What does “tamani” mean in Japanese?
Native speakers say “tamani” to mean ‘occasionally’ in Japanese. They use it to describe something which happens less often than “tokidoki“. In this blog post, I will explain the definition and meaning of “tamani” and how to use it through example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners to understand “tamani” more clearly. Then, let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meaning of “tamani”
Let me start with the definition and meaning of “tamani”.
- tamani – たまに : an adverb of frequency meaning ‘occasionally’ in Japanese.
Again, but Japanese native speakers use this adverb of frequency to describe something which happens less often than “tokidoki” – sometimes in Japanese. In daily conversations, however, they do not always take care of the difference between “tamani” and “tokidoki”, so use these two interchangeably in many cases.
From the grammatical point of view, “tamani” can be broken down into two parts: “tama” and “ni”. Native speakers, however, use it as one adverb to say “occasionally” in Japanese. So, I’m not going into the details of the grammatical structure in this blog post.
Then, let me explain how to use “tamani” through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to say “occasionally” in Japanese
boku wa tamani tokyo made iki masu – 僕はたまに東京まで行きます (ぼくはたまにとうきょうまでいきます)
I occasionally go to Tokyo.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- boku – 僕 (ぼく) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese. This is used mainly by boys and young males.
- wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works after “boku” to make the subject in the sentence.
- tokyo – 東京 (とうきょう) : a noun meaning ‘Tokyo’ in Japanese.
- made – まで : an adverbial particle used to say where someone or something goes. In the example, this is used after “tokyo” to indicate the destination.
- iki – 行く (いく) : one conjugation of the verb, “iku“, which means ‘to go’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- masu – ます : an auxiliary verb used after a verb to make it polite. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese masu form. In the example, this is used after “iki” to make it sound polite.
This is a typical usage of “tamani”. In the example, it works as an adverb to say “occasionally” in Japanese. When we want to describe something happening less often than sometimes in Japanese, this adverb is a very good option.
Example #2: another usage of “tamani”
watashi no musume wa tamani yasai wo tabe masu – 私の娘はたまに野菜を食べます (わたしのむすめはたまにやさいをたべます)
My daughter occasionally eats vegetables.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
- no – の : a case particle used after a noun or pronoun to make its possessive case. In the example, this is used after “watashi” to make its possessive case, “watashi no“, which means ‘my’ in Japanese.
- musume – 娘 (むすめ) : a noun meaning ‘daughter’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Learn more about Japanese plural.
- yasai – 野菜 (やさい) : a noun meaning ‘vegetable’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural.
- wo – を : a case particle used to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “yasai” to make the object in the sentence.
- tabe – 食べ (たべ) : one conjugation of the verb, “taberu“, which means ‘to eat’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
This is another typical usage of “tamani”. From this Japanese sentence, we can understand that “watashi no musume” eats vegetables less often than sometimes. Seemingly, she does not like vegetables.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “tamani” and how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.
- tamani – たまに : an adverb of frequency meaning ‘occasionally’ in Japanese. Native speakers use this adverb to describe something which happens less often than “tokidoki” – sometimes in Japanese. In daily conversations, however, they do not always take care of the difference between “tamani” and “tokidoki”, so use these two interchangeably in many cases.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.
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