Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 5: 5/12

けどBut, However

More casual than が

Structure

Verb + けど
[い]Adjective + けど
[な]Adjective + + けど
Noun + + けど

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Particle

  • Word Type

    Conjunctive Particle

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    Standard

About けど・だけど

けど is one of the common conjunction particles in Japanese. These are particles that function by connecting the (A) and (B) parts of a sentence. けど works very similarly to , in that it highlights 'while thinking about (A), (B)'. This means that けど will often come across as 'but' in English.

As can be seen from these examples, just like many other grammatical constructions, will be required when using けど after a な-Adjective, or a noun.

けど is just a modern (casual) version of けれども. Please see below for a list of the most casual, to the most formal variations.

Casual - けど - けども - けれど - けれども - - Formal.

Caution

The phrase after けど will often be omitted if it is obvious, or the speaker does not want to say it.

Examples

--:--

    便利(べんり)だけど(たか)

    It is convenient, but expensive.

    その(あか)(ティー)シャツ()だけど(あお)(ティー)シャツ()

    I like that red T-shirt, but I will buy the blue one.

    (かね)あるけど()ません

    I have money, but I won't buy (it).

    豚肉(ぶたにく)(きら)だけど鶏肉(とりにく)()ます

    I don't like pork, but I eat chicken.

    その(みせ)(たか)けど美味(おい)でしょう

    That restaurant is expensive, but it is delicious, isn't it.

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けど・だけど – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (29 in total)

  • Jake

    Jake

    but

    Structure

    • Verb + けど
    • いAdj + けど
    • Noun・ + けど
    • なAdj・ + けど

    More casual than が

    View on Bunpro

  • Litharrale

    Litharrale

    I think there should be another けど point or maybe additional explanations on this one as けど can be used in a lot more places to mean more things than just “but”.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Yeah, that is actually on the to do list

  • seanblue

    seanblue

    @mrnoone I kinda wanted to answer with だけれど because it sounded better, but second guessed myself. That said, はじめて isn’t a noun, so the explanation isn’t helpful.

  • Pushindawood

    Pushindawood

    @seanblue When 初めて carries the meaning of “for the first time”, it can be interpreted as both a “の-adjective” (also known as a noun) and an adverb . Since “の-adjective” is such an ambiguous term we decided that “noun” was a more appropriate hint. When 初めて carries the meaning of “only after … is it …”, “only when … do you …”, then it is an adverb. Cheers!

  • seanblue

    seanblue

    Ah, that makes sense. の-adjective isn’t really a thing I guess.

    With that said, the two monolingual dictionaries I checked only list it as 副, not 名. So I wonder how I’m supposed to figure out that I can count it as a noun for things like this.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    It is like looking from a wider perspective at の, as a very versatile particle that is used to connect nouns.

  • seanblue

    seanblue

    But what about what I said about the monolingual dictionary only listing it as an adverb?

  • Isurandil492

    Isurandil492

    Why is it wrong to put 「ですけれども」 or 「ですけれど」 in the sentence “秋だけど、温かいです。”? It’s using the polite 「です」 at the end, but gets corrected to 「だけど」.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Hey

    Generally, politeness (です/ます) is only marked at the end of the sentence. Or if the sentence is cut in the middle (for some reason).

    It rarely happens in subordinate clauses (like けれど clause etc) and may sound too polite. Though it is fairly common to see です/ます before が.

    It is not wrong, but I would say it is a bad habbit.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    @Isurandil492
    B y the way, I have fixed it on site, but forgot to mention:
    It should be 暖かい, instead of 温かい.
    The first one is used for weather and climate in general and the second one for things like water, tea, solid objects etc.

  • mattbacon

    mattbacon

    I read in the lesson for 〜だ that you can’t use い-adjectives with だ. I thought that was true here as well. Is it?
    (My question was the one about pork, and it had an い-adjective before I was supposed to put だけど.)

  • seanblue

    seanblue

    嫌い is a な-adjective, not an い-adjective.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    @mattbacon, like @seanblue says, it is the tricky な adjective, which seems to be い adjective at first sight.
    There are also other ones, the most common ones are:

    • きれい 綺麗 beautiful, clean
    • あんせい 安静 rest

    By the way, we used 嫌い on purpose, so learners would realize that there are also なadjectives like that. The sooner the better.

    I have added a note about that under the sentence

  • seanblue

    seanblue

    Is it one of those fancy notes that only shows up when you answer with a specific wrong answer? I love those.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Both ways, under the example sentence and when you provide the wrong answer.

    I am glad that you like them

  • reverie

    reverie

    So this is a question involving both けど and けれども。 I hope it’s ok to put it here because my grammar books aren’t currently helping.

    During reviews I used 「ですけれども」 in a sentence after an い adjective (At least I believe it was, I didn’t capture it, unfortunately) and got it wrong. Taking a look at the grammar details I saw the chart where だ+けど and です+けれども are only listed after な adjectives and nouns. I made my first grammar note to “be aware” and moved on feeling empowered. Yay!

    …When…I ran into this sentence: 「その店は高い____、美味しいでしょう」my answer けけれども was correct (although it was looking for けど) but ですけど, ですけれど, and ですけれども are also listed as alternative answers. I feel like I’m missing something. Is it that the first part of this specific sentence is an independent clause and the other sentence (that I can’t remember) was not?

    In other words, are there any extra examples/help to explain when to use だ・です before けど・けれど・けれども?

    Many thanks for any help anyone ...

  • seanblue

    seanblue

    In 「その店は高い____、美味しいでしょう」, note that it ends in a polite form. This means that (for this grammar at least) it’s okay to use both けど by itself and ですけど earlier in the sentence. It’s possible that in your earlier review, the sentence ends in plain form. In that case, it would be wrong to use です earlier in the sentence since it would be inconsistent in the level of formality.

  • reverie

    reverie

    Thanks, that clears it up a bit I think. In other words, です can come in based on the formality, even if it’s an い-adjective or a verb?

    If I’m interpreting this correctly: だ・です can optionally appear before けど even if the preceding word is a verb or いーadjective, depending on formality. But, if it’s after a noun or な-adjective, だ・です will reliable appear (are required) before けど. Like in the chart?

    I hope that makes enough sense to be correct…or correct if I’m wrong I really appreciate the help.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    @reverie
    Hey and welcome on the community forums

    Like @seanblue says, as a rule of thumb, the polite form (which is expressed through です with adjectives (both kinds)/nouns or ます with verbs) should be used only at the end of the the sentence (main clause).
    We have to remember, that だ (unlike です) is attached only to nouns and なadjectives. いadjectives and verbs are simply left as they are.
    So
    安いだけど、いい。
    毎日シャワーを浴びるだけど、今日は浴びない。are wrong
    But:
    安いですけど、いいです。
    毎日シャワーを浴びますけど、今日は浴びません。are possible
    PS (This might be confusing/advanced)
    毎日シャワーを浴びる。だけど、今日は浴びない。(two sentences)
    毎日シャワーを浴びるのだけど、今日は浴びない。(using の/ん) are also correct, since の・ん is technically lik...

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