I'm working my way through a children's book, もり の なか, a translation of "In the Forest".
I'm near the end of the book, and the little boy has been playing with animal friends in the forest, but now they've all disappeared, his father has appeared, and his father says it's time to go home.
The sentence I'm working on is this:
「だけど、もう おそいよ。うちへ かえらなくっちゃ 」 と、おとうさんが いいました。「きっと、またこ んでまで まっててくれるよ」
The original English is
"But it's late," Dad said. "And we must go home. Perhaps they will wait till another day."
My tools are "Japanese the Manga Way," "Japanese Verbs and Essentials of Grammar", a couple of dictionaries, and Google Translate and search.
I have three questions:
1. まっててくれるよ
I'm reading this as the -te kureru form of まつ - with -te kureru implying "will do for you", so "[the animals] will wait for you". But I'm confused by what seems to be an extra -te. I would expect it to be まってくれる. Why is it まっててくれる? Is it a -te form of the potential, まてる? If so, is it common for the internal て to become a って like this, or is it a colloquialism?
2. きっと
My dictionary gives the translation of きっと as "certainly, surely", but the original English uses "perhaps." Is this just a subtle word-choice issue, the way we sometimes use "certainly" or "surely" in English to suggest probability but not certainty, like "Surely things will seem better tomorrow"?
3. かえらなくっちゃ
I'm reading this as the Base 1 (negative base) form of かえる - so, かえら - plus なくて は, obligation "must, have to", with the -て は used as a contraction, ちゃ, and the doubled consonant just a colloquialism. Is that correct?
ありがとう ございます！
I'm near the end of the book, and the little boy has been playing with animal friends in the forest, but now they've all disappeared, his father has appeared, and his father says it's time to go home.
The sentence I'm working on is this:
「だけど、もう おそいよ。うちへ かえらなくっちゃ 」 と、おとうさんが いいました。「きっと、またこ んでまで まっててくれるよ」
The original English is
"But it's late," Dad said. "And we must go home. Perhaps they will wait till another day."
My tools are "Japanese the Manga Way," "Japanese Verbs and Essentials of Grammar", a couple of dictionaries, and Google Translate and search.
I have three questions:
1. まっててくれるよ
I'm reading this as the -te kureru form of まつ - with -te kureru implying "will do for you", so "[the animals] will wait for you". But I'm confused by what seems to be an extra -te. I would expect it to be まってくれる. Why is it まっててくれる? Is it a -te form of the potential, まてる? If so, is it common for the internal て to become a って like this, or is it a colloquialism?
2. きっと
My dictionary gives the translation of きっと as "certainly, surely", but the original English uses "perhaps." Is this just a subtle word-choice issue, the way we sometimes use "certainly" or "surely" in English to suggest probability but not certainty, like "Surely things will seem better tomorrow"?
3. かえらなくっちゃ
I'm reading this as the Base 1 (negative base) form of かえる - so, かえら - plus なくて は, obligation "must, have to", with the -て は used as a contraction, ちゃ, and the doubled consonant just a colloquialism. Is that correct?
ありがとう ございます！
