Hi everyone! I hope it’s fine to open a topic for that
I’m trying to read through the book below, but I’ve noticed a very specific grammar point that I don’t seem to grasp my head around?
In the picture below, I marked in blue the two sentences that I don’t understand the meaning of and with green the specific part that bothers me.
In the first sentence, I don’t understand how I should understand the ‘tara’ construct.
I get it that the sentence is a quote of this girl (Naomi) basically inviting one of the main characters (Mika) to play at her house to play games, but I would like a more accurate translation / explanation of the sentence from a senpai who knows better.
In the other sentence (the second blue box), I don’t fully understand why there is an ‘o’ particle there and / or why there is the ‘itta’ form.
Oh wow… lol, I’m stupid. Yes, of course. For some reason I thought it came from iru
But does that sound off? Or maybe I’m getting it wrong. In the first part of the quote, she says “Mika chan, Today, Do you wanna come play games at my house?”. Wouldn’t it be weird if she followed on that by saying “If/when I ask / tell mum about you, if you can come over and play…”.
I also know たら as ‘if’, but I just couldn’t make sense of the sentence somehow…
I consulted my Dictionary of Japanese Grammar, to see if there would be a good explanation, but I see you already crossed that part out. I’m of no help at all am I? Lol
The key part is the って at the end, which is short for “という”
So she means “that is, if I talk to my mother (about you) and if she accepts”
Basically, the speaker is inviting Mika before having proper authorization to do so.
I think both instances of ーたら mean different things, actually.
Ok, so the first 話したら means something more along the lines of “when I talked to…” Japanese people use this construction really often when describing sequential events.
The second たら (遊びに来てもらったら) I THINK is an abbreviation for 遊びに来てもらったらいいね (it would be nice if she came over) or something to that effect. A more advanced speaker will have to verify this, but that’s the way I understand sentences that end with たら in this context. An English speaker could also understand it as “What if Mika-chan were to come over?” implying a suggestion or desire.
To be clear, I believe the mother says 遊びに来てもらったら and not the speaker.
I’d actually like to challenge this interpretation. I think the speaker has already gotten permission, and is recounting that she has already gotten permission to Mika-chan. I think you’re translating the たらs too literally.
You interpretation fits as well.
I feel it’s hard to say without context, but based on what follows it’s probably correct.
Then the って refers to what the mother said.
Unfortunately there is no context beyond what was provided on the page, everything that came before that was just a monologue by another character about how she doesn’t like that Mika is a likable girl :3.
Oh, I see. There is another sentence with a similar structure later on, I’ll compare it with your interpretation as well and see if it makes sense (the other one had no って also, so maybe it’ll be more evident).
I agree here, it seems the first たら is an informal replacement for 話したところ. They were discussing about Mika-chan and as a result, the second たら (遊びに来てもらったら) is a roundabout way to ask for permission.
