The idea is that everyone is able to edit, it’s a group project. I’ve looked again, it should be editable by anyone with the link now.
I must admit, this is only the second book we’ve tried having a grammar sheet. People were busy filling it in the first few days but then I think it kind of died off. I put in a couple of links for chapter 3 when I edited the permissions.
Traditionally we’ve just had a vocab spreadsheet. I’ve tried to keep this one up to date as we go along so that should be fairly complete.
「そうだ。大切な音楽を捨てて、僕は死ねない。
“Right. If I abandon my cherished music, I can’t die.
心の中から、音が消えたわけじゃないんだ。
It’s not that the music vanished from my mind.
小さい頃聞いた川のせせらぎ、鳥の冴えずり……。
When I was a child I listened to the murmuring of the river and the chirping of the birds …
懐かしい音が、心にまだ残っているじゃないか!
Aren’t these nostalgic sounds still remaining in my heart!
それを曲にしよう。」
Let’s turn these into a tune.”
Yes, maybe that’s even better. I was a bit confused by the 僕は being in the middle of the sentence and not at the beginning. So i thought there is some kind of break in the middle: the idea of abandoning the music and then the opposing speaker, who cannot die. But I don’t know if this makes sense at all.
When you use a て form to connect two actions, you put the first verb in て form and the last verb in past or non past form depending on when the action took place. When you translate this into English, the first verb is written in the same tense as the second. Eg
今朝パンを食べてコーヒーを飲みました。
This morning I ate bread and drank coffee.
But I’m assuming that isn’t the same for things like potential form? It would be possible to write the first verb in potential form and て form if you wanted to.
Regardless, whether you translate it as:
I can’t abandon my cherished music and die,
or,
I can’t die and abandon my cherished music
Whichever way round you put it in English the verb “abandon” ends up acquiring the quality of “I can’t”.
I think if you phrase it slightly differently, this might untie the “potential carry-over” that we see in English (because I don’t think the first part is meant to be in potential anyways):
I can’t die (in the state of) having thrown away my music.
Now you can complain that there is no past tense for the first part, but sometimes tenses work differently in different languages, and since ~て can mark an “and then” relationship, I’m taking the liberty to put the first part in past tense in this case
音楽家の、新たな挑戦でした。
This was a new challenge for the musician.
耳が聞こえなくても、生きる勇気を持って、音楽を作り続けようと決めたベートーベンは、その後、迫力溢れる曲を、どんどん生み出していきました。
Beethoven, who had life spirit even if he couldn’t hear, and who had decided to keep on composing, after this continued to steadily produce music overflowing with strength.
音楽家の、新たな挑戦でした。
For a musician, it was a new challenge.
耳が聞こえなくても、生きる勇気を持って音楽を作り続けようと決めたベートーベンは、その後、迫力あふれる曲を、どんどん生み出していきました。
Even though he couldn’t hear, Beethoven decided to have the courage to live and to continue composing music, and thereafter created more and more impressive compositions.
フランスの革命で活躍したナポレオンをイメージした、『英雄』。
“Eroica”, inspired by Napoléon, who was active in the French Revolution.
「運命は扉を叩き、ふいに訪れる」という思いから生まれた、『運命』。
The “Fate [Symphony]”, born from the thought of “Fate knocking at the gate, visiting unexpectedly”.
そして、「喜びの歌」で知られる『交響曲第九番』。
And the “Symphony Nr. 9”, known for the “Ode to Joy”.
この曲は、人々の平和を願って作られたものです。
This piece of music was composed as a pray for peace for all people.
今でも、日本では毎年十二月になると、町のあちこちから流れてくる名曲です。
Even now, in December, this famous piece of music is to be heard in towns throughout Japan.
「悩みを乗り越えて、喜びを掴め。」
“Overcome your troubles and seize your joy.”
ベートーベンは、五十六歳で亡くなるまでに、三百曲の作品を生み出しました。
Before he died at the age of 56, Beethoven had composed 300 works.