kinou nagaku pasokon wo tukatta node, kata ga sukosi itai desu.

Questions & Answers about kinou nagaku pasokon wo tukatta node, kata ga sukosi itai desu.

Why is there no particle after 昨日?

With common time words like 昨日 (yesterday), 今日 (today), and 明日 (tomorrow), Japanese often uses them without any particle.

So:

  • 昨日 パソコンを使った
  • not usually 昨日に パソコンを使った

A particle like is more common with specific points in time such as 3時に, 月曜日に, or 2024年に.

Why is it 長く and not 長い?

長い is an -i adjective, and here it needs to modify the verb 使った (used). To do that, you change 長い to its adverb form:

  • 長い長く

So 長く使った means used for a long time.

This is the same pattern as:

  • 早い早く
  • 遅い遅く
Why is パソコン marked with ?

Because パソコン is the direct object of 使う.

  • パソコンを使う = to use a computer

The thing being used takes .
So here, the speaker used the computer, making パソコン the object.

Why is 使った in the past tense, but 痛いです is not?

Because the sentence describes:

  • a past cause: 昨日 長く パソコンを 使った
  • a present result: 肩が 少し 痛いです

So the idea is:

  • I used the computer for a long time yesterday, so now my shoulder hurts a little.

If the pain were also being described as a past event, you might use 痛かったです instead.

What does ので mean here, and how is it different from から?

ので introduces a reason or cause, like because or so.

  • 使ったので、肩が痛いです
  • Because I used it, my shoulder hurts

Compared with から, ので often sounds a little:

  • softer
  • more explanatory
  • less blunt

Very roughly:

  • から = because / since
  • ので = because / so, with a gentler explanatory tone

Both can work in many situations, but ので is very natural here.

Why is it 肩が痛い and not 肩を痛い?

With words like 痛い, the body part usually takes .

  • 頭が痛い = my head hurts
  • お腹が痛い = my stomach hurts
  • 肩が痛い = my shoulder hurts

That is because 痛い describes a state: the shoulder is painful.
So is treated as the thing that is in that state, and marks it.

Why doesn’t the sentence say my shoulder?

Japanese often leaves out information that is obvious from context.

Here, if someone says:

  • 肩が少し痛いです

it is naturally understood as:

  • my shoulder hurts a little

Japanese does this a lot with body parts and personal information.
Instead of saying 私の肩, it often just says , because whose shoulder it is is already clear.

Does mean one shoulder or both shoulders here?

Japanese nouns usually do not mark singular vs. plural unless it matters.

So can mean:

  • shoulder
  • shoulders

depending on context.

In natural English, this sentence might be translated as either:

  • My shoulder hurts a little
  • My shoulders hurt a little

If the speaker wanted to be explicit about both shoulders, they could say 両肩.

What is 少し doing in the sentence?

少し means a little or slightly. Here it modifies 痛いです.

So:

  • 少し痛いです = it hurts a little

It works like an adverb in English.
It makes the statement softer and more precise.

Why is it 痛いです instead of just 痛い?

痛い is an -i adjective, and it can already end a sentence by itself:

  • 肩が痛い。

Adding です makes it polite:

  • 肩が痛いです。

So です here is not changing the basic meaning; it is mainly adding politeness.

Is the word order fixed, or could it be changed?

The basic meaning would stay the same even if the order changed a bit, because Japanese relies heavily on particles.

For example, this is also natural:

  • 昨日 パソコンを 長く 使ったので、肩が 少し 痛いです。

That said, the original order is perfectly fine.
Japanese word order is often flexible, but not completely random. The particles still need to match the roles of the words.

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How do verb conjugations work in Japanese?
Japanese verbs conjugate based on tense, politeness, and mood. For example, the polite present form adds ‑ます to the verb stem, while the past tense uses ‑ました. Unlike English, Japanese verbs don't change based on the subject — the same form works for "I", "you", and "they".

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