げ ・気 - Grammar Discussion

Grammar Points
#1

seemingly
giving appearance of
[expresses emotions or feelings]

Structure

  • い-Adjective[い] + げ + な/に
  • な-Adjective + げ + な/に
  • Verb[stem] + げ + な/に

[~げ → more subjective and less certain・~そう → more objective]

[Conjecture/guess, based on visual cues・Low confidence・Subjective・Often used with words describing feelings]

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#2

Is it interchangeable with け ? Like in 吐き気 ?

#3

bit confused as to when to use げ + な or げ + に

I just got 彼()が恥()ずかし気()に自分()の弱点()を教()えてくれた wrong because I used な instead of に, which doesn’t make sense to me. Isn’t な used for nouns?

#4

You have it right, な to modify a noun and に to modify a verb. But in this case it’s modifying 教える, not 弱点.

恥ずかし気に弱点を教えた。
Bashfully told about the weak point.

恥ずかし気な態度で弱点を教えた。
With an bashful look, told about the weak point.

恥ずかしい弱点を教えた。
Told about an embarrassing weak point.

The weak point itself probably cannot give an appearance.

Edit: Or did you mean it could be modifying 自分? I don’t think this combination is possible either, but if it was meant like this, hopefully English translation would also say something like “weak point of embarrassed self” .

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