You’ve got it. I read it more on the lines of “What is going on with this person?” , but the same gist, regardless. 
6 Likes
Oh, hey, I should have read your full post before responding to it. I just read the question on the breakdown because I was just leaving work. 
I have a couple of minor corrections for you on Pg. 3.
Pg. 3
「いいの?」generally means “Is it okay?” Or “Are you sure?” or something along those lines, especially if it has a question mark as opposed to “oh, good”, which is why the next line 「うん」would be a casual yes, as opposed to “umm”.
I agree with the “I will go ahead then,” translation you have. That’s how I interpreted it, also.
6 Likes
Awesome, thanks for corrections!
4 Likes
Pages 5-8, skipping onomatopoeia
くそ。。。ここで少しでも恥ずかしがったらたかぎさんの思うつぼだ。。。
Damn… now it is a bit embarrassing, just as expected from Takagi-san…
いや。。。のむよ？ぜんぜん。。。
No… I’ll drink. Why not…
なんでもない。。。こんなのなんでもないさ。。。
It’s nothing… this is nothing!
間接キスだね。
It’s an indirect kiss, right?
あぁっ！！
Aaah!
あはは 何してんの。
Hahaha, what are you doing?
６．
くそっ。
Shit.
わぁ
Wow.
７．
へぇ、よく入ったね西片。
Eh, nicely done Nishikata.// Lit. Nicely went in.
つい投げちゃったけど。。。
However, it went in by accident.
まさか入るなんて。
To think that it will go in, really…
８．
オレに。。。こんな才能があったなんて。
To think that I had such a talent.
よーし私もやってみよー。
Okay, I’'l do it too, just see.
はっはっはー どこねらってんの。
Hahaha, where do you aim!
ぜんっぜん届いてないよ高木さん！！！
It absolutely did not reach, Takagi-san!
Questions.
-
To translate なんて at the end of sentences, I used “to think that” (expresses …astonishment). Is it proper choice? Examples:
まさか入るなんて。
オレに。。。こんな才能があったなんて。 -
What’s み is doing here:
よーし私もやってみよー。
Is it te-form of やる plus root of 見る, so “I’ll do and I see”, but also it could be “I’ll do and you see”, which is more suitable here from context.
Anyway, I’ managed half a chapter this time, the rest of story I’ll get from pictures and anime. See you all at Chapter 6!
7 Likes
- That is a serviceable translation. なんて is used to emphasize what comes before it, and expresses surprise, whether positive or negative.
This page explains it fairly well:
https://maggiesensei.com/2013/09/02/how-to-use-なんてnante/
- やってみよう is, I think, related to the てみる grammar point, which essentially means to give something a try. 「やってみる」would thus be, “try to do”, and since it’s in volitional form, I would translate that sentence as, “Alright, I’ll try and do it too.”
More on てみる here, if you are interested. My explanations aren’t the greatest at times :
https://maggiesensei.com/2014/05/12/how-to-use-〜てみる -te-miru /
9 Likes
Thanks for the grammar points links (my grammar is very lacking). This なんて is one monster to translate nicely. Even if you get the gist of meaning, there are just so many nuances.
4 Likes
No problem! My own grammar is pretty lacking, and there are definitely a few grammar points I have given up on coming up with a clean translation for altogether because of their complexity, just accepting that I’ll eventually (hopefully, maybe someday) just “get it,” so to speak. My overall goal is to be able to just inherently read Japanese as Japanese and not have to rely on English, after all.
That is to say, I totally get what you mean about なんて being a monster… という and I are in that same kind of boat of, “Hm. I think I get it,” only to realise that sometimes…nope. sure don’t!
6 Likes
第６かのために単語リストを終えましたところ！
どうぞ
Edit… Meant For the next chapter
7 Likes
ありがとうございます!
4 Likes
Hi friends, I felt pretty good about this chapter, I think I got all the gist of it but still there are some grammatical structures that I would like to understand better (and surprise surprise, half of them are on Page 16 
).
Page 2
押すもん
I get that this is the verb 押す (to push) and perhaps もん is short for もの (thing), so literally it would translate to “Thing that pushes”?
I guess don’t understand how one would use this sentence to mean “That’s ok I’ll get off the bike and push it” like I believe it is what 高木さん intended here.
Page 11
ほらほらさっさ投げなよ、外したら私の勝ちだからね。
Why is the verb 投げる (to throw) being used as its ます stem here? This ます stem thing has appeared a couple of times already and I’m having a hard time understanding the usage of it.
Page 16
ま、別にいいや何もしなくても。
I think this was the one that gave me the most trouble in this chapter in terms of grammar.
First of all, what is that や being used after the 別にいい (I don’t care)? Is it just the sentence ending や particle instead of the most commonly used よ (for 別にいいよ)?
And the second part, the question is twofold: (1) 何も (nothing) しなくて (to not do), wouldn’t result in a double negative “to not do nothing”, instead of (what I think it’s the correct interpretation) “to not do anything”? And (2) what is that も at the end? I tried searching for Vte + も but to no avail.
Page 16
And last but not least…
なんか一生勝てなくなるがするから
I found the grammar point なくなる on A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar to mean that “something has reached the point where some state or action does not take place any more”, which makes sense here, but it doesn’t list the て form of the verb as a possible construct; so why is it being used here?
4 Likes
I don’t have answers for all your questions but I’ll try my best for the ones I can manage
Page 2
The もん here is this one I think: Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary
Page 16
So I think that this first one is confusing because the sentence is in a weird order. You’re right about や, I think. but the ても here is actually sort of てもいい, so she’s explain what’s 別のいい
As for 何も, it’s not actually negative on its own, it means “nothing” when put together with a negative verb so there’s no double negative.
This isn’t a て form at all (that would be 勝って), but 勝てない (can’t win), the negative potential form. So it’s becoming unable to win.
I think the bit on Page 11 is related to the なさい form, but I’m not sure how.
Edit: meant to hit the post reply button instead of the thread one @rafascar but I guess I missed
8 Likes
Pg. 2
I think the もん actually isn’t related to もの at all, but is the contracted form of the verb. る gets turned into ん quite a bit in casual speech. We have seen it a few times in earlier chapters of this manga, but the common phrase you will run into in a lot of anime/manga is 「何してんの?」 meaning, “What are you doing?” It’s short for 「何しているの?」 and is a pretty easy example of the る getting smushed to an ん. I could be wrong, but I believe that’s what is happening in this case as well, though I think it would actually be 押すもろ (volitonal form) being shortened. Hence, “I will push (it).”
Editing: I may be extrapolating somewhere I shouldn’t be… ん can also be used to shorten ない, so it would be too confusing for it to be for る as well, except when followed by certain sounds, on second thought…
Edit 2: Ah, got it. Related to auxiliary む and volitional form. Classical Japanese strikes again. Here is a link that talks about it, using a different example. grammar - Verb ending in -ん with positive meaning? - Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Edit 3: @2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz’s explanation fits much better. The も shouldn’t be attached to 押す, and I blanked that. I will still leave this link here, though. Might come in handy for something else in future!
Pg. 11
Pretty sure this is related to なさい form, which is an imperative form of speech. You usually hear it when a parent is giving a command to a child. I’m not sure what the connotations are behind it being shortened to なよ instead of なさいよ. Maybe it softens it so it isn’t as harsh of a command?
I think なさい is technically the polite form of the command, but it never seems to be used that way from what I have seen (usually it is used by a character in a condescending way from what I have seen), but could just be the materials I’m consuming. Heh.
6 Likes
Page 2
For this one, I recommend checking the notes for もの in A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. It’s something I’m still working on getting used to, so I’m not able to give an explanation of its usage.
Page 11
It’s common for (verb)なさい to be shortened to (verb)な. You’ll see it more, so it’s something to keep an eye out for!
Page 16
I tried typing up some explanations here, but I found I don’t have sufficient experience with how Takagi’s worded some things, and with explaining parts of it, and I failed =(
Regarding 何も…ない, I will say that the negative in “nothing” comes from the ない portion. (Japanese to English dictionaries muddy the understanding of this a bit). I recommend watching the following Cure Dolly videos to begin to better understand 何も:
- Japanese mo particle: What textbooks don’t tell you
- How MO works in combinations: nanimo, nandemo, daremo, daredemo, doudemo, sukoshimo, kamoshiremasen
I believe this is 勝つ (“to win”) in the potential form 勝てる (“able to win”), and then negative 勝てない (“not able to win”). Then make that the て form (ない becomes なくて) and connect なる (“to become”), and you have “to become not able to win”.
7 Likes
My understanding is that this もん（sometimes optionally followed by だ), used at the end of a sentence is a grammatical structure that denotes an emphasis stating that something is obvious or common sense from the speakers point of view. The basic dictionary of japanese grammar gives some examples like this one:
どうして食べないの？ => Why don’t you eat it?
だって、まずいもの => 'Cause it tastes awful.
This is the same that is happening here. Nishikata asks Takagi-san what she’s going to do about her bike, and she says:
押すもん => I’ll push it, obviously.
The もん is emphasizing that this solution is just common sense. If they want to go together, she can’t ride on her bike, so she’ll just have to push (the bike).
Further reading: Bunpro link. JapaneseTest4You link, JLPTSensei link
12 Likes
super awesome… it’s amazing how useful this is literally RIGHT NOW for something else I’m reading 
stupid N3 grammar I haven’t gotten to yet…(grumble) 
6 Likes
In an amazing coincidence, 5 minutes after I wrote that post that grammar point popped up for burn review in bunpro =^.^=
A bit more detailed explanation about why ものだ means what it means
I thought I could delve a bit deeper into why the ものだ grammar structure means what it means, in case anyone is interested.
The dictionary of basic japanese grammar sort of cryptically describes this as “present a situation as it were a tangible object”. もん(だ) comes from もの => thing; so literally this says “A is a thing”, where A is the sentence that precedes it.
To give an example that would work in English, suppose friends A and B go to a convenience store. When they reach the cash register, friend A takes out his wallet and says “Oh no, I forgot my credit card at home! What do we do!?” and gets all panicky. Friend B just shakes his head and says “Paying with cash is a thing, you know?” and then pulls a couple bills and pays for the items they bought.
Returning to our Takagi-san’s line 「押すもん」, she’s saying “Pushing (a bike) is a thing”. Just like in our English example, “押す” is being treated like a tangible object “The act of pushing”, basically, and its very existence emphasized “The act of pushing exists”. This emphasis on a situation or action is what gives it the meaning of being common sense or obvious for the speaker.
11 Likes
This is me every time I read a new grammar point on A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. I feel that I finally understand what is written only after I already understand it, as paradoxically as it may sound. An amazing resource though, once you get the hang of it.
Thank you for all your mindful responses and all the resources, I’m about to dive deep into the details now, but already so much has cleared up–like my weak recognition of the て form .
I was not expecting this level of commitment as I’m coming in this late to the party, but as always in this forum, your amazingness surprised me once more. 
7 Likes
Phhhraww, I’ve managed to finish chapter 5 in 3 days, helped largely by this thread of course.
A huge thanks to everyone for their breakdowns, questions, and answers. They’ve been extremely helpful.
I think this chapter also seemed a bit easier than previous ones, we had a few very light pages/panels, and fewer long internal monologues, so I’m not expecting this pace to continue.
Some sentences I’m not sure how to breakdown, apologies if I’ve missed discussion on them.
Page 9 panel 1
勝負？別にいいよ負けないしオレ
“A match? I’m not going to lose”
Breakdown:
勝負 match/game
別に not especially
いいよ good!
負けない to lose, negative
し ???
オレ I
I’m not sure about what that し is doing, and how to combine 別に and いいよ.
Page 9 panel 5, Nishikata
もし高木さんが勝ったらなんでも言うコト聞いてあげるよ。
"If Takagi wins, then (I’ll do?) whatever you say (ask?), (I’ll listen to you?).
Breakdown:
もし if, in case of, supposing
高木さんが
勝ったら to win, conditional
なんでも anything, whatever
言うコト thing that is said
聞いて to listen in te form
あげる aux. to do (for someone else’s benefit)
よ exclamation
I’m not confident on 言うコト聞いてあげる
Page 9 panel 5, Takagi
言ってくれるわね！
Not sure how to translate this. From context I think she is continuing from the previous line from Nishikata.
Guess: “(you’ll do whatever I) say for me…”
Breakdown:
言って to say in te form
くれる aux. to do for one
わね！magic sentence ending particle dust
6 Likes
Page 9
し is used after giving a reason. Here, he says 「別にいいよ」, then gives the reason why he said that: 「負けない」 (This looks to be a spot where a sentence doesn’t end in a period, following the よ. Looks like the same happened on the prior page.)
This article touches on it a bit, although I can’t really grasp it well from that.
As something of an expression, you can take 別にいい to mean “that’s fine” or “I’m okay with that” or “whatever”. As an expression, it’s used to reluctantly affirm that something is okay as it is.
Here’s my understanding, based partly on experience. If anyone sees any mistakes, don’t hesitate to correct me!
Think of “verbて＋あげる” as “I’ll do you the favor or [verb]” or “I’ll do [verb] as a favor to you”.
Thought of that way, whether 聞く means “to hear (listen)” or “to ask” becomes more clear. Because Takagi would be the one asking, Nishikata is saying he will listen.
What will he listen to? One can listen to music, one can listen to complains, one can listen to the sounds of nature. To specify what one is listening to (or will listen to), we can modify it. In this case, the modifier is なんでも言うコト.
The なんでも言う part is simple “whatever you say”. The こと can take some time to get a feel for, but it’s sort of like the word “thing” in English when used for intangible things. Sort of like when your friend misses your wedding, and afterwards he tells you, “The thing is, I lost track of time in the WaniKani polls thread.”
For NIshikata, the “thing” he’ll listen to is “whatever you say”. Anything that Takagi comes up with, he’ll listen.
I believe the “I’ll listen to whatever you say” has a nuance of “I’ll do whatever you say” here.
At its core, it’s essentially “You’re telling me”. But I’m not certain the specific nuance.
The くれる here is like あげる, but in the other direction. We saw あげる from Nishikata saying he’d do the favor of listening, and this くれる from Takagi is him doing the favor of saying.
You get a feel for these over time.
9 Likes
I see @ChristopherFritz is responding and his reply will be way better than mine I’m sure…and he already finished before I got through し haha…
3 Likes