つぶれかけていた / どうあるべきか / ぼくだいじょうぶ / 脅かさないでよ

[eeky]

Hi,


1. 私が行った時は、その古い小屋はつぶれかけていた。

In what sense is つぶれかけていた used? The old hut was falling down? Being demolished?


2. 政治とはどうあるべきか、考えてみよう。

Does this mean "Let's think about how politics should be"?

Is this the とは of definition?


3. 「ぼくだいじょうぶ？」といわれました。 「だいじょうぶ」とこたえました。

Translation given: "I was asked, 'You OK, kid?'. I replied, 'Fine.'"

Is this correct? How can ぼくだいじょうぶ mean "(are) you OK?"


4. 脅かさないでよ。全然動かないから死んだのかと思った じゃない。

I'm struggling to put this together into a coherent whole. I'm not sure whether the first sentence is an imperative or a statement. The second sentence looks like "Because it's not moving at all, I thought it was dead, didn't I?", but as usual, I'm not sure about the purpose of じゃない. What is the overall purpose of what is being said?

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
The former. "Becoming bankrupt" can be also possible when ﾂ渉ｬ窶ｰﾂｮ refers to ﾅｽRﾂ渉ｬ窶ｰﾂｮ, ﾅｽﾃ??ｹﾂ渉渉ｬ窶ｰﾂｮ or like that.

2)
Yes.

3)
窶堙壺?堋ｭ can be a second person pronoun to refer to a little boy. 窶堙ｭ窶堋ｽ窶堋ｵ used to be used for a little girl, but it's rare nowadays. 窶堋ｨﾂ湘ｬ窶堋ｿ窶堙｡窶堙ｱ is now used instead.

4)
窶ｹﾂｺ窶堋ｩ窶堋ｳ窶堙遺?堋｢窶堙??堙ｦ is an imperative. The subjects of 窶慊ｮ窶堋ｩ窶堙遺?堋｢ and ﾅｽ竄ｬ窶堙ｱ窶堋ｾ are "you". 窶堋ｶ窶堙｡窶堙遺?堋｢ is not negative.

 

[eeky]

Thank you.

4. So does it mean "Don't be alarmed. Because it wasn't moving at all, you thought it was dead, didn't you?"

What sort of situation is being envisaged? Someone found an animal that they thought was dead but which suddenly sprang to life? I really have no idea...

 

[Toritoribe]

I said the subjects of 動かない and 死んだ, not 思った.

 

[eeky]

I said the subjects of 動かない and 死んだ, not 思った.

Ah. Oops!