nihongo wo benkyou shitai

日本語：	[verb (base 6)] はいけない
English:	Must not... May not...

Today's entry is a grammar point the probably won't be used much by people like myself, primarily because unless you are on really good terms with the recipient, it's going to be seen as rude. However, if you watch Japanese TV, you're going to hear it so it is worth knowing.

To be honest, there really isn't much to say about it; added to the base 6 form of a verb, it allows the construction of sentences that indicate actions that are forbidden.

English:	Don't eat my chocolate
Jenglish:	[my chocolate][eat + forbidden]
日本語：	私のチョコレートを食べてはいけない！

English:	Don't talk to strange women
Jenglish:	[strange][women][to][talk + forbidden]
日本語：	おかしい女を話してはいけない。

English:	Don't take things from my room without asking.
Jenglish:	[asking][without][my room][from][things][take + forbidden]
日本語：	求めないずに僕の部屋から物を持ち去ってはいけない。

Now, lets see what real-world examples we can find.

Example 1:

I'm not sure what they're doing, but the first example is from http://gigazine.net/index.php?/news/comments/20070116_microwave_me/

日本語：	これは電子レンジに入れてはいけないんじゃないか、というものをあえてチンしてみるムービーです。
Jenglish:	[these][subject marker][microwave oven][in][put in + forbidden][so... but why],[something like][challenge/dare][??][movie][is].

This took AGES! For a start, じゃないか completely lost me. After about an hour of searching I dug up JapanesePod101 Beginner Lesson 118, which suggests it can be used as a tag question, to question something you are unsure of. I was struggling to think of an English equivalent so I've translated it as 'so... but why'. The next bit is really just a guess, especially as I could find nothing for チン, so the best translation I can come up with is:

So, it's forbidden to put these in a microwave, but why?: A movie where ?? dares to do it.

Example 2:

This one sounds pretty interesting, if you can look beyond the title: http://business.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/life/20070112/116840/

日本語：	「ぼくは痴漢じゃない!」と言ってはいけない？！
Jenglish:	["][I][molester][not]["][say + forbidden]

I've translated this as Don't say "I'm not a pervert". It appears to be a book by some guy who used to work for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, but was one day accused of being a molester. Seems the book is about how his life changed after the trial.

Example 3:

An interesting article on women you shouldn't marry can be found at http://allabout.co.jp/relationship/divorce/closeup/CU20060427A/

日本語：	こんな女と結婚してはいけない！
Jenglish:	[like this][women][with][marriage][to do + forbidden]

The only issue I had here was the use of the particle と which I would translate literally as 'with'. However, I've decided drop it in this case. My translation is Don't marry women like this.

またね・・・

日本語：	[verb (short)] かどうか
日本語：	[adjective] かどうか
日本語：	[noun] かどうか
English:	Whether (or not), if...

In the last blog entry, we had a look at questions within larger sentences, in which a sentence contained an interrogative, yet wasn't a direct question. Today we'll look at a companion grammatical construct that allows us to phrase 'whether or not' statements and questions. Welcome to かどうか.

Actually, かどうか covers two common English constructs: 'whether or not' and certain 'if' statements. Consider the examples:

Do you know if the new Koyuki film has started?
I haven't decided whether I will to go to the party tomorrow.
Can you check if the new Hana Yori Dango series is on the Internet?

Get the idea? In these contexts the if isn't really a direct conditional and could be substituted with whether.

The process of translating these into Japanese is also very similar to the one we use for question words:

Do you know if the new Koyuki film has started?
[new Koyuki film has started][do you know?]

I haven't decided whether I will to go to the party tomorrow.
[I will go to the party tomorrow][haven't decided]

Can you check if the new Hana Yori Dango series is on the Internet?
[the new hana yori dango series is on the Internet][can you check?]

Simply translate each statement and add かどうか. Nice.

English:	Do you know if the new Koyuki film has started?
Jenglish:	[koyuki][starring][new][film][started][know?]
日本語：	小雪が主演してる新しい映画を始まるかどうか知ってるか。

English:	I haven't decided whether I will to go to the party tomorrow.
Jenglish:	[tomorrow][party][go][decide + past + negative]
日本語：	明日のパーティーに行くかどうか決めなかった。

English:	Can you check if the new Hana Yori Dango series is on the Internet?
Jenglish:	[internet][on][new][Hana Yori Dango][series][is][check? + potential]
日本語：	インタネットに新しい「花よりダンゴ」のシリーズがあるかどうか確認できるか。

Right, let's get some real-world examples from the Internet!

Example 1:

I found the first example on http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/USNEWS/20060925/248839/

日本語：	映画館に行くかどうか，インターネットの情報が大きく影響
Jenglish:	[cinema][go][whether][internet][of][gossip][big][effect]

So, I would translate this as Internet gossip has a big effect on whether people go to the cinema.

Example 2:

Here's an example from someone's blog: http://blog.livedoor.jp/michaelsan/archives/50524635.html

日本語：	オタクかどうか一瞬で見分ける方法
Jenglish:	[geek][if][instant][in][recognise][way]

It's tough to accurately translate this as the subject is missing, but my translation is Ways to instantly recognise a geek.

Example 3:

Here's one from our friends over at Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/japan/athome/security/email/phishingemail.mspx)

日本語：	電子メールが詐欺メールかどうか見分ける方法
Jenglish:	[electronic][mail][as for][fraud][mail][whether][recognise/tell][way]

I'd suggest Ways to recognise whether an email is fraudulent.

またね・・・

日本語：	[verb (base 1,3,7)] か
日本語：	[adjective] か
日本語：	[noun] か
English:	Marks an question within a sentence.

I've tried getting my head around this one for a while, which is odd as it should be pretty straightforward. Anyway, here's another go, but before we begin, it's probably also worthwhile mentioning the closely related counterpart かどうか.

I think most people are happy with the concept of interrogatives, if not by the posh name, then certainly by the words themselves. Simply, interrogatives are question words such as when, why, how, what, etc. This is first-year stuff in most language courses and Japanese is no exception; I'll be shocked if there is a langauge student that didn't learn how to say What is your name? or Where do you live?.

However these interrogatives crop up in other, more complex forms on a regular basis. Consider:

Do you know where he lives?
I do not know what she ate, but she looks sick.
Are you happy with when will finish the meeting?

Not such a simple, direct question anymore and so working out how to translate this becomes more difficult. Luckily, Japanese has a construction to cater for this, which in retrospect is obvious (as things often are in retrospect!) The Japanses approach is to construct the core question and then add the remainder of the sentence:

Do you know where he lives?
[where does he live?][do you know?]

I do not know what she ate, but she looks sick.
[what did she eat?][I don't know], [but she looks sick]

Are you happy with when we will finish the meeting?
[when will we finish the meeting?][are you happy?]

Now things look a bit easier, so lets try the translations. Notice how the topic marker は has been replaced with が within the embedded question: One of my text books suggested this.

English:	Do you know where he lives?
Jenglish:	[he][where][lives][Q][know][Q]
日本語：	彼がどこに住んでいるか知っていますか。

English:	I do not know what she ate, but she looks sick.
Jenglish:	[she][what][ate][Q][don't know][but][sick][looks]
日本語：	彼女が何を食べたか知りませんが、病気そうです。

English:	Are you happy with when we will finish the meeting?
Jenglish:	[meeting][when][finish][Q][happy][Q]
日本語：	会議が何時を終えるか大丈夫ですか。

NOTE: When used after ーな adjectives, drop the ーな. With nouns, it comes directly after the noun.

English:	I don't know if it is a dog.
Jenglish:	[dog][Q][don't know]
日本語：	これが犬か知りません。

Example 1:

I found a simple example on http://oshiete1.goo.ne.jp/qa2661156.html.

日本語：	だれか知りませんか？
Jenglish:	[who][Q][don't know][Q]

I translated this as Don't you know who?

Example 2:

Another example from http://knowledge.livedoor.com/3697

日本語：	滝廉太郎の歌碑の場所をどなたか知りませんか？
Jenglish:	[たきれんたろう][of][tanka inscription][of][place][who][Q][don't know][Q]

I had a tough time time with this and credit really should go to Google :-) The first group of kanji were a complete loss - nothing in Jim Breen's dictionary. A Google search revealed a Wikipedia entry for some guy, so happy that this is a name, The second group of kanji needed to be looked up as well. Together they mean 'tanka inscription' which apparently is some kind of poetic writing. Then we have the kanji for 'place' or 'location', followed by who (どなた). After this we have the question particle and doesn't know. So, with NO CONFIDENCE whatsoever, I translate this as Who doesn't know the location of Rendarou Taki's poetic writings?

またね・・・

日本語：	[verb (base 6)] から
English:	After doing...

Quite how I've got to my fourth year of Japanese without knowing this I don't know, especially as it is a JLPT4 requirement. But, here we are.

Unless you've been living under a grammatical rock, から will be a familiar construct meaning 'because'. I covered this way back here. When used as such it implies and cause and effect relationship between two clauses.

However, when used after the ーて form of a verb, から does not convey such a strict relationship between what comes before から and what comes after. Instead ーてから simply implies an order of action; essentially 'after doing X, I did Y'. Compare the following:

English:	After seeing a film starring koyuki, I sent an email to my friend.
Jenglish:	[koyuki][starred][film][saw][after][friend][to][mail][sent]
日本語	小雪が主演した映画を見てから、友人にメールを送った。

English:	Because I saw a film starring koyuki, I sent an email to my friend.
Jenglish:	[koyuki][starred][film][saw][because][friend][to][mail][sent]
日本語	小雪が主演した映画を見たから友人にメールを送った。

In the first example, we stating a sequence of actions, with no relationship implied. In the second example, the inference is that we sent the email because we saw the film.

The tense of the overall sentence is controlled by the verb tense of the second action. Compare:

English:	After sending an email to koyuki, I cleaned the house.
Jenglish:	[koyuki][to][email][send][after][house][cleaned]
日本語：	小雪にメールを送ってから家を掃除しました。

English:	After sending an email to koyuki, I will clean the house.
Jenglish:	[koyuki][to][email][send][after][house][clean]
日本語	小雪にメールを送ってから家を掃除します。

Note: Maybe the second example here could use a 予定です or つもりです on the end to mean 'plan to' or 'intend to'. Any ideas?

So, that's the easy part. Now to take some examples from the web...

Example 1:

I found this one as a blog title (http://hamchu.exblog.jp). It all seems pretty straight-forward so let's deconstruct it into Jenglish.

日本語：	見てから読む？映画の原作
Jenglish:	[watch][after][read?][film][of][original work]

It's casual Japanese which isn't one of my strong suits, but I think this translates to Reading after watching the film? The film's original work

Example 2:

Here's another example from a website (http://homepage3.nifty.com/kinsan)

日本語：	２００６年４月で二回目の脳出血で倒れてから１２年が経過しました。
Jenglish:	[2006][April][で?][twice][ordinal counter][cerebral hemorrhage][to collapse][after][12 years][passage/progress][to do]

A slightly more difficult one. The hardest bit for me was the で particle at the beginning; I couldn't work out why you'd use it after a date. The only thing I can think of is that is the ーて conjugation of です。 So my translation is It's April 2006 and after collapsing twice because of cerebral hemorrhage, 12 years have passed.

Example 3:

The final example comes from a corporate web site (http://www.trendmicro.co.jp/hcall/index.asp).

日本語：	メールボックスを検索するときは、添付ファイルをハードディスクに保存してから検索してください。
Jenglish:	[mail box][to retrieve][when],[attachment][file][hard disk][on][to store][after][search + please]

Umm. Not sure about this, but I translate it as When retrieving the mailbox, after storing file attachments on the the hard disk, please search for them.

またね・・・

I've just converted the blog to the new Google setup, which has corrupted some of the Japanese. Will sort it out over the next few days.

May even be a new post soon :-)