That was very interesting! Thanks for sharing =D
I can see how it works that way too, I like it =)
I failed to convey the proper nuance of this in my previous post. The way you are using the -て form is for consecutive actions, I eat and then I sleep.
The てくる and ていく add a nuance to the verb, It has the meaning that you do the action in a certain direction.
(私に) 先生 が 宿題 を 見せてきました。
Would mean that the teacher came to show me the homework instead of he showed the homework then came to me.
You can also use the motion verbs “to go” （行く）and “to come” （来る） with the te-form, to show that an action is oriented toward or from someplace. The most common and useful example of this is the verb 「持つ」 (to hold). While 「持っている」 means you are in a state of holding something (in possession of), when the 「いる」 is replaced with 「いく」 or 「くる」, it means you are taking or bringing something. Of course, the conjugation is the same as the regular 「行く」 and 「来る」.
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Ah I see! That makes sense, thanks for the additional info.
I’ve never studied Japanese so hard as I have over the past week or so, thanks to this wonderful reading group. I can’t believe how inspiring it is. Thank you!
Anyway, can I ask a really basic beginner question? Sorry!
On page 21 the girl looks at よつば and thinks この辺じゃ見ない子だ.
I know what she is thinking: この辺 means around here. 見ない means “don’t see” and 子 means child. So she must be thinking she hasn’t seen that child around there before.
My question is, what does じゃ mean in this sentence? Does it add any meaning? How does it relate to じゃない? Sorry if my question is too dumb, but I can’t figure it out.
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じゃ here is what I think is referred to as a colloquialism. It’s essentially a shortened form of では. しゃない Is itself a colloquialism of ではない.
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Thank you so much! I feel bad asking, because my level is soo low, but I would have expected 見じゃない or 見ではない but here we have じゃ見ない. And it is that which has thrown me I think. My apologies for being so slow this morning!
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Of course! And theres no need to apologize at all, we all ask questions, it’s what the group is for! But remember, じゃない wouldn’t come after a verb, the sentence would just end 見ない. では here is a combination of particles で, to mark where something is happening, and は introducing that phrase as the topic.
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Got it! Thank you! Thank you so much Kingcarnie. You’ve just helped everything fall into place! Thank you!
(And I laughed out loud at the next panel when she thinks that よつば must be a foreign kid! Brilliant!)
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Oh man. I finally started reading today! I printed out the first chapter so I can annotate it, but wow it’s still a lot of work. I should’ve started earlier haha. I managed to read the first few pages (up to page 6 according to my copy) and it’s slow-going and tiring, but a lot of fun haha
I’m not gonna lie, it took me a while to work out that ここ家がいっぱいあるなー meant “there are a lot of houses here.” I had worked myself up to “At this house here, there is a lot,” until I continued reading and got to お店もある which was easier for me to figure out, and made the last one make a lot more sense sdfghjk
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Interesting… On page 14, pops is talking to Janbo. Janbo is wondering where Yotsuba went. Pops says: まぁ腹減ったら帰ってくるだろ。I understand this as “Ah, if she gets gets hungry she will come to return home.” What do you guys think?
So thinking about that, and I think someone mentioned this already, but it seems Yotsuba’s dad is not in the mood for looking for her. Maybe because he is used to her running off like that? Maybe he is tired after moving boxes into the new house? Maybe he is just a lazy S.O.B. in general? Maybe he thinks of her as some pet, like a cat? It will be an interesting contrast between the sucrose inspired levels of energy produced by Yotsuba and the meh-ness exhibited by her dad.
You will understand it more as you keep reading, but its like you said first. She runs off and does her own thing frequently. Pretty much He’s just saying “She’ll come back when she gets hungry” with an implication of “She does this a lot.”
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On page 24, the girl says: 自分で反動つけたら動くから
自分で - by yourself
反動 - reaction, rebound
つけた -
ら (after た form) - if
動く - to move
から - because
My question is, what is this つけた ending?
And how would you translate her sentence?
How about “Because you move if you push by yourself” - ?
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I believe that her sentence actually bleeds into the next panel, where she says それじゃあね. 反動 can also mean kick which I think works better here. So it would be, “If you kick, you move on your own, so goodbye!”
Edit: Oops, blanked a bit. To actually answer the question you asked, in casual speech articles get dropped a lot. In this case を was dropped. 反動をつける is how it becomes a verb instead of a noun. Sorry!
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So the verb is “to make”? (or am I writing before engaging brain?) Edit: Yes, I am! LOL!
In any case, you are indeed a king, Kingcarnie! Thank you again so much! I’m much indebted to you!
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The と particle here serves as a kind of conditional particle.
“It is dangerous when leaning too far out of the window.”
This is how I understood it, though.
I’m really enjoying following along so far! Thank you to everyone who has asked and answered questions!
I’m having trouble with the sound effects on page 10 and 11 where Yotsuba hops out of the truck. I can’t even tell what some of the characters are. This is my best guess:
ブウン
ばフ (which makes no sense because it’s a mix of hiragana and katakana)
ばん
ガ (with really really big dots)
ブンブン
Just from context I’m guessing the meanings are:
truck stopping
hop
door slam
hair rustle
either more hair rustle or big grin
Thanks in advance for any help on this!
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In the bottom right panel of page 13 (paper):
とうちゃん：変なもん持ってくんなよ
ジャンボ：俺はプリンが好きなんだ
とうちゃん：いや おまえの 嗜好はいい
I translate this as
Yotsuba’s father: Don’t get something strange
Jumbo: I like pudding
Yotsuba’s father: oh, you have good taste
What’s up with the pudding? Is that a normal gift for new neighbors?
Am I correctly translating いや as just a filler?
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I think the “ばフ” you’re asking about is actually “ばっ”, making it like a short sudden onomatopoetic word imitating her leaping out of the car
The ブウン seems to be like a “swish” noise, maybe imitating the parking of the car?
ばん is imitating the closing of the car door
ガ seems like a “bonk” sound, imitating him patting her head
ブンブン is like “shake, shake”, imitating the sound of her shaking her head
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Thank you so much! Gosh that doesn’t look like a っ at all to me but now that I know this I’ll probably be able to recognize it in the future! I really appreciate your help 
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