4

The whole phrase is 自分で強いと言うだけあるな, I know from consulting translations that it says "he is as strong as he says himself" (earlier Hikaru said that he doesn't know his rank but he thinks he's pretty strong) but am still not able to fully understand it using my own power.

enter image description here

It is written という here in this scan from the 単行本, but in the 完全版 version which I own, it is written と言う, like so.

After a little investigation i think that だけ is this だけ, so 言うだけ is "just as [he] says", but I am still not able to understand this ある because the only hits for だけある I have found are after nouns suggesting the "there is only [noun]" meaning of だけ.

So my question is, why is ある here and what does it mean?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5

I think "he is as strong as he says himself" is a valid translation. だけ(は)ある is short for だけのことはある. This ある itself is a verb meaning "to be" or "to exist". こと in this construction refers to something abstract such as "quality", "value", "reason" or "truth". So 強いというだけある is the same as 強いというだけのことはある, which literally means something like "There is as much amount of truth/value/strength as he says" or "There is something to the extent that he is saying."

According to 明鏡国語辞典 第2版:

だけ

❻ 《「…だけのことはある」の形で》それにふさわしい内実がある意を表す。
「高い金を払うだけのことはある」「この音を聞き分けるとは、さすが音楽家だけのことはある」

References:

Improve this answer
1
  • Thank you! This is very helpful and what I was looking for.
    – Janusz ヤヌシュ
    Feb 24, 2019 at 14:28

You must log in to answer this question.

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