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“ja” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
Borg, Alexander (2004) A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic–English) (Handbook of Oriental Studies; I.70), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 192
Nee heb je al, ja kan je krijgen. ― The only way to find out if someone agrees (with/to something) is to ask. (literally, “You already have "no", but you may still get "yes".”)
2015, Kalle Kniivilä, “Sopiro al Sovetio [Yearning for the Soviet Union]”, in Krimeo estas nia [Crimea is ours]:
Sed la bona soveta tempo neniam revenos. Ĝi ja neniam ekzistis.
But the good Soviet times will never return. After all, they never existed.
(literally, “But the good Soviet time will never come again. It indeed never existed.”)
Usage notes
The word ja emphasizes the entire sentence or a specific word or phrase, stressing the reality of it. It is most often placed before or after the sentence's main verb, or before an adverb modifying the main verb. Otherwise, it is usually placed in front of a word or phrase that it emphasizes.
It is also commonly used for emphatic negation, combined with ne or a correlative starting in neni-, usually with ja placed in front of it.
ja can be used more widely than sekä. As an example, sekä may not be used to join two independent clauses.
Vaahdota voi sekä sokeri ja sekoita joukkoon kuivat aineet. ― Cream the butter and sugar, and mix in the dry ingredients.
sekä has a nuance of the things being more separate than with ja. If both words are used, ja ties things closer together than sekä.
mansikka- ja vadelmahillo sekä muut hedelmäsäilykkeet ― strawberry and raspberry jam as well as other fruit preserves
In legal language, ja and sekä are distinguished more clearly. sekä is considered "stronger" than ja. For example, an attribute specified before a list will apply to every item with ja, but not with sekä.
paineella tyhjennettävät ja täytettävät säiliöt ― containers that can be filled and emptied under pressure= containers that are both filled and emptied under pressure
paineella tyhjennettävät sekä täytettävät säiliöt ― containers that can be filled and emptied under pressure= containers that are emptied under pressure, and which can be filled either under pressure or not
“ja”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02
(intensifier)obviously; certainly; of course; really; just; as you know; as is generally known (indicates and emphasises that one is expressing a known fact)
Es kann ja nicht immer so bleiben. ― It obviously cannot always remain so.
Der Peter war ja gestern krank. ― Peter was sick yesterday, as you know.
Usage notes
(yes):Ja is used to indicate agreement with a positive statement. To contradict a negative statement (where English would use “yes”), doch is used instead.
(obviously):Ja means roughly the same as English obviously or as you know, but given its shortness it is used much more frequently. In colloquial German, ja is used in most statements of facts already known to the one addressed.
(informal)oh(indicates understanding something finally after a misunderstanding or confusion)
Este nem jár a vonat. – Ja, hát akkor menjünk busszal!
“No train is leaving in the evening.” “Oh, well then let's travel by bus!”
Ezt nem is Miki küldte! – Ja, lehet, hogy én értettem félre.
“This was not sent by Miki!” “Oh, then I must have misunderstood it.”
Further reading
(yep, oh):ja in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
(indeed, actually, as a matter of fact):ja in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
1936, V. I. Junus, N. A. Iljin, Inkeroisin keelen oppikirja alkuşkouluja vart (toine osa), Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 42:
Stanislow Frymark (2020) “ja”, in Kashubian Language in Canada, the USA and New Zealand; Lexical Interferences in Kashubian Language in Canada, the USA and New Zealand (in English and Kashubian), Zómk Zôbòrsczi, →ISBN
Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages, Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
While not obligatory even in standard Arabic, the vocative particle is predominantly omitted in Maltese. It does remain a common word, however, especially when equivalent to English “you”.
The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts. Et is not enclitic and can stand in any unstressed position; the full subject form hat is now rarely used. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur. Dual forms wat / unk and jat / junk are obsolete. Attributive and independent possessives are not distinguished in Mooring.
The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts. Et is not enclitic and can stand in any unstressed position; the full subject form hat is now rarely used. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur. The dual forms are dated, but not obsolete as in other dialects. Independent possessives are distinguished from attributive ones only with plural referents.
Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages, Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
Depending on context, may be pronounced by some speakers through inhaling, like Northern Swedish inhaling jo (although not making the same sound as the Swedish one).
Noun
jan (definite singularjaet, indefinite pluralja, definite pluraljaa)
B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “ja”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN
B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “ja”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN
ja in Bidumsáme Báhkogirrje(“Pite Sami word list”)
Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages, Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
Ja chcę mieć przyjaciół. ― I want to have friends.
Usage notes
The mute forms mię and mi cannot be used in accented positions in the sentence. Mię is considered dated in standard Polish but can still be heard commonly in some dialects or in colloquial speech.
According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), ja is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 16 times in scientific texts, 2 times in news, 84 times in essays, 892 times in fiction, and 2034 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 3028 times, making it the 15th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[1]
References
^ Ida Kurcz (1990) “ja”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 159
Further reading
ja in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “ja”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
“JA”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 2019 September 4
“ja”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024
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I fjol så gick jag med herrarna i hagen. Ja, ja, med herrarna i hagen. Ja, med herrarna i hagen. I år har jag något som sparkar i magen. Aj, aj, som sparkar i magen. Aj, som sparkar i magen.
Last year I went with the men in the pasture. Yes, yes, with the men in the pasture. Yes, with the men in the pasture. This year I have something that kicks in my belly. Ow, ow, that kicks in my belly. Ow, that kicks in my belly.
Cáceres, Natalia (2011) “ja, jaadi”, in Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana, Lyon
Hall, Katherine Lee (1988) The morphosyntax of discourse in De'kwana Carib, volumes I and II, Saint Louis, Missouri: PhD Thesis, Washington University, pages 219, 289, 389: “ha:dü 'grandson' […] ----- -ha: -dü 'grandchild' […] ha:dü - grandchild”
Hall, Katherine (2007) “hādɨ”, in Mary Ritchie Key & Bernard Comrie, editors, The Intercontinental Dictionary Series, Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, published 2021
Monterrey, Nalúa Rosa Silva (2012) Hombres de curiara y mujeres de conuco. Etnografía de los indigenas Ye’kwana de Venezuela, Ciudad Bolívar: Universidad Nacional Experimental de Guayana, pages 62–65, 71, 75: “jaadü, jaa'dü, jua'de”