Start Learning Japanese in the next 30 Seconds with
a Free Lifetime Account

Or sign up using Facebook

Which one is the subject? Which one is the object?

Moderators: Moderator Team, Admin Team

kepompong
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 30
Joined: July 2nd, 2008 11:04 pm

Which one is the subject? Which one is the object?

Postby kepompong » December 9th, 2009 10:51 pm

I still have trouble finding the subject of the sentence from time to time. Especially with song lyrics where most of the time the subject is not specified. Sometimes I mistook the subject of the song as "you" when it's actually talking about "I". But that's not my question right now. It's the sentence below.

Say, if someone said this sentence to you, 月でも見てて, what does it mean?

My first thought was "even the moon is watching" but after I re-read it a few times I thought it can also mean "watching the moon or something" in the same nuance as "お茶でも飲もう”. Then again, I thought the verb 見ていて "is watching" makes it more possible to have the first meaning rather than the person telling you to "watching the moon". I mean the tense is not quite right.

But then, I came across the phrase "ちょっと見ていてね" which apparently means "Let me show you one thing" or more literally (I hope I'm translating right) "just watch for a bit" right? So does that mean the first sentence can also mean "watch the moon"?

Does my question make any sense? I'm sorry if I'm confusing everyone >_<

jbraswell
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 46
Joined: October 3rd, 2007 11:51 pm

Postby jbraswell » December 17th, 2009 2:41 pm

Sorry, no easy answer. It's all context, especially in spoken Japanese when particles often get dropped. So, if your example sentences appeared at the end of a figurative description of inanimate objects watching something, then the first meaning is likely correct. If it appeared in a story about two people looking at the night sky, then the latter is likely correct.

Incidentally, though, 見てて can be a command. Sometimes, for emphasis, the progressive て-form is used instead of the verb by itself.

Get 51% OFF
trykyn
New in Town
Posts: 6
Joined: September 17th, 2009 9:11 am

Postby trykyn » January 5th, 2010 5:25 am

its really hard to hit the right meaning without context,

but 月でも見てて sounds like:
watching something like the moon

it could be the command て form, but i guess it isnt ;)

Return to “Learn All About Japanese”