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https://colorcodedlyrics.com/2018/01/winner-really-really-japanese-ver << From this song

There's a sentence:

君のためなら 俺にでもなれる Billionaire

The translation is "If it’s for you, even I could become a billionaire"

でも here, I understand that it means even/or such thing like this. But I actually don't understand 俺に(でも)なれる billionaire. I saw the translation and I think it means the same thing as "俺が慣れる/俺でもなれる"

Could anyone explain this?

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    Related? japanese.stackexchange.com/a/24812/32952
    – jarmanso7
    Jul 8, 2020 at 12:54
  • Thanks for that. Um.. I think it's partly(maybe completely) related. Honestly, I'm not sure if に here and に in the link are the same. After I read the link, I think that に means "for". But when I combined that に(for) with this 俺にでも, I ended up like "Even as for me". Anyway, I can't guarantee anything yet.
    – Kyuu
    Jul 8, 2020 at 14:28

1 Answer 1

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The translation in the link is correct at least for this sentence (I have not checked the other lines). This なれる is not (~に)慣れる ("to get used to ~") but the potential form of (~に)なる ("to become ~").

君のためなら 俺でもなれる Billionaire

This line basically means the same thing as:

君のためなら、俺でもビリオネアになれる。
If it's for you, even I can be a billionaire.

You have to understand two grammar points here. First, "billionaire" has been pulled out for emphasis. This is an extremely common rhetoric device known as 体言止め.

Second, you can use に to mark the subject of a potential verb, provided the potential verb does not already have a に-marked term.

ビリオネアになれる ("can become a billionaire") already has に, so 俺にビリオネアになれる sounds unnatural (you usually have to say 俺はビリオネアになれる instead). However, its 体言止め version, 俺になれるビリオネア, sounds acceptable because there is no longer に after ビリオネア. Add でも after 俺に, and you get the original line.

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  • ぱっと見連体修飾節で説明できるんじゃないかと思ったんですが… Jul 9, 2020 at 4:20
  • @broccolifacemask-cloth 普通の体言止めって連体修飾節なのでは
    – naruto
    Jul 9, 2020 at 5:05
  • 連体修飾じゃない体言止めはいっぱいあります…「空にきらきらお星様」「咳をしても一人」「見た目は子供、頭脳は大人、その名は名探偵コナン」 Jul 9, 2020 at 5:42
  • @broccolifacemask-cloth ええ、だから「普通の体言止め」と言ったのですが、これは普通の連体修飾節の体言止めですよね。この歌詞を "billionaire which I can become" と関係詞を使って英訳することは普通ないと思うので、単なる連体修飾節としてではなく修辞としての体言止めとして説明した方が良い気がするのですが。
    – naruto
    Jul 9, 2020 at 6:10
  • なるほど、意味は了解しました。それなら「喚体句」と言った方が正確だと思います。「体言止め」の定義にもよりますが、典型的には文や句などの最後の助詞助動詞を抜いた結果として名詞で終わるものなので、連体修飾であるかどうかは全く関係がなく、この例では意味内容も形式相応の完全な連体修飾句なので典型的な体言止めとは言いづらいと思います。ちなみに英語では確かにこのような用法はなさそうですがフランス語などにはあるようです→ jstage.jst.go.jp/article/belf/37/1/37_KJ00008209062/_pdf Jul 9, 2020 at 8:10

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