GrammarInTheWild - October 2021

T

Heidi, the girl from the Alps
I really wanted to go back to the mountain. In preparation for that day, I stored the soft white bread I promised to Peter’s grandma in the drawer, without eating it.

Summary

てしかたありませんでした - is a polite form of てしかたない・なかった which is a grammar pattern that expresses really wanting something. Related to~てたまらない(this is used more for physical wants) and ~てしょうがない

食べずに - V+ずに - without doing

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Summary

“Alps girl Heidi
She wanted to return home to the mountain, but there was no way to do it. So for that day, she had saved the soft white bread in her drawer which she promised to Peters grandmother”

Not sure how much of a bad translation or confusing story this is :grin:

3 Likes

October 26th Translation

Notes :
A bit of a tricky one yesterday! With て仕方ない, there are a few different ways that it can be used. After the く form of an い-Adjective, it usually means that something cannot be helped/one is dying to do something.

3 Likes

October 27th
ここ

Text :
不思議その二ここは椎名署長の出身地だ

Small hints

しいな is a name. There is an invisible full stop after その二

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Summary

Haven’t a clue what that その二 is. Those two are mysterious??
This is the chief’s [This is a comic about police so I would guess it’s most likely to be the police chief’s] hometown.

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Summary

The mystery number 2? The 2nd mysterious? :thinking:
This is the chief/director Shiina’s birthplace/hometown

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Translation

Strangely enough these two (what? People? Things?..). Here is police chief Shiina’s hometown.

Use case

ここはココア。

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Translation

For some reason those two, here is 権名’s birthplace. (権名 is a police chief)

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...

A strange couple. / Secondly, it’s strange. [It’s lacking context for me :man_shrugging:]
Here is the chief officer Shiina’s hometown.

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Summary

“That is the second wonder (??) Here is Chief Shina’s birthplace (hometown)”

yeah that first bit, dunno

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T

Mystery #2: Here is Chief Shina’s hometown

U

ここは私の文です。

UT

This is cocoa.

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T

The 2nd mystery: This is the hometown of chief S.

Summary

その二 - this is a common way to report a series of items as in bullet point #1, 2 , etc.

ここ - here, but denotes a location close to the speaker

5 Likes
Summary

Oh weird, didn’t even notice that! I wonder if anyone else did :thinking:. Good catch!

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October 27th Translation

Notes :
Always be careful when reading name kanji! Well spotted to @Shigurette who picked up my mistake on this one! (fixed already), but the kanji in しいな was 椎名, not 権名.

その一、その二、etc, is a fairly common way of listing things, especially in short form or as bullet points. (quite common in manga/shows when people are discussing ideas or trying to solve something).

3 Likes

October 28th
として

Text :
軍人として死んだ私の父も孫と同じ気持ちだったのかもしれません

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Summary

Should there be a full stop there? Hmmm…
He died as a pilot[.] Both my father and my grandchild might feel the same.

5 Likes

Matt’s funny grammar in the wild.

7 Likes
Rough Translation

Like mate why are you even thinking about taking this road. I had a sign here for ages without the ‘honestly’, but you peanuts kept getting lost so I had to pay for a longer sign and some traffic cones just to make it clearer!

4 Likes

Lolled in the office. :rofl:
It’s nice to see my style of translation has rubbed off on you in under a month!

5 Likes
Translation

For a solider their death may feel the same for both their father and decedents.

6 Likes