ねえ、日よう日、予定を入れてもいい？
Hey, can I make plans on Sunday?
The issue (as you could probably guess from the title), is that I’m confused on how Japanese constructs different meanings from words that don’t really seem to have anything to do with what is happening.
Like 入れる is to insert, so how would “inserting a plan” make any sense? It feels super awkward to think about constructing sentences in that way if I try to reverse-construct them from English into Japanese. Using つける to say “make a plan” makes way more sense.
Furthermore, I’m scared to ask, but is this a frequent thing I have to worry about?
Yes. That is one of the reasons why in a language as different as japanese it is not a good habit to translate from your native language into japanese. You will get your point across most likely but will never sound natural.
Concerning your stumble here. Think about it as putting the plan into a free slot in your imaginary calender. Other verbs you can use with 予定 include stuff like する which is probably closest to how you think about the concept (but doesn’t mean make plan) and 立てる as an example.
The concept extends btw into usages like 空いている which means having space in your imaginary calander and therefore being free/having time.
I would advice you to look up collocations when you stumble upon such an interesting verb usage. (Sadly jisho only has 予定を変える in this case.)
“Make” means to like manufacture an object so how does “manufacturing the object known as plans” make any sense?
The answer is words mean a lot of different things, some of which are completely different. 入れる isn’t just “insert” the same way “make” isn’t just manufacture. If you want to make sense of verb usage, don’t rely on a singular translation for one definition for everything. Crack open a japanese dictionary and you’re sure to find a definition that fits it.
Yeah that’s why we don’t do that. That’s bad. Translation of individual words for certain phrasings between languages is a crutch people use at the start that might help if you need to get your point across, but the goal is to separate the two. When you form japanese sentences, an English thought should not cross your mind.
