Re: Complex Clauses

Amanda Babcock wrote:

>Rob Haden wrote:
>
>> How are complex clauses handled in consistently head-last languages, such
>> as Japanese?  For example, what is the equivalent of English sentences
>> like "I am happy to see you" and (from another thread) "I know who I want
>> to take me home"?
>
>I imagine the first would be "Anata ni au koto ga suki desu", or "you with
>meet [nom] [subj] pleasurable is" ("to see you" would be meant literally;
>where we would say "see you" they'd say "meet with you").
"happy to..." or "glad to ..." is |-te ureshii|, so "I'm happy to see you"
would be |anata ni atte ureshii desu|. This would work the same with, for
example, |anata ni atte odorokimashita| "I am surprised to see you".

>As for the second, you'd need a native speaker, preferably one fully
>bilingual and fluent in English.  I know how to say "I know the person
>whom I want to take me home" (i.e. not *which* person, but rather that
>I have met them and know them), but I do not know how to say "I know who
>I want to take me home", or whether Japanese is a language in which
>that particular subtle meaning can be expressed.  (For the record, I
>believe the first meaning would be something like "hoomu ni toritai
>hito wo shirimasu", but due to pro-drop vagueness this is even more
>ambiguous than the English version: not only do we not know whose
>hoomu we're going to, but I'm not at all sure we can tell who is taking
>whom *or* who it is that desires it!  Plus I'm probably using the
>wrong word for "know".)
That's the right word for "know", but the construction is a lot simpler.
Wanting someone else to do something for you is |-te hoshii|. My best guess
is |Watashi to tsurete kaette hoshii hito o shitte imasu|, something
like "I know the person that I want to accompany me home".

M