けど Kedo vs から Kara ("But" in Japanese)

[00:00:00]Kedo is typically translated as but and kara is typically because. But there are some situations where you can use both and that's confusing for some people. So let me explain. First, kedo as but.

[00:00:14]Let's say you're planning to go to Comic Market, but the weather forecast says it's going to rain. Your friend might use ame rain, iku to go, and say ame da kedo iku It's going to rain, but are you going?

[00:00:31]And here, kedo pretty much means but.

[00:00:34]And you can use mochiron, of course, and say mochiron iku yo Of course we're going. And that's pretty straightforward. Now, let's use kara with this. You can say yasumi o toru to take a day off and say mochiron iku yo yasumi totta kara Of course I'm going because I took a day off. And it's true that a lot of Japanese people work long hours, but it's still most of the time possible to take a day off because we are not crazy.

[00:01:06]We're just a bunch of masochists.

[00:01:09]But so far, kedo and kara are pretty straightforward.

[00:01:13]But we also use kedo to introduce some background information. For example, you can use ryoko trip omiyage souvenir and say ryoko iku kedo omiyage iru I'm going on a trip. Do you want a souvenir?

[00:01:32]And here, kedo simply introduces some background information or some context.

[00:01:38]And you might ask, "Well, what if I didn't use kedo and just say ryoko iku omiyage iru And the answer is the sentences don't really flow that well. Unless you add some dramatic pause and say ryoko iku I'm going on a trip.

[00:01:55]omiyage iru Do you want a souvenir?

[00:01:58]But generally speaking, in this kind of situation, we tend to use connectors like kedo in Japanese and say, "Ryoko iku kedo omiyage iru?" Because we don't want to finish every sentence, so we just keep going without finishing a sentence like never-ending One Piece episodes.

[00:02:15]Now, here we generally don't use kara and say, "Because in this context it sounds like you're trying to justify why you're buying a souvenir. And at the same time, you're asking this question to your friend. So, it doesn't quite fit the context, but in a slightly different situation, for example, if you say something like "Ryoko iku kara omiyage katte koyou ka?" "How about I buy some souvenirs since I'm going a trip?" And now it sounds fine because it's more like, "Okay, I'm going to do this since I'm going a trip." So, I would say justifying kind of makes sense. And you can also use kedo and say, "Ryoko iku kedo omiyage katte koyou ka?" And if you use kedo, it doesn't sound like you're justifying your choice. It's just some background information. So, that's the difference. So, in many situations, you can use both, but they have different nuances. For example, let's think of a situation where you're trying to ask somebody out. If you use kara and say, "Oishii resutoran aru kara ikanai?"

[00:03:21]"Because there's a good restaurant, do you want to go?"

[00:03:24]It sounds like you're trying to justify your asking out. So, if you're not used to asking out somebody because your crush doesn't love you back, this might work because you might need some kind of justification. But if you use kedo and say, "There's a good restaurant, do you want to go?" It sounds more like you're comfortable asking that person out because you don't need any justification. "Hey, there's a good restaurant you want to go? Now, with kedo, it's also very common to end the sentence using desu and say desu kedo.

[00:04:01]For example, if you go to a restaurant, you can say yoyaku shitan desu kedo.

[00:04:07]I have a reservation. And let the other person finish the sentence because in Japanese, we prefer letting somebody else finish your sentence so that if they misinterpret, we can blame them.

[00:04:18]And if you go to a train station and don't know which train to take, you can ask sumimasen Harajuku ni ikitain desu kedo.

[00:04:27]Excuse me, I want to go to Harajuku and the staff member will know that you're looking for the right train. Now, there's another way of using kedo like though in English. For example, you can use iken, opinion, and say ma tada no iken desu kedo ne.

[00:04:45]Well, it's just an opinion though, which isn't necessarily my favorite expression because it sounds a bit passive-aggressive. Like, if you have an opinion, you should own it. But you can say something like, "Solo Leveling isn't even a good anime." and ma tada no iken desu kedo ne. Well, it's just an opinion though, except it's not.

[00:05:06]It's objectively not so good. Now, some people ask about da and say dakara or dakedo, but this is just simple grammar.

[00:05:16]When you use nouns or na adjective, you simply just add da like ame da kedo iku.

[00:05:24]It's going to rain, but do you want to go? And ame, rain, is a noun, so you mechanically just add da. So, it doesn't really have any meanings here. And with dakara, it's the same thing because you can just say, "Ame dakara ikanai."

[00:05:40]I'm not going because it's raining. And here again, ame is a noun, so I just said dakara. And with na adjectives like daiji, important, it's the same thing.

[00:05:53]I'm going to use okane, money, and kenko, health, and say, "Okane mo daiji da kedo, kenko mo daiji."

[00:06:02]Money is important, but health is also important. So, it's pretty simple. And if you want to learn Japanese for practical purposes, like communicating with Japanese people or watching anime with a lot of culture, you can subscribe to my email group because I have both free and paid lessons where you can acquire Japanese with natural but easy examples. So, click on the link in the description or on the screen and subscribe to my email group, Japanese with Yuta.