これはアメリカ人にも読める日本語の本です。
I received this sentence as an example of に being used with potential form in a passive sense, but even though the person said they were Japanese (online) I have never seen anything like this ever.
What is this grammar point? Can I have any other examples? If it is incorr...
わかる is a potential verb. Potential verbs sometimes take に or には to contrast or emphasize their subjects. So 私にはわかります means ‘I know it while others probably do not.’ Examples are:
彼にできることなら私にもできる。 I can do what he can do.
あなたに私の気持ちがわかる？ Do you know how I feel?
あの子には幽霊が見えるんだ。 That kid sees ghosts...
Regarding the answer in this question: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/93238/do-i-use-%e3%81%99%e3%82%8b%e6%99%82-or-%e3%81%a6%e3%81%84%e3%82%8b%e6%99%82-when-talking-about-something-in-general/93243?noredirect=1#comment151901_93243
I am a bit confused about the AするときBする form. It is claimed that it has the meaning of doing A right before B. Clearly with the example given, ご飯を食べるとき手を洗う it is clear that the handwashing occurs just before the eating. But, you have the same thing in English, "Washing hands when eating" (using "before" in this case is more common, but "when" is als…
In Japanese, I have not noticed anything to make me question this understanding of its usage, and I am quite sure that I have seen a lot of usages of that form where the two actions A and B occur e.g. at the exact same time.
but maybe I have just been confused.
What I am wondering is thus, will AするときBする always imply that A is done before B, or can you have e.g. A and B at the same time, A during B, A after B...?
oops, I changed the order of A and B above, but I think you understand my questions anyway :p
@a20 consider S1時S2 If S1 is an action, and it's in present tense, it has the nuance of "right before", unless it's a habit, based on the other answer If S1 is a state (or it's a progressive state formed by ている), it means something like "while this action is happening/this state is in progress, S2 happens" If S1 is in the past tense, then it means "when this action is completed"
also, maybe you should ask a question if you have a specific concern (you'll get better answers)
I had a look in the grammar book that you referred to, but it does not make the distinction with "habits". Even the example sentence in the book, ご飯を食べるとき手を洗う, would normally be considered a habit, no?
Another example sentence in the book is "私はシカゴへ行くとき車で行く", where the two actions obviously occur at the same time. For the "right before" meaning, the book does say that it applies when S1 is not a movement verb, but for this other example, the book says "When action 1 and action 2 take place simultaneously".
The book is quite confusing. First it gives the category, which you showed, where S1 is NOT a movement verb. Then it gives the category where S1 IS a movement verb. And then it gives a third category where S1 and S2 are any kind of action, and they occur at the same time.
@Riolku I mean... I think aguijonazo's critiques are usually on the nose. So I'd try and look at them more positively. I've disagreed with aguijonazo's opinions before, but it's always been clear to me that aguijonazo means well and means to help. (and more likely than not aguijonazo was in the right and I or whoever the critiqued party was in the wrong)
The book gives three categories of possible sentences, (A) where S1 is NOT a movement verb, (B) where S1 IS a movement verb, and (C) where S1 is undefined.
(A) and (B) are thus subsets of (C).
According to (A), there is a nuance of "right before", whereas in (C), the nuance is that the actions take place at the same time.
So snail, a widely respected and beloved ex mod on Japanese SE and ELL, once said this in her answer: I am not a native speaker, so I won't make up example sentences.
@Riolku So different people rely on different sources. snail always seemed to easily pull things, even example sentences, from her notes and academic books/papers. My secret source is my chat logs with native speakers. I talk to a lot of Japanese speakers on a daily basis
本屋に行ったときXさんに会った When I went to a bookstore, I met X. 本屋に行くときXさんに会った When I was about to go (or was on the way) to a bookstore , I met X. Here た indicates an aspect of completion. Because of this difference, one or the other may be more suitable depending on what B describes.
The book gives three categories of possible sentences, (A) where S1 is NOT a movement verb, (B) where S1 IS a movement verb, and (C) where S1 is undefined.
(A) and (B) are thus subsets of (C).
According to (A), there is a nuance of "right before", whereas in (C), the nuance is that the actions take place at the same time.
I don't see any problem with the examples either, but what I am confused about is the statement that it has a nuance of right before
(by definition)
As mentioend, how I always thought about it was that the exact chronological order is not defined by t he sentence structure itself here, but is to be understood by context
The sentence in the question is 私がテレビを見る時、友達が邪魔する。 which then, by applying the logic of this grammar book (5 (A)), would mean "Right before I watch TV my friend bugs me", although, as mentioned, there is a conflict in the book itself and this sentence could also fall under 5(C), whereby it would mean "While I watch TV my friend bugs me"
I get the feeling that the book has tried to put down definitive rules for different nuances, when the nuances in fact are determined by context, which would make it an impossible exercise.
I feel like in the following sentence, it could be interpreted as something like "when you explain, explain with diagrams to make an easier to understand explanation" 説明する時、人体模型を使うなどして、わかりやすく説明してくれる
and I don't really know if this is "at the same time"
well, for that sentence, I would rather phrase something like テレビを見る時、友達がいつも邪魔してくる, but then it would fall into this "habitual" category, where Riolku says that it means "during". Differentiating them by whether it's a habit or not does not work though, considering that 食べるときてをあらう would mean "right before" regardless of whether it's a habit or not
I just wanted to discuss it a bit first in case I was just missing something obvious...
:p (which could still bee the case)
One of the problems with my Japanese is that I learned from using, not from studying, so I tend to just use my "feeling" rather than thinking about the underlying grammatical concepts.
it doesn't recurse, so you will have to specify the depth. Otherwise you could do something like < find ./ -iname *.srt cat | grep <search-term> I think... will test
@JimmyYang Holy cow this is awesome! Especially the subtitle aggregate. I would totally star this, but since online subtitles are always in the legal gray area...
You should be able to directly download it from the git repository through the web browser, but maybe there are some size limitations for this kind of download, not sure
わかる is a potential verb. Potential verbs sometimes take に or には to contrast or emphasize their subjects. So 私にはわかります means ‘I know it while others probably do not.’ Examples are:
彼にできることなら私にもできる。 I can do what he can do.
あなたに私の気持ちがわかる？ Do you know how I feel?
あの子には幽霊が見えるんだ。 That kid sees ghosts...
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