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やっとお許しが出て、物置から出してもらった時には、もう夏休みが始まっていた。
When he was finally forgiven and allowed to come out of his cupboard the summer holidays had already begun.
ダドリーは、買ってもらったばかりの８ミリカメラをとっくに壊し、ラジコン飛行機も墜落させ、おまけに、レース用自転車に初めて乗ったその日に、プリベット通りを松葉杖で横切っていたフィッグばあさんにぶつかって、転倒させてしまうという事件も終わっていた。
Dudley had already broken the camera he'd just been bought, crashed the radio controlled plane, and on top of all that, on the day he rode his racing bike for the first time he crashed into Mrs Fig, who was crossing Privet road on crutches, and the incident in which she got knocked down had ended.

I can't understand how 終わる is being used in this sentence. My translation of the final clause makes no sense. I'm not even sure if 事件 is the subject or object of the verb.

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    Is that the whole sentence? (I mean, nothing before ダドリーは、買ってもらったばかりの...?) If it is, can you show us the sentence before that? Should be something like 物置から出してもらった時には…
    – chocolate ♦
    Jan 19, 2020 at 9:59
  • @Chocolate I added the previous sentence. So, I can see your point now. 終わる pairs with 始まる in the previous sentence, but I still can't quite see how it works.
    – user3856370
    Jan 19, 2020 at 10:07
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    (off topic, though) "転倒させてしまうという事件も終わっていた" でググったら、「誤訳・珍訳」「悪文」「日本語としておかしい文がある」「翻訳ひどすぎワロタ」とかいうページがめっちゃ出てくる・・・(◞‸◟)
    – chocolate ♦
    Jan 19, 2020 at 10:11
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    う～ん、「始まる -- 終わる」ペアじゃないと思います。たぶん、「～～ころには、～～し終わってた」"by the time ~~, had (already) done~~" みたいな？ でも、ちょっと変な日本語だと思います、たぶん、あんまり美しい翻訳じゃないっていうか・・
    – chocolate ♦
    Jan 19, 2020 at 10:16

1 Answer 1

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I think they meant to say...

「～～時には、・・・終わっていた。」
"By the time~~, had (already) done... / had (already) gone through..."

物置から出してもらった時には、Aし、Bし、Cも終わっていた。
"By the time he (=Harry) was finally forgiven and allowed to come out of his cupboard... Dudley had already done A, B, and C."

でも、あんまり美しい日本語（翻訳）じゃないような気がします。。。

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    Wow. I would never have guessed that. Having 時には and 終わる in different sentences seems really weird. This isn't the first time I've been told that a sentence from this book seems wrong. I thought the translator was Japanese. I wonder why it's so bad?
    – user3856370
    Jan 19, 2020 at 10:29
  • as 時には is using the topic marker, it goes pushed in the common contextual pool, and so implied in the following sentence. With ダドリーは being not the topic marker, but the contrast marker (Not "As for Dudley" but "Dudley, and not Harry"). So, the second sentence could be like "By that time, Dudled had already ... crossing Privet road on crutches."
    – Pablo Saratxaga
    Jan 19, 2020 at 12:59
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    @user3856370 I think they cut a sentence 「物置から出してもらった時には、もう夏休みが始まっていて 、ダドリーは、Aして、Bして、おまけにCという事件も～～。」 into two, probably because it was a bit too long. 「ダドリーは、～て、～て、～という事件も終わっていた。」より、「ダドリーは、～て、～て、～という事件まで（すでに）起こして（しまって）いた。or ... 起こしたあとだった。」とかのほうがいいような・・・
    – chocolate ♦
    Jan 19, 2020 at 16:59
  • @Pablo, The は in 「～時には」 "by the time" is not the topic marker, but the contrastive は. It's like "at least at the time... (can be before, but never after!)" → "by the time". The は in 「ダドリーは」 is the topic marker.
    – chocolate ♦
    Jan 19, 2020 at 17:12
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    @user3856370 I wonder why it's so bad? そうですね。。ここ には「一方、翻訳家や読者からは第1巻から誤訳・珍訳、文章力の問題点が指摘されており...」とありますね。。この方はハリポタが初めての翻訳だったそうなので・・
    – chocolate ♦
    Jan 19, 2020 at 17:27

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