What does this sentence mean?

[ziesecharles7040]

I found this sentence からんできたのは四人。 in a light novel and can only make heads or tails of 四人。 I can read hiragana, but don't know what this supposed to mean.

[ericf]

四人＝よんにん＝ four people

[ziesecharles7040]

Thanks, but what does からんできたのは mean?

[mmmason8967]

Thanks, but what does からんできたのは mean?

I don't really know. As far as I can see, the sentence works like this:-

1: からんで is the te-form of からむ, which means to become entangled or entwined.

2: きた is the past tense of くる. The ~te kuru structure indicates that the verb in step 1 has already occurred.

3: の is a nominaliser. It turns the verbs in steps 1 and 2 into a noun phrase.

4: は is the topic-marking particle.

So I guess the whole thing is about four people that have become entangled. Metaphorically, presumably. Unless they've been playing Twister.

マイケル

[community.japanese]

ziesecharles7040-san, エリックsan, マイケルsan,
thank you for the helps, エリックsan and マイケルsan!
四人 is actually read as よにん [yo ni n]; number 4 usually requires attention in pronunciation.

からんできた ...I assume the book is about gang group or street fighting?
That doesn't sound very peaceful.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[ziesecharles7040]

The book is currently at a scene set in a bar, so that might be it.

[mmmason8967]

からんできた ...I assume the book is about gang group or street fighting?
That doesn't sound very peaceful.

So, does からんできた mean that the people are literally entangled?

Or am I just mistaken, and からむ doesn't mean 'entangled' at all?

マイケル

[ericf]

間違いました。奈津子先生が「四人」の読み方を直してくれてありがとう！

[community.japanese]

ziesecharles7040-san, マイケルさん、エリックさん、
エリックさん、どういたしまして
ziesecharles7040-san, at a bar....I see

So, does からんできた mean that the people are literally entangled?

Or am I just mistaken, and からむ doesn't mean 'entangled' at all?

マイケル

It does have a lot to do with the literal meaning of からむ which can be "entangle" or "tangle".
The idea is, for example... you're walking down the street and you want to go "straight forward" like
a "string line", and someone "comes to get tangled" just like "a straight string gets tangled because of
another code or cable or string" resulting in blocking your way forward.
からんでくる does have くる, so someone "came to me" to "tangle".
So, it has a negative connotation; you didn't expect such disturbance.

If you're in a bar and someone comes to からむ, s/he can be either hostile or just a drunk idiot

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[ziesecharles7040]

すでにじゅーぶん喧嘩腰である。

I am really confused by the じゅーぶん part, I can read it in hiragana, but the meaning itself evades me.

[ericf]

Hmm, じゅうぶん／十分 perhaps? Maybe it's written じゅーぶん as a kind of emphasis? I'm not sure.
-> (it's) already plenty enough aggressive.

[mmmason8967]

Maybe it's written じゅーぶん as a kind of emphasis? I'm not sure.

It seems to be not uncommon to use the chouon in hiragana words. I get the impression that it indicates that the speaker is making the vowel sound a little longer than it strictly ought to be. So じゅーぶん represents something like じゅううぶん.

マイケル

[community.japanese]

ziesecharles7040-san, エリックさん、マイケルさん、
true; じゅーぶん is NOT the common way to write じゅうぶん or 十分

We often use this "bar" (ー) with hiragana in commical way. From the sentence, I sensed the author
used this as a cynical meaning, or "accusation".
すでにじゅーぶん喧嘩腰である。 sounds cynical and has a hidden connotation of "what are you talking about? You already ARE hostile..." I don't know if this sentence in English can be a good translation becasue I don't know the context,
but if the character pretends or insists s/he is not provoking argument or fight and someone says すでに・・・ sentence,
it'd be pretty much correct way to understand. If there's no such context behind, it could be like "uh-oh; here we go again... s/he is already enough hostile..." or something like this

The "commical" that I mentioned is because we don't use this ー as a part of hiragana word (it's used only with katakana
originally). So, intentional misusage for us has "funny", "commical" and/or "casual" connotaion. Similar thing can be
observed in hiragana words which are supposed to be written in katakana.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com