I still can't quite wrap my mind around the "morau" verb with more than one grammar pattern included:

動揺した鬼哭隊士 : では、言葉に甘えて、退かせてもらう……

Is he telling me to receive the favor of him getting out of the way? Is he asking for me to move out of the way?

Whenever I stop studying for a while and come back, this particular grammar needs to be relearned again...

Causative + morau/itadaku basically just means you're going to do the verb. It's literally "I will have you let me do this". So your example is "I will retreat." This can actually be polite, or it can be very blunt depending on the context. I don't really know how to properly use this structure in real life, though.

Thanks so much yudantaiteki. Even the literal English translation is a bit hard to grasp, no wonder.

中学の頃から勉強はしていたけど、高校入ってからはもう、論をかけて。

What does 論をかけて mean?

It's from 陽だまりの彼女 and the speaker is explaining how she became clever, having been stupid in the past. Is she just saying that she wrote a thesis after she got into high school? Or does it have some sort of idiomatic meaning. (My Japanese wife doesn't know the answer by the way...)

That sentence looks incomplete; what's the next line? It looks like writing a thesis to me but ending with かけて is unusual.

Hi,
I have problematic sentences (picture), I underlined some confusing parts but in general I know the parts but seems I cant form an flowing translation of the sentence that make sense
Thanks!

Taurus Wrote:What does 論をかけて mean?

Nothing, you're looking for 輪をかける which means ものごとに勢いをつける / 倍加する
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/237261/m0u/

vebaev Wrote:Hi,
I have problematic sentences (picture), I underlined some confusing parts but in general I know the parts but seems I cant form an flowing translation of the sentence that make sense
Thanks!

のだそうだ - Heard that it's true
～ておく - Do something in advance/preparation (usually not translatable into English)
なんて - version of など/なんか "Something like that"

EDIT: 年中の女性 (middle aged women)

Odin89 Wrote:

Taurus Wrote:What does 論をかけて mean?

Nothing, you're looking for 輪をかける which means ものごとに勢いをつける / 倍加する
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/237261/m0u/

Yes I am! Thank you!

What does the phrase どう～しろ mean? I can't find a reference to it in any grammar book. I've seen it a few times before so I think I need to learn it. I've included the page of the most recent encounter.

http://i.imgur.com/fRHEri7.jpg

egoplant Wrote:What does the phrase どう～しろ mean? I can't find a reference to it in any grammar book. I've seen it a few times before so I think I need to learn it. I've included the page of the most recent encounter.

http://i.imgur.com/fRHEri7.jpg

There's no special meaning for どう〜しろ. It's just どう〜する being used in a colloquial phrase.

The ending here, 「ってんだ」, is 「と言うのだ」or「と言うの」that has been shortened.

A reasonably natural translation of 「イカスミまみれの奴にどう同情しろってんだ」would be "How do you expect me to show sympathy to someone covered in squid ink?"


The Japanese 「どう〜しろと言うの？」is like the English "How do you expect me to ...?" or with simply, for example, 「私にどうしろって言うの？」you get something like "What do you expect me to do?" or "What do you want from me?"

This is one of those things that doesn't translate well directly but does have a good English equivalent.

Thank you for the response!

かれこれ５年は言い続けてきてこれだから、半ば諦めてはいるが

What is きてこれ?　諦めてはいる？　And　が？

I would say きてから are two separate things. （言い続けて）きて　means that they have kept on saying something up to this point, and これだから is 'because it/he/she/they is/are [like] this'. 諦めて（は）いる is to be in the state of having given up on something. が is linking it to another phrase or idea (or an unspoken one you're meant to infer), if it's the end of the sentence then it's a bit like adding 'although.../though...' at the start of an English sentence. Although I think it'd be something like this?

"Though I've been saying [it/this] for nearly 5 years go and [they're] [still?] like this [haven't changed/etc.], so I've half given up [on it]."

Thanks for your answer. Just one quick question
Is the purpose of te form きて to mean "and"?

What does this phrase means?
これ見てたらできる気がしてきた.
something along the lines of "please take a look at this"?
The context is posting in facebook about a video of a teen speaks over 20 languages (Timothy Doner).

これ見てたらできる気がしてきた.

"After I saw/watched this, I felt like [i] could do it," perhaps? Watching the video made them feel like they could learn another/more languages.

slako Wrote:Thanks for your answer. Just one quick question
Is the purpose of te form きて to mean "and"?

Yeah, I would say it's meant to be connecting the two parts. 'I kept saying [something] for like 5 years and this is how it is, so I've half given up'.

Z30G0D Wrote:What does this phrase means?
これ見てたらできる気がしてきた.
something along the lines of "please take a look at this"?
The context is posting in facebook about a video of a teen speaks over 20 languages (Timothy Doner).

"Looking at this made me feel I could do it."

見てたらX = "looking would result in X", but since this sentence is describing something that has definitely happened it means "Looking resulted in X"

できる気 = Feeling like you can do it

してきた = did to completion

きる気がしてきた = gained the feeling that you can do it

I think してきた here is "came to feel..."

Do you mean the feeling is not the recipient of the verb but the active party? i.e. the feeling came over me like the cat came in to the room.

No, I think it's just "After looking at that, I came to feel that I could do it." A little unnatural and I think your translation above was fine. Maybe "completion" is OK too, I'm not sure.

Hi,
I'm trying to learn grammar at the moment so help with literal translations (don't worry about making it sound natural in english) would be nice.

1) I have no idea how to deal with the first part of this sentence.
Context: "speaker" sees a thief and is thinking about chasing him while assessing the thief's escape.
狙った相手が相手だからか、全力で逃げようとしていない
To aim at/other party/が/because other party___(implied result) ? Thief isn't trying his best to run away.

2) Not sure about the first part of the sentence. Why is is 辿り着こう in volitional form ("let's try to arrive") and how is the と particle (after 辿り着こう) functioning here?
Context: speaker is running towards a meeting but gets lost en-route.
最初は一秒でも早く辿り着こうと走ったものの、今はきょろきょろと見回しながらペースを落としている。
At first, we were running to arrive even 1 second earlier, but now we’re looking around restlessly while our pace drops.

3) The second sentence confuses me
Context: speaker is running towards a meeting but gets lost en-route.
「いや、まだ迷ったとは断定できない。何事もあらゆる側面から見ていかないとな」
No, it's not decided that we're lost yet. I think we “haven’t gone and looked at aspect from all sides”.

A few quick comments:
～ないと is a casual "You/we have to do X"
volitional X + と + verb Y means doing Y in an attempt to X

I don't have a reference for this at hand, but I think in 辿り着こうと走った the volitional and と mean 'trying to do ~'. Like AようとB is 'doing B, trying to A'. Here it's 'running, trying to get there/arrive even a second sooner/quicker'.

狙った相手が相手だからか I would read as 'perhaps because the person they targeted is [that] person'. XがX is like 'it's what it is, how it is'. So because this person is who they are (an old person who probably can't chase them? injured person? someone who's too distracted to notice?), they aren't really trying to run away.

ないと implies something like だめ or いけない follows ('if you don't ~ it is no good, bad, etc.). The な here is the sentence ending particle.

Thanks for the replies yudantaiteki and ablion. I understand now

albion Wrote:狙った相手が相手だからか I would read as 'perhaps because the person they targeted is [that] person'. XがX is like 'it's what it is, how it is'. So because this person is who they are (an old person who probably can't chase them? injured person? someone who's too distracted to notice?), they aren't really trying to run away.

The speaker saw the thief steal a handbag from an old lady so your interpretation makes perfect sense. Sorry for not giving enough contextual information.