If you're not too busy, could you give more examples of mey rins bad grammar speech? I find that quirk cool and interesting for some reason. When she says "I am are". You don't have to and sorry if you get too much requests. Btw I like your drawings for musical reviews. You draw them anime but still keep actors features, its amazing.
【Reference to Kuro 157 Summary and Thoughts】
Dear Anon,
Of course, it is my pleasure (⌒∇⌒)
So… this post will basically be ‘Lost in Translation III’, following Lost in Translation I and Lost in Translation II
Double Verbs
The most regular and iconic grammatical error of ‘clumsymaid!Meyrin’ is the double verb of ‘to be’ です (desu) with だ (da).
TLN: ‘Desu’ is the polite form of the verb ‘to be’, whereas ‘da’ is the dictionary form.
Left ←
バルドッ はしたないですだよ！
Barudo Hashitanai desu da yo!
Bard, [it] is are improper!
Here, the proper grammar should be: “Hashitanai desu yo!” Meyrin however, added an unnecessary ‘da’ to her sentence. As ‘desu/da’ is already the ‘to be’ verb, it is incredibly unnatural to use this verb twice.
Right →
ハイですだ
HAI desu da
[It] is are Yes
In this case Meyrin is simply replying to Sebastian who tells her to hand him the letter. While a simple ‘Hai’ (Yes) would have sufficed, Meyrin added not one but two unnecessary verbs. ‘Desu’ and ‘da’ never follow each other, except - just like in English - when a speaker is specifically referring to vocabulary/grammar. (e.g. “it is ‘are’.)
Unnecessary Verb
すごくよく見えますだ
Sugoku yoku miemasu da
I am can see very well
Here the ‘da’ is entirely redundant as well. By just removing the ‘da’, the sentence would have been perfectly grammatical.
Incorrect Conjugation
Another trait of her incorrect grammar quick is the reoccurring incorrect conjugation
All the sentences spoken by Meyrin in the panels below are grammatically incorrect, but for the sake of this post, I shall only discuss the circled two.
Left ←
バルド イライラする良いないネ
Barudo, ira ira suru yoi nai ne
Bard, it goodn’t so grumpy
Here, Meyrin wrongly conjugates the adjective ‘yoi’ (良い・good). The correct negative conjugation of this verb should have been ‘yoku nai’, not ‘yoi nai’.
Even if this adjective were properly conjugated, it still reads rather unnatural. It would be best to add a nominaliser ‘no wa’ (のは・’the act of xxx-ing’) to equate the verb to a noun before the phrase can be considered natural.
Hence, the grammatically correct phrase should have been:
イライラするのは良くないネ
ira ira suru no wa yoku nai ne
The act of being grumpy is not good
Right →
牛乳馬鹿にするでないよ
Gyuunyuu baka ni suru de nai yo
It’s not do make fun milk
Here too Meyrin uses faulty negative conjugation. The correct negative conjugation of imperative verbs should be ‘suru na’. Furthermore, she is also missing a particle ‘wo’ (を) in order to indicate the object to which the verb applies. Therefore, the correct phrase should have been:
牛乳を馬鹿にするなよ
Gyuunyuu wo baka ni suru na yo
Don’t make fun of milk
間違いあるないネ
Machigai aru nai ne
[There] amn’t mistake, indeed
Here Meyrin uses the wrong negative conjugation for ‘aru’ (ある・to exist).
‘Aru’ is an irregular verb, and its negative form should be conjugated as simply ‘nai’. Therefore, the grammatically correct sentence should be:
間違いないね
Machigai nai ne
There’s no mistake, indeed
‘Aru nai’ is indeed a mistake that many new learners of Japanese make, though this level of mistake is incongruous with the relatively high-level vocabulary/grammar Meyrin sometimes uses WITHIN the same sentence.
But then again… as a student of languages myself…
I hope this post helps add some extra enjoyment to consuming the manga!