RECENT TOPICS » View all
Trouble with sentence
Index » General discussion
- « Previous
- 1
- Next »
samesong wrote:
Just remember that Google is your friend: get an idea of how to use a particular pattern by searching for it, with astricks used as wildcards.
First, thanks for the lengthy explanation; Second, I had no idea that you could use wildcards like that in google! Great; I'll make google even more my friend now 
Just one more question:
「A」を言います ＝ I say "A"
If that's I say "A". Then what would '「A」と言います' mean? Is that purely when quoting a third person; or are those two constructions identical in meaning?
Oh wait, is it the difference between:
言葉を言います ' I say words'
and
言葉と言います 'I say "words"'.
I think I just answered my own question.
Last edited by phoenix (2008 November 02, 8:58 am)
Sounds like you got it 
But instead of memorizing how the meanings come across in English, think about how particles are used in Japanese and how they change the meaning.
と is used to show exactly how something sounds, is read as, is spoken as, etc. Think of と as quotation marks that have an actual sound in spoken Japanese.
It's more than a gramatical construction, it's how Japanese people tend to speak. In English, we tend to paraphrase a lot, while Japanese like to retain the same vocal inflections and exact wording of what somebody said.
Say your buddy Bill decided to quit his job, and you're telling somebody else what he said.
In English, we would say, "Bill said he's really pissed and he's quitting his job".
But in Japanese, it would be something like "Bill said, 'I'm really pissed! I'm quitting my job!' "
A subtle nuance, but a very important one.
phoenix wrote:
QuackingShoe wrote:
I'm not trying to argue with you, because the original point is pretty, well, pointless, but I wanted to make sure you know that 公園に歩く means walk TO the park, and you have to say 公園を歩く to say you're walking in the park.
wouldn't it be possible to interpret it as: There is a walking person in the park. ?
The word order is a bit confusing this way, and it would be clearer in the form 歩く人が公園にいる。But the original form of that sentence would still be legal, although it's a bit ambiguous, right?
公園に歩く人がいる means something like "There are people who walk to the park" (as opposed to the norm of driving there for example) not "There is a person walking to the park". You would need to use the continuative form of the verb to express that there is someone walking there (right now).
公園に歩いている人がいる。 There is someone walking to the park.
公園を歩いている人がいる。 There is someone walking in the park.
公園に歩く人がいる。 There are people who walk to the park.
公園を歩く人がいる。 There are people who walk in the park.
Phoenix's sentence "歩く人が公園にいる" means "The people who walk are in the park" which is awkward. It also doesn't even mean that they are walking in the park, just that there are people who walk, and that they are in the park (possibly having a picnic). Even if you made it into "歩いている人は公園にいる" it would only really make sense if it was in response to a question like "Where are the walkers?" since you are fronting and thus emphasizing them. Although in that case it would be unnatural to repeat the subject. You just can't win with the sentence constructed this way 
Last edited by Jarvik7 (2008 November 03, 6:53 am)
Tobberoth wrote:
Ah yes, my Swedish mind jumped in for a bit. From my point of view, "There are people who walk to the park." is more or less the same as "There are people walking to the park". In Swedish, a direct translation would mean both things, we aren't as picky with gerunds as English.
Javla bra! Jag ar svensk.
Fan!
Unfortunately this is all the Swedish I know after years of playing online games among many other Swedish folk 
They were always the funniest/nicest ones though!
Tack 
Yeah, finding Swedes online isn't hard, at least not if you like Counter-Strike, Quake or WoW and play on European servers. If you like playing with Swedes and like WoW, I especially recommend the server Shattered Hand... it's basically Sweden in WoW format, I think over 80% of the players there are Swedish.
Tobberoth wrote:
Tack
Yeah, finding Swedes online isn't hard, at least not if you like Counter-Strike, Quake or WoW and play on European servers. If you like playing with Swedes and like WoW, I especially recommend the server Shattered Hand... it's basically Sweden in WoW format, I think over 80% of the players there are Swedish.
Yeah I played with and vs. them in CS for a long time. The Swedish guy in my old CS clan was the strategist and always made everyone laugh, great times :] There was one time at LAN he went up to some annoying guy and shouted "Get out of my country!" He was Swedish and at a UK LAN, shouting at someone from the UK lol. I didn't find as many in Quake but there never was much talking in Quake anyway^^
I played WoW since release and any guild I was in there would be at least 50% Swedish. They often had better English than most other Europeans so it was great. I became good friends with this one Swedish girl who had like 8 lvl 70 chars.. She played around 14 hours a day or something >.< I got pretty addicted as well and it messed with my life so I gave it up.. Japanese has better long term benefits so I don't mind :p I did play on SH for a while but it wasn't my main server.. Bladefist - Stormreaver - Genjuros - SH. Swedish will always be a force to reckon with in online gaming I think. They usually have all the top teams.
Last edited by CaLeDee (2008 November 03, 11:17 am)
- « Previous
- 1
- Next »