Today we are studying “mai” and “every”. “Mainichi” or “maishu” appear at the beginning of Japanese textbooks since they are easy and useful words. However, it isn’t always the case that “mai = every”. Advanced learners have probably already noticed this.
mai: something always happens at a certain time
every: regular occurrence at specified intervalsOnly when these two definitions coincide is it possible to translate “mai” as “every” and vice versa.
As you know, “mai” is prefixed to another word when it is related to time, such as in “mai nichi” (every day), “mai asa” (every morning), “mai toshi” (every year), “mai kai” (every time) and so on. Other examples include “mai shoku” (every meal) or “mai shiai” (every sports match). These have the meaning of “every time”, so you can use “mai”.
Also, "every five minutes" is “go fun goto” in Japanese. This usage
can be applied to other time-related words as well.
What about other cases? Let's study some definitions and examples from an English
dictionary (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary).
every: refer to groups of three or more which are seen as wholesI think “subete”, “zenbu” or “minna” work well in this case. I will translate the following sentences. (Keep in mind that these are my own translations and there may be other ways to translate this text as well.)
- Every child in the class passed the examination. (kono class no kodomo tachi wa minna shiken ni gokaku shita)
- I've got every record she has ever made. (kanojo ga ima madeni tsukutta (dashita) record o subete motteiru.)
- class no dono kodomo tachi mo shiken ni gokaku shita.
- kanojo ga dashita dono record mo motteiru./ kanojo ga dashita record wa dore mo mottieru.
What happens when “every” takes on the meaning of “each”?
every/each: every person, thing, group, etc., considered individuallyI would say “sorezore” or “ichi X ichi " (one X one X).
- He enjoyed every minute of his holiday. (kare wa yasumi no ippun ippun wo tanoshinda.)
- They were watching her every movement. (kare tachi wa kanojo no ugoki o hitotsu hitotsu miteita.)
- Each of us has a company car. (watashi tachi wa sorezore kaisha no kuruma o motteiru.)
- He gave us 5 pounds each. (kare wa watashi tachi hitori hitori ni go pondo o kureta./ kare wa watshi tachi ni go pondo zutsu kureta.)
sore wa tada no hana dewa naku, toki no nagare ya jinsei no henka nado o tsuyoku kanjisaseru mono des.
hitotsu hitotsu no chiisai hana wa jinsei no ichi byo ichi byo ni mo niteiru to watashi wa omoimas.sakura wa nihon ju no dono machi ni mo uetearu node, doko ni sundeitemo, nihonjin wa sakura to tomoni seicho shitieru no des.
They are not just flowers: they strongly remind us of the flow of time and the changes in life.
I think every small flower represent a second of our life.
Sakura trees have been planted in every town in Japan, so Japanese people grow up with sakura wherever we live.)
I should have posted this earlier. The Golden Week has just begun today! Happy Golden Week, everyone in Japan !!
Mai after a verb takes on a negative meaning of in some cases, like :
返信削除わかるまい
I don't know. Is this correct?
Thank you for the question.
削除"I don't know" can't be "wakarumai" because ”まい”indicates a speaker's negative intention.
For example,
I'm not going back to that restaurant!!
あのレストランに にどと いくまい!!
I'm not going to say anything to him.
かれには なにも いうまい。
"I don't know" doesn't include a speaker's intention.
Another usage is indicating a speaker's guess.
For example,
I think she isn't coming.
かのじょは くるまい。
I think he doesn't understand this topic.
かれには このもんだいが わかるまい。(Literal translation: For him this topic is not understandable, I guess.)
Anyway, まい is a formal expression. We rarely use it in a daily life.