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Japanese Versatility List

Cuts: Connectors & conditionals

Sorted by drama-subtitle rank, most frequent first.

Already covered (28)

A word already in the list does this job.

  • -n da kedopolite -n desu kedo / -n desu ga(you see) ..., but / so#20Covered by n da kedo. Already kept in F as the lead-in 'n da kedo'; the meaning is the same.
  • tadabut; the only thing is#164Covered by "But" demo, -kedo. caveat after agreeing works with demo or -kedo. The #164 rank mostly counts 'just / free'. · 1 of 3 judges kept it
  • dakedopolite desu gabut; however#192Covered by "But" demo, -kedo / desu kedo. At the start of a sentence, demo does the job. Mid-sentence 'hima da kedo' is just -kedo after da. · 2 of 3 judges kept it
  • soshiteand; and then#214Covered by "And then" de / sorede. Sounds like narration. In casual speech, de/sorede are the 'and then'.
  • -ni tottefor (someone), to (someone)#339In casual speech, 'watashi ni wa' / 'watashi wa' say 'for me'; ni totte sounds stiff.
  • tonikakuanyway; at any rate#362Covered by tonikaku. Already kept in C with the same function.
  • -sei debecause of (blame)#400Blame is covered by 'X ga warui'; plain cause by -de, -kara and -node. · 1 of 3 judges kept it
  • shikamoand what's more, on top of that#498Kept -shi already adds points, and ato does it at the start of a sentence.
  • sore demoeven so; still#506Covered by "But" demo. demo is kept with the gloss 'even so'.
  • -baaiin the case of; if / when#530Covered by "If / even if" -tara, -nara; -toki. Sounds like instructions. In conversation, -tara, -nara and -toki cover contingencies.
  • soshitarapolite sou shitarathen; and so#557Covered by "And then" de / sorede, jaa; "If-openers" dattara. 'And then' and 'in that case' are already handled by de/sorede, jaa and dattara.
  • tokoro deby the way#581Kept sou ieba (#607, similar rank) already changes topic in casual talk; ato adds points.
  • -ka dou kawhether or not#592Plain -ka already embeds questions (iku ka wakaranai); dou ka is easy to recognise from ka and dou.
  • -okage dethanks to#634Credit and thanks work with arigatou and -te kureta kara; okage adds nuance, not a new intent. · 1 of 3 judges kept it
  • -kuse nieven though (critical)casual only#648Covered by "But" -noni. -noni does the 'even though' job without the accusing tone.
  • nanodeso; therefore#652Covered by "Because / so" dakara / nanode. Already kept in "Because / so" next to dakara.
  • soretomoor (else)#892Covered by "Or / for example" -ka. 'koohii ka ocha?' says the same thing with the kept -ka.
  • tte iu kapolite to iu kaor rather; I mean#948Kept -tte iu + -ka builds it, iya covers self-correction; also easy to confuse with kept nante iu ka. · 2 of 3 judges kept it
  • tte koto wapolite to iu koto waso that means#1037Covered by tte koto?; "Talking about talk" tsumari. F's 'tte koto?' and tsumari already draw the inference.
  • -tattepolite -te moeven if (casual)casual only#1142Covered by "If / even if" -te mo. The casual twin of the kept -te mo. Recognise it, but no need to produce it.
  • sore yorimore importantly; never mind that#1146Covered by sore; yori. Built straight from the kept words sore and yori.
  • dekirebaif possible; ideally#1403Covered by dekireba. Already kept in C.
  • -ni kurabetecompared to (kyonen ni kurabete = compared to last year; Toukyou ni kurabete shizuka = quiet compared to Tokyo); kuraberu = compare#1477Covered by yori, no hou ga. yori and no hou ga already make any comparison.
  • sore nibesides; on top of that#1672Covered by "Because / so" -shi; "And then" ato. -shi and ato already add another point. Also much rarer than shikamo (#1672). · 1 of 3 judges kept it
  • sore toand also#2009Covered by "And then" ato. Does the same job as ato, 'oh, and; also'.
  • sorekaraand then; after that#2967Covered by "And then" de / sorede, ato; -te kara. Rare in dramas (#2967). de/sorede, -te kara and ato cover 'and then' and 'also'. · 2 of 3 judges kept it
  • -dake ja nakutenot only ... (but also)#3317Covered by dake, mo; -kunai / -ja nai, -kutte / -de. Built from kept parts: dake + ja nakute + mo.
  • ja nai topolite de nai tootherwise; or else#3720Covered by "If / even if" -to; -nai, -ja nai. It is -nai plus the kept -to: 'shinai to okureru' is built from items already on the list.

Skipped (4)

Too rare, narrow, formal or out of scope.

  • dakara ttepolite dakara to ittejust because (of that)#991narrow way to argue back. Learners rarely need to say it.
  • chinami niby the way; for reference#1381Narrow side remark you rarely need to say; sou ieba and ato already do enough.
  • sore ni shite moeven so; (and) gosh, still#1459Just discourse flavour (#1459). Learners would not miss saying it.
  • -ni shite wafor (a ...), considering (hajimete ni shite wa umai = good for a first try)#2685Narrow and fairly rare (#2685).