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Grammar
Notes for Dialogue 4
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Indirect Quotation: Wh-Word + か |
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If the quoted question involves a question word,
the Wh-Word + Plain-S + か form is used.
Wh-words can come at the beginning of the sentence.
- いつ田中さんと映画を見に行ったかおぼえていますか。
- だれがたばこをすったかしらべて下さい。
- どうしたら日本語を話せるか教えて下さい。
- 何で行ったら一番安いか知っていますか。
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Xに強い/弱い
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To speak of someone's tolerance or resistance toward something,
Xに強い or Xに弱い can be used.
These expressions can be used to talk about one's expertise or
skills.
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日本はじゅうどうに強いんです。 |
Japan is good at Judo. |
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私は英語に弱いんです。
= 私は英語がとくいじゃないんです。 |
I'm not good at English. |
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Xでいらっしゃる |
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The polite noun sentence Xです can be made honorific
when speaking in a business or formal setting. This honorific form
is Xでいらっしゃいます. The noun (X) must be a person or
inseparable part of that person as shown in the example marked by
below . Otherwise, this form cannot be used (
below). If X is a non-person, a polite form (Xでございます) can be used
instead (
below).
Note that でございます can be used to refer to one's ingroup members,
but でいらっしゃいます cannot be used in such a way. This is because でございます
is a mere polite expression while でいらっしゃいます is an honorific expression.
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これはうちの父ででいらっしゃいます。 |
[ungrammatical] |
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これはうちの父ででございます。 |
This is Mr. Tanaka's car. |
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Xにとって
(as X) / Xとして (for x) |
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にとって and として are particles that follow a noun and express "as
X" and "for X," respectively.
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親にとって(も)大変です。 |
It's tough for parents (as well). |
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親として(も)大変です。 |
it's tough as parents (as well). |
More examples:
- バフィー(いぬの名前)は私にとって子供とおなじです。 "Buffy (dog's name) is the
same as a child for me."
- 子供がいないので、犬を家族の一人としてそだてています。 "Since we don't have children, we are
raising a dog as a member of the family."
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