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I'm a bit confused about parts of a text my host mother sent me, and haven't answered yet because I want to understand what she means completely...

楽しんでたよ。公園でやったから、休を働かすゲームもあったしね!

I understand what 楽しい is, and that it can mean "have fun" as 楽しんで, but don't think 楽しんでたよ means the same thing. I know that よ is kind of like ", okay?" but the た threw me off. I wasn't sure about the 休 standing by itself...it seems like it might be a typo. It's hard to tell, since I'm never sure if it's a typo of just something I don't understand. I looked up the 働かす part and figured she meant that she was able to keep the kids busy with with the park and the games.

I know that ゲームもあった means she had games as well, and I know that ね is an ending particle similar to "right?" but the し in front of it confused me a lot.

I'm mostly confused about the んでた in the beginning and the あったしね at the end...particularly the しね part, since I understand the あった.

Thanks for your help!!

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  • I understand the main parts of what she's saying, but the parts I don't quite get make it difficult to understand her whole meaning. I guess having it all translated would help me understand, so it isn't all that different. Sorry, I'm just long-winded, I guess.
    – wings
    Dec 22, 2016 at 6:20
  • Thank you, that really helps a lot!! I guess it was shorter to explain what I didn't understand because it's a small amount. What I know it kind of limited, so I know of ね at the end of sentences, but the し in しね really threw me off. Similarly, I have seen 楽しんで and know what よ at the end of sentences means, but the で
    – wings
    Dec 22, 2016 at 6:27
  • *but the だ confused me.
    – wings
    Dec 22, 2016 at 6:28
  • Can't see any だ you refer to, sorry, I was just trying to explain this way of proceeding makes no sense, it seems I failed.
    – macraf
    Dec 22, 2016 at 6:32
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    We're kind of asking: what parts of the sentence do you understand and how? (Also, is 「休を働かす」 a typo?)
    – oals
    Dec 22, 2016 at 7:23

1 Answer 1

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楽しんでたよ。

means 楽しんでたよ。 "They were having fun."
楽しんで is the te-form of the verb 楽しむ "to enjoy" (or, 楽しん is a conjugated form of the verb 楽しむ and the て is a conjunctive particle/接続助詞).
The い in ~ている/~でいる often gets dropped in casual speech.
The よ at the end is a sentence-final particle (終助詞) that you often use when informing someone of something new.

公園でやったから、休を働かすゲームもあったしね!

I think 休を[働]{はたら}かす is a typo for [体]{からだ}を[動]{うご}かす, meaning "to move one's body" "to get physical activity" "to get exercise."
The し is a 接続助詞/conjunctive particle. It has several usages, such as adding information, listing multiple things, giving a reason, etc. Here it means "because," indicating a reason for 楽しんでいたよ. (The から indicates that 公園でやった was the reason for 体を動かすゲームもあった.)
Literally... "Because there were also games in which they had to move their bodies, because they/we did it in the park."
The ね at the end is a sentence-final particle often used when asking for agreement, adding a nuance of "you know," and/or making the sentence sound softer.

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    なーんだ、「休」じゃなくて、「体」だったのか…
    – oals
    Dec 22, 2016 at 11:16
  • OPの文が「休」であることにすら気づかんかった・・・脳が自動的に「体」って読んでた・・・
    – chocolate
    Dec 22, 2016 at 15:43
  • I always like to think of よ as being like a spoken exclamation point. And in this case, the speech was transcribed into a text message, so the よ got included there too.
    – peacetype
    Sep 11, 2020 at 22:21

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