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imouto ha hutago no ane to kao ha onazi desu ga, seikaku ha kanari tigaimasu.

妹いもうと　は　双子ふたご　の　姉あね　と　顔かお　は　同おなじ　です　が、　性格せいかく　は　かなり　違ちがいます。imouto ha hutago no ane to kao ha onazi desu ga, seikaku ha kanari tigaimasu.
My younger sister has the same face as her twin sister, but their personalities are quite different.
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Questions & Answers about imouto ha hutago no ane to kao ha onazi desu ga, seikaku ha kanari tigaimasu.

What does the whole sentence mean in natural English?

A natural translation would be:

"My younger sister and her twin older sister look the same, but their personalities are quite different."

More literally:

"As for my younger sister, her face is the same as her twin older sister’s, but (their) personalities are quite different."

Why does the sentence start with 妹は? Does 妹 automatically mean "my younger sister"?

In Japanese, close family members are often understood to be the speaker’s unless otherwise specified. So:

  • 妹 = younger sister (usually my younger sister in context)
  • 妹は = "As for (my) younger sister..."

The は marks 妹 as the topic of the sentence: what we’re talking about. After that, all the information in the sentence is about this 妹.

If you needed to be explicit you could say:

  • 私の妹は … – "My younger sister…"

But in many contexts 妹は alone already implies "my younger sister."

What exactly does 双子の姉 mean? Why isn’t it 双子の妹?

Breakdown:

  • 双子 (ふたご) – twins
  • の – "of"
  • 姉 (あね) – older sister

So 双子の姉 literally means "the older sister of (a pair of) twins" → "twin older sister."

In a set of twin sisters in Japanese, there is still an older and a younger twin, determined by who was born first, even if only a few minutes apart.

So:

  • 双子の姉 – the older twin sister
  • 双子の妹 – the younger twin sister

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about the younger sister (妹) and comparing her to her older twin sister (双子の姉).

What is the role of the particle の in 双子の姉?

の connects nouns. Here it basically works like "of" or a possessive/appositional link.

  • 双子の姉
    • Literally: "twin’s older sister"
    • More naturally: "older sister (who is a) twin" / "twin older sister"

The structure is:

  • 双子 (twin) + の
    • 姉 (older sister)

So の links the idea of "twin" to "older sister" to form a descriptive phrase: the older sister who is part of a twin pair.

What does the particle と do in 双子の姉と in this sentence?

Here, と is used for comparison and means "with" or "as compared to":

  • 双子の姉と顔は同じです
    Literally: "(Her) face is the same as (that of her) twin older sister."

In comparison structures, A と B は同じ means "A and B are the same" or "A is the same as B".

So:

  • X は Y と 同じです – "X is the same as Y."
  • In this sentence, 顔 (the younger sister’s face) is being compared と her twin older sister.
Why is は used twice: 妹は and 顔は and then again 性格は? Is that okay?

Yes, this is natural and common.

There are two main uses of は here:

  1. Topic marking

    • 妹は – sets the overall topic: "As for (my) younger sister…"

  2. Contrast/emphasis within that topic

    • 顔は同じですが、性格はかなり違います。

Within the topic of "my younger sister," the speaker now contrasts:

  • 顔は同じ – as for (their) faces, they are the same
  • 性格は違います – but as for (their) personalities, they are different

This repeated X は …、Y は … pattern is a very typical contrast structure in Japanese.

Why is it 顔は同じです and not 顔が同じです?

Both are grammatically possible, but the nuance is slightly different:

  • 顔が同じです
    Focuses on 顔 as the grammatical subject: "Their faces are the same."
    More neutral factual statement.

  • 顔は同じです
    Uses は to set 顔 as a contrastive topic:
    "As for their faces, they’re the same (but…)"

Because the sentence is contrasting face and personality, は is more natural:

  • 顔は同じですが、性格はかなり違います。
    "Their faces are the same, but their personalities are quite different."

The は on both 顔 and 性格 supports the contrast structure.

Where is "her" or "their" in this sentence? How do we know whose face and personality we’re talking about?

Japanese usually omits pronouns and possessives when they’re clear from context.

In this sentence:

  • 妹は – sets the context: we’re talking about the younger sister and, implicitly, the pair of sisters.
  • 双子の姉と顔は同じです – it’s understood as "[The younger sister’s] face is the same as [her] twin older sister’s."
  • 性格はかなり違います – it’s understood as "Their personalities are quite different."

Because twins and their comparison have already been introduced, Japanese doesn’t need to say "her face" or "their personalities." English has to add "her" and "their", but Japanese just leaves them out as understood.

What does ですが do here, and how is it different from でも?

ですが is:

  • で – the 連用形 (conjunctive form) of だ (the copula)
  • が – conjunction meaning "but" / "however"

So 同じですが literally is "is the same, but…"

Nuance:

  • ですが、 is a more formal / softer way to say "but."
  • でも、 can start a new sentence and is more conversational.

You could say:

  • 顔は同じです。でも、性格はかなり違います。
    → More like two separate sentences: "Their faces are the same. But their personalities are quite different."

In the original:

  • 顔は同じですが、性格はかなり違います。
    It’s one smoothly connected sentence. This is common in written or slightly more polite speech.
Is 同じ an adjective or a noun here? Why 同じです and not 同じなです or something?

同じ (おなじ) is a somewhat special word:

  • It behaves like a な-adjective in some ways and like a noun in others.
  • In practice, you use it like this:
  1. X は 同じです。 – "X is the same."
  2. 同じ人, 同じ顔 – "the same person," "the same face"

You don’t say 同じなです. You just say:

  • 同じです (polite)
  • 同じだ (plain)

So:

  • 顔は同じです = "Their faces are the same."
What does 性格はかなり違います literally mean, and why is there no object marker like を?

Breakdown:

  • 性格 (せいかく) – personality, character
  • は – contrastive topic marker
  • かなり – quite, fairly, considerably
  • 違います (ちがいます) – to be different

Literally:

  • 性格はかなり違います。
    "As for (their) personalities, (they) are quite different."

No を is needed because 違います here means "are different" and 性格 is being treated as the topic (with は), not as a direct object.

A (slightly more explicit but less natural-sounding) version could be:

  • 性格がかなり違います。 – "Their personalities are quite different."

Using は emphasizes the contrast with 顔は同じ.

What is the nuance of かなり? Is it stronger or weaker than "very"?

かなり means "quite / fairly / considerably".

Strength-wise, you can roughly think:

  • 少し / ちょっと – a little
  • けっこう – pretty / quite (often "more than expected")
  • かなり – quite / considerably (a clear, noticeable degree)
  • とても / すごく / 非常に – very / extremely

So 性格はかなり違います suggests the personalities are noticeably different, not just slightly, but not necessarily to an extreme degree.

Could you change the word order? For example, is 妹は顔は双子の姉と同じです okay?

Yes, Japanese word order is relatively flexible, but some orders are more natural than others.

Original:

  • 妹は双子の姉と顔は同じですが、性格はかなり違います。

Possible variation:

  • 妹は顔は双子の姉と同じですが、性格はかなり違います。

This is understandable and still natural:
"As for my younger sister, as for her face, it’s the same as her twin older sister’s, but their personalities are quite different."

The original order (双子の姉と顔は同じ) keeps "with her twin older sister" right before "face is the same", which flows naturally.

Both are grammatical; Japanese often prioritizes natural flow and emphasis rather than strict word order rules.

How do we know this is about two people? There’s no plural like "-s" in Japanese.

Japanese usually doesn’t mark plural explicitly; it relies on context.

In this sentence, plurality is implied by:

  • 妹 – one person (younger sister)
  • 双子の姉 – another person (her twin older sister)
  • Comparison by と and words like 同じ and 違います naturally imply "these two people."

So when it says:

  • 顔は同じです – "(Their) faces are the same."
  • 性格はかなり違います – "(Their) personalities are quite different."

Even though there’s no explicit plural marker, the presence of two individuals being compared makes the plural meaning clear. English needs "they/their," but Japanese leaves that to context.