危ない橋を渡る (abunai hashi o wataru: to tread on thin ice; go out on a limb; walk a tightrope; take risks) dangerous + bridge + to cross
その探偵はずいぶん危ない橋を渡ってきた。
Sono tantei wa zuibun abunai hashi o watatte kita.
The detective has a lot of adventures.探偵 (tantei: detective) to probe + spy
ずいぶん (zuibun: very, extremely, considerably)People write this word in hiragana, but if they wanted to use kanji, it would be 随分 (to let oneself do as one pleases + extent). Wow, that first kanji contains four components (阝,
, 月, and ナ) that can all serve as radicals! The ナ is a stretch, but Nelson says it’s a variant of the radical 十. (I can’t find a kanji with a ナ radical, but never mind!)
危ない (abunai: dangerous)
Note how “dangerous” doesn’t make it into the English version of the sentence.
As for -てきた (-te kita), I’m forever confused by -てくる (-te kuru) constructions. When the くる doesn’t literally mean “to come to a place,” -てくる usually means “to come about, come to, begin.” A Dictionary of Basic Grammar says this structure expresses inception or continuation of something up to the present moment. For example:
Inception:
テニスをしていたら急に雨が降ってきた。
Tenisu o shite itara kyū ni ame ga futte kita.
While we were playing tennis, it suddenly began to rain.急に (kyū ni: suddenly)
雨 (ame: rain)
降 (fu(ru): to fall, descend)Up to Now:
私は歴史が少し分かってきた。
Watashi wa rekishi ga sukoshi wakatte kita.
Now I have begun to understand history.私 (watashi: I)
歴史 (rekishi: history) to elapse + history
少し (sukoshi: a little)
分 (wa(karu): to understand)In the sentence about the detective, the -てきた expresses continuation of something up to the present moment. In other words, this structure provides the sense of a present-perfect tense, according to a native speaker I consulted. The detective has crossed a lot of very dangerous bridges.
