Re: OT: Japanese help

Mark J. Reed wrote:
> This is completely off-topic, but I've noticed that there are
> several Japanese speakers on the list, and I could use a little
> help with a translation problem.  I don't wish to clutter the
> list so please reply directly to me if you wish to help.  Any
> guidance at all would be greatly appreciated.
My Japanese is rusty, and I was never fluent (or close), but I'll give
it a shot.

> I'm trying to translate the sentence [fragment] "[It] Cannot possibly
> lose". I have "Toutei makeru kirenai shimasu", but that's just a guess.
> The dictionary has "kirenai" for "cannot; be unable to", but there's
> no part of speech given.  The -ai reminds me of "ai" and therefore
> makes me think it's one of those nouns that turns into a verb by adding
> "suru".  Wild guess.
Look to the "-nai" instead. That's the negative nonpast plain form verb
ending. "Kirenai" seems like it should be the negative plain form of the
verb "kireru", which my dictionary defines as "to cut well, be
disconnected, run out of, expire". It may be an idiomatic thing, I'm not
sure. For "cannot", my dictionary gives "dekinai", which is the negative
or "dekiru", "to be able to".

> Toutei is listed as "(cannot)  possibly", so I'm pretty confident about that
> choice.  Also about "makeru" for "lose, be defeated".  But I'm not sure what
> form it should take in conjunction with "kirenai".  For all I know I should
> use "makeimasu kirenai" (or vice-versa) and leave off the "suru".
Probably not...the "-masu" ending is the polite form, and that's never
used when the verb is subordinate (at least, IME. I could be wrong).
"Dekiru", when used to describe abilities, requires the action as a
noun, so you need to nominalize the verb using one of the nominalizing
particles (either "no" or "koto"). I think your sentence would be
something like "Makeru no ga toutei dekimasen."

Reply