I've asked elsewhere so now I'm asking here. And yes, I've googled but no definitive answer. Does anyone know what these words mean and how you would use them in a sentence: douyuukoto, souyuukoto, douyuumono, souyuumono

If you spell them in hiragana, Google Translate will be able to give you the meaning, for example:

douyuukoto = どうゆうこと = Create.

Have fun [smile].

Hope I got this right now. Have not studied the language in a while :-)

"Dou" means "how" or "what".

"Dou yuu" is "what kind of". I think yuu in a sense has the same meaning as "iu" (to say). Use it for something you just heard.

"Sou yuu" is "that kind of" in the sense "that you mentioned" or something that you just heard or saw. Think about "Sou desu ka?" "Is that so?".

"Mono" is a concrete "thing".

"Koto" is an abstract "thing". Commonly used with a verb like english "to". "To eat" is "Taberu koto".

They can be used as a question and to respond to something someone said.

"Dou yuu mono?" - "What is that thing you are talking about?"
"Sou yuu mono ga hosii!" - "I want something like that!"

"Karera ha dou yuu koto shita?" - "What were those guys doing?"
"Sou yuu koto ha dame!" - "That's awful!"

Is it possible that you mean "dou iu koto"?

http://japanese.about.com/library/blsjp35_13.htm

yes, after learning that iu can be pronounced as yuu.

so yeah, i meant dou iu koto, sou iu koto, etc.

Both jonathanjansson and janta are correct. [smile]

Shame on you, Google [sad].

Another related question. Is "iu" always pronounced as "yu/yuu"?

As far as I know, the pronounciation rules are WYSIWYG:

(Extra note: I have a Pacific Northwest English accent)

a -> 'ah'
e -> 'eh' like the e in 'hello'
i -> 'ee' like in English 'see'
o -> 'oh' (sometimes dropped at the end of foreign words)
u -> 'ooh' (sometimes dropped at the end of sentences or foreign words)

When two are placed next to each other you get both sounds sort of "cross-faded" together, with an exception or two...

The common ones I hear are:

ai -> like saying English letter "I"
ei -> like saying the English letter "A"
ie -> sounds like "yeh"
iu -> like saying English "you" (but with more of an English 'ee' at the start - not noticable unless someone's trying to speak very clearly)
io -> sounds a bit like 'ee-yo' but faster
oo -> just like single 'o' but voiced over more time
ou -> Personally I hear this identically to Japanese "oo" which really screws me up when trying to look up meanings in a dictionary.

[Edited by - Nypyren on April 8, 2010 7:02:51 PM]

[EDIT] I was too slow. Yay redundancy!

Quote: Original post by Alpha_ProgDes
Another related question. Is "iu" always pronounced as "yu/yuu"?

Say 'ee' and then 'oo'.
Then say 'eeoo'.
Then say it really fast.
The 'ee' tends to disappear and you are left with 'yu'.
So really it's only pronounced 'yu' because everyone talks too fast :)

Japanese "ui" -> sounds like English "we"

Spoken/Written exceptions based on sentence structure:
The (subject?) particle pronounced "wa" is written using the "ha" symbol.
The (location?) particle pronounced "eh" is written using the "he" symbol.

There are probably others. My "hobbyist" Japanese knowledge is extremely limited. I stopped learning the written form when Kanji blew up my brain.