# Do others have the same problem?



## adexx

How do you say "have" in "Do others have the same problem?".
I was considering between 持っている and 抱えている.
But then, does this sound ok: 他人には同じような問題あるの (is 問題 ok here)?
So, which is the most natural?


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## Starfrown

I'll let the natives answer your question, but I'd like to note that の as a question marker is a characteristic of female speech.  If you are not female, I don't know how acceptable it would be to use it.  The natives can surely enlighten us on this point.


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## kyn

I think I've read somewhere that in questions, の can be used by both male & female. I'm not so sure, guess I'll need opinions from a native on this point also.


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## taked4700

"Do others have the same problem?"  ”他の人たちは同じ問題を抱えているのですか？”　　would be the most idiomatic.

The ending with 'の' to mean interrogative is used mostly by females but sometimes by males.

I guess this use of 'の' is a contraction of ’のですか'.

If this guess is true, I think this expression comes from a mind-set of Japanese people that it could be a better idea to surrender to the other party in interpretting what you mean by contracting sentences as much as possible or not telling out full sentences.

Women would be more independent on the other parties around them than men.   So, naturally they come to use this ending with 'の'.  In the same perspective, men sometimes use this ending with 'の' just to show softness or willingness to adapt to the other party.


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## rukiak

adexx said:


> How do you say "have" in "Do others have the same problem?".
> I was considering between 持っている and 抱えている.
> But then, does this sound ok: 他人には同じような問題あるの (is 問題 ok here)?
> So, which is the most natural?



Firstly, I wonder when you say the phrase: "Do others have the same problem?".
Frankly, "others" sounds bizarre. I would understand if the word is replaced by "the other". 

Anyway, the expression "問題がある" has at least two nuance. One is that a speaker knows that someone or something suffers and has a problem. Another one is that a speaker judges that someone or something is a problem.

For the former nuance, that is the matter of others, so strictly you should not be sure about that. Then, it is a little unnatual to say "問題がある". On the contrary, when the speaker know that someone has surely an illness , for example, you could say "同じ病気にかかっているの（ですか）？" I mean you would use specific verbs like ーの病気にかかっている、ーの事で悩んでいる, instead of "問題がある".

For the latter nuance, I think it is more common as the usage of "問題がある" in Japanese. It is the same meaning as "ーは問題だ"。


As to "Do others have the same problem?",
他の人も同じ問題を抱えているのですか？ sounds more natural, I think, even I don't know the context of the phrase...


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## taked4700

Yes, "他の人も同じ問題を抱えているのですか？" sounds more natural than " ”他の人たちは同じ問題を抱えているのですか？”.

 Maybe, " ”他の人たちは同じ問題を抱えているのですか？” would mean "Do the others have the same problem?".

Thanks.


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## rukiak

As to の
I don't know what the male in Tokyo, especcially the adult, says casually for the meanin of "ーの?".
In the other parts of japan, there are lots of words as "ーの?", most of them are used  commonly regardless the gender. 　Ex. are ーん？、－のん？、ーんか？、ーと？.
I'd like to know the opinion of people in Tokyo.


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## wathavy

adexx said:


> How do you say "have" in "Do others have the same problem?".
> I was considering between 持っている and 抱えている.
> But then, does this sound ok: 他人には同じような問題あるの (is 問題 ok here)?
> So, which is the most natural?



You could also note this, I bet.
"みんなも、同じかなぁ？"　or "みんな、おなじかしら？"(Female)
The nuance with this case can be applied to positive and negative or even neutral.
The answer would be,
"そうだよ、みんな同じさ。" or "そうよ、みんな同じよ。"(Female)
There is no word for 'problem' but one can guess what it is from nuances, or related story.

Just my two cents. (Just my two yens)


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## rukiak

I just remember that my old male friend who is in late 20's and from the prefecture next to Tokyo used to say ーの？as a question maker. 
But I also still be waiting for opinions of Tokyo people.



Starfrown said:


> I'll let the natives answer your question, but I'd like to note that の as a question marker is a characteristic of female speech.  If you are not female, I don't know how acceptable it would be to use it.  The natives can surely enlighten us on this point.


As I said before in this thread, people in many regions of Japan uses rather their regional words instead of ーの? in daily life. However, even in those regions, ーの？is also used by children and sometimes by female. In that sense, your notion is write. But, having said that, I think children and females use rather their regional words to their close friends.　So my point is that if the standard language, or language spoken in Tokyo, separates the question maker by gender, we can reasonably say that ーの is a characteristic of female.


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## Derselbe

rukiak said:


> Firstly, I wonder when you say the phrase: "Do others have the same problem?".
> Frankly, "others" sounds bizarre. I would understand if the word is replaced by "the other".



I think this makes a difference in meaning. "others" is plural and undefined (no article). "the other" seems to be singular to me without more contect. So I'd probably be "*Does *the other have the same problem."

"others" basically means "other people". So
"Do others have the same problem." -> "Do other people have the same problem." It's not about *who* has the same problem or wheather we know those persons. It's more about wheather the one person is the only one, who has that problem. You could also aks instead: "Is he the only one having that problem?"

Example: 
Students sitting in class. One students says "Sorry, I wasn't able to do my homework, because I could not download the material" and the teacher asks "Do others have the same problem." (Is there anybody else having that problem.).

If he asked "Do the other have the same problem", it'd mean "Does *everybody* else has the same problem.". But that's not what he want's to know.

I'd actually translate that nuance as
"同じ問題を抱えている他の人もいるんですか。"

Of course I don't know if that sounds idiomatic or not. I just gave it a try


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## rukiak

To Derselbe

Thank you very much for your advice.
I didn't know that "Do others have the same problem?" has such a nuance.

 When I posted #5 and said " I would understand if the word is replaced by "the other" ", I meant "the other*s*". I'm not familiar with the use of "other" and actually often misuse. Anyway, I was wrong and your explanation of the usage of others and the other(s) is quite useful for me.



Derselbe said:


> I'd actually translate that nuance as
> "同じ問題を抱えている他の人もいるんですか。"
> Of course I don't know if that sounds idiomatic or not. I just gave it a try


In Japanese, "他に同じ問題を抱えている人はいるんですか。" ｏｒ　"他に同じ問題を抱えている人はいますか。" sounds idiomatic.

Thank you.


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## lrosa

Actually, I don't think that "the other", on its own, is ever used - you would have to specify "the other *person*", "the other *man*", "the other *thing*", etc... (Actually, there is one context where "the other" is used on its own, but this is very specific - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_other)

In Derselbe's scenario, "Did *others *have the same problem?" would mean "Did anyone else have the same problem?", and "Did *the others* have the same problem?" would mean "Did all the other people in the class have the same problem?", but "the others" would not be used by a teacher directly addressing his class, or by a student referring to his fellow classmates - it would only be used by someone _outside _and unrelated to the class.


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