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I'm currently reading 灰と幻想のグリムガル (Hai to Gensou no Grimgar) and currently having trouble with these sentences:

1)　いたりもする

石の前に花が供えられていたりもする。

Which I read it as: Flowers where offered in front of (some of) the stones. (For reference there are a lot of gravestones around)

I've read about the use of ~たりする from Tae Kim but I dont understand it in this sentence in regards to what the い and も are doing to the sentence.

Question: Have I parsed this wrong or have I missed something basic?


2)　いそうな

やたらと身体が大きくて見るからにおっとりしていそうな男が低く唸った。

The English novel adaption of this is: An excessively large, but seemingly quiet, man let out a low groan.

I understand how it comes about this result, but the いそうな part kinda gets me a little. I know how そう works in general but the use of い just before slightly confuses me.

Question: Once again wondering if I have missed something here?

Many Thanks,

Archie

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  • When someone answers this, I hope he will be kind enough to address the 大きくて見るからに part in the second question as well. I've never seen から and に used together and this ～て見る combination does not seem to bear the meaning "attempt" like it usually does. Thanks.
    – G-Cam
    Commented May 14, 2017 at 1:53
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    @G-Cam 通常、「見るからに+～～そうな/そうだ」や「見るからに+(形容詞)」の形でset phraseだと思います。
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented May 14, 2017 at 3:02
  • in 大きくて見る the first clue that 見る doesn't mean "attempt/try" is that it's written in kanji. the second clue is that 大きくて is not a verb but an adverbial form of 大きい meaning "somewhat or rather large". so the meaning is "looks rather large"
    – A.Ellett
    Commented May 14, 2017 at 3:06
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    @A.Ellett Do you mean 大きくて見る means "looks rather large"? Then you're not parsing the sentence correctly. It's やたらと身体が大きくて、"excessively large, and" 見るからにおっとりしていそうな"obviously dull / apparently slow / you can see he's slow at first glance"
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented May 14, 2017 at 3:23
  • Thanks a lot @Chocolate for further elaborating on the second sentence, it helped to straighten it out in my head a bit better too ;)
    – Archie
    Commented May 14, 2017 at 20:46

1 Answer 1

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Flowers were offered in front of (some of) the stones. (For reference there are a lot of gravestones around)

Correct. And if there is one stone, "sometimes there are flowers in front of ~"

いそうな

as if there is (edit: this いそうな means just "looking like" with the な. Is this いそう the reason why it's translated as "seemingly quiet"?) い is a 連用形 of いる

大きくて見るからに

大きくて big and 見るからに obviously, apparently (I wonder whether "seemingly" is a correct translation.)

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  • Thanks very much for clarifying this for me. I can now understand the second sentence much better along with how it's properly parsed and its flow. I couldn't find anything explaining its use of い before putting up this question but your answer allowed me to understand further.
    – Archie
    Commented May 14, 2017 at 20:53
  • In relation to your recent EDIT: I seem to read it as 「見るからに」meaning "at a glance" which could have been switched to "seemingly" by the English Translation to create a more flowing sentence whilst keeping somewhat true to the raw, and「おっとりしていそうな男」the いそうな here being used to describe in general all the previous statements (excessively big, and seemingly gentle) as the type of man being described. Could be mistaken.
    – Archie
    Commented May 15, 2017 at 0:08

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