Week 2: 薬屋のひとりごと

Ch 4 responses to answers

Ah, thank you; I’ll need to go back and re-read that section then, make sure I’ve got everyone straight.

And thank you again! Will definitely check out.

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Ch3 answer

“without knowing”. ず is the connective form of the negative (but feels a bit dated), に is itself random jlpt site on ずに

と connects to 知る (what was not known) も is emphasis (without even knowing)

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Chapter 5 Questions

首を横に振れば軽く首が飛ぶ使い捨ての端女は素直についていくしかない。
This is near the beginning of the chapter, as 壬氏 and 猫猫 are walking together. Is this saying that she goes with him because of how easily it would be for her to be punished if she didn’t? (Execution, in this case.)

「かの者を連れてまいりました」
What’s that かの者 in the beginning?

宮官は六つの尚に分けられる。衣服に携わるのが尚服で、洗濯系を主とする猫猫はそこに分けられる。
I think most of the reason I’m not sure about this sentence is due to 尚服. Is it a way to denominate the girls who work with washing clothing? Or is it a reference to the particular type of clothing they wear?

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Ch5 answers

yes. If she says no (by moving her head horizontally), said head would easily be sent flying.

かの + 者 “the person in question/that we talked about”

It’s the department/section (尚) in charge of that (and clothing in general), yes. You won’t find it in a Japanese dictionary, since it’s Chinese :stuck_out_tongue:

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Thank you for the help as always, Naphthalene! :slight_smile:

Chap 5

Excellent; I was wondering why I couldn’t find anything on Japanese Google.

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Chapter 5 question

文字が読める、読めないで下女の扱いは違う。読めるほうは読めるほうで、読めないほうは読めないほうでそれぞれ役に立つのであるが、無知なふりをしていたほうが世の中立ち回りやすいのだ。

What’s with the bolded part? I’m not really sure what the repeating phrase is doing.

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I feel like we’ve talked about this grammar point somewhere before? I’m experiencing some deja vu, haha. Maybe in 獣の奏者?

〜は〜で
同じ名詞を使って接続し、物事の対比を表します。
前件とはっきり対比させる場合、後件は「~も~で」になることがあります。
Source: nihongonosensei.net
It compares the noun being repeated to other things. The ones who can’t read have their 役 (that others don’t have), and the ones who can read have their own 役 (that others don’t have).
In this case, this same grammar point is used twice. I think it directly compares the ones who can read with the ones who can’t.

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Ah, I think the ほう and the fact that it showed up twice was throwing me off. I thought the ほう was comparing the 読める and 読めない people in a より・ほう sense. But it’s just the directional ほう (not sure “directional” is the right word, but I mean like pointing in the direction of the 読める people in one case and the 読める people in the other case, like grouping them into categories). Now that I can see simple examples from your link I can think about it similar to any other て form that can be treated adverbially as an explanation (except because of the repetition it’s almost like 私は私で… = “because I’m me…”). It feels kind of similar to なりに.

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