Difficulty went through the roof on I40...

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

Most of the intermediate episodes are well-tailored for people who have finished the lower intemediate lessons but the mukashi banashi stories are like torture. I got stuck on almost every line of this one. I think I managed to get through most of it but I still have these problems:

Aru toki, bakuchi de suttenten ni makete shimatta bakuchiuchi wa, oka ni agari, futekusarete, hikkuri kaette ita to.

One day after losing all of his money gambling, he was climbing up a hill feeling sorry for himself.

Lots of sentences have this mystery "to" on the end. It doesn't seem to do anything.

Konna inaka ni kusubutte inai de, isso Kyōto ka Ōsaka e dete, dekkai shōbu o yatte mitai mono da.

I want to go to a big city like Osaka or Kyoto and try to get into a really big game, and not let this small town smother me.

"ka" means "or"?

"Mitai" can mean "like" or "similar to" and "mono" is "thing" so... I think this means, "Or something like that."

10. BAKUCHIUCHI: 「Mieru tomo. Kore wa ore no takara nan da mono. Kyōto de arō to, Ōsaka de arō to,d okodemo nozomu tokoro o misete kureru n da.」
11. TENGU: 「Sonna chōhō na mono ga aru no ka.」
12. BAKUCHIUCHI: 「Aru tomo.」to itte, tengu wa kitanarashii mino o dashita to.

The gambler replied, "Yes, I can. This is my most valued possession. Kyoto, Osaka, I can see any place I want."
7. "Is there really such a thing?" asked the Tengu.
8. "Yes there is." replied the gambler. The Tengu proceeded to pull out a filthy cloak from his bag.

I need context for this question. Ignore the numbers next to the sentences, they're wrong again.

What does "no ka" mean? Is it similar to "ka na..."? Like, "I wonder"?

"Aru tomo" sounds like it means "both exist" - the vision of both Kyoto and Osaka?

19. BAKUCHIUCHI: 「Sonna kitanarashii mono ga, dōshite takara nandai.」
14. "That filthy thing! That is your most valued possession?"

"Nandai"...?

21. BAKUCHIUCHI: 「Hee, sonna chōhō na mono ga aru no kai.」
16. "Really? Is there such a treasure?"

Is "no" here nominalising the "aru"?

As for "kai"...

People on this site claim:

"As opposed to 「か」, which is open-ended and can have any sort of answer, 「かい」 is expected to have an answer in the affirmative or negative only, that is, yes or no, with subsequent explanation optional."

And:

"かい is used to soften the rudeness of か in informal speech."

Is that right?

22. To iu wake de, futari wa kozeni to kakuremino o, torikaeta to. Tengu wa, kozeni o atete mita ga,

17. The two went on to exchange their most valued possessions. The Tengu then looked into the hole of the coin and said

What is the best translation for "atete"? I've used the kanji (当てて) to find this translation but none of the potential words there seem to fit the sentence.

26. Bakuchiuchi wa, jibun no sugata ga hontō ni mienakunatta no ka dō ka, hajime wa jishin ga nakatta no da ga,
27. TENGU: 「Oi, doko e kakureta. Kora, kakure mino o kaese!」
28. To tengu ga sakende iru no o mite, kore wa hontō ni mienakunatta no da, to etsu ni itte, sutakora sassato, oka o kakeori, machi e itta to.

18. At first the gambler was worried that it wouldn't work, but upon hearing the Tengu screaming, "Hey! Where are you! Give me back my invisible cloak!" He realized that it really worked. Extremely pleased, he scrambled down the hill and went to town.

I suppose this "no" is another nominaliser, they really confuse me when they're used in different situations from English nominalisers.

I don't know what "jishin" means (maybe "confidence"? As in, confidence in the cloak? But if that's the case, I still don't think I can make sense of the sentence. It seems like it would make more sense if the second clause came first. "At first he had no confidence [in the cloak], he didn't know if his form would really disappear or not"? )

I thought "to" ("and") couldn't follow the copula ("da")? It isn't a quote.

The only result I get when I search for "sutakora" is "helter skelter" and somehow I don't think that's correct. It would have been nice to have this word in the vocabulary section but for some reason there is no vocabulary section whatsoever in this PDF.

Ii kimochi ni natta bakuchiuchi wa, tsugi ni hara o mitasu tame ni, dangoya ni hairi, odango o tarafuku tabeta to.

Once he had his fill, he decided it was time to satisfy his appetite, so he headed to the dumpling shop. There he stuffed himself, and again nobody noticed.

I don't know why "hairu" ("to enter") is in it's ~masu stem form. Why isn't it "haitte"?

33. Bakuchiuchi wa, futo kaerishi na, gofukuya e hairi, onnamono to otokomono no kimno o icchaku zutsu nusunda to.

On his way home, the gambler stopped by the fine cloth store and stole a kimono for himself and his wife.

"Kaerishi na" - obviously comes from "kaeru" ("to return home") but I don't know how or why it becomes "kaerishi" or what the purpose of the following "na" is.

"Onnamono to otokomono" - I'll take an educated guess at "women's things and men's things" - but that doesn't seem to make much sense when followed by "no kimono" (the text actually says "kimno" which is a typo). "Onna to otoko no kimono" would indicate that the men and women would possess the kimonos, rather than the kimonos being possessed by the men's and women's things. Unless maybe "onnamono to otokomono" is a section of the shop? Hmm, that sounds right but I'm not sure.

Soshite, wagaya no iriguchi de, kakuremino o nugi, nyōbō ni koe kaketa to.

He then went home, took off the invisible cloak, and called to his wife.

Another infinitive when I'd have used the ~te form.

"Kaketa" might be from "kakeru" (I'm not sure, since it's written in kana in the kanji transcript) - if so, I'm struggling to fit it into one of the given descriptions on this site. "to make (a call)" or "to argue (in court); to deliberate (in a meeting); to present (e.g. idea to a conference, etc.)"?

No nominaliser here?

[community.japanese]

Hello　andycarmenjapanese8100　さん、

言うことですwhich means ‘I heard’ is omitted after hikkuri kaette ita to.
Yes, ka means ‘or’.

The ‘mono’ is a final particle indicates admiration or hope or wish. And have you learnt te form + miru? It means ‘to try to do’. Then as you know tai means ‘want to’ Therefore, the meaning is ‘I would like to try to start a big business or to be involved with a big event.’

The no is a nominaliser and ka is a question marker.

Aru means ‘exist or have’and tomo is a final particle indicates emphasis so it means “of course there is or I have it”.

Yes , it’s right. Kai indicates a casual question. The sentence means ‘do you have such an important thing?’.

In this case ‘ateru’means ‘knock things together’.

Yes, Jishin means confidence.
However, the translation should be ‘at first he is not sure whether … or not but...’.

The quotation is “kore wa hontō ni mienakunatta no da”and the form before ‘to’ must be plain form so da is good.

I don't know why "hairu" ("to enter") is in it's ~masu stem form. Why isn't it "haitte"?
That’s an advanced grammar.
Verb stem works like te-from which indicates the time order.
Haitte is also fine here.

"Kaerishi na" - obviously comes from "kaeru" ("to return home") but I don't know how or why it becomes "kaerishi" or what the purpose of the following "na" is.
Kaerishi is iyo dilect which means 'on the way home’ and na means ‘when’.

The usage of nugi is same as hairi.

The kanji of kakeru is 掛ける. Koe wo kakeru means ‘call someone (not making a phone call)’.

Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

Thanks Yuki, a few follow-ups...

This part:

19. BAKUCHIUCHI: 「Sonna kitanarashii mono ga, dōshite takara nandai.」
14. "That filthy thing! That is your most valued possession?"

What does "nandai" mean?

In this case ‘ateru’means ‘knock things together’.

So...

22. To iu wake de, futari wa kozeni to kakuremino o, torikaeta to. Tengu wa, kozeni o atete mita ga,

17. The two went on to exchange their most valued possessions. The Tengu then looked into the hole of the coin and said

The tengu knocked the coin against something? That doesn't match the English translation.

26. Bakuchiuchi wa, jibun no sugata ga hontō ni mienakunatta no ka dō ka, hajime wa jishin ga nakatta no da ga,
27. TENGU: 「Oi, doko e kakureta. Kora, kakure mino o kaese!」
28. To tengu ga sakende iru no o mite, kore wa hontō ni mienakunatta no da, to etsu ni itte, sutakora sassato, oka o kakeori, machi e itta to.

18. At first the gambler was worried that it wouldn't work, but upon hearing the Tengu screaming, "Hey! Where are you! Give me back my invisible cloak!" He realized that it really worked. Extremely pleased, he scrambled down the hill and went to town.

What does "sutakora" mean?

And was I right when I guessed that...

33. Bakuchiuchi wa, futo kaerishi na, gofukuya e hairi, onnamono to otokomono no kimno o icchaku zutsu nusunda to.

On his way home, the gambler stopped by the fine cloth store and stole a kimono for himself and his wife.

[...]

"Onnamono to otokomono" - I'll take an educated guess at "women's things and men's things" - but that doesn't seem to make much sense when followed by "no kimono" (the text actually says "kimno" which is a typo). "Onna to otoko no kimono" would indicate that the men and women would possess the kimonos, rather than the kimonos being possessed by the men's and women's things. Unless maybe "onnamono to otokomono" is a section of the shop? Hmm, that sounds right but I'm not sure.

"Onnamono to otokomono" referred to a specific section of the store? That's the only explanation I can come up with for this but I can't help thinking it's wrong.

[community.japanese]

Hello andycarmenjapanese8100 san,

What does "nandai" mean?
‘i’ indicates
1. Casual and friendly question
2. Contempt or repel
3. Slipshod, irresponsible or emphasis
And ‘i’ is put after final particles ta, da, na and ka, and verb command form.
In this case
That is number 1 above.
It means ‘why is such a dirty thing your treasure?’.

The tengu knocked the coin against something? That doesn't match the English translation.
As you know Japanese doesn’t care singular or plural. The kozeni is plural so the tengu knocks two coins each other to make sure that they are real.

What does "sutakora" mean?
Sutakora means ‘to walk fast especially to leave a place quickly’.

Onnamono means ‘things for women’.
Otokomono maens ‘things for men.
onnamono to otokomono no kimono means ‘Japanese close (kimono) for women and men ’.

Yuki 由紀
JapanesePod101.com

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

Thanks.

The story continues in I41:

Nyōbō wa, sōji o shiyō to, heya o katazukete iru uchi ni, sumi no hō ni kitanarashii mino o mitsuketa to.

The gambler's wife began to clean, and while she was cleaning she came across a filthy cloak in the corner.

Is this "shiyou to suru"? With the "suru" being implied? That would mean the wife is "about to" or "trying to" clean. If not, I don't understand why the presumptive form is used.

6. MIKI: 「Aa, ano kitanai no, moyashite shimaimashita yo.」

"Oh, that dirty thing? I burned it."

What is this "no"? A question mark?

"That dirty? I burned it."

Or does it mean "thing"?

"That dirty thing? I burned it."

9. NATSUKO: Bakuchiuchi wa, ōisogi de, kamado e tonde itta to. Soshite, hai o yubi de tsumande mita to. Suru to, hai ga tsuita tokoro dake, yubi ga kiete mienaku natta to.

10. TAKE: 「Mada, daijōbu datta」

The gambler rushed to the stove. Only ashes remained, so he put his finger into the ashes. Upon doing so, the part of his finger with the ash on it became invisible. He said to himself, "It's still okay."

Why is "da" past tense here? "Mada daijoubu datta" means "it was still good" but he clearly means "It is still good".

11. NATSUKO: To, bakuchiuchi wa, hadaka ni nari, mizu o kabutte kara, kamado no hai o beta beta to karada ni nurimakutta to.

and then proceeded to strip, cover himself in water and then paint his body with the ashes.

I'm guessing from the English translation that this verb means "to paint" but what is the plain form?

Nyōbō ga odoroki akirete iru uchi ni, bakuchiuchi no sugata wa, mattaku mienakunatte shimatta to.
13. TAKE: 「Hito kasegi, itte kuru zo.」
14. NATSUKO: To iu sugata no nai koe ga kikoeta ka to omou to, peta peta to iu ashioto ga tōzakatte itta to.

His wife was shocked as he disappeared right before her very eyes! Then she heard him say, "I'm off to work. I'll be back." as the pitter patter of his footsteps grew faint.

What does this "ka" mean? It can't be "or" or a question mark.

Does the "to" here mean "to iu koto desu"? Or does it mean "and"? Or something else?

"to iu" means "to say" - why does it come after the sound of footsteps?

What is the plain verb that "touzakatte" comes from?

15. Bakuchiuchi wa, mazu genki zukeni, to sakaya e itta to.

5. The gambler headed into the first bar he came across, and started drinking.

The only thing I can find resembling "genki zukeni" is "genkidzukeru" which means "to cheer up" but that doesn't match the English translation. Is it "genkidzukeru"?

Then there's another mystery "to". What does this "to" mean?

16. YOSHI VOICE 2: 「Arya, kuchi ga ...... Kuchi no bakemono da」
17. NATSUKO: Hoka wa mienakatta kedo, kuchi dake ga arawareta n da ne.
18. YOSHI VOICE 3: 「Kuchi no bakemono ga, sake o nonde iru zo!」

6. Someone noticed the mouth and said, "That's a mouth....a mouth monster!" Someone else took notice and screamed, "The mouth monster is drinking sake!"

Is "arya" spoken Japanese for "are wa" - "over there"?

The Japanese says, "Hoka wa mienakatta kedo" which means "others did not see" but the English says "someone else took notice" i.e. another person did see. "Mienakatta" means "didn't see" so why the difference? Is this just a bad English translation?

If I'm right, a more literal English translation for "hoka wa mienakatta kedo, kuchi dake ga arawareta n da ne" would be "others didn't see but (only) the mouth was revealed" - Somebody help me out if I'm misunderstanding this.

Mizu wa shita no michi made koborete, hashitte kita bakuchiuchi no, oshiri ni, bishatto kakatta to.

When the gambler passed, the water hit him square in the backside, exposing it for the world to see.

The only definition of "kakaru" that might fit here is, "to be covered (e.g. with dust, a table-cloth, etc)" from this site but the only examples given (dust, table cloth) are clearly motionless objects resting on something, rather than a moving liquid hitting something. Does that definition work?

24. Bakuchiuchi wa, hashi no ue de, ryōgawa kara oitsumerare, inu ni kamitsukareru yara, bō de tatakareru yara, nigeru ni nigerarezu, tsui ni, kawa e tobikonda to.

I know that "nigeru" means "to escape" but what does "nigerarezu" mean?

"tsui ni" - "against better judgement?"

[community.japanese]

Hello andycarmenjapanese8100 san,
Is this "shiyou to suru"? With the "suru" being implied? That would mean the wife is "about to" or "trying to" clean. If not, I don't understand why the presumptive form is used.
Volitional form + to suru indicates “the subject (person) tried/try to do but is not successful/hasn’t done yet”. In this case ‘she tried to clean and started putting a room in order (however, she hasn’t have done it yet/ during the cleaning)’.

What is this "no"? A question mark?
The ‘no’ is a nominaliser which means ‘the dirty one’.

Why is "da" past tense here? "Mada daijoubu datta" means "it was still good" but he clearly means "It is still good".
It is ok if you use ‘daijoubu desu’ as non-past tense.
Both are fine.

I'm guessing from the English translation that this verb means "to paint" but what is the plain form?
Makuru is "verb suffix to indicate reckless abandon to the activity”.
Nuri comes from nuru (dictionary form), nyrimasu (polite form).
Nurimakuru means “painting desperately’.

What does this "ka" mean? It can't be "or" or a question mark.
“Ka to omouto” means as soon as I noticed; almost immediately.

Does the "to" here mean "to iu koto desu"?
To iu means ‘it’s said/sounded’.
Touzakaru means ‘leave somewhere far behind’.

The only thing I can find resembling "genki zukeni" is "genkidzukeru" which means "to cheer up" but that doesn't match the English translation. Is it "genkidzukeru"?
As you said genkidukeru means ‘to cheer up’. In this case the meaning is ‘firstly choose easy one, because I will be able to have a good result which means it encourages me to keep doing’.

Then there's another mystery "to". What does this "to" mean?
Itte is missing after ‘to’.

Is "arya" spoken Japanese for "are wa" - "over there"?
Japanese doesn’t have the word “arya”. I guess it is ‘ahh’?

The Japanese says, "Hoka wa mienakatta kedo" which means "others did not see" but the English says "someone else took notice" i.e. another person did see. "Mienakatta" means "didn't see" so why the difference? Is this just a bad English translation?
Mienakatta means ‘I couldn’t see others’. Direct translation sometimes doesn’t work because both languages can’t share cultures.
The whale sentence means ‘I(the speaker) didn't see others but (only) the mouth was revealed’.

Does that definition work?
It should include liquid, too.


I know that "nigeru" means "to escape" but what does "nigerarezu" mean?
Nigerareru is a potential form of nigeru and when it’s followed by zu, it means negative.

"tsui ni" - "against better judgement?"
Tsui ni means ‘finaly’.

Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com