Japanese basic grammar topic Covered by something

Covered by something

This is a short lesson to cover several specialized expressions that describe the state of being covered by something. Mostly, we will focus on the differences between だらけ」、「まみれ and ずくめ.

Using だらけ when an object is riddled everywhere with something

Vocabulary

1.    間違い ま・ちが・い - mistake

2.    ゴミ - garbage

3.    ほこり - dust

4.    この - this abbr. of これの

5.    ドキュメント - document

6.    全然 ぜん・ぜん - not at all (when used with negative)

7.    役に立つ やく・に・たつ (u-verb) - to be useful

8.    携帯 けい・たい - handheld (phone)

9.    ~年 【~ねん - counter for year

10.  使う つか・う (u-verb) - to use

11.  き・ず - injury; scratch; scrape

12.  なる (u-verb) - to become

13.  テレビ - TV, television

14.  ちゃんと - properly

15.  拭く ふ・く (u-verb) - to wipe; to dry

16.  くれる (ru-verb) - to give

だらけ is usually used when something is riddled everywhere. It generally carries a negative connotation. As a result, you'll often see だらけ used with expressions like 間違いだらけ, ゴミだらけ, or 埃だらけ. There is no conjugation rule to cover here, all you need to do is attach だらけ to the noun that is just all over the place. You should treat the result just like you would a regular noun.

Using だらけ to describe the state of being riddled everywhere by something

·     Attach だらけ to the noun that is covering the object or place
Examples

1.    間違い間違いだらけ (riddled with mistakes)

2.    だらけ (riddled with dust)

Examples

1.    このドキュメントは間違いだらけで、全然役に立たない
This document is just riddled with mistakes and is not useful at all.

2.    携帯を2年間使ってたら、傷だらけになった。
After using cell phone for 2 years, it became covered with scratches.

Notice how the 「の」 particle is used to modify since だらけ functions like a noun.

1.    この埃だらけのテレビをちゃんと拭いてくれない
Can you properly dust this TV completely covered in dust?

Using まみれ to describe a covering

Vocabulary

1.    間違い ま・ちが・い - mistake

2.    血 【ち】 - blood

3.    あぶら - oil

4.    ゴミ - garbage

5.    かれ - he; boyfriend

6.    なる (u-verb) - to become

7.    くるま - car

8.    修理 しゅう・り - repair

9.    頑張る がん・ば・る (u-verb) - to try one's best

10.  たった - only, merely

11.  キロ - kilo

12.  走る はし・る (u-verb) - to run

13.  あせ - sweat

14.  情けない なさ・けない (i-adj) - shameful; deplorable

まみれ may seem very similar to だらけ but there are some very important subtle differences. First, it's only used for actually physical objects so you can't say things like 間違いまみれ like you can with だらけ. Plus, you can only use it for things that literally cover the object. In other words, you can't use it to mean "littered" or "riddled" like we have done with だらけ So you can use it for things like liquids and dust, but you can't use it for things like scratches and garbage.

The grammatical rules are the same as だらけ.

Using まみれ to describe a covering by sticking

·     Like だらけ, you attach まみれ to the noun that is doing covering.
Examples

1.    まみれ (covered in blood)

2.    まみれ (covered in oil)

·     You can only use まみれ for physical objects that literally covers the object.
Examples

1.    間違いまみれ (not a physical object)

2.    ゴミまみれ (doesn't actually cover anything)

Examples

1.    彼は油まみれになりながら、車の修理に頑張りました
While becoming covered in oil, he worked hard at fixing the car.

2.    たった1キロを走っただけで、汗まみれになるのは情けない。
It's pitiful that one gets covered in sweat from running just 1 kilometer.

ずくめ to express entirety

Vocabulary

1.    くろ - black

2.    しろ - white

3.    いい (i-adj) - good

4.    こと - event, matter

5.    団体 だん・たい - group

6.    去年 きょ・ねん - last year

7.    ニュース - news

8.    なる (u-verb) - to become

9.    この - this abbr. of これの

10.  シェーク - shake

11.  おいしい (i-adj) - tasty

12.  栄養 えい・よう - nutrition

13.  たっぷり - filled with

14.  からだ - body

The 大辞林 dictionary describes exactly what ずくめ means very well.

名詞およびそれに準ずる語句に付いて、何から何まで、そればかりであることを表す。すべてである
うその言いわけ」「いいこと」「黒の服装」「結構

In other words, ずくめ describes something that applies to the whole thing. For instance, if we were talking about the human body, the expression "is [X] from head to toe" might be close to what ずくめ means.

In actuality, ずくめ is an expression that is rarely used and usually with a color to describe people completely dressed in that color. For example, you can see what 黒ずくめ looks like via Google Images.

Grammatically, ずくめ works in exactly the same ways as だらけ and まみれ.

Using ずくめ to describe something that applies to the whole thing

·     Attach ずくめ to the noun that applies to the whole thing.
Examples

1.    ずくめ

2.    いいこといいことずくめ

Examples

1.    白ずくめ団体は去年ニュースになっていた
The organization dressed all in white was on the news last year.

2.    このシェークは、おいしいし、栄養たっぷりで体にいいですから、いいことずくめですよ
This shake is tasty and filled with nutrients, it's good for (your) body so it's entirely good things.

 

App 3.0 ↓
A p p   F o r   P h o n e
  • Android
  •   
  • iOS
A p p   F o r   P h o n e
  • Android
  •   
  • iOS
 X 
Basic grammar

  • 1 :Addressing People
  • 2 :Adjective Practice Exercises
  • 3 :Adjectives
  • 4 :Advanced proximity of actions
  • 5 :Advanced Topics
  • 6 :Advanced Volitional
  • 7 :Adverbs and Sentence-ending particles
  • 8 :Basic Grammar
  • 9 :Casual Patterns and Slang
  • 10 :Causative and Passive Verbs
  • 11 :Compound Sentences
  • 12 :Conditionals
  • 13 :Covered by something
  • 14 :Defining and Describing
  • 15 :Desire and Suggestions
  • 16 :Essential Grammar
  • 17 :Expressing amounts
  • 18 :Expressing must or have to
  • 19 :Expressing State-of-Being
  • 20 :Expressing the minimum expectation
  • 21 :Expressing time-specific actions
  • 22 :Expressing various levels of certainty
  • 23 :Formal expressions of non-feasibility
  • 24 :Formal Expressions
  • 25 :Giving and Receiving
  • 26 :Hiragana
  • 27 :Honorific and Humble Forms
  • 28 :Hypothesizing and Concluding
  • 29 :Introduction to Particles
  • 30 :Introduction
  • 31 :Kanji
  • 32 :Katakana
  • 33 :Leaving something the way it is
  • 34 :Making requests
  • 35 :More negative verbs
  • 36 :Negative Verb Practice Exercises
  • 37 :Negative Verbs
  • 38 :Noun-related Particles
  • 39 :Numbers and Counting
  • 40 :Other Grammar
  • 41 :Other uses of the te-form
  • 42 :Particles used with verbs
  • 43 :Past Tense
  • 44 :Past Verb Practice Exercises
  • 45 :Performing an action on a relative clause
  • 46 :Polite Form and Verb Stems
  • 47 :Potential Form
  • 48 :Relative Clauses and Sentence Order
  • 49 :Review and more sentence-ending particles
  • 50 :Saying something is easy or difficult to do
  • 51 :Showing signs of something
  • 52 :Special expressions with generic nouns
  • 53 :Special Expressions
  • 54 :Tendencies
  • 55 :The Question Marker
  • 56 :The Writing System
  • 57 :Things that happen unintentionally
  • 58 :Things that should be a certain way
  • 59 :Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
  • 60 :Trying something out or attempting to do something
  • 61 :Using suru and naru with the ni particle
  • 62 :Using yoru for comparisons and other functions
  • 63 :Various ways to express similarity and hearsay
  • 64 :Verb Basics
  • 65 :Verb Practice Exercises