Re: Alphabet (you're a fish?)

--- Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> wrote:
> X wa Y desu USUALLY means "X is Y", but actually
> what's going on is that
> "X wa" indicates that you're talking about "X", and
> "Y desu" is the
> sentence with no express subject.  Normally, it's
> assumed that the
> subject is the same as the topic, that is, "As for
> X, X is Y", but it
> can mean something else.  Thus, in a restaurant, if
> someone else has
> already ordered, you could say "Watashi wa sakana
> desu", meaning "As for
> me, [what I want] is the fish", like:
> A:  watashi wa gyuuniku wo onegai shimasu.
> B:  watashi wa sakana desu.
>
> That is:
> A: I'll have the beef (lit. "As for me, beef please"
> - I TOP beef ACC
> favor do-polite)
> B: I'll have the fish (lit. "As for me, [it] is
> fish" - I TOP fish
> be-polite)
>
> In A's statement, there's no express verb, the
> implied verb, I presume,
> being something like "give", that is, "please [give
> me] the beef"
Nice explanation, Nick, and correct.  That's why I
just guessed the obvious meaning of X is Y instead of
the contextual meaning (As for X,...).

Regards
Matt33

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