1

verse

もし今の私を見れたなら

どう思うでしょう

あなた無しで生きてる私を

According to this post accepted answer,

It's still the object marker. The sentence is just not finished and the verb is implied.

However, I don't think this is the case here. As far as I'm concerned, we can leave out を without changing its meaning:

あなた無しで生きてる私 (A)

I've done some research online, coming across the following:

を (Human emotion) marks a noun or noun phrase that serves as the cause of some inward human emotion. It pairs with inwardly-pointed verbs of emotion such as よろこぶ [To be glad]、[悲]{かな}しむ [To be sad]、[懐]{なつ}かしむ [To miss / To yearn for], and [悩]{なや}む [To be worried].

Recovered from wildnihongo

No example ending with solely を was provided, though. From this source, the construction is given by Noun / Noun Phrase + を, which happens to be the case with (A).

The source also notes that this usage of を is rather literary:

(1) を (Human emotion) is very literary and you are unlikely to hear it in spoken Japanese.

This what I've gathered so far from English sources.

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  • 2
    Related: Still learning Japanese and I need help with this phrase "誰が止めるというの　心が叫んだ声を”
    – aguijonazo
    Commented Oct 17, 2021 at 15:10
  • 1
    @aguijonazo Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that あなた無しで生きてる modifies 私 to mean I, who lives without you. Therefore, we could translate the verse as If you were able to see who I am right now, I wonder what you would think of me, who lives without you. This is assuming that を can be placed at the end of a sentence to indicate emotion without the need of pairing it up with a verb.
    – Nameless
    Commented Oct 17, 2021 at 15:41
  • In the same post a linked, there is a comment in the accepted answer saying, "Sentences ending with just を are very often interpreted in the meaning of wishing something to someone else, and I don't think anybody tries to fill in the verb for that, so perhaps you can say this specific を is quite stand-alone." This is why I think it is possible for を to be functioning as a sentence-ending particle.
    – Nameless
    Commented Oct 17, 2021 at 15:53
  • It is paired with the verb 思う. It is more common to say 私のことを than 私を in normal speech or writing, though.
    – aguijonazo
    Commented Oct 17, 2021 at 15:58
  • @Nameless You can forget that 西部に活力を question for now. In your case, the corresponding verb (思う) is right there in the second line.
    – naruto
    Commented Oct 17, 2021 at 15:58

1 Answer 1

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The sentence has the AをBと思う construction ("to think of A as B"), but the Bと part is replaced to どう, and どう思う is placed before the object (倒置法). The implied subject of 思う is (seemingly deceased) あなた. 私 is modified by the relative clause あなた無しで生きてる ("who is living without you").

In the normal word order, the sentence is:

もし(あなたが)今の私を見れたなら、
(あなたは)あなた無しで生きてる私をどう思うでしょう

Which can be translated to:

If you could see me as I am now,
What would you think of me living without you?

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