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United States flagBrett Williams
Some confusion with similar words. Help me destinguish please :) I've been having problems distinguishing some similar words. Any explanation between the difference between these words would be greatly appreciated :). Thank you! 1. ほそい ー うすい (Thin, weak) 2.あげるーのぼる (Raise, lift, elevate) 3.かていーかぞく(Family, household) 4.せいかつーいきる(To live ones life) 5.おくーのせる(To put, to place) 6.りょうしんーおや(Parents) 7.おとなしいーやさしい(Gentle, kind) 8.いれるーしまう(To put away, put in) 9.てつだうーたすける(To help, to save) 10.はやるーにんき(To be popular) 11.うまいーできるーじょうず(Can do, be good at) Thank you very much again in advance for the help :). Appreciate it^^.

Corrections · 3

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1. (Thin, weak)  ほそい=slender (as a rod) ー うすい=thin (as a paper)
2.(Raise, lift, elevate) あげる(上げる)=Raise, lift, elevate(with your hand or with the help of something) ー のぼる(上る)=to clime, go up
3.(Family, household) かてい=Gathering the family(husband and wife, parent and child) to live together ー かぞく=Usually small group was connected by blood relationship
4.(To live ones life) せいかつ(noun)=life,living ー いきる(verb)=to live
5.(To put, to place) おく=to put(placed on top of a large area) ー のせる=to put(placed on top of a small area)
6.(Parents) りょうしん=(parents)father and mather ー おや=parent/parents(ex.「母親」ははおや=mather)
7.(Gentle, kind) おとなしい=Calm and obedience ー やさしい(優しい)=Gentle, kind and tender
8.(To put away, put in) いれる=to put in ー しまう=to put back, to put away
9.(To help, to save) てつだう=to help (some work) ー たすける=to help and also use to save
10.(To be popular) はやる(verb)=to be popular ー にんき(noun)=popularity
11.(Can do, be good at) うまい(more casual expression than じょうず),じょうず=to do something well ー できる=can do

*Some of their words have other meanings. I hope it helps you.

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Hmm, I can't confidently tell you which situations you can and can't use some of these words in, but I can tell you the difference between a few. "てつだう" and "たすける" ; "てつだう" means to aid someone or to help them do a task, while "たすける" means more like to save someone. For example, when I lived in Japan, my host mom would always say "ばんごはんてつだって" which means "help me with dinner". In cases like that, you always use "てつだう". You would say ”たすける” if you were in more dire need of help. A lot of the words you mentioned are not particularly different, but rather just different ways of saying the same thing. りょうしん and おや are exactly the same, but りょうしん is more commonly used in speech. As for うまい, できる and じょうず; うまい means something is good/great. So you can use it when talking about tasty food or pretty much anything that you think is fantastic. できる is different and means "to be able to do" something, literally to have the ability to do something. Lastly, じょうず means to do something well. So you would use that in the case of talking about some sort of skill. Hope that helped a bit!

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