4

Person A is reminiscing and beating herself over her supposed failures at not saving some people including B who had to go away.

Bさんの時もそうだった…

もっと強くもっと早くこの手を伸ばせていれば

ようやく巡り合えた愛しい相手を残し瞳の奥に涙して笑顔で空に還ることも

母のように娘のように大切にしていた相手を見送るしかない強く哀しい選択も

させずに…すんだはず

This is the provisional translation without the end bit which I don't get.

That also happened with B-san...

If I had reached out with this hand of mine more quickly more strongly...

1: Finally being able to meet the one you held dear and return to the skies with a smiling face while concealing tears in the depth of your eye...

2: And also the really sad choice of having no option but to part with a person you cherished like a mother, like a daughter…

???

Given the context, I'm assuming the entire thing is basically an elaborate "If I tried harder the bad things 1 and 2 wouldn't have happened", but I don't really get how させずに…すんだはず works or what it means.

I do get that すんだ = するのだ and that させずに is kinda an adverb (?) meaning that without doing something A expects something happens? But yeah, I don't get this part at all really.

I guess the question would be what does this part mean, and how would one translate it?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

すんだ does not mean するのだ. すんだ is the past tense of 済む, which means to end/to finish.

させず is the negation of させる, which means to cause/to make happen. ず is a negation, similar to ない. You can read a bit more about ~ずに here: http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=zuni.

Thus, the させずにすんだ means: it ended without causing person B to have to do 1 and 2. With はず at the end, させずに…すんだはず it means: it would have ended without causing person B to have to do 1 and 2.

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    maybe "would have" instead of "should have"
    – kandyman
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 21:43
  • 1
    1 and 2 are what B had to do, so "without letting him (B) do 1 and 2" would be closer.
    – naruto
    Commented Oct 10, 2018 at 2:32
  • @naruto When i first read this, I thought the bad things 1 and 2 were things that person A had to do, but reading it again it does seem more likely that they are things person B had to do. Other than the gender and context, is there anything that would have made this more obvious? My thinking being that 自分をxさせる is definitely a thing.
    – Ringil
    Commented Oct 10, 2018 at 18:30
  • Some context: There was another person, person C. They are the one B held dear. B departs after just meeting C. C is there when B goes away/dies. And their relationship was complex. So it could be C that was refereed to in second thing. Also the text is laid out so that the first bit is over B and the second is above C. On the other hand, this wasn't really C's CHOICE. B did/chose this for C's sake
    – 4th Dimension
    Commented Oct 10, 2018 at 18:49

You must log in to answer this question.

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