nihongo wo benkyou shitai

日本語：	[verb (base 3, 7)] ところだ
日本語：	[verb (base 6)] いる + ところだ
日本語：	[verb (base 6)] いた + ところだ
English:	To be about to..., to have just..., to be in the middle of..., to have been in the middle of...

I covered this grammar point back in May 2006, but have come back to visit it for two reasons: first I didn't cover what has to be a very useful meaning of it and second, I like the new blog format. According to JapanesePod101, ところ can also be used after adjectives and nouns, but this does not seem to be a requirement for the 日本語能力試験三級 so I'm not going to look into such usage here.

As covered in the original blog entry, ところ can follow verbs in base 3 and 7. Here the meaning is that some action is just about to be performed (base 3) or has just been performed (base 7). What I did not cover then is the usage of ところ after the present & past progressive verbal forms. After such forms, ところ can be used to indicate that the subject of the sentence is in the middle of, or was in the middle of performing some action.

じゃぁ、例文を作ろう！

English:	He is just about to leave the office.
Jenglish:	[he][office][leave + just about to]
日本語：	彼はオフィスを出るところだ。

English:	I have just bought the HiS Crossfire PCIe X1950 graphics card.
Jenglish:	[HiS Crossfire PCIe X1950] [called] [graphics card] [bought + just]
日本語：	ヒースコロスフィアピシアイX１９５０というグラフィクスカードを買ったところだ。

English:	I am in the middle of preparing dinner so can I call you later?
Jenglish:	[dinner] [prepare + in the middle of] [because] [later] [call + can]
日本語：	食事を料理しているつもりからあとで電話できますか。

今、インタネットから例文を調べよう！

例文１

この例文はこのウェブサイトが見つかりました。サイトのアイデアはとても面白いと思います。

日本語：	「カメラマンが写真を撮っているところ」を撮った写真いろいろ
Jenglish:	"[cameramen] [pictures] [taking + middle of]" [took] [pictures] [various]

What a great idea for a web site and probably as interesting as the pictures they were taking! Anyway, perhaps nothing too complex here. The adjective is stuck right at the end of the sentence, which is a little odd I think (but my failing memory seems to remember this is possible). Also, another sentence with a subordinate clause. So my translation is: A variety of pictures taken of cameramen in the middle of taking pictures.


例文２

同じサイトに他の例文を見つかりました。

日本語：	女性が自分の体型で気にしているところは？
Jenglish:	[women] [GA] [myself] [NO] [figure] [DE] [worry about + middle of] [WA]

Now this is much more tricky. In the Jenglish, I've included the particles as well since they're going to play a big part in this translation. First, I'm going to translate で as becuase in this case as it comes directly after a noun. A quick check on Jim Breen's online dictionary suggests that 気にする can be translated as to worry about. However, it didn't feel right when I tried to fit the words 'in the middle of' into this sentence and so I haven't. Instead I have decided that, because the verb is in the て form, we are looking at an ongoing state and adding adding ところ simply reinforces that fact. So, my initial translation would be Women worrying about their figures, however because of the 自分 and the question mark at the end I'm going for Are you a woman worrying about your figure?.

Interesting result from the study too!

またね・・・