なぜ?どうして?Finished!

what about the other translations? I’m not sure I got them a 100% right…

Page 19

The main part of the sentence:

木のじゅえきなのです。It’s sap from a tree.

What comes before 木 modifies (describes) the tree:

カナダなどに ある [tree that] exists in Canada among others
サトウカエデと いう [tree that] is called “sugar maple”

Put it all together:

It’s sap from a tree called “sugar maple” that grows in Canada (among others)


(As a rule of thumb, it’s usually best to try to start your translation at the end of the Japanese sentence. As you see here, the order is pretty much reversed)

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For some reason I thought that mean the “reason” or “bacause”. You see it as a “nominalizer” , right?

No, I think it provides an “explanatory tone” (link).

(When you use it with a noun you have to add な before the の)

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ohhh… so it’s more like “it’s tree’s sap” , but explanatory

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Half-hatched translation between work down times. No Japanese keyboard at work, so translation only:

That being the case, when speaking of the sap, don’t you think that it’s something that people are able to eat, too? The maple syrup that is put on food like hotcakes is in truth an item that’s collected from trees. It’s the sap of a tree called a “sugar maple” that exists in places like Canada.

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Going of @zuzu here,

He’s right that it is an explanatory tone, but I think you asked about the nominalization before and I answered it. (which is why you mentioned reason/because)

何をたべてるの? - What are you eating? の - asking for an explanation/answer

ホットケーキをたべてるの。 - I am eating hotcakes. の - explanation, reason, answer.

Hope this helps.

それは何? - what is that?
じゅえきなのです。 - its sap. (explanation)

なぜ遅くなるの? ‐ why will you be late?
じゅうたいなのです。- traffic. (reason/excuse)

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I see it clearly when there is a question before. Also, in this case that was my assumption, and that’s why in my translation I used “because”, but it was more because of "なの”

EDIT: My question would be, shouldn’t just be:

じゅえきのです。 - its sap. (explanation)
or does it need the な because it’s a noun?

な after nouns!

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Here’s my go at page 18. I got pretty stuck on the ことは ありますか but looks like that has already been discussed :slight_smile:

Boxed text
ホットケーキの シロップって、木から とるの?

Is pancake syrup harvested from trees?

あなたは、木に みつを ぬって、カブトムシを つかまえた ことは ありますか。

Have you ever spread honey on a tree and caught a rhinoceros beetle?

これは 木から 出る あまい じゅえきに にせた ものを つかって カブトムシを おびきよせる 方ほうですね。

This technique lures the rhinoceros beetle by imitating the sugary sap substance that comes out of the tree.

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@marcusp this is also very well explained here:

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The last sentence got me very confused but I came here late to find the answers I was looking for.
Thank you all. :smile:

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I translated the same, but I think you missed one adjective in this sentence.

ヨーロッパの お米の つぶは、日本の お米より 大きく、あまり ねばりけが ありません。

European rice, compared to Japanese rice, is bigger and does not have very much stickiness.

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Yeah, you’re right. I asked about 大木く a bit earlier on to double check :slight_smile: I forgot to edit my translation though.

Actually had time to do page 19 and 20 together today.

P19
ところで じゅえきって 人も 食べる ことが できるのでしょうか。

Is a person also able to eat this sap?

ホットケーキなどに かける メープルシロップは じつは 木から とれた ものです。

The maple syrup that is poured onto pancakes, this substance is harvested from trees.

カナダなどに ある サトウカエデと いう 木の、じゅえきなのです。

In places like Canada, there are trees named Sugar Maple, where the sap is.

Image Captioin
ホットケーキに かかせない メープルシロップ。

Maple syrup is indispensable for pancakes.

P20
カナダの 国きには、この カエデの 木の 葉が えがかれています。

Canada’s national flag depicts the leaf of the maple tree.

メープルシロップは、木の みきに あなを あけて、そこから 出てくる じゅえきを とり、これを につめて 作ります。

A hole is opened up in the trunk of the tree and from there the sap emerges and is collected. This is boiled down to make maple syrup.

四十リットルの じゅえきから、わずか 一リットルしか 作れない、きちょうな シロップです。

40 litres of sap can merely produce 1 litre of precious syrup.

Image Caption
サトウカエデの 葉 (上) と カナダ国き (下)。

Leaf of the sugar maple (above) and Canadian national flag (below).

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Check out my earlier post here, I think this sentence should be broken down a little differently.

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Could you please explain the grammar of this?

“Can’t be made?”

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I would need someone else to confirm, but from what I could find out on Jisho, the preceding しか with a negative verb means “only” or “nothing but”, so I think it is just stressing the fact that such a large quantity of sap is required to produce only a small amount of maple syrup. 作る is “to make”.

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Page 21

Thank you for that! Very helpful! And here it is in Bunpro and Tae Kim.

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Is there a reason you deleted your post and then posted the same thing? The little “replying to” icon will never show up when you reply directly after someone, but they will still get a notification. The forum just thinks it’s obvious that that’s who you were replying to.

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