Can someone kindly explain me this please?

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endarion88
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Can someone kindly explain me this please?

Post by endarion88 »

hi everyone, as i already said in my introduction post i've been studing japanese for about 6 months and today when i was doing my textbooks exercise i found something that is not really clear to me and i would really appreciate if someone could take a minute to give me a clarification.

now, the exercise was about translating a little tale of doraemon i won't copy all the exercise but only the line that give me doubts

おなかが痛くなって、トイレに行ったのです。

now, if think normaly the obivious meaning would be "he had gone to the toilet becouse his stomach urted" but...isnt that 痛くなって a negative? so it would be "did not hurt"?
but that would make no sense, "he had gone to the toilet becouse his stomach did not hurt''? i think i'm mistaking something here but i don't really get it so if someone would be so kind to explain this i would be really gratefull, thank you in advance
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EusthEnoptEron
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Re: Can someone kindly explain me this please?

Post by EusthEnoptEron »

What you mean is "痛くない", which is an adjective that stands by itself.
In the sentence you posted, however, it's 痛くなる. An adjective (itai -> itaku) combined with the verb "naru" (to become). So your original interpretation is correct. For comparison, to express the (unlogical) variant where his stomach doesn't hurt, one would have to write "お腹が痛くなくて、トイレに行ったのです。" or "お腹が痛くなくなって、トイレに行ったのです。"

For the grammatical facts, try reading this:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/gr ... naru#part3
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endarion88
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Re: Can someone kindly explain me this please?

Post by endarion88 »

aah thank you very much! i didn't realize that "NA' was from the "naru" and mistook it for the negative it's clear now thank you very much again for the quick reply.
would be ok to keep this treadh open in case i found something else i don't get? ofcourse i will try to ask as less as possible to don't bother you all too much
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endarion88
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Re: Can someone kindly explain me this please?

Post by endarion88 »

hem ok sorry to bother again i have found again a line i'm not 100% sure how to translate

line in doubth is the one squared in red

i translated it as

this poem will be completed when the person that read it will count and give name to the clouds

i'm not sure if i got the right meaning

also sorry for the double post i thought that if i simply edited the previous one no one would notice the new question, sorry again to bother whit my questions
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joay_b
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Re: Can someone kindly explain me this please?

Post by joay_b »

I think you got the meanings right. The problem now is rephrasing it for readability and aesthetics.

Example: "This poem is complete when its reader has counted and named the clouds."
まず隗より始めよ。
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endarion88
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Re: Can someone kindly explain me this please?

Post by endarion88 »

i see, thank you for the reply
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