Hey, hope this is the right place. I think this falls under Grammar. I’m still no good with Japanese but I’ve started reading odd bits here and there and working on things. In most cases I can google / hunt down an answer for my questions. In this case, I’m a bit lost.
The whole sentence is along the lines of:
竜人型であり人の体に竜の頭, 羽、尾を足した姿をしている
I think I understand this just fine. Dragon-man like dude has a dragon head, wings and tail. More or less. My confusion is near the end. What exactly is を足した姿をしている doing and how should I read this? Sorry if this is more basic than I think!
Edit: I changed how I am seeing this sentence as I was re-reading my post for typos.
竜人型であり、人の体に竜の頭、羽、尾を足した all modifies 姿
So, 姿をしている is the basic sentence. Whenever this sentence is used in a Japanese novel it just explains a character’s appearance. If you are continuously doing an appearance, it’s just the way you look. So this is just how this character looks.
竜人型であり、人の体に竜の頭、羽、尾を足した姿 Is much harder to explain.
竜の頭、羽、尾を足した is what you are adding.
竜人型であり、人の体に is what you are adding to.
You are adding the head, wings, and tail of a dragon.
You are adding it to the body of a person that has the dragon type.
竜人型であり、人の体に竜の頭、羽、尾を足した姿をしている。
Getting a perfect translation is kind impossible. But he, who has the dragon type, looks like he’s had a dragon’s head, wings, and tail added to his body. My reading of this is that this character looks like a human that has had a dragon head, wings, and tail put onto an otherwise human body.
It’s pretty complex and it’s one of those sentences you just have to let wash over you, and let it make sense as Japanese without trying to translate it. Because it’s not how English speakers talk.
So する can sometimes be used in a way that’s like “to have.”
I just came across another example of this, in case having another helps: 傘の先端部分にはーー可愛い猫ちゃんの肉球の形をしたピンクのキャプ。(At the umbrella’s tip… is a cute pink cap shaped like a cat’s paw pad.)
Here, 姿をしている is “has the form (of),” with 人の体に竜の頭、羽、尾を足した (the head, wings, and tail of a dragon added to the body of a human) modifying it.
であり is a more literary way of writing であって, a.k.a. it’s connective. If it were split apart, 竜人型である would be its own sentence with the rest being a second.
(At least I think the である phrase and the 足す phrase aren’t both sub-clauses of 姿をしている? I was thinking it wouldn’t make sense, but now I’m not so sure…)
He is a dragonman, and his form is that of a dragon’s head, wings, and tail on a human’s body.
…is a somewhat more literal translation.
I agree – grammatically it’s not impossible for ~であり~を足した to all be modifying 姿, but the parse that makes sense is 竜人型であり “he is a dragonman” and 人の体に竜の頭, 羽、尾を足した姿をしている “he has the form of …” to be X-and-Y clauses on the same level, because then we have the first clause being the short statement of the guy’s species, and the second clause explaining what we actually mean by “dragonman”.
Agreed, I was having a hard time with the に until I accepted that it was all modifying 姿, but I also had to accept that reason that 竜人型であり was there wasn’t going to make sense is an “English” way.
竜人型であり人の体に: “Added to the person’s body that is of the dragon type” was the best I could get to. But translating piece by piece to English is more trouble than it’s worth in this case. The grammar is so different.
If that were the case, then it would be である (which can act as a prenominal) rather than であり (which cannot). Changing it to the て form makes it clear that 竜人型であり is separate and 人 begins its own clause.
No, 竜人型であり doesn’t attach to 人の体に like that. Like @enbyboiwonder says, you could make it a completely separate sentence, the same way you can turn 彼は男で、日本人です。 into 彼は男です。(彼は)日本人です。
This translates fairly neatly into English use of the semicolon:
竜人型であり人の体に竜の頭, 羽、尾を足した姿をしている
He is a dragonman; he has (the form of) a human body with a dragon’s head, wings and tail attached.
Gotcha, I usually see a comma in this case, but we aren’t looking at the true original. So you’re saying it’s “They have a the dragon type, AND (new sentence same は) It looks like they’ve had a dragon’s head, wings, and tail added to their body.” Yes, that makes it simpler to understand.
Well, per usual I think we’ve answered this question with far more depth than is needed and, as is sometimes the case, possibly more than the OP is ready for or desires.
Hahaha, there was a lot to unpack in all this but I’ve gotten a much better understanding. I appreciate the help from you all. You’re right about this not being the true original as I can’t copy / paste it. I have realised I seem to have missed a comma (I think although one quote implies otherwise). The entire sentence as I see it in the novel is:
竜人型であり、人の体に竜の頭、羽、尾を足した姿をしている
In that exact format. Sorry for any extra confusion I added!
This part especially is a huge help. Appreciate this a lot.
This makes a lot of sense, thank you!
Again, appreciate all those answers. Each one of them has really helped although I don’t understand every part of them yet! Thank you all!
Just wanted to say that while a comma not following the -ます stem when it’s used to connect clauses can be confusing, especially when you’re not used to it (or else simply haven’t consciously registered it, like me until I’d already been reading for two years), it’s also not uncommon to see it like that. A lot of commas in JP are actually entirely optional, including with this usage of the -ます stem. I couldn’t tell you whether it’s more common to use or not use one in this case, though, but there’s no difference in meaning between the two. So that could be something to keep in mind as well. The -ます stem followed directly by another word isn’t always going to be a compound.
Thanks for this, I’ll keep it in mind. This different conjugations and stems are the area I struggle with most at the moment so I appreciate the help around how that can be used.
