「日刊四字」へようこそ!

Now Featuring 1級 Grammar, Everyday Japanese That You Won't Find in the Book, and Language and Cultural Trivia!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

2級 Grammar 41-45

Finally - a smorgasboard of grammar to help me express my love for the legendary Italian spacesynth band, Koto!


For full effect, it's recommended you read these notes while the video is playing.


41) ~ことだ
~ is just the thing!
~ なさい
~ ほうがいい
~ is the main point.

This phrase is useful for prescribing advice or remedies. In all the examples I was given, it is used as a response - ie a problem or goal is presented, and then the essential way of dealing with that problem/goal is given with a sentence ending in the dictionary form verb or ない form and ことだ.

Ex. 最近のスターウォーズは映画芸術の悲劇だった。そのシリーズについて新たに知りたいなら、コトの"Jadbah"を聞くことだ。


42) ~ことだから
~は、いつもそうだから
Because it's ~,
When it comes to ~,
If it's ~ we're talking about,

This one's also pretty simple - you just begin with who you're talking about, and then go on to say what the outcome will be BECAUSE it's that person/thing, and the outcome is always this way with that person/thing.

Ex. コトのことだから、高品質の曲ばっかり作るぞ!


43) ~ことなく
without~
~しないで
~ずに

As the above demonstrates, this is a way to say "without doing such-and-such" that sidesteps conjugation. Verb dictionary form + ことなく. Piece o` cake!

Ex. 今までコトを知ることなく生きてきたことが信じられない...


44) ~ことに(は)
~ly,
Very ~ly,
On a ~ note,

This one's simple if you think of it as just starting a sentence with an adverb. "Sadly, I could not think of a better example sentence." The one tricky part of the rule is that if you use a verb, it should be past tense, and should have to do with the state of someone's emotions the same way point 37 does.

Ex. メチャ悲しいことに, コトのプロデューサーのステファノは1992年になくなってしまった。


45) ~ことになっている, ~こととなっている
Be supposed to~ (by appointment or rule)
It is/will be~ (something already decided)

Big thanks to Clay and Nirav for coming through on the translation of this one. At first I thought it meant "To be becoming the sweet-ass band known as Koto", but I was sadly mistaken.

Also, I stole the example sentence from Nirav since my old one was a poor reflection of the actual meaning.

Ex. ここに自分の曲を入れたいけど、コトの曲以外は使わないことになってるから入れちゃいけない。

Bonus Ex. See the comments for a non-Koto-related example on another more common usage of this grammar point!

4 comments:

Claytonian said...

third times a charm to get it right, right?
I forget if I am using it right (I usually use it for explaining my "aくん" rule to students, but from my own notes:
~ことになっている・~こととなっている
Be supposed to ~ (shows an appointment or rule)
it is/will be ~ <~ is a thing decided already>

Nirav said...

Quick notes:
41) Your use of 新たに here is teh sketchz0rz, partially because I'm not really sure what you are trying to say. Could you provide your target English? I'm also not sure of the validity of the phrase 映画芸術.

44) 1992年で死んでしまったX
1992年に死んでしまった○
1992年になくなってしまった 大○

45) I agree with Clay. "Supposed to" is probably the best way of translating this.

ここに自分の曲を入れたいけど、コトの曲以外は使わないことになってるから入れちゃいけない。

I want to use my own song here, but since I'm supposed to be using only songs by Koto, I can't.

or

一回の無断駐車につき罰金を1万円いただくこととなっているのでご注意ください。

Fair warning: parking violators will be charged 10,000 yen per offense. ("Please be forwarned that it is our policy to receive 10,000 yen per incidence of unauthorized parking.")

Nirav said...

Forewarned, rather.

Defendership said...

Thanks to both of you guys :D

Nirav, for 41, the idea is to say that "the recent three Star Wars are a cinematic tragedy, ie they suck ass. If you want to renew your interest in the series, listening to that song by Koto is just the thing you need!" In retrospect, it is inelegant and leaves a lot implied that might be better said... might see about rewriting it. The second part of it with 新たに知りたい was actually written directly by a native speaker...save the very last part with "ことだ", which I've been told would be better as "聞くべき" or something akin to that, but that would defeat the whole purpose of the example sentence.

Consider the other two parts altered, and thank both of you again for the help with ことになってる!

Also: Clay, I went ahead and "perma-deleted" your deleted posts, hope that's kosher.