Thursday, April 28, 2011

Is this correct usage of Japanese passive / causative / passive-causative?

Question:


I want to make sure my Japanese is correct before I hand it in, will you please just double-check these sentences? Thank you.

1. 百漢字を書けたばかりだから寝させられます。 ”Since I have just written 100 kanji, I am now able to go to sleep. (PC)

2.たまごを食べたからプールに泳がせませんでした。 ”I was not allowed to swim in the pool after I ate eggs." (C)

3・五十年後には本語を勉強したことがぺらぺら日本語を話しられます・ ”Aft… studying Japanese for 50 years I am able to speak fluent Japanese." (P)

Thanks!

Answer:


1. 漢字百文字を今書き終えたので、やっと寝られます。
られます seems like "passive" or "causative", but it's "be able to (ability?)"

2. たまごを食べたので、プールには入ることは許されません(<--edit ....ませんでした。)

It's direct translation of the original sentence, but it's more natural to say;
たまごを食べてしまったため、プールには入れません。(<--edit 入れませんでした。)

3. Studying Japanese for 50 years makes it possible to speak fluent Japanese.
五十年日本語を勉強すれば、日本語もぺらぺらになるでしょう。
While English often uses ”causative” with non-people as the subject, Japanese prefers not.

No comments:

Post a Comment