I had an idea that thinking of your own sentences is too easy. How about we give each other sentences in English to translate? I’m gonna write some for you, in increasing difficulty (or at least I think they’re in that order of difficulty, I’m still a noob at Japanese), so that (hopefully) every level of learner can find something:
“The sky is blue.”
“I don’t like him because of his ankles.”
“Fear is the mind-killer.”
For every you translate, assign another to others.
“Even if I had wings and could fly, I would be too lazy to use them”
By the way, I just found out by accident that, when you select text from another person’s post, a popover appears for you to “quote” the selected passage
Ops, thanks for the です correction. On the other hand, I could not grasp what was the simplification brought about by changing “留守する間は…” to “出かけるのは…”. Could you elaborate ? Actually, does it sound more “natural” the second way ? (I cannot say…)
In many cases, する verbs are thought to be a bit more formal, the する analogs of ordinary verbs are used for example in writing (something along I do not vs I don’t, or maybe using latin names of animals instead of the ordinary ones ). Examples are: 認識する instead of 知る、理解する instead of 分かる etc. (it is not always the case though!)
By the way, another way to convey the intention of the speaker would be:
彼女、いつごろ(or 何時ごろ)戻りますか(,帰りますか or 帰ってきますか) ?
That’s probably either really stilted or weird? But Google understands it, that’s encouraging
(Sidenote: If I were to say this to someone else, I really ought to use their name (+さん ) instead of あなた, or else I’d be rude, right?
Oh and also… not sure if それ is such a good choice for an object here (or if its really needed)?)
So I guess we need more sentences, huh? How about
That is my friend’s cat
I had rice for dinner. It was delicious!
When did you hear that?
She went to go see a movie at 2 pm
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
Two possible improvements:
First, you might be better off using である here, given the kind of style the sentence is from (It’s the opening sentence to A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and is delivered in a very authoritative and poetic style).
Second, a conjunction of some form is probably in order. This could be で, or better yet ば. The best fit I can think of would therefore be でもあれば.
I’m nearly certain that the “official” translation would opt for different word choices, also, but we’re just here for the grammar.
Hint: if the verb is ある, you probably want to be using に.
Also, for seasons, you probably want to stick to the generic counter, so something like ここには季節が2つしかない。
Ooh you’re so close!
First, since it’s the seasons that are coming, you probably want が来る.
Second, it might be better to use something like と instead of 時, depending on if there’s any causality implied (it’s not certain from the English, I don’t think)
Third, you probably want to make the embedded clause into a question: 何がおこるか教えてくれるの?
Here’s my shitty attempt.
あんたったら、なんでいつも「なんで」が出るのか? なんで僕が「結婚しよう」って言うたびに
なんか「はい」ってさえ言えないのか?!
Too strong? Probably
I’m also a bit shaky on a lot of this stuff. Probably gonna get a native to tear it to shreds for me.
“I will fall asleep every time while reading a novel”
Couldn’t find a natural way of saying this… 読みながら、読んでいる間、読む時 etc, don’t know which one to use and which way of “falling a sleep” makes sense.
When did you come to Japan?
I don’t have a dog. I have a cat.
Do you want the blue or the green shirt?
Don’t come closer!
I can’t imagine that being the case!