This is a discussion topic for the updated N5 Lesson 8 reading passages. (May 2024)
Hello! Can you please help me with understanding the use of a particle? Towards the end, A says “Is it okay to ride a bicycle in the park?” Why is it 公園を instead of 公園に?
Could using に still make an acceptable sentence? I’m struggling to break down the nuance here, so any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!
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を is often used instead of に to indicate objects/places that are being travelled along or through. に indicates a destination, while で indicates a specific use. を just indicates the object of the action. The riding happened in the park. It was not the purpose, nor was it specifically being used, it just happened to be the object of the action of bike riding.
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A question regarding “父の日のプレゼント” text: how frequent and normal is it to completely omit the subject/object from the sentence?
The sentence “帽子が好だから帽子にしたいです” is confusing as it’s unclear how likes hats. I guess, we can suppose that it’s their father they are talking about, but at the same time the younger sister can say, that she likes hats, and therefore it should be the present
It’s quite normal and done very frequently, as long as the speaker thinks it’s clear from context. If turns out to be unclear, the listener can double-check. The more important the situation, the more likely the speaker would be to preemptively fill in any blanks that could cause misunderstandings.
In this conversation later it turns out 父 already has a lot of hats, so it seems everybody was on the same page.
Of course an alternative scenario is possible, where 妹 wanted to gift something she likes, not something the target likes. I’d imagine when this comes out the whole family gets a laugh out of calling her an airhead.
Misunderstandings caused by characters omitting crucial information is a staple of situational comedy.
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