Hot answers tagged copula
7
This is not an answer but a collection of comments based on my personal feeling, but I post it as an answer because it is too long for a comment.
First, here are two clear facts:
のある simply does not have the same meaning as である. ピアニストのある私の姉 is incorrect.
Replacing AであるB with AのB sometimes causes ambiguity. For example, ピアニストの姉 can mean either “(my) ...
6
The も is required by the 誰. 誰も means "anybody".
But things can come between the 誰 and the も. The case particles generally come before the も, e.g.
誰とも行かない (I will) not go with anybody
In でもない, でない is a negative copula, but the で acts like a case particle and comes before the も.
誰でもない It isn't anybody
In this example even more stuff comes before ...
6
I regret not writing "こわい。だから[...]" with a 句点 in my original comment.
The precise way to express it would have been: if こわい and だから are parts of separate clauses, it can be grammatical, otherwise not.
In speech, you would usually express こわい and だから belonging to different clauses by inserting a pause. With no pause between them (i.e. without breaking the ...
5
My thought went along the line of Tsuyoshi's, but here is another comment:
On top of である being a bit more formal, I also feel that である tends to be used more in nonrestrictive relative clauses, whereas の tends to be used more in restrictive relative clauses:
ピアニストである姉は… My sister, who is a pianist, ... (nonrestrictive use)
ピアニストとドラマーの姉がいるんだけど、ピアニストの姉は… ...
3
It's lazy polite form. Dropped for ease of use and to add a level of casual feel. Used nationwide.
When I worked in bars and a few host clubs this style commonly used in place of normal 敬語 as it is too stiff for young women, who are the majority of our customers. However, we always reverted back to normal 敬語 when an older male, female(ママさん) or couple was ...
2
誰の名前でもない means "isn't anybody's name", from the usual question word plus negative construction (like 何でもない).
It would probably take a bit more context to find a good translation. Without further information it's not clear, whether the name that isn't anybody's name modifies 輝き, or just stands by itself.
2
Syntactically, it is the copula だ with conjunct が, probably used in a cleft sentence with some omission. が often connects contrasting clauses, but as with this case, it can just connect two clauses that do not contrast. The literal translation is
'On top of the fact that (it) is my uncle who lives close-by (that I am going to talk about), I've heard that ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
