Hi guys,I found myself having some difficulties grasping the meaning of some phrases I found here on renshuu (mostly trying to grasp why are written in the way they are) so I am opening this thread to discuss here deep in detail all the phrases that are not fully clear to me :) (I really need help to scompose & analyze them piece by piece,because if I don't get why one thing is expressed in the way it is,I can't bring myself to memorize it for the sake of my life) :P ;D (oh also,ignore the fact that my english somethimes is totally wrong,I'll refine it later on,for now my goal is to learn the japanese :) )
The first phrase is: "ねこはやみでものが見える。"
It is translated as: "A cat can see in the dark."
So,for what I have understood: ねこ(cat)[color=red]は[/color](topic marking particle)やみ(darkness)[color=red]で[/color](particle that express "in"? not sure about this)もの(not sure about this either)[color=red]が[/color](subject marking particle)見える(totally not sure about this one)。
So I don't get the whole end of the sentence,the "やみでものが" & also the "見える" wich means "to be seen",right? but the original translation of the phrase was "can see",so the cat beign able to do that action shouldn't be "出来る" or "出来ている" ? :o
猫(ねこ)は闇(やみ)で物(もの)が見える。
You could translate it as "A cat can see things in the dark." or even more literal "As for cats, things are visible (to them) in the dark." No one would say it like that in English, I guess. But that's the way Japanese people speak^^
で (in, at) marks the location of an action. So whenever you use another verb than "to be" (だ/です、ある、いる) you have to use で instead of に for the location. (Since "darkness" is quite an abstract expression, I wonder if it's considered a location or a time or something else :o Anyway, you have to use で.^^)
もの means "thing, object".
Although its original meaning is "to be seen", 見える is more frequently translated as "can see", since the meaning is pretty much the same.
Thanks for the answer Karlla,thinking of it "ものが見える" (things are visible) referred to the cat means the cat can see them,so now totally make sense ;D
[quote]So whenever you use another verb than "to be" (だ/です、ある、いる) you have to use で instead of に for the location.[/quote]
My poor english had me confused in this sentence,so: I have to use で instead of に for the location when the phrase end with a verb not beign だ/です、ある、いる ? I got it right? :P
Also now that I notice it,why ものが見える uses the particle が instead of を ?
Yes, that's right - use に with verbs like だ、ある、いる to show where something exists, and で with other verbs to show where something happens. There are a couple exceptions to this, like 日本[b]に[/b]住んでいる and 会社[b]に[/b]勤めている, but if you just remember those, you'll be all set.
見える is an intransitive verb - that means it doesn't have an object (the thing you use を with.) It may help you to think of 見える as "is visible" rather than "can see" - so the subject (marked with が) is "things", just like in Japanese.
Thanks できるだけ, a 好き poit for you ;D
So,all intransitive verbs uses が instead of を?
Also,there is a rule of thumb to tell if a verb is intransitive or not? :)
That's right - を only with transitive verbs!
Japanese has a lot of transitive/intransitive verb pairs, and often they will be very similar except for the ending - 起こる (intransitive) and 起こす (transitive), 変わる (intransitive) and 変える (transitive). In these cases, the verb of the pair that ends in す or える is MORE LIKELY to be transitive than intransitive... but there are some exceptions. In general, it may help you to memorize the particle (が or を) that goes with each new verb when you learn it, and the more Japanese you see, the easier it will get. :)
Hi guys,new phrase,new doubts ;D
Today's phrase is: [size=12pt]今どはまずいことがおこらないと本とうにいいのですが。[/size]
It is translated as: [size=10pt]I just hope nothing goes wrong this time[/size].
I don't get the "と本とうにいいのですが" part :-\
What is the meaning of the particle と in there? also the の before the です and the final particle が...can you guys help me to get the role of this particle on the sentence?
Also what would be the literal translation of this phrase? (knowing it helps me a lot to go from that japanese phrase to the english translation) :)
本とうにいい -> 本当にいい -> really good
It would be really nice if something bad didn't happen this time (it feels to be that there is a nuance that something bad happened previously)
When と follows a verb (or an adjective), it means either 1) that whatever comes before it is a quote (and you'll generally find a verb like 言う or 思う or 聞く after it), or 2) that whatever comes before it is a hypothetical condition - and you can translate "と" as "if". In this sentence, it's the second case. A more literal translation would be "If nothing bad happens this time, it will be really good, but..."
が after a verb means "but". In English, we might say something like "I hope nothing goes wrong this time, but I think it may anyway," but Japanese people often omit the rest of the sentence after が in cases where you can imagine the rest of the sentences. This is especially true if the rest of the sentence is something negative.
の (or the shortened form ん) if often used before です at the end of a sentence to add emphasize or show that you're explaining something by giving a reason. If you want to be [i]really[/i] literal, you could translate it as "... it will be a really good thing," but in general you can just ignore の when you see it before です for the time being, because it doesn't change the meaning of the sentence very much.
You can also try searching for these particles (or any other grammar term) in the site grammar dictionary and looking at their grammar pages - most of them have usage explanations and lots of translated examples you can study.
Thanks both of you guys,now that I think about it I already knew about the が & is usage,is just that this is the first time I found it closing the sentence,so I thought it could have been something different :-[
really helpfull the explanation about と,now all the phrases with a quote I have already meet in the past make sense like: じょうしがいっぱいのもうといった ;D
I'll try the grammar page next time,still much to learn about the working of the site hehe :)
Guys I think I have spotted a wrong sentence during my quizzing session :O
The sentence is: そのえきはかれのいえから２キロメートルはなれている。
Translalted as : The station is 2 kilometers from my house.
For what I know,かれ means "He" & かれのいえ is "His house",so to match that translation the japanese phrase should have been 私のいえ
Am I right? :-[
The sentence library is not perfect, so if you see a mistake like that - you can hit the down arrow. This will pop up a suggestion box where you can recommend an improvement. I personally look through all suggestions and make corrections/updates when necessary :)
Hi guys,I have a small doubt about the sentence below,need your help :)
Then sentence is: かびんにはなん本のはながはいっていますか。
The translation is:How many flowers are there in the vase?
My doubt is about the います at the end,since we are talking about flowers shouldn't it be あります?
はいっていますis correct. ~ている is progressive form (or whatever it is called in English), which expresses an ongoing state or action. It corresponds to the ~ing form in English. As such you could consider it a fixed expression.
本を読んでいます。- I am reading a book.
かびんにははながはいっています。- There are (being) flowers in the vase.
