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Can someone explain this grammar in Beginner #163?

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watermen
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Joined: October 3rd, 2007 7:47 pm

Can someone explain this grammar in Beginner #163?

Postby watermen » October 4th, 2009 8:38 pm

Can someone kindly explain the grammar here? I understand the meaning, but don't quite understand the grammar.

山田の奴が状況考えずに、ずっと左にしかパスを出さないのが問題なんです。

1. What does ずに mean here?

2. Can someone explain this to me 出さないのが問題なんです?

Thanks.

shimewaza
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Joined: September 26th, 2009 10:05 pm

Postby shimewaza » October 4th, 2009 10:36 pm

1.ずに is equivalent in meaning to ~ないで (which I'm assuming you are familiar with. Please say so if not), so you can replace 考えずに with 考えないで and the meaning stays exactly the same. ~ずに seems a bit more formal to me and therefore is not used as much in spoken Japanese as ~ないで, but it is used. Also, there are some fixed patterns you'll probably encounter later where it must be used.

2. 出さないの: The のturns the preceding phrase into a noun which serves the role as A in Aが問題なんです(A is the problem). The action is similar to what こと does, and here I think you can swap の for こと with no change in meaning (This is not always permissible however. I can't remember the specific cases off the top of my head but search "の vs こと” and I'm sure you can find explanations).
The なんです at the end is a more casual form of なのです、 which serves to add the speaker's emphasis to the sentence, kind of like "its that ...." . Compare it to just ending the sentence with 問題です which is nonemphatic/neutral.

I'm not sure how understandable this explanation is, but I hope it helps.

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watermen
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Joined: October 3rd, 2007 7:47 pm

Postby watermen » October 5th, 2009 12:35 am

shimewaza wrote:1.ずに is equivalent in meaning to ~ないで (which I'm assuming you are familiar with. Please say so if not), so you can replace 考えずに with 考えないで and the meaning stays exactly the same. ~ずに seems a bit more formal to me and therefore is not used as much in spoken Japanese as ~ないで, but it is used. Also, there are some fixed patterns you'll probably encounter later where it must be used.

2. 出さないの: The のturns the preceding phrase into a noun which serves the role as A in Aが問題なんです(A is the problem). The action is similar to what こと does, and here I think you can swap の for こと with no change in meaning (This is not always permissible however. I can't remember the specific cases off the top of my head but search "の vs こと” and I'm sure you can find explanations).
The なんです at the end is a more casual form of なのです、 which serves to add the speaker's emphasis to the sentence, kind of like "its that ...." . Compare it to just ending the sentence with 問題です which is nonemphatic/neutral.

I'm not sure how understandable this explanation is, but I hope it helps.


Thanks for giving such a wonderful explanation on ずに.

However I still don't quite understand the meaning of 出さない in this context.

ずっと左にしかパスを出さない So, it is translated as You only pass it to the left? But what does 出さない mean here? why in the negative form? I just find it so confusing, can someone clear it for me?

shimewaza
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 18
Joined: September 26th, 2009 10:05 pm

Postby shimewaza » October 5th, 2009 1:30 am

First, here is my translation of the complete original sentence
山田の奴が状況考えずに、ずっと左にしかパスを出さないのが問題なんです。
"The problem is that Yamada dude does nothing but pass to the left without considering the situation"

The reason you are having trouble understanding why 出すis in the negative is probably because you've not yet encountered しか and I'm not referring to deer ;-) . The combo of しか and the negative of a verb translates to something like "does nothing but", "merely", "no more than" (best translation depends on the specific instance).
Some simple examples:
文句しか言わない:does nothing but complain
若い時は一度しかない:You're only young once
これしか持ってない:I have only this/nothing but this
英語しか話せない: Can only speak English
Compared to だけ、it has a more extreme and in some cases downgrading tone. Take for example the last sentence
彼は英語だけ話せる:He can only speak English (sounds like a statement of fact)
彼は英語しか話せない:He can only speak English (sounds like putting him down a bit)

To get more comfortable with the pattern, I suggest reading up on しか at your favorite grammar reference and checking out more example sentences.

watermen
Expert on Something
Posts: 401
Joined: October 3rd, 2007 7:47 pm

Postby watermen » October 5th, 2009 3:21 am

shimewaza wrote:First, here is my translation of the complete original sentence
山田の奴が状況考えずに、ずっと左にしかパスを出さないのが問題なんです。
"The problem is that Yamada dude does nothing but pass to the left without considering the situation"

The reason you are having trouble understanding why 出すis in the negative is probably because you've not yet encountered しか and I'm not referring to deer ;-) . The combo of しか and the negative of a verb translates to something like "does nothing but", "merely", "no more than" (best translation depends on the specific instance).
Some simple examples:
文句しか言わない:does nothing but complain
若い時は一度しかない:You're only young once
これしか持ってない:I have only this/nothing but this
英語しか話せない: Can only speak English
Compared to だけ、it has a more extreme and in some cases downgrading tone. Take for example the last sentence
彼は英語だけ話せる:He can only speak English (sounds like a statement of fact)
彼は英語しか話せない:He can only speak English (sounds like putting him down a bit)

To get more comfortable with the pattern, I suggest reading up on しか at your favorite grammar reference and checking out more example sentences.


Thanks again for your wonderful explanation. Now everything is cleared. Your example sentences are very useful. Jpod should add this into the lesson notes.

:D

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