Question about p78 line3 sentence ending in te-form
でも キャサリンがいないと さびしくて 。
But without Catherine (or if Catherine is not present), I’m lonely.
So さびしくて instead of さびしい .
I found a couple of possible explanations for te-form at the end of a sentence:
Not sure which one of these two applies in this case. Or maybe there’s another reason.
Any ideas?
Page 78
As you know, I know nothing about grammar, but it reads to me like, despite the full stop, she hasn’t finished her thought. It suggests a connection to the next sentence.
“But, if Catherine’s not there, I’m lonely…[so…]…”
Page 78
Wow! What a wonderfully clear explanation! Got it! Thank you so much!
Thank you. I couldn’t parse すきまから at all. When すき＋まから didn’t make sense, I just gave up, and somehow didn’t think of parsing it as すきま＋から. I’d never heard of すきま (I don’t think it’s in the Core 1000 or 2000 on iKnow.jp). This is a good example of pure hiragana being more difficult than kanji 
Actually, if I’d typed it in hiragana instead of romaji on Jisho, I would’ve eventually found 隙間, which is weird because if you type it in romaji, it says “Sorry, couldn’t find anything matching すきまから”. Jisho has a very strange search engine.
Page 79
I’m having problems parsing the verbs in the last two sentences:
親子で はなしあって もらうことにしよう。
I understand that “親子で はなしあって もらうこと” is something (a bit literal) like “receiving parent-child talks”. But then what is しよう? The better explanaition I’ve found is in Tae Kim’s guide: the casual volitional form of する＝しよう. What would five us something like
“I would like to have a parent-child talk”
私は キャサリンは そのままにして、アパートを あとにした。
そのままにして = decided this state/way of being
アパートを あとにした = decided to ?? the apartment? What is あと here?
Page 79
Again, I don’t know, but I read あとにした as “left”, ie Hanae left Lily and Catherine behind in the flat. I wasn’t sure but then found this on Maggie Sensei:
後にする = あとにする = ato ni suru = (literal expression) to leave behind
and the example she gives is very much the same structure as we have on page 79:
彼女は一年の留学を終え、日本を後にした。
= Kanojo wa ichinen no ryuugaku wo oe, nihon wo ato ni shita.
= After studying for one year, She left Japan behind.
What I thought about this sentence:
First the main sentence is 私は アパートを あとにした (I left the apartment)
キャサリンは そのまま にして (even with Kathryn undisturbed / in that state) I am not entirely sure if this に＋して as in “decided on” or the expression にして only; even; at (place, time); in (time span) but I think the second is more probable.
Not to mention that “decided on” would also be ungrammatical because it leaves the キャサリンは in the air, grammaticaly speaking.
XをYにする can also mean “to make X into Y”
Here the apartment is “made into behind” (i.e. left behind)
I wonder whether the word choice here is deliberate to highlight the contrast (note contrast marker on キャサリン).
そのままにする “to make it into the same state” sounds a bit paradoxical to English speakers but basically means “to keep in the same state”
To keep the parallelism, in English you might do something like
I left Catherine there and the house behind.
(Slightly zeugmatic?)
In はなしあっ て もらう , てもらう means to get somebody to do something so here Hanae is saying she will get them to talk to each other.
Yes, ことにしよう is volitional form of ことにする (事にする to decide to) so in this context the volitional form could mean “intend to do” or even “think about doing”.
“As far as from now on, I intend to get them (or thinking about getting them) to talk to each other parent and child.”
The volitational form can also be the tentative form (“maybe”)
I’m not sure interpreting it as a double volitional (since ことにする is already an expression of volition) would make much sense but a tentative volational makes some sense to me:
“Since they are parent and child, we should perhaps have them talk it out”
or something like it.
Yea, “maybe” makes more sense. I like your translation better.
Page 81
それなら 部屋のなかが あれているはずなのに、きちんと かたづいていた でしょ？
Phew, what a sentence. This is what I’ve got…
それなら - if that’s the case, if so… (which leads on from p.80 where Hanae says when Gonjirou comes round the cat runs around like crazy)
部屋のなかが - inside the room + が particle
あれている - 荒れる in ている, enduring state, form. Untidy.
はず - bound to be
なのに, - and yet
きちんと - properly or neatly
かたづいていた - 片付く, to be put in order, in past ている form
でしょ？- isn’t it?
“If that’s the case (that Catherine runs around when Gonjirou comes around), you’d expect the inside of the room to be messy, and yet everything was neat and tidy wasn’t it?”
How am I doing?
Yes, you’re correct.
Note the grammar:
はず (expectation, a noun) + だ + の (nominaliser) + に (something like ‘with’ here)
→ はずなのに “With it being the case that the expectation is …”
(since だ becomes な before の)
And we’ve previously seen how using の + に expresses “despite”, so more accurately “Despite the expectation being …”
Oh wow! So なのに doesn’t mean “and yet” at all! It means だ (turned to な) + の for nominalisation + に for with. I think we might have done this before, it’s there in the back of my brain somewhere, but great to go over it again! Thank you so much!
It’s a bit tricky. It “means” “and yet” in the sense that “and yet” can come up in the translation. But I find it’s good to break it down and see how the grammar works out. Since it basically has an embedded だ it has to follow something that could be followed by a だ (e.g. a noun or a na-adjective). With a verb you would drop the な and just use のに.
This special use of のに is something you can’t quite predict either. Grammatically it’s clearly a nominaliser + に but it doesn’t quite fit any of the normal uses of に; it’s just a combination of particles that has acquired a particular meaning over time.
But again it’s useful to know there is a nominaliser in it, because it turns だ into な!
Wiktionary is sometimes nice for these things because it lists the origin as a combination of two particles as well as the specific meaning:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/のに
(It’s also kind of wrong because this is not the の that is used as a possessive marker; it’s a different の. Grammarians can’t really agree how many の’s there are exactly but I believe it’s generally accepted that these two are basically separate words.)
Wow, thank you again!
Page 82
一本松さんが 何日もるすに していたのに、かびんの花が いきいきしてたでしょ
Here goes…
一本松さんが - Ipponmatsu-san + が-particle
何日も - for many days, for several days
るす - 留守 - absence; being away from home
に - direction or location particle (away from home)
していた - past tense of している
のに、 - as discussed yesterday!
かびんの花が - the flowers in the vase + が-particle
いきいき - 生き生き - in a lively way; vividly; freshly; animatedly; actively; energetically
してた - past tense of している
でしょ - right?
“Even though Ipponmatsu-san was away for several days, the flowers in her vase were still fresh, right?”
How’s that?
Page 82
I’m a little lost on the next sentence.
それは とちゅうで 水をかえた人がいるからよ
I think it means “that is because there was a person who changed the water in the middle [of her absence]”. I’m assuming that とちゅうで is 途中で, is that right?
Pages 82 to 83
でも、リリーさんのほうは もし おかあさんに みつかっても よろこばれるんだから、水をかえるくらいの よゆうは あるのよ
Okay, lots here!
でも、- but
リリーさんのほうは - Lily-san on the other hand
もし - supposing
おかあさんに - mum + に particle
みつかって - 見つかる, to be found, in て form
も - also
よろこばれる - passive form of 喜ぶ, to be delighted
ん - explanation particle
だから、- so, therefore
水を - water (in the vase) + を particle
かえる - to replace
くらいの - about + の
よゆう - 余裕 - surplus; margin; leeway; room; space; time; allowance; flexibility; scope
は - contrastive は particle?
ある - to be
の - explanation particle
よ - sentence ending particle for new information
“but, on the other hand, supposing it was Lily (not her father) that was found by her mother, the mum would be delighted to see her, so Lily had plenty of time (in which she could) change the water”
Not the most elegant of translations!