Omake 1
Since I occasionally run across funny sentences or interesting grammar points that are too early to put into a lesson, I’ve decided to include short ‘omake’ or extras!
I came across this sentence: ぼーっとしていて、昨日財布をどこかに落としてしまったんです。
which some of my American friends translated as (using Google): “I was drowning, and dropped my wallet somewhere yesterday.”
I was drowning, and dropped my wallet somewhere yesterday. (-_-;)・・・
It actually means: “I was being absent minded, and unfortunately dropped my wallet somewhere yesterday.” Which somehow still sounds like Dazai-san (￢_￢;)
How google comes up with ‘drowning’, I have no idea! ヽ(ˇヘˇ)ノ
Anyway, rapid sentence breakdown:
ぼーっとする botto suru: to do nothing worthwhile; to abstractedly/dazedly/dreamily do something, aka to be absent minded ～ていた: ~teita: was doing X ～て: te form: sentence/verb connector ぼーっとしていて: botto shiteite: was being absent minded 昨日: きのう:kinou: yesterday 財布: さいふ:saifu: wallet を: o particle: marks a direct object (the thing you do an action on) どこか: dokoka: somewhere に: ni particle: marks direction/location 落とす: おとす:otosu: to drop 落として: おとして:te form of otosu ~てしまう: ~teshimau: ‘unfortunately does X/ X unfortunately happens’ ~てしまった: ~teshimatta: past tense: unfortunately did X ~んです:~ ndesu: ‘n’ added to plain forms, gives a bit of emotion or empathy, and followed by da or desu