5

First of all, sorry if something about my English grammar is wrong. English is not my native language and, even if I can understand it very well, writing and expressing myself is something I still have to improve. Thank you!

I am trying to understand (not translate) the lyrics of the song "Maboroshi no Inochi" by Sekai no Owari. I started with the first line and almost immediately I had problems understanding it.

The first line is this:

白い星が降る夜に 僕からの賛美歌を

The first half of the sentence is OK, but the second half confused me a bit, mostly because of the expression "からの" and the "を" at the end of the sentence.

I first thought that the "を" was because the sentence was incomplete and it had a connection with the second sentence (蒼い銀河の彼方にUFOが 君を連れて消えていく), but it doesn't (or at least I can not see it). I did some research and, from what I could understand, "を" at the end of the sentence is used like a replacement for kanojo, kare, anata, etc. I have already read the translation of the song some time ago, and, apparently, the person who translated it interpreted "を" like "you", so, it appears to work but I never trust translations.

"からの" looked more simple, and from what I found it means "from" (+ person), which in this case is 僕 (boku).

The first time I read the translation in English, I thought that with the "you" he (the singer) was talking to the audience/person who is listening to the song, but now that I know that the "を" can be replaced with different persons, and considering the context and motive of the song (a song to the child that the singer and the pianist of the band lose), I interpret it as for his daughter.

So, considering it all, the line means that in a starry night, he sings/sang a hymn (賛美歌) to (for) his daughter (Tsukishi)?

Sorry if it is too long, but my level of Japanese is not really good and I never trust what I understand because, most of the time, it is wrong. Thank you!

Improve this question
2
  • I really appreciate the correction of what I wrote, but cutting of a whole paragraph, a really personal one, is by far offensive to me. I didn't like it, please, give me my paragraph back. Explaining my situation is very important to me, I REALLY NEED do it. I don't understand who did it or how it was possible that someone who is not me was able to edit MY question, and specially someone that don't know me and don't know how important to me is having that type of introduction. Please, I want my introduction back.
    – Alana123
    Commented Aug 5, 2016 at 14:15
  • On this site, anyone who has enough reputation can edit any question or answer (and those who don't can suggest edits to those who do). People tend to erase things that aren't important to the question to avoid fluff, so don't take it personally :)
    – Blavius
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 14:38

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

"からの" is used when you want to describe how one noun is coming from another noun. So "僕からの賛美歌" means "a song of praise (or hymn) from me". Another example usage is 君からのプレゼント ("a present from you").

The particle "を" is very different than you describe. Put simply, it describes the action of a verb, like りんごを食べる (eat an apple), where the action of "eating" is "(an/the) apple"

Here, the verb that goes with the を in the first line is not stated. But it is likely "sing", as in "僕からの賛美歌を(歌う)"

The を doesn't say anything about who the song is being sung for, you must interpret that for yourself.

Improve this answer
2
  • So, "を" AT the END of a sentence can be filled with either: persons and verbs??. I know the basic uses of particles, but "を" at the end of a sentence is a strange use.
    – Alana123
    Commented Aug 5, 2016 at 0:34
  • Rather than thinking of it as "を at the end of a sentence", think of it as the verb being omitted. There is some verb which is missing, that you need to figure out from context. In this case, I think it is "歌う", however as another person pointed out this can mean "want", "give", "need". But it can be anything. Does this make sense?
    – Locksleyu
    Commented Aug 5, 2016 at 21:14
8

を is always an object marker in modern Japanese. It never replaces personal pronouns. Where did you see such a rule?

noun + を at the end of a sentence is a fairly common device found in lyrics, slogans, posters and such. In general, it often means "I/We want/need ～" or "Give ～".

  • 彼女にお茶を。 (lit. "(we need) Tea to her") Serve her a cup of tea.
  • 犯罪者に死を！ Death to the criminal!
  • 動物実験廃止を！ (lit. "(we need) abolition of animal testing") No More Animal Testing!
  • 君にさよならを Goodbye To You (song title)

See:

Improve this answer
4
  • Thank you!!!! This is why I always prefer asking than trusting on what I found at internet. I read that rule on two differents pages, but it seemed strange to me.
    – Alana123
    Commented Aug 5, 2016 at 14:23
  • wow it really helped me thankssssssssss ♥♥♥ but do they use it often or it just there using at special occasions !? do they use it in daily life !?
    – Pink Cat
    Commented Apr 2, 2020 at 5:34
  • @PinkCat As I said, this is mainly found in slogans and headlines where brevity is important. See also this.
    – naruto
    Commented Apr 2, 2020 at 5:52
  • @Alana123 got any links? Are you maybe confusing it with another particle?
    – Igor Skochinsky
    Commented Jan 14, 2021 at 23:13

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .