1

In this sentence:

今日はもうそれくらいにしといてあげる。

It is translated roughly as

"It is enough for today. I will let you go now."

I know that しておく/しとくto show something is done in preparation for something else in the future.

But I don't understand how しといてあげる is translated as "I will let you go now."?

I read it as "I'll give you favor of doing in preparation for something" which doesn't make sense at all.

Can someone explain the grammar behind this?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

「今日{きょう}はもうそれくらいにしといてあげる。」

Someone's translation of that is:

"It is enough for today. I will let you go now."

That would be an okay TL: It is passable. At least, the essence of the original is maintained to a large extent.

The original does not explicitly say "I will let you go now.", but one could say it is implied.

I would recommend that you remember:

「もうそれくらいにしておく」

as a fairly common set phrase meaning:

"to leave it at that"

So, the whole sentence means:

"I will leave it at that (for you) for today."

For the lack of context, I have no idea what has been going on between the two parties, but luckily as a Japanese-speaker, I do know that one of the two is saying that s/he has done enough (harm ?) for today.

「それくらいにしといてあげる」 can only be said by the "winning/ruling/teaching" party. It cannot be said by the other party. And this is excactly why, in comedy, the phrase is often uttered by the losing side of a fight to get a laugh.

Regarding "doing something in preparation for another thing" as a meaning of 「しておく」, it does not necessarily have to be directly used in the translation. If it is a good translation, that idea will be implied somewhere.

My TL "I will leave it at that (for you) for today." would imply that idea, which could be like "I could do more (harm) to you if I wanted to, but I will not. I will let you go for today.".

Improve this answer
4
  • Is it used the same way for this context? Lets say I'm doing some sort of project with my friend and we decided to continue tomorrow because it was too much to finish for today. I say 今日はもうそれくらいにしておく。Would this be used correctly? If I added あげる to that would it sound like I'm superior?
    – shade549
    Commented Mar 5, 2018 at 10:37
  • 1
    It won't work in that context. Why would one of you use 「あげる」 if calling it a day (and getting back to it again the next day) benefitted both parties? You should have explained the context within the question.
    – user4032
    Commented Mar 5, 2018 at 11:55
  • Maybe if I used あげる as a joke to pretend like I'm superior. Why isn't「今日はもうそれくらいにしておく」appropriate to express "lets leave it at that and call it a day"？ According to your translation it means "to leave it at that". Is it used solely for contexts where there is a winning and losing side?
    – shade549
    Commented Mar 5, 2018 at 12:20
  • あげる and other verbals of giving/receiving aren't in themselves about superiority (notwithstanding verbals with different levels of politeness or in-group/out-group relations). They are about who benefits (in a neutral sense), i.e. who gives and receives, ie where the in- and out-groups are.
    – weirdalsuperfan
    Commented Mar 5, 2018 at 14:05

You must log in to answer this question.

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