Questions tagged [subjects]
主語. Identifying the subject of a sentence, which often is omitted.
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Double subject construction?
I've recently been having trouble with constructions that seem to mark two subjects in the same clause. I've only encountered them in ～の方が... constructions, but I can't seem to make sense of them ...
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Linguistic/syntactic analysis of のほうがよく聞く
In Japanese the following such sentences are seen quite often:
「〜のほうが（よく）（聞く／使う／感じる／知っている）」
However when you consider the grammar, these are all transitive verbs (in the sense they normally take ...
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Not subject despite が?
I've come across the following dialogue:
「シグナムはお風呂どうします？」
「私は今夜はいい。明日の朝にするよ」
「お風呂好きが珍しいじゃん」
An unofficial, but to my mind high-quality translation offered something like
"That's rare for a ...
user22701
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Subject following verb?
I'm translating bits of Hyrule Historia to test myself a bit and I'm a little confused by this sentence structure.
お面を使うリンク
I'm inclined to say this translates to something along the lines of:
"...
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の versus が used to mark the subject of an appositive clause?
A friend of mine wrote this sentence in Japanese:
彼女のどんな困難からも逃げない態度を尊敬しています。
'Her attitude of not running away from any hardships is something I respect.'
'I respect that she has this attitude ...
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How do I figure out what the implied subject is?
I was doing some JLPT N2 practice and I came across this:
あのう、山本先生でいらっしゃいますか。私、先日、先生の講演会で（ ）鈴木と申します。
１ ご覧になった
２ お会いになった
３ お目にかかった
４ お伺いした
My thinking:
Some form of 会った should be filled in the blank. ...
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起こす implied subject
彼氏の猫に対してアレルギー反応を起こした。
I had an allergic reaction to my boyfriend's cat.
What is the implied subject of 起こす in this sentence? By default I would expect "I", but "I caused an allergic ...
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What exactly is the subject?
I've been studying Japanese for quite a while and I've realised lately that I didn't understand what the concept of the subject was in Japanese and even English too. As a native speaker of English I ...
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Why can の and が both mark subjects in relative clauses?
夢のある人
and
夢がある人
I understand that both have obviously the same meaning, but why is it also correct to use の, which, as I learned, has the function of either a possessive particle or of a ...
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Who is the subject in 「駅の前にいるから、迎えに行ってくれる？」?
I'm currently studying Japanese grammar and there's this sentence:
駅の前にいるから、迎えに行ってくれる？
By default the translation given is:
I’m in front of the station, can you come here to meet me?
But ...
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Why can't I use は with ある?
I wanted to say: there is a pen. Hence, I said
ペンはある
But my girlfriend said to me that one has to say:
ペンがある。
But she can't explain to me why, and I don't understand.
Do you have an explanation?
...
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Can things hope?
This sentence in my JLPT book is explaining the nuance of 映{は}える, but actually it's the use of ほしい that's a puzzling me a bit:
このピンクのスカーフが映{は}える服{ふく}を選{えら}んでほしい。
This is saying that the pink scarf ...
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Question about who the subject is: 君が僕と結婚してくれたら、残りの人生ずっといい気分ですごせると思うよ
In the sentence:
君が僕と結婚してくれたら、残りの人生ずっといい気分ですごせると思うよ。
Who is the person who will be able to live their whole life feeling good? Is it 君 or 僕?
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Japanese automatic subjects (Omitting pronouns)
In Japanese, you can often omit 私, あなた, and friends in sentences, then rely on context to get the correct subject.
However, without these words, I have no idea how to differentiate between sentences ...
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Keeping track of the speaker/subject in written conversation
This question may be a bit broad/vague but any advice would be much appreciated.
I'm struggling to follow the implied topic in the book I'm reading. The book is mostly just a conversation between ...
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「褒めても何も出ないよ」「褒めても何も出さないよ」
I think this is what people commonly say:
褒めても何も出ないよ
But I feel iffy about the switch of subject here. 褒めても of course talks about the listener. Why does the subject switch to an inanimate thing in ...
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Inferring subject/person spoken to from 嵐のあとで lyrics
In the lyrics for Galileo Galilei's 嵐のあとで, there is a line:
バイバイって言{い}った、バイバイって返{かえ}した
which a translation online says "You said 'Goodbye', I replied, 'Goodbye'". Could this be also read ...
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Is there a "default" topic when speaking in Japanese?
So I say, apropos of nothing, 「電車｛でんしゃ｝を降｛お｝ります。」 With no other context, and no topic established, who do you assume is the person that gets off the train? Is it me? Is it whomever I'm speaking to? ...
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負かした俺: who beat whom in this relative clause?
Context: Riku is a boxer of Baba gym. Tokorozawa is a retired boxer of Baba gym. Ishigami is a retired boxer of an unmentioned gym. Tokorozawa beat Ishigami in the past. Recently, Tokorozawa asked a ...
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Are the articles of the website “言葉の違いが分かる読み物” written by one person or multiple people?
There is a website called “言葉の違いが分かる読み物” (English translation: “Reading Material Where You Can See The Difference Between Words”).
As the website title suggests, it has articles that explain the ...
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Does subject marker が always have to be before the conjugated verb?
むかし、 むかし、 ある ところ に おじいさん と おばあさん が いました。
Here's what I got so far:
(adv. time), (adv. time), (to be - infinitive) (somewhere) (ni particle), (old man) (to - conjunction) (old woman) (ga subject ...
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Understanding the subject when it's referred to by name
I know in Japanese it's possible to refer to people by name when speaking with them, using the name instead of a pronoun. I'm trying to understand what in the sentence, if anything, makes it clear ...
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Who is the subject when using 記｛き｝者｛しゃ｝泣｛な｝かせ?
I've recently seen several articles containing the phrase 記｛き｝者｛しゃ｝泣｛な｝かせ. All the articles have been about unfortunate events, and 泣かせ clearly means something is making somebody cry. My question is ...
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What is the subject of sentence with ください?
For example, what is the subject of the following sentence?
八時に来るようにしてください。
The speaker or the opponent?
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Do transitive verbs require a subject when translated? How to deal with inferred subjects?
One line examples rarely have enough context to infer. What about this sentence that needs an inferred subject?
田中さんは部屋に入ってきたかと思うと、いきなり窓を全部開けた。
"開ける" is transitive, so how would a proper ...
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Confusion about まっとうに, 青春をする and the subject and object of this sentence
I'm re-reading a light novel and I don't think I'm going to figure this sentence out anytime soon...
Quick context: one day a man meets a teenage girl, makes it clear that although he finds her cute, ...
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Translating どこでかまれたのかわかると、どんな虫が原因かわかることがあるので伝えてください。
I was almost towards the end of my bedtime news article when I got stumped by this sentence:
虫の専門家は「虫にかまれて、腫れたり痛かったりするときは、病院に相談してください。どこでかまれたのかわかると、どんな虫が原因かわかることがあるので伝えてください」と話しています。
To Japanese ...
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Metaphorical meaning of ゴミの分別
Context: Riku is a young boxer in Baba's gym. Yanagi, an older boxer, used to be in Baba's gym too in the past, but he moved to another gym because he was not satisfied with Baba's methods. The two, ...
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Analyzing 「だけど勝つのはいつも金太郎で、大きな体のクマでも金太郎にはかてません」
From the tale 金太郎【きんたろう】:
だけど勝つ【かつ】のはいつも金太郎で、大きな【おおきな】体のクマでも金太郎にはかてません。
I understand a few things:
だけど is contrasting the previous sentence.
の is nominalizing かつ.
The second 金太郎 takes the ...
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Dative subject constructions with 「もらえませんか」
Back to basics. I have heard sentences similar to these ones online that attest the same structure
私も弾いてみたい、と思った私はすぐさま「私にも教えてもらえませんか。」と願い出ました。(source)
あとで時間があったら、その秘訣を私にも教えてもらえませんか。(source)
アーモンドさん（...
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Who's the implicit subject in お世話になりました?
Which (if any at all) of the following two understandings of お世話になりました is correct?
The implicit subject is あなた. The お〜になります pattern is a 敬語 construction. The full sentence in plain form is あなたが（私の）...
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Understanding 北野武 「全思考」
I was reading an excerpt from this book and it read something like this:
物体は激しく動けば、それだけ摩擦が大きくなる。人間だって、激しく動くと熱を持つのだ。端から見れば、輝いている人間のことが、きっと羨ましく見えるのだろう。
だけど、輝いている本人は熱くてたまらないのだ。(中略)
これは真面目に、けっこう辛いことなのだ。
...
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Translation feedback request
I'm redoing an older translation of mine and, within a part that I already find very difficult (ie, I don't know if my sense of context is correct), there's a line I can't get through.
え〜 めんどくさいな〜 ...
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ごごに vs. ごごは and ばんに vs. ばんには?
I wrote the following sentences (in an exercise in which I had to tell how I spent the day):
ごごに、にほんごをべんきょうしました。
ばんに、ばけもののこをみました。
A Japanese person corrected them like this:
ごごは、...
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Who's Who (Giving/Receiving Structures)
I have the following translation for class.
旅館には、外国人がたくさんいて、
アメリカから来たテッドさんという人が、
息子に英語の話し方を教えてくれたので、
そのおれいに、車で、神社に連れて行ってあげることにしました。
I am having trouble figuring out who goes along with what parts of ...
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Who is the subject of the sentence?
In the below I am unsure how to identify the subject (the one performing the verbs) in the third sentence below. Originally I thought it was referring to himself doing this, but in the line below he ...
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Trouble finding out who does what: 君がいいと言えないまま見つめてる後ろ姿
The beginning of the opening for the anime 彼女、お借りします goes as follows:
運命なんて言えない
あと何センチ近づけばいいんだろう
君がいいと言えないまま見つめてる後ろ姿
My problem is with the third line. I can't really figure out what belongs to the ...
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Subject-verb inconsistency in compound sentences: A norm?
I used to write long, compound English sentences until I was told that it was considered poor writing style. However, the more Japanese I read, the more I get the feeling that it is rather natural to ...
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誰か being used as topic, but without topic particle
Reading Tae Kim's guide, I've seen the phrase:
誰が盗んだのか、誰か知りませんか
Where (I think) the term 誰か is being used as topic for the verb 知る.
Is that grammatically correct ?
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笑顔で、いや、寝付けなくてという僕の袖を、彼女が引いた。
笑顔で、いや、寝付けなくてという僕の袖を、彼女が引いた。
Who is smiling? Who can't sleep and what's the connection between smiling and problem with sleeping? The only clear part for me is that 'She pulled my sleeve'.
Source: ...
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...はいい＝not needed ≠...がいい? Does ...はいい have no subject?
I am trying to ask a question with several linked open ends at once.
いい has the meaning that something is not needed. It seems to be related to the distinction of は vs が. For example here is a ...
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Subject and Object in a 太ってる sentence
I've never really had to think about object vs subject in native English since it's always come naturally for me, and I barely remember grammar studies when I was a child.
It seems to be important to ...
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Confusion with interpreting NHK title and subject scope when using て form
I read this article on NHK about Christmas cakes and it has this title:
クリスマスのケーキ 卵の値段が上がって高くなりそう
But I'm somewhat confused on how to properly interpret the title. I'm not sure what 高くなりそう (seems to ...
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What is the subject of "韓国料理が食べたいと言ったので、"?
Context:
今日は前の職場の同僚とランチに行きました。韓国料理が食べたいと言ったので、大阪の鶴橋でご飯を食べました。
I guess the subject is the author's colleague, but may I ask, I think the sentence doesn't explicitly state who the subject of "言った&...
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How to interpret 〜がデザインしてある
In this NHK News Web Easy article, I'm having trouble understanding the sentence
新しい1万円のお札には、「近代日本の経済の父」と呼ばれている渋沢栄一がデザインしてあります｡
Specifically, my (incorrect) attempt would be "The new 10,000¥ ...
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Who's the subject in this short sentence?
There are to opponents with swords about to start a battle and one of them asks the other:
始めてみるか
Does it sound more like "are we going to (try to) start" or "are you going to (try to) ...
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The grammatical subject associated with 困る
I have seen that the verb 困る, an intransitive verb, is translated in English as "to have trouble", "to be troubled" or even "to have a hard time". These are grammatically ...
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What does パラパラ雨揺れる mean?
パラパラ雨揺れてるのに今僕たちには無関係
It is a part of a song called オオカミハート.
Does パラパラ describe a sound or a movement?
I don't understand what is shaking. Is it the rain that is shaking (雨は/が) or is it something, I ...
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Understanding the subject and object when using 満足/満足できない
I'm a little confused as to who the sentence is referring to as the satisfied/dissatisfied person.
for example: 彼はもう彼女満足できない。
I understand this sentence to mean: He cant be satisfied by/with her ...
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What exactly can が specify? I've provided 魚が食べる for sake of example
Could 魚が食べる change in context? Marking 魚 with を would grammatically make 魚 the object of the action such that it would mean "Fish are eaten"; if 魚 is marked with が, 魚が食べる would mean "...
