Questions tagged [subjects]
主語. Identifying the subject of a sentence, which often is omitted.
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Confusion with interpreting NHK title and subject scope when using て form
I read this article on NHK about Christmas cakes and it has this title:
クリスマスのケーキ 卵の値段が上がって高くなりそう
But I'm somewhat confused on how to properly interpret the title. I'm not sure what 高くなりそう (seems to ...
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Nonsense sentences with だ
I recently encountered these sentences which must be nonsense because AはBだ means 'A is B'.
私は１０５号室だ
「ノルウェーの森」は村上春樹だ
東京は初めてだ
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Trouble understanding context switching / setting in a Famitsu article
I started reading this Famitsu article about a new headset that is releasing soon. But I'm having trouble understanding how context or subject swapping / setting works in general.
I probably have a ...
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What is this nuance of こればかり and how it's different from just これは or これだけ?
そんなのおかしいよっ!
おかしい?
そうかもしれない
こればかりはふたりとも驚くかも
The character realized he likes both the girls he has been hanging around recently and so he's monologuing in his mind that it's weird.
My understanding is ...
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What is the subject of "韓国料理が食べたいと言ったので、"?
Context:
今日は前の職場の同僚とランチに行きました。韓国料理が食べたいと言ったので、大阪の鶴橋でご飯を食べました。
I guess the subject is the author's colleague, but may I ask, I think the sentence doesn't explicitly state who the subject of "言った&...
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Who's the subject in this short sentence?
There are to opponents with swords about to start a battle and one of them asks the other:
始めてみるか
Does it sound more like "are we going to (try to) start" or "are you going to (try to) ...
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Why is が not used in the following situation? [closed]
So the sentence is -
Naze sore o shimashita ka?
But isn't Naze the subject here and hence should have a が in front of it? I had read this in a text book that a subject is followed by が.
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Are the articles of the website “言葉の違いが分かる読み物” written by one person or multiple people?
There is a website called “言葉の違いが分かる読み物” (English translation: “Reading Material Where You Can See The Difference Between Words”).
As the website title suggests, it has articles that explain the ...
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The grammatical subject associated with 困る
I have seen that the verb 困る, an intransitive verb, is translated in English as "to have trouble", "to be troubled" or even "to have a hard time". These are grammatically ...
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Why use 用いる and not 用いられる? Who’s the subject?
Source: 類語例解辞典
「または」は、二つのもののうちの一方を捨てて一方だけをとる場合や、どちらでもよいという許容を表わす場合に用いる。
So the subject of 用いる is the generic “one/you/people” or is it “we, the Japanese people”? I may have overthought this but I ...
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What does パラパラ雨揺れる mean?
パラパラ雨揺れてるのに今僕たちには無関係
It is a part of a song called オオカミハート.
Does パラパラ describe a sound or a movement?
I don't understand what is shaking. Is it the rain that is shaking (雨は/が) or is it something, I ...
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は vs が when the subject is modified by a relative clause
Please note that the question is not whether the subject in a relative clause should be followed by は or が. (In that case I am aware that the thematic は cannot be used.)
I was reading section II.2, Wa ...
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友人と as a subject
A sentence from a blog whose host is temporarily absent from school:
実際に行動を起こすなら友人とがいい。
This sentence is not difficult to understand.
I was able to rule out the possibility of がいい here acting as a ...
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Understanding subject change in「馬鹿みたい子供なのね」
I'm looking to start learning casual speech through different songs I like and using translated lyrics to decipher the meaning. The first phrase of the song 馬鹿みたい is giving me some confusion. In ...
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Identifying subjects of these sentences I found in Firefox
ウェブサイトの外観
一部のウエブサイトはあなたの設定をもとにカラースキームを適用します。
これらのサイトでどのカラースキームを使用するか選択してください。
I am not sure about the subject for 使用する. I think it is "websites". Were it written as "使用している" I ...
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...はいい＝not needed ≠...がいい? Does ...はいい have no subject?
I am trying to ask a question with several linked open ends at once.
いい has the meaning that something is not needed. It seems to be related to the distinction of は vs が. For example here is a ...
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Understanding the subject and object when using 満足/満足できない
I'm a little confused as to who the sentence is referring to as the satisfied/dissatisfied person.
for example: 彼はもう彼女満足できない。
I understand this sentence to mean: He cant be satisfied by/with her ...
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Understanding the subject when it's referred to by name
I know in Japanese it's possible to refer to people by name when speaking with them, using the name instead of a pronoun. I'm trying to understand what in the sentence, if anything, makes it clear ...
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起こす implied subject
彼氏の猫に対してアレルギー反応を起こした。
I had an allergic reaction to my boyfriend's cat.
What is the implied subject of 起こす in this sentence? By default I would expect "I", but "I caused an allergic ...
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Dative subject constructions with 「もらえませんか」
Back to basics. I have heard sentences similar to these ones online that attest the same structure
私も弾いてみたい、と思った私はすぐさま「私にも教えてもらえませんか。」と願い出ました。(source)
あとで時間があったら、その秘訣を私にも教えてもらえませんか。(source)
アーモンドさん（...
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Subject and Object in a 太ってる sentence
I've never really had to think about object vs subject in native English since it's always come naturally for me, and I barely remember grammar studies when I was a child.
It seems to be important to ...
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「褒めても何も出ないよ」「褒めても何も出さないよ」
I think this is what people commonly say:
褒めても何も出ないよ
But I feel iffy about the switch of subject here. 褒めても of course talks about the listener. Why does the subject switch to an inanimate thing in ...
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What is the exact difference between the particles が and は? [duplicate]
I understand that が is meant to mark the subject and that は is the particle placed after the topic, but still after a heck ton of research, I haven't been able to truly comprehend the meaning of both ...
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What exactly can が specify? I've provided 魚が食べる for sake of example
Could 魚が食べる change in context? Marking 魚 with を would grammatically make 魚 the object of the action such that it would mean "Fish are eaten"; if 魚 is marked with が, 魚が食べる would mean "...
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Subject confusion in ~たい sentences
I know たい means "want to." But the examples below confused me. Especially the second sentence translates to "I want to eat." I don't know why this is the translation. I'm not sure ...
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"トゥーリが森に行く時のメンバー"
三人はトゥーリが森に行く時のメンバーで、どうやらマインも森に連れて行ってもらったことがあるようだ。(source: 本好きの下剋上)
I am curious how to think about the subject here トゥーリが. Because the verb "with" is not used here. Any one have any advice ...
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Who's the implicit subject in お世話になりました?
Which (if any at all) of the following two understandings of お世話になりました is correct?
The implicit subject is あなた. The お〜になります pattern is a 敬語 construction. The full sentence in plain form is あなたが（私の）...
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What is the subject of this sentence? It is omitted
それらは必ず母屋から離れて、青葉の臭いや苔の臭いのしてくるような植え込みの影に設けてあり、 廊下を伝わっていくのであるが、 その薄暗い光線の中にうずくまって、ほんのりや明るい障子の反射を受けながら瞑想にふけり、またはそう外の庭の景色を眺める気持ちは何とも言えない。
What is the meaning of the sentence written in bold here? Is the ...
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Who is the subject of the sentence?
In the below I am unsure how to identify the subject (the one performing the verbs) in the third sentence below. Originally I thought it was referring to himself doing this, but in the line below he ...
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How to translate this 点だった知識が線につながることを経験していただけたら幸いです
How should I interpret this?
点だった知識が線につながることを経験していただけたら幸いです
In my mind, mostly it seems like, based on -tara:
If 《 condition 》, then you are fortunate.
Or: when 《 condition 》, I am fortunate.
On ...
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Confusion about まっとうに, 青春をする and the subject and object of this sentence
I'm re-reading a light novel and I don't think I'm going to figure this sentence out anytime soon...
Quick context: one day a man meets a teenage girl, makes it clear that although he finds her cute, ...
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Linguistic/syntactic analysis of のほうがよく聞く
In Japanese the following such sentences are seen quite often:
「〜のほうが（よく）（聞く／使う／感じる／知っている）」
However when you consider the grammar, these are all transitive verbs (in the sense they normally take ...
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Trouble finding out who does what: 君がいいと言えないまま見つめてる後ろ姿
The beginning of the opening for the anime 彼女、お借りします goes as follows:
運命なんて言えない
あと何センチ近づけばいいんだろう
君がいいと言えないまま見つめてる後ろ姿
My problem is with the third line. I can't really figure out what belongs to the ...
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Translating どこでかまれたのかわかると、どんな虫が原因かわかることがあるので伝えてください。
I was almost towards the end of my bedtime news article when I got stumped by this sentence:
虫の専門家は「虫にかまれて、腫れたり痛かったりするときは、病院に相談してください。どこでかまれたのかわかると、どんな虫が原因かわかることがあるので伝えてください」と話しています。
To Japanese ...
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Understanding 北野武 「全思考」
I was reading an excerpt from this book and it read something like this:
物体は激しく動けば、それだけ摩擦が大きくなる。人間だって、激しく動くと熱を持つのだ。端から見れば、輝いている人間のことが、きっと羨ましく見えるのだろう。
だけど、輝いている本人は熱くてたまらないのだ。(中略)
これは真面目に、けっこう辛いことなのだ。
...
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負かした俺: who beat whom in this relative clause?
Context: Riku is a boxer of Baba gym. Tokorozawa is a retired boxer of Baba gym. Ishigami is a retired boxer of an unmentioned gym. Tokorozawa beat Ishigami in the past. Recently, Tokorozawa asked a ...
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Help parsing a sentence with two を
Context: in the Dead Tube manga, a villain is talking about how she turned people into zombies by giving them a hallucinogenic drug and explains that they are "contagious".
...
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Metaphorical meaning of ゴミの分別
Context: Riku is a young boxer in Baba's gym. Yanagi, an older boxer, used to be in Baba's gym too in the past, but he moved to another gym because he was not satisfied with Baba's methods. The two, ...
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Translation dialogue
A: でも好きな子ぐらいはいるんじゃないですか
B: そういうのも含めて分かんなくなりました
誰も僕の話を聞いてくれなかったから
How would you translate this dialogue between 2 people without any context? My class is doing translation pratice out-of-context ...
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Translation feedback request
I'm redoing an older translation of mine and, within a part that I already find very difficult (ie, I don't know if my sense of context is correct), there's a line I can't get through.
え〜 めんどくさいな〜 ...
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Question about who the subject is: 君が僕と結婚してくれたら、残りの人生ずっといい気分ですごせると思うよ
In the sentence:
君が僕と結婚してくれたら、残りの人生ずっといい気分ですごせると思うよ。
Who is the person who will be able to live their whole life feeling good? Is it 君 or 僕?
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How do I figure out what the implied subject is?
I was doing some JLPT N2 practice and I came across this:
あのう、山本先生でいらっしゃいますか。私、先日、先生の講演会で（ ）鈴木と申します。
１ ご覧になった
２ お会いになった
３ お目にかかった
４ お伺いした
My thinking:
Some form of 会った should be filled in the blank. ...
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What is the subject actually doing in this sentence
保護者として何の役にも立てなかった自責の念が、自らを貶める事に救いを見出してほのかの心身を堕としていく
Her remorse of being completely unable fulfill her role as a guardian... she decides to torment herself, she finds salvation, honoka loses her mind....
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unclear designation of それ in this passage
Like to get some opinions about this passage, speaker is in a situation where only he has a gun (kept in secret so far), but might be forced to reveal his hand soon. Has to deal with the 不良 sooner or ...
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Who is the subject of すきです?
I am a beginner in Japanese language and I started studying particles は and が and I wanted a confirmation to make sure I understand things properly.
When it comes to saying "I like you", it should be ...
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Who is the subject when using 記｛き｝者｛しゃ｝泣｛な｝かせ?
I've recently seen several articles containing the phrase 記｛き｝者｛しゃ｝泣｛な｝かせ. All the articles have been about unfortunate events, and 泣かせ clearly means something is making somebody cry. My question is ...
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Subject-verb inconsistency in compound sentences: A norm?
I used to write long, compound English sentences until I was told that it was considered poor writing style. However, the more Japanese I read, the more I get the feeling that it is rather natural to ...
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Confused when determining the correct subject with 思います [duplicate]
I met the following sentence :
あなたのお母さんは私が好きじゃないと思います
I think your mother doesn't like me.
As far I can tell, あなたのお母さん is the subject or topic marker of the sentence. But at the end of the ...
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The subject in 洗車を終えた車をふたりがかりで拭いているのを見ながら
洗車を終えた車をふたりがかりで拭いているのを見ながら、喜一は、ああしていくうちに悦子の指のしもやけはまたもや悪化するのだろうな、などとぼんやり考えていた。
洗車を終えた means finished washing the car.
車をふたりがかりで拭いているの means two people wiping the car together.
1) But I would like ...
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Identification of the subject of「目をそらすかと。。。」
From what I understand, the expression 「〜のかと」 can be used to express the speaker thinking something might happen, as in 「〜のかと思って」. However in the below passage I am having trouble understanding what ...
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