A troubling sentence

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

From Lower Intermediate: Lesson 10: What Do You Really Think?:

fudan kara, kono atari wa shizuka na no desu ga, Kimi-san no inakatta 1-shū-kan mo nani mo kawari wa nakatta to omoimasu yo.

Transcript translation:

This area is normally pretty quiet, and I don’t think anything changed while Kimi was away.

I'm having problems with almost every part of the sentence. Starting from the beginning:

fudan kara

Fudan means "usually". I'm guessing "kara" in this context means "up until now". So, "Until now, usually..."

kono atari wa shizuka na no desu ga

"this neighbourhood is quiet"

However, where does the "no" in this section come from? What is the purpose of it? Why not just say "shizuka desu ga"?

Kimi-san no inakatta

I've don't think I've ever seen "no" in this context either. "Kimi-san's wasn't here (inakatta = negative past of iru, right?)" Is that correct? Why is "no" used? Why not "ga"?

1-shū-kan mo

"one week too" which, combined with the previous section, is pretty easily translatable as "the week Kimi was gone too"

nani mo kawari wa nakatta

"nani mo" = "nothing"
"kawari" = "change"
"nakkata" = This word isn't in the vocabulary section, I'm guessing it is a suffix modifying the "kawari" to turn "change" into "did not change." Why not just use "kawaranakatta"? I've never seen the ~masu stem ("kawari") followed by "wa" and then a suffix before. Does this rule work for all verbs? Does it work for all suffixes? Can I say "kawari wa masu" to mean "will change"?

to omoimasu yo.

"I think."

So...

"Until now, usually this neighbourhood is quiet. The week Kimi wasn't here [was quiet] too, nothing changed, I think."

[ericf]

アンディさん、こんにちは。

Well, I think you've mostly got it anyway but okay, I'll try... （ひらがなでもいいですか？）


ふだんから→usually

しずかなのです
しずかです
The second sentence is just a basic description, a simple sentence.
のだ／のです in the first sentence is either used to add a sense of explanation to the simple sentence, or (if the sentence ends か) to ask for an explanation. It's a casual or spoken expression and can be contracted to んだ／んです when spoken.

きみさんのいなかった
Yes, いなかった is the negative past tense of いる.
I think が would also be correct, but it sounds less casual than の to me.

いっしゅうかんも
Could also translate も here as "also" → the week kimi was gone/away was too/also...

なにもかわりはなかった
なかった here is the negative past tense of ある (as いなかった was to いる up above.)
So you "nothing changed" is fine.

Hope that's of some help.

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

アンディさん、こんにちは。

Well, I think you've mostly got it anyway but okay, I'll try... （ひらがなでもいいですか？）


ふだんから→usually

しずかなのです
しずかです
The second sentence is just a basic description, a simple sentence.
のだ／のです in the first sentence is either used to add a sense of explanation to the simple sentence, or (if the sentence ends か) to ask for an explanation. It's a casual or spoken expression and can be contracted to んだ／んです when spoken.

きみさんのいなかった
Yes, いなかった is the negative past tense of いる.
I think が would also be correct, but it sounds less casual than の to me.

いっしゅうかんも
Could also translate も here as "also" → the week kimi was gone/away was too/also...

なにもかわりはなかった
なかった here is the negative past tense of ある (as いなかった was to いる up above.)
So you "nothing changed" is fine.

Hope that's of some help.

In romaji, please?

[community.japanese]

Andy-san, Eric-san,
kon'nichiwa!!

Thank you for your help, Eric-san!

Andy-san, since Eric-san gave quite a good answer, I'll give you some advice from different point of view.
For instance, "fudan kara" means, like Eric-san wrote, "usually". But the literal very direct translation into English
is "from everyday/always/usual time". This doesn't make sence, so the best close meaning in English was given: usually.
The word "fudan" means "usual time", which means normal days or everyday usually. By adding "kara", it gives the
meaning of something is continuously the same (condition, custom, practice, whatever it is).

As to "shizuka na no desu ga", please see Eric-san's explanation here:
しずかなのです[shizuka nanodesu]
しずかです[shizukadesu]
The second sentence is just a basic description, a simple sentence.
のだ[noda]／のです[nodesu] in the first sentence is either used to add a sense of explanation to the simple sentence, or (if the sentence ends か[ka]) to ask for an explanation. It's a casual or spoken expression and can be contracted to んだ[nda]／んです[ndesu] when spoken.

I think your understanding about the rest would be fine if you go through Eric-san's explanation.
Here's his post with romaji added:
きみさんのいなかった[kimisan no inakatta]
Yes, いなかった[inakatta] is the negative past tense of いる[iru].
I think が[ga] would also be correct, but it sounds less casual than の[no] to me.

いっしゅうかんも[isshuukan mo]
Could also translate も[mo] here as "also" → the week kimi was gone/away was too/also...

なにもかわりはなかった[nanimo kawari wa nakatta]
なかった[nakatta] here is the negative past tense of ある[aru] (as いなかった[inakatta] was to いる[iru] up above.)
So you "nothing changed" is fine.

If you have still something you don't understand, please don't hesitate to ask us!

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

なにもかわりはなかった[nanimo kawari wa nakatta]
なかった[nakatta] here is the negative past tense of ある[aru] (as いなかった[inakatta] was to いる[iru] up above.)

I feel embarrassed that I didn't know this.

Thanks for the help!

[ericf]

なにもかわりはなかった[nanimo kawari wa nakatta]
なかった[nakatta] here is the negative past tense of ある[aru] (as いなかった[inakatta] was to いる[iru] up above.)

I feel embarrassed that I didn't know this.

Thanks for the help!

No problem, doitashimashite. Natsuko go there first with the romaji - thanks, Natsuko!
(I don't think you need to feel embarrassed either.)

For instance, "fudan kara" means, like Eric-san wrote, "usually". But the literal very direct translation into English
is "from everyday/always/usual time". This doesn't make sence, so the best close meaning in English was given: usually.
The word "fudan" means "usual time", which means normal days or everyday usually. By adding "kara", it gives the
meaning of something is continuously the same (condition, custom, practice, whatever it is).

Thanks for that; I wasn't sure how to explain that bit, or even if I understood it 100% correctly.

[community.japanese]

Andy-san and Eric-san,
glad I could help!!
Like エリックsan also wrote, Andy-san doesn't need to feel embarrassed at all!
Some expressons are simply complicated to seems difficult at first glance.

エリックsan, I'm glad you could confirm that you actually knew the meaning of "fudan kara" 100%

After all, languages work differently; simple translation cannot help how the other lanuage works
and yet we can't give such detailed explanations on Lesson Notes (even because there're more important
points). Hope we can help you there, on comment board or forum, whenever necessary

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com