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Thanks for your reply, I thought about that too. But I didn't know.That's a strange sentence because 終わります would be taken as in the future, so it reads like 'will you be finished using the knife?'
At least it should be 終わりました to be '*have* you finished'.
I don't see anything else wrong with the sentence, but if there is hopefully someone else will be kind enough to point it out.
I don't think it matters when someone asked it, the question should still be the same, in the past.Thanks for your reply, I thought about that too. But I didn't know.
I am asking the question now in the present.
I suppose if I said
昨日はお母さんに「ナイフを使い終わると聞いましたか。
The whole sentence is in the past tense.
That sentence is not a statement with か at the end. You'll have to lose the か. Otherwise yes.Ok so if I told someone what happened it would be
昨日はお母さんに「ナイフを使い終わったか」と聞いましたか。
Yeah, with a rising intonation or whatever it's called.But asking casually would be
もうナイフを使い終わった?
Thanks killerinsideesan. I think I have been told that before by toritoribesan. I should have remebered it.By the way, you need to use parentheses only if you're making a direct (word-for-word) quotation with と.
You can just write it like 昨日はお母さんにナイフを使い終わったかと聞いました。which is not a direct quotation. It means that you may have asked in some other way (politer or whatever), but you're just telling someone that you did it.
と shows that that's a direct quotation. 使い終わったか聞きました is used for indirect quotation.昨日はお母さんにナイフを使い終わったかと聞きました。
I guess this is another thing I specifically read about (direct and indirect quotations) and it turned out to be wrong. DBJG makes a distinction between those two, but they both use と, just the direct one is in parentheses. Tae Kim's site (yes, that hated site) splits in into direct and interpreted quotes (latter not being word-for-word), both use と. Neither Tae Kim of DBJG mention the version without と. DBJG even specifically states this "Note that in Japanese と is necessary for both direct and indirect quotations" Is all of that totally wrong?と shows that that's a direct quotation. 使い終わったか聞きました is used for indirect quotation.
昨日お母さんにナイフを使い終わったか聞きました。
I am a little confused as well as I thought that you always used と or って。I guess this is another thing I specifically read about (direct and indirect quotations) and it turned out to be wrong. DBJG makes a distinction between those two, but they both use と, just the direct one is in parentheses. Tae Kim's site (yes, that hated site) splits in into direct and interpreted quotes (latter not being word-for-word), both use と. Neither Tae Kim of DBJG mention the version without と. DBJG even specifically states this "Note that in Japanese と is necessary for both direct and indirect quotations" Is all of that totally wrong?
The more I learn, the more false information I find. I don't know which learning material to trust anymore. :/