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This is a lyric from a song:

もし、今手が届かない

The translation I found is:

Even if I can't reach my goal now

I understand that 手 means "hand", but what is its purpose here in the sentence? Shouldn't this also work?

もし、今届かない

Does 手 here mean "goal" instead?

1 Answer 1

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It more of less depends on the context, but 手が届く is a common set phrase that means "to be able to reach", "to afford", "to become possible (to achieve something)", etc. Since it's a set phrase, a physical hand is not very important. I don't know where the word "goal" came from by just seeing this line.

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    Thanks for the explanation! As a beginner I didn't realize 手が届く is common phrase. The full lyrics is here but I can see how the word "goal" is implied. Oct 19, 2017 at 23:42

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