まま - Grammar Discussion

English translation:
as is
while remaining
left in a state

Structure:
Verb[ ] + まま
Verb[ ない ] + まま
いAdj + まま
Noun・の + まま
なAdj・な + まま

View on Bunpro

There’s a bunch of related grammar that shows up in conversation that combines まま with other particles words, any plans of these to be added in future?

1 Like

Hey :star_struck:

We plan to include those too :+1:

In a review for this grammar point I got the sentence, コートをきたままだと少し暑いです。(I feel a little hot keeping this jacket on.)

What is the role of だと there? Is it a と conditional, making a literal translation closer to “If I keep this coat on, I will feel a little hot”?

1 Like

@Eironeous That is exactly right! Do you think a more literal translation would better suit this sentence to prevent any further confusion? Cheers!

1 Like

I personally don’t feel like it’s necessary, especially if the current translation carries over the intended meaning better. The literal translation in English makes the intended meaning sound a little more like a たら conditional, doesn’t it? What tripped me up was actually not seeing a まま + だと combination before, and the three grammar sources I used (Tae Kim, Maggie’s explanation and even Dictionary of Japanese Grammar) did not give a まま + だと example. And of course, since asking this question I’ve seen it pop up elsewhere, too.

If I voted for any change, it’d be to maybe add a note regarding what it is commonly combined with, such as で, に and だと. As in, add it as a comment in orange letters below, where it currently says [The state of something remains unchanged]. Again though, I didn’t think it too confusing, and when studying grammar such questions are inevitable anyway.

Thanks for the response!

1 Like

I always confuse this with てある :sweat:
do we use まま when there is already a sentence ending verb or are there more differences?

4 Likes

One basic difference I can think of is that while both てある and まま mean that something was left in that state, the “something that must be left alone/undisturbed” nuance is unique to まま.

てある is just stating the fact.

Hope this helps!

Isn’t it a bit strange that in thise case, the に is rejected ? Also could be maybe just a suggestion to remove it ?

I mean, in the explanation it is said :

While まま may be followed by the case marking particle に, it is very often omitted. When it appears, however, it will place extra emphasis on the next verb in the sentence.

So it feels to me as something that could be acceptable

1 Like

I would hazard a guess that このまま (このまま – Vocabulary details – jpdb ) is just an expression that is never followed by に. At least an online search for “このままに” gives very few results.