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healer

Sempai
13 May 2019
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Re: 1人にウイルスがうつると、ほかの家族にうつさないようにするのはとても難しいです。お年寄りと一緒に住んでいる人は、外でウイルスにうつらないようによく気をつけてください」と言いました。

  1. 1人ウイルスがうつる
  2. ウイルスうつらない

The former I think it means one person is infected with virus and the latter not to be infected with virus.
I'm not sure what に functions here grammatically and why に is used grammatically?
I understand うつる is an intransitive verb.

With my limited and probably wrong knowledge, I had expected the following instead.
  1. 1人ウイルスがうつる
  2. ウイルスが/はうつらない
I would appreciate if someone could shed some light.
 
Your interpretation is not correct. What is the subject of the Japanese sentence?
ウイルス is the subject in 1人にウイルスがうつる. I'm not quite sure what に does here.

I had supposed that 1人にウイルスがうつると、ほかの家族にうつさないようにするのはとても難しいです means "If/When one person is infected, then it is very difficult to prevent other members of the family to get infected".

Strictly speaking, ウイルスにうつる/うつらない is ungrammatical. うつる is used as 感染する there.
I excerpted the text from Easier Japanese Practice. If not grammatical, how could one reword it in the simplest way? I don't understand why it is ungrammatical? Could it then simply be 外でウイルスに感染しないようによく気をつけてくださいと言いました? Is 感染する a transitive verb or an intransitive verb?

Thanks for your kindness.
 
ウイルス is the subject in 1人にウイルスがうつる.
Right.

I had supposed that 1人にウイルスがうつると、ほかの家族にうつさないようにするのはとても難しいです means "If/When one person is infected, then it is very difficult to prevent other members of the family to get infected".
Unlike the original Japanese sentence, the subject is "one person" in your English translation "one person is infected with virus". That's my point. The original sentence structure is "the virus infects one person."

I'm not quite sure what に does here.
に can be considered to indicate the destination, similar to 電車が駅に着く, since うつる is the same verb as 移る "to move to~". It's also possible to interpret as the target marker, similar to 犬が人に吠える, though.

I don't understand why it is ungrammatical?
うつ・る【移る/遷る】 の解説
5 病気や物の勢い・傾向などが他に及ぶ。「風邪が―・る」「火が隣家に―・った」「父の癖が子供にも―・る」


As you can see in the examples in the dictionary, the subject is "ill" for this verb. It's not 風邪うつる, but people can understand the meaning of this misuse.

Google search results suggest that ウイルスにうつらない is originally from the Governor of Tokyo Metropolis Koike Yuriko's words.

Could it then simply be 外でウイルスに感染しないようによく気をつけてくださいと言いました?
Yes.

Is 感染する a transitive verb or an intransitive verb?
The latter.
 
Thanks again Toritoribe-san.

Google search results suggest that ウイルスにうつらない is originally from the Governor of Tokyo Metropolis Koike Yuriko's words.
Are you suggesting that a well-known Japanese native said it wrong grammatically and other people simply follow suit?
I was expecting the website would use correct Japanese language.

The latter.
I have found the dictionaries I have used never state whether a する-verb transitive or intransitive while they often specify clearly with most of other verbs. I wonder why. How can we tell whether a する-verb is transitive or intransitive? Can they be either depending on the context?
 
Are you suggesting that a well-known Japanese native said it wrong grammatically and other people simply follow suit?
I was expecting the website would use correct Japanese language.
It's ungrammatical but understandable, as I wrote.

I have found the dictionaries I have used never state whether a する-verb transitive or intransitive while they often specify clearly with most of other verbs. I wonder why. How can we tell whether a する-verb is transitive or intransitive?
Generally speaking, volitional verbs are transitive, and non-volitional ones are intransitive. You can check it in example sentences in dictionaries or google search results, if you really want to know it.

Can they be either depending on the context?
No.
 
It's ungrammatical but understandable, as I wrote.
Thanks! I forgot my original question.

Whether it is ウイルスうつらないように or ウイルス感染しないように, could you please tell me what the に does or mean here? Thanks!
 
Whether it is ウイルスうつらないように or ウイルス感染しないように, could you please tell me what the に does or mean here? Thanks!
It's ungrammtical which means it's not correct. So I don't think it does anything. Probably the に should be が. Maybe the obvious part is unstated such as ウイルス(が人)にうつらないように which is why it's understandable. A native speaker would fill such omitted details automatically.
 
Thanks again Toritoribe-san.

To better understand I would like to have both literally translated into English. Could both be translated as "in order not to get infected with virus"? Then に would mean "with" here. Is it correct?
 
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