Re: Futurese

Mike writes:

>| Yi? I'm losing it on the terminology here, but "wa" is the topic,
>| "ga" is the subject when a sentence requires both. In many
>| utterances, topic and subject are the same and can be covered with
>| "wa"; "ga" on its own throws a different emphasis on the sentence.
>| (At least, that's the way WE learned it.)
>
>         That is also what I learned. "Wo" is the indirect object. "Wa" is
>usually the subject, since it's natural to make the topic the subject, and
>is often used as such.
>         However, as I recall, there is a set of verbs that require a "ga"
>subject, and using only a "wa" topic with these is considered grammatically
>incorrect. I think suki (like, have friendly affection) is one of them; you
>have to specifically state the person doing the liking (with "ga") and the
>direct object, not just name a person as "the topic" and indicate there is
>liking going on.
"Wo" is *direct* object.  As for "suki", the person doing the liking,
if expressed, takes "wa", the thing liked takes "ga". Watashi wa
sashimi ga suki desu.  (awkwardly in English: As for me, sashimi is
the liked thing.) (whereas in English "I like sashimi.", "sashimi" is
a direct object). There is no dierct object in this Japanese
sentence. "Hoshii" (want) works the same way since it's an adjective
in Japanese. Watashi wa koohii ga hoshii (desu). (I want coffee).
Volitional verbs are also, technically, adjectives and are supposed
to work the same way. Biiru ga nomitai. (I want to drink beer.). This
usage is gradually being supplanted by the direct object marker:
Biiru o nomitai. It's still in flux, and I think purists still insist
on "ga" here.

>    I think only the car uses "in".
>    Otherwise, my vague recollection from high school is:
>  Very small vehicles (bicycle, skateboard, scooter): on, because you are
>literally on it.
>  Public vehicles: "on"
>  Private vehicles: "in"
WE never had to *learn* this in school, so it's interesting to see
this formulated this way.

>         This is a bit OT, but it brings up something I read before.
>         I read long ago that for a sentence like "me cake give", *when
>working in English*, the initial interpretation depends on if the person is
>more right-brain or left-brain oriented.
[snip]

*Interesting* theory. Dunno if it's true and don't have enough
knowledge to weigh in, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Kou