This is the indefinite-pronoun の (i.e. it’s standing in for another noun, like えさ) plus the embedded-question か. Literally " ‘Which ones are good?’ I was worrying".
Yes. Just as ～ちゃう is the contraction of ～てしまう, ～じゃう comes from ～でしまう
Nice chapters indeed, and I feel like it is becoming slighlty easier as we advance. I am even starting to fully enjoy the story. Nice trick with these ぬいぐるみ!
Thanks again to everyone for helping each week!
Thank you so much Micki. I’ve not started yet (just realised I’ve not yet quite finished last week’s either) but I’ll be there soon, and I know I’ll be using your work a lot. Thank you so much!
Question: this looks incomplete to me, don’t you need to discover “something”? How about, “the cat explores”?
Page 139 - title: 猫、見つけられる - the cat is discovered
Question: So the potential form and the passive form are exactly the same! Is it only context that gives a hint as to which this is, or is there some other way of telling them apart?
Page 141 - mum grabs cat and says みつかるー [“you’ll be discovered”?]
Question: according to Jisho, 見つかる means “to be found, to be discovered”. What is the difference between 見つかる and 見つけられる?
So the dad buys a stuffed toy and says it can be a good friend for Chi.
Then ヨウヘイ says: あれは かじっちゃ だめだ からね
This is what I’ve got:
あれ - that
は - topic marker
かじっちゃ - 齧る, to bite/gnaw. with しまう ending, meaning either “unfortunately” or “completely”
だめ - no good
だ - copula
から - because
ね - sentence ending particle
“That is no good because [Chi the vandal kitten] will completely chew it up”
That’s my best guess, but if anyone can put it right I’d be very grateful! Thank you!
I actually read that page slightly differently.
Dad is saying that Youhei and Chi are good friends
But if you look at Chi, he’s chewing up a bag with a very grumpy expression (ie doesn’t look like he is best buddies with Youhei right now) - so that’s slightly amusing in itself
Then Youhei is pointing up at the new toy, and explaining "It’s (on the window sill) because it would be だめ if Chi chewed it up.
And of course Mum is about to lose her cool at them because she nearly had a heart attack earlier when she saw a cat in the window (before she realised it was a toy cat).
I didn’t think this was てしまう. I thought it was short for かじっては.
A good question, probably best not overthought! Isn’t the first one an intransitive verb (taking no object) and the second one a transitive verb (taking an object) in its passive form?
I think it’s difficult to see the difference in English with “to discover” because we don’t have an English intransitive equivalent of “discover” that I can think of. But if you took another verb like “to break”:
I break the cup (transitive, active)
The cup is broken (transitive, passive)
The cup breaks (intransitive)
So I guess with the text:
みつかる just implies that the cat has been discovered
見つけられる implies that “something” has discovered the cat
I thought this was just a style thing. It’s the title of a chapter and the sentence is shortened. I think it works quite nicely in English too - one chapter is called “Cat discovers” and the next chapter “Cat is discovered”.
Official translations aren’t always perfect, but thanks to the ambiguous context here, I decided to take a look at the English version. There, Youhei is saying “Chi, now don’t go chewing that guy up, 'kay.” Another meaning for だめ is “Cannot/must not/not allowed.” So it seems more like he’s telling Chi “As for that thing (creepy cat plush), you must not chew it up.”
Wow, thank you both so much @Micki and @Viridithon! Yes, transitive, intransitive, passive, active, it’s not something you want to face before breakfast! But thank you so much for making it much clearer Micki! Ans thank you Viridithon for checking the English version! Much appreciated!
