tofugu.com]

あく is a strictly intransitive verb. It describes something opening on its own or becoming open. It has a transitive form - あける
Just in case anyone's confused.

(あ) I (く) could alway leave this door open

In Samurai Jack, Aku (あく) opens a portal (or a hole) in time and throws Jack into the future!

When I opened 開く the door, at first it was empty 空く but then an evil 悪 burglar scared the hell out of me!

When I opened 開くthe door, at first it was empty 空くbut then an evil 悪 burglar scared the hell out of me!

To quote Cure Dolly: 'anything contained in the は particle only 'flags' what the sentence is talking about, and is never part of the grammatical structure as a whole.'

[youtu.be]

Can be used like “Xは?: As for X?” Usually used when asking for opinion of someone or when a customer is asked what they would like. Very contextual can be used in many senses like “Where?” “What?” Or even complex sentences.

Other particles like も can be used similarly, but this particle directly uses the information from the conversation to ask about another thing/situation. Similar to “What about” in “Mom is at home.” “What about Dad?”.

Pronounced as "wa" (not "ha") when used as the topic-marking particle.

Contrast with いつまでも (forever), which denotes a continuation over time. いつでも (anytime), however, doesn't imply duration; just a lack of restriction on time.

Whenever vs いつも "always"

IT'S A DEMO you can play ANYTIME :D

This verb will conjugate to 行って in て form

iku is more typical, and yuku sounds more literary/poetic.
yuku is found in songs typically.

Ick! (IKU)
How I (an introvert) respond when someone asks if I want to go out

I (い) coo(く)k something to take TO GO.

It’s (い) cool (く) to go fun places

I(い) coo(く)k something for us when you visit me

End of sentence particle that is used for emphasis similar to よ. Used in informal settings, to in group members. Typically only used by men.

Using this you're being more forceful, so you have to show some backbone (se = back) regarding your statement

Same referential meaning as あなた, but a very different social meaning. おまえ is rough and dismissive by default, acceptable only in narrow contexts such as close, long-standing male–male relationships. Outside those, it's plainly rude, not just "casual".

いろいろ and さまざま mean almost the same thing in real usage, and in most contexts are interchangeable.

Exceptions do exist, but they are related to set expressions and adverbial usage, not meaning:

いろいろ話す (correct)
さまざま話す (incorrect)

Register and feel:
いろいろ → softer, more casual, more spoken.
さまざま → harder, heavier, more written / formal.

Many native speakers prefer hiragana over kanji for both.

Source: [japanese.stackexchange.com]

If there are many colors (色/いろ), there are various different colors.

Aru (are you) dead?

In the beginning, there was nothing, no purpose. only to be, to live, to exist. That's why it starts with あ.

A ru or aren't you, to be or not to be, that is the question.

Wolves bark “aru”. Kids are mimicking that noise…so do they want to be a wolf? But remember it’s the opposite of that since this is used for inanimate objects!

aru or iru = AI (artificial|not alive or intelligence|alive) ***imperfect expected motion, sorry***; present negative form is ない (nai)

The potential form of ある is あり得る (ありえる)

The 2nd meaning is short for なさい, and is usually mentioned in the flat-tone, in contrast to the 1st meaning/usage which is usually mentioned in a rising-tone.

食べな = Eat up. (from 食べなさい) (such as a command made by a parent)

食べるな = Don’t eat!

"~な" has two seemingly conflicting meanings of "do" and "don't" because ”~な” can be used as a contraction of either (1) "~なさい" (i.e., "do") or (2) "~ない" (i.e., "don't").

To distinguish the two:
(1) ~なさい only attaches to the い-stem of verbs or to the base of an ichidan verb (e.g. これをたべな = "(do) eat this"). So, if you see ~な after a verb's い-stem, it indicates a command to do something (as なさい).
(2) However, ~ない can attach in all other cases, i.e. after the dictionary form of a verb and/or after a complete logical clause (e.g. これをたべるな = "don't eat this"). So, if you see ~な outside a verb's い-stem, it indicates a prohibitive command (as ない).

NAH (な), DON'T do that

-when usage at the end, softens the conversation/uncertainty/less confrontational/open ended/-can be used to disagree/invitation

Also recommend watching this video:
[youtu.be]

Notes from Kaname Naito's YouTube Video "けど Is Not Always But"
(use hlthere's link to view the video)
1. used to express opposition or contrast of two sentences (e.g. 頑張って勉強したけど、試験に落ちた。I studied hard, "but" failed the exam.)
2. used to introduce condition or situation before main point (e.g. さっき田中さんにメロンもらったんだけど、食べる? Tanaka gave me a melon just now, do you want to eat it? - where 食べる/do you want to eat it? is the main point)
3. used to request someone do something without directly stating the request/command, which could sound impolite or too invasive if stated directly (e.g. すみません、さっき注文したビールまだ来てないんですけど。Excuse me, we still haven't gotten the beer we ordered. - here けど implies 早くしてください please bring it quickly, without actually saying it)
4. used to identify yourself over the phone to people who already know you (e.g. もしもし? 要だけど。Hello, it's Kaname.)
5. the function of けど and が are basically the same, but が is more formal and is used more for very formal speech and writing, whereas けど is used more often when speaking, especially casually

I think I'm cool, *𝗯𝘂𝘁* my "kiddo"「KEDO けど」says I'm not.

Ryan Gosling is a person but けn is a どll.

しかし Standard way to start a sentence with "However" in essays or news.

だけど or でも Casual. Used at the start of a sentence in daily conversation.

けど or けれど Connective. These join two clauses in one sentence (e.g., "I like it, but it's expensive").

ですが polite version of けど. Used at the end to soften the sentence.

Clipping of けれども (see also けれど, けども)

Comined with の to mean next X or upcoming X
Example: 今度の週末: the upcoming weekend.

This time I will buy a condo. And next time..I'll also buy a condo! I love condos!

Image KONDOrs(aka vultures) circling above in the heat of the desert.
This time... You have little time left

My kondo-lences for your loss. It is completely understandable that you lost the match this time when you have the tragedy of losing a player hanging over the team. At least with how well you were doing recently, I'm pretty sure, you'll beat us next time.

KONDO (gintama) says you caught him this time, but he'll try again next time. recently, lately otae (gintama) has been spending more time on more deadly traps...

The Schrodinger's cat of temporal terms; it can mean recent past, the present, or future. And it can mean all of those at different points in the same conversation. Like so many things in Japanese, you very much have to pay attention to context to interpret it correctly.

I generally use 回 to be explicit, as in 前回、 今回、 次回 . The several Japanese I've spoken to about 今度　have never noticed how ambiguous and contradictory it is until I've mentioned it.

Both の and こと turn verbs into nouns, but they feel different:
————————

こと is more conceptual and abstract. It treats the action as a general idea and sounds more detached. It's often used for information, ideas, or facts.

の feels more direct and personal. It points to the actual action as it happens. It sounds more immediate, and it's commonly used for things you directly see, hear, feel, or control.
————————

→ 私は死ぬことが怖い = "I'm afraid of death"
Here, the action is treated as a general concept.

→ 私は死ぬのが怖い = "I'm afraid of dying"
This feels more immediate and personal, as if you're afraid of dying rather than death as an abstract idea.
————————

The difference becomes clearer with direct perception. When you directly witness something, you usually use の.

→ 私は子どもが泣いているのを見た = "I saw a child crying"
What you saw wasn't the concept of a child crying—you saw the action itself.

The same contrast appears with hearing, especially when comparing direct perception and reported information.

→ 火山が噴火したことを聞いた = What you heard was the news of the volcano erupting.
Here, you received information about the event.

→ 火山が噴火したのを聞いた = You were there when the volcano erupted. You directly heard it.
In this case, you experienced the sound itself.
————————

Finally, when talking about actions you can directly control, の is usually preferred.
→ 酒を飲むのをやめた = "I quit drinking"

Here, the action feels concrete and personally managed rather than abstract.
————————

Quick rule of thumb:

Directly experienced / immediate / personal → の
Abstract / conceptual / informational → こと

Source: part of this video: [www.youtube.com]

Bad shoes CORRESPOND to (sou)re (tou)s.

I write CORRESPONDENCE (Sōtō) letters to my gaijin friends OUTSIDE (Soto).

That tech is SO そう important to our work that it has become a significant part of our TOtal とう work output

Used with verb stem, adjectives without -い and -な, and nouns+ではなさそう(only used with this negative form)

そう = lit. "that way". E.g. そういうこと = lit. "that-way, say thing".

Two usage cases:
(1) "Seeming that", i.e. denote how something seems a certain way based on personal observation.
(2) "I heard that", i.e. hearsay based on second-hand information learned by the speaker.

Both そう and ようだ can be used interchangeably to express hearsay and conjecture. However, ようだ involves more subjectivity (and can even be used to create figurative similes), and also expresses more certainty in its comparison (while そう is more speculative).

Grammatical usage for "seeming":
(1) (Verb い-stem) + そう(だ).
(2) な-adjectives/adjectival nouns (replacing "な" or adding before "だ"). E.g. げんきながくせい --> げんきそう（な）がくせい.
(3) い-adjectives (replacing the final "い"). E.g. おいしい= おいしそう.
(4) そう itself can also be used as a な-adjective to modify nouns, e.g. 田中さんはよさそうな人です = "Mr. Tanaka seems like a good person."

Grammatical usage for "hearsay" (as opposed to "seeming"):
(5) End of sentence --> (complete logical clause, i.e. verb dictionary form / い-adjective / noun + だ) + そうだ.

It seems so/SOU.

Is that soU?

literally just 'indeed'. carries the same meaning, just used more: SO indeed (perfect match?) -> SO it {would} appears/seems that; SO it is that {way};

Definitions of 'indeed':
- Emphasis/Confirmation/Agreement something already suggested/stated
- Introduction further & stronger or other related point
- Interjection/Response (used as an expression of surprise, incredulity, irony, etc.)

In casual speech, だ is often dropped, but だ is not dropped in だよ and だね. (Genki II)

With regards to the negative connection:

でも is used to express a negative connection, often implying "even if" or "no matter what." It follows nouns or verb/adjective stems to emphasize that despite the condition, the outcome remains negative or unexpected.

Spoken, it can be used just like how you might use it in English (at the beginning of a sentence, starting a counterpoint) IE:
"But, mom...!"
"でもお母さん。。。！"

でも = "but".

The で in でも is a contraction of the copula "です", which couples the preceding noun/sentence with a hidden "__が" (it) followed by the particle も. In addition to its common definition of "also", も can mean "even" or "as much as".

Several (related) usage cases:
(1) (A)でも(B) = "even/as much (it is) (A), (B)". E.g.: かのじょはびじんでもあたまがよくないお = "as much as the girl is a beautiful person, she is dumb" = "the girl is a beautiful person but dumb."

(2) In a similar fashion, the connotation of でも as "even" can also mean "or something". E.g. コーヒーでも飲みたい = lit. "(Even) coffee, (it) is desirable to drink" --> "Coffee or something is desirable to drink".

Source: Cure Dolly lesson #22

I was pondering on what game console to take, but when my friend DEMOnstrated his playstation 5 I knew which one to take. However I have yet to be able to buy it.

You still have the demo (でも) version of this game?

しかし Standard way to start a sentence with "However" in essays or news.

だけど or でも Casual. Used at the start of a sentence in daily conversation.

けど or けれど Connective. These join two clauses in one sentence (e.g., "I like it, but it's expensive").

ですが polite version of けど. Used at the end to soften the sentence.

Careful using this, I've heard its very rude!

Adding to the person above me:

If you use the formal version, I heard it is okay.
しぬ --> しにます
て form is okay too, it depends on the context. Of course you wouldn't say "Is it okay to die?" You could say "Dying is not allowed." (しんではいけません).
It gets tricky with the word しね. Do not use that one, it has the terrible meaning

When referring to someone who has passed away (died), it is more respectful to use 亡くなる (なくなる).

Adding to both people above me discussing how to use 死ぬ:

I watched an episode of "Learn Japanese from the News"* where they said that 死ぬ can be seen as a bit insensitive to use, and that most people use the word 亡くなる instead (but not with animals, for some reason). Like how in english people usually use "passed away" instead of "died".

*"Dog Parade Marks 100 Years Since Birth of Hachiko" (NHS)

死ぬほど○○ is quite common in casual Japanese and is often used figuratively as strong emphasis.

死ぬほどのどがかわいている。"I'm extremely thirsty".
死ぬほど好き。"I love you to death (extremely)".

Note: 死ぬほど is pretty much always figurative, so don't be alarmed when you encounter it.

PS: Another nice to know expression is 死ぬ気で — "all out, desperately".

しShe ぬknew her end was soon.

(you are already dead), well, said by someone who doesn't know japanese. "omae wa mou, SHINUdeiru". 死ぬ is also when "your entire (enTAHI, enタヒ) body is now below (一) the ground"

You remembered it wrong because you misread the ぬ as a め. But it's a verb. So it's unconjugated form has to end with an う-sound. So it can't be しめ but must be しぬ!

She was 123 years old so she knew (Shi-nu) she was gonna die soon

In the SHINING (しね) tons of people died

Fun fact: This verb is the only one in the entire Japanese language having a ぬ conjugation

Conversational contraction. しているんだ。ー＞　してんだ。

re: sense 3

Confusingly, ん after the negative stem of a verb can be both a contraction of the negative ない / ぬ ending, or of the archaic volitional む ending -- which have completely opposite meanings.

Fortunately the volitional ん verb ending (which is a different dictionary entry, flagged as an archaism) is rather uncommon in modern speech and mostly restricted to specific grammar patterns or intentionally formal/stylistic use of archaic language, so you don't often have to guess whether what looks like a negative is actually a positive.

For the first meaning, ん is most likely not a contraction of いる after the て form but rather a contraction of る.
In the case of ～ている, the contraction is done in two step:
～ている -> ～てる -> ～てん

And that last る -> ん contraction can also be use with verb ending in る like:
する->すん
来る->来ん
It's particularly common when combined with the particle な (the "not" one) for comical effects in casual conversation between friends. As in:
すんな (DON'T do that!)
来んな (DON'T come here!)
One of my favorite example is:
"話しかけてくんな"
Which is quite rude but gives a "Don't you dare come to talk to me!" vibes between friends. That the kind of feeling it can creates (so be careful with that).
Other than that, the ら->ん contraction is also possible as in:
分からない -> 分かんない
Which is relatively common too in casual speech between friends.

I tried to search for some formal explanation but couldn’t find anything that could give me a final answer. Apparently, it could be either some kind of dialect or a general kind of contraction where the entire ラ行 (the ら, れ, る, り, ろ sounds) and な行 (the な, に, ぬ, の, ねsounds) can be replaced with ん. At that point, I gave up because both feel correct and I couldn’t access to more information (nor can I still read research level article… for now). I pretty sure some of those ん contraction are really common mainly because of the kansai dialect combined with manzai comedy for example. But at the same time, I also feel like native used that contraction a bit randomly trough Japanese history. Hence why you have that damn ん which can mean either る、ら、に、の、ぬ、etc. I got traumatized by that ん when I first started to talk with some japanese friends and also when watching youtube. Hope that explanation will help you at least a bit for that (Also now, it’s fun and ん contraction + kansai ben + manzai → best way to make Japaneses laugh)

PS : Just remembered another one but I’m not redoing the entire explanation for that, so I will just leave that here :
やるのか？→ やんのか？ (“wanna fight ?” with a fake yankee vibe kinda, very common between friends)
So, that る → ん contraction can theoretically be applied to any verb with a る ending but in practice, it’s not used everywhere. Like, it’s not common in standard written Japanese, it’s not really “grammatical” either but it’s still extremely common in casual spoken Japanese (especially in those expression). So yeah, don’t know if that explanation is useful or confusing anymore but at least, you will be aware of them if you encounter those expression in the wild x)

at the end of a sentence:

さ adds force to the sentence
ぞ adds force or indicates command