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- "高いです。"
"高いです。"
Translation:It is expensive.
57 Comments
高 is the kanji for tall and expensive. (Looks like an expensive vase on a tall pedestal) Remember that 高校 (こうこう) means 'high school', and now here 高い (だかい) is tall/high OR expensive. Lack of context is annoying though.
For me it always looked like some kind of excessive tall building and they are expensive XD
586
That is what it is actually a picture of, haha https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/高 Check out the sentence right above the Chinese pronunciation.
The い is what tells us that 高い means expencive. Following kanji AND hirigana tell us what each kanji means.
- 923
I remember this because of an interview I heard with George Takei, where he said he doesn't mind if people pronounce his name "Takai" because it means expensive.
Thank you @David Willanskii. I've always mis-said his name Takai. Now I shall remember both words correctly! If I were on the web app I’d give you a lingot for this!
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I wasn't even given the word "expensive" here when the only definition given for the kanji was expensive o-O
I would guess because this course is still in beta. I've noticed a lot of kanji read only one way when tapped on.
Kanji have multiple readings for different circumstances. Look them up as onyomi and kunyomi. Sometimes the japanese pronunciation is used, sometimes the chinese one is used.
Yes. It is the copula meaning to be and so with desu you have to indicate something is 高い.
yes, です most of the time works like that, but in the cases with i-adjectives, the copula is there just to transform the sentence into a more polite and softer one.
それは高い and それは高いです are both complete sentences because the predicate is 高い、in those cases です is more similar to a beautification prefix like お～ than to a verb. Saying それは高いだ is ungrammatical for example.
Also, です alone doesn't state existence, you need a nominal for that, so it cannot be a true equivalent to the verb "to be" from English. A verb can be considered a copula but not all copulas are verbs.
Yes that is true. it is a copula meaning "to be" but at the same time it isn't because sentences can function without it. It is a unique word in Japanese that cannot be properly translated. When it comes to i-adjectives だ behaves differently than when です But while sentences can still imply to be without です, I do not see sentences that don't imply to be with です where without it, it is totally possible.
And yes it usually doesn't work on its own likely because it's a particle pair followed by a verb. I didn't say it was the "true" verb meaning "to be" to state existence, that's something different from the copula but it's related somewhat. The verbs to state existence is いる/ある (います/あります).
Is the kanji mentioned above used for expensive and tall? As in, 'it is expensive' 'it is tall'
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I guess that would be correct too. Probably they set it as a correct answer because someone calling themselves expensive is not really a common use case
If using this to mean "it is expensive" would it be saying "the price is expensive" or "the object is expensive"?
I think you're looking into it too much. What significant difference does it make, it just means it is expensive? You should ask that in English as well, if someone said "it's expensive", are they saying the price is expensive or the object?
- 133
My interpretation of their question is that they are wondering if "takai" can also mean "valuable".
You can affix a sticker saying "50 p" to a gold bar, and someone might express surprise that something so valuable is not more expensive.
I don't why is it wrong to use 'dear' instead of 'expensive'. Isn't this an English app?
When you are describing a person as tall, you would use 背が高い (せがたかい), not just 高い.
Well the same can be said for expensive. You use 値段が高い (ねだんがたかい). when someone uses 高い it means both tall and expensive and you can use 背 and 値段 to distinct the two. Equivocally you can simply use 高い for both tall and expensive the exact same way, it just depends if the context is clear or not.
- 133
It's too specific. The Japanese sentence lacks any specificity about what is expensive.
If a Japanese sentence is unspecific about what is being talked about, you shouldn't make your translation needlessly specific, because that way, you're just getting further away from what the Japanese sentence actually means.
I omitted "It is" and just put "expensive." and then Duo was like "違う" lol. shouldn't that be accepted? (reported.)
- 133
No, because, "Takai desu," is a complete sentence. It is making a statement about something being expensive, even though it doesn't say what.
Your answer isn't a complete sentence. It isn't making a statement about anything.
can someone tell me why this comment has downvotes? it seems right to me.
Japanese being contextual, shouldn't "This is expensive" be the same thing?
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It's too specific. The Japanese sentence lacks any specificity about what is expensive.
If a Japanese sentence is unspecific about what is being talked about, you shouldn't make your translation needlessly specific, because that way, you're just getting further away from what the Japanese sentence actually means.
"Takai" me recuerda a "tacaño". Takai:caro Tacaño:no le gusta gastar dinero. Esa es la manera en que yo lo recuerdo.
I think "Sorry, but it is 999,999,990 yen" would more work? Since 999,999,990¥ is expensive
"expansive" does not equal "expensive".
expansive: Covering a large area expensive: Highly priced
Because Expansive is an actual word, and a completely different word. relate the word 'expansive' with 'expand'. it does not relate at all with price.
たかい/高い literal translation is "high", contextually could be "much" as in "high price" but like this, with no other context, is "high"
It is much...what? it is much color? it is much people? that sentence is very vague. It does not automatically mean expensive.
