よつばと! Vol 2 Discussion Thread (Yotsuba&! Reading Club)

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks!

The joke is that いる can mean both “to be alive” and “to be present” (at some location). So out of context いない could be saying that their father is dead, or simply that he’s not home. When you factor in all the ellipses in the speech bubbles, clearly Asagi is jokingly (and morbidly) implying that their father is dead.

That’s basically how I’d translate it. 超 is just a prefix meaning something like “ultra” or “super”, so in this context “very much alive” is a reasonable translation.


I think Ena is basically saying that Asagi will kill their father soon (also in a joking way).

4 Likes

Think you’re thinking of 生る.

There’s no linguistic pun going on here, it’s simply down to the fact that “he’s no longer here” is as much a euphemism for “he’s dead” in Japanese as it is in English. The slightly wistful beat panel is intended to enforce that meaning.

I haven’t got my Yotsuba on me, but I’m fairly sure what Ena was saying is that Asagi should stop killing him off in her speech.

4 Likes

So the dad is actually alive and working away?
Asagi didn’t just wind up Fuuka, she fooled me too! lol

2 Likes

That’s deliberate. :stuck_out_tongue:

From memory it takes a few volumes until he appears onscreen for the first time.

2 Likes

I wasn’t thinking of 生きる. Does いる not have that double meaning in the positive form? I’m honestly not sure, now that I think about it. I was basing my explanation of that part on the double meaning in the negative form.

Right, I mentioned that part as well, just indirectly with my (potentially incorrect) explanation of the positive form of いる. Either way, as I meant in my explanation (and as you said as well), it can have that double meaning in the negative. I still think that’s the point of the joke shrug.

1 Like

Page 177

Fuuka: 沖縄の味がするね

Okay, I’ve just learnt that する can be used for taste, meaning number 7 at Jisho here.
This strikes me as very useful!
Just two questions.

  1. Is is usual to use する like this, or is it very casual? In which case, what would the more formal verb be?
  2. If I wanted to make this more polite, I guess I’d say 沖縄の味がしていますね, is that correct?
1 Like

Hm… I just learned this grammar point on BunPro.

  1. がする is appended to phrases to indicate that something was sensed (or tasted in this case). Since it is an N4 grammar point, I think it is common.
  2. Close. In this case, I’d use がします, since がしています changes the tense to present-progressive.
1 Like

That was a fun book. I like Yotsuba, and the other characters too. To save on shipping, I ordered the first five volumes all at once… and that’s turned out to be a great purchase. :slight_smile:

5 Likes

Thank you! I don’t know why, but I thought that in Japanese it would be present progressive.
And thank you for telling me it is N4! Very useful! I’ll go take a look on Bunpro right away!

I was given Vol 1. for Christmas, but bought the next five volumes together when MidnightOverlord first posted about this club.

1 Like

Page 177

Asagi: TVとっといてくるた?

I guess she’s saying “did you see this on TV” but that is only a guess. Could some kind person please break this sentence down for me? Thank you so much!

1 Like

I wouldn’t know this without the vocabulary pack. =/

Recall that とる or 取る can be used to take pictures. In this case, we’re recording the TV.

Were you recording the TV for me?
TV (を was omitted) とって (take) いて (ing) くれた (past tense, +as a favor you’re giving to me) ?(+question)

From my understanding of the あげる、くれる、もらう trio, I think Asagi could also use もらった instead of くれた here with little change in meaning (since there’s no specified subject or giver/receiver).

3 Likes

This chapter looks a little more difficult, just from the questions asked. :stuck_out_tongue:

Noticed that this chapter isn’t よつばと but あさぎの :open_mouth:

Page 169: Could it be this connotation of なんてね?

Found this :joy:

ゴーヤー

image

Is it really just bitter melon?

Guess it makes sense, considering it’s an Okinawan dish.

Page 177: Aah! Makes sense!
Did you record the TV?
Yeah, we set it up. (It’s supposed to be)

Interesting. .-.

So nice with the shoes in the end. :relaxed:

4 Likes

But Yotsuba will definitely be happy with 2 or 3 pieces. :smiley: (And she is!)

1 Like

Thank you so much @BobaGakusei! And great post @Kazzeon!

1 Like

Page 178

Fuuka: 予約だってすごいね

This chapter really is tough!
The reading pack, which has been mostly brilliant throughout both volumes, gives the wrong translation here though. For 予約 it gives “reservation, booking”, but actually it must be Jisho definition number three: “programming (e.g. a device); setting (e.g. a timer)​”.

3 Likes

Page 179

Why シャシー? What am I missing here?!
Edit: Ooops, my typo! I meant シーザー

Probably シャツ?
Or what do you mean? I don’t see Anything like that on the page. .-.

シーサー are these things

image

So she suggested シーザー (Caesar) as its name. :joy:

2 Likes

Yes, sorry, my typo! I must have hit the suggestions box when I started typing!
シーザー!