に

healer · 25 Nov 2020

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人にウイルスがうつる
ウイルスにうつらない

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人はウイルスがうつる
ウイルスが/はうつらない

I would appreciate if someone could shed some light.

Toritoribe · 25 Nov 2020

healer said:
The former I think it means one person is infected with virus

Your interpretation is not correct. What is the subject of the Japanese sentence?

healer said:
ウイルスにうつらない

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.

healer · 26 Nov 2020

Toritoribe said:
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".

Toritoribe said:
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.

Toritoribe · 26 Nov 2020

healer said:
ウイルス is the subject in １人にウイルスがうつる.

Right.

healer said:
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."

healer said:
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.

healer said:
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」

うつるとは？意味・読み方・使い方をわかりやすく解説 - goo国語辞書

うつるとは。意味や使い方、類語をわかりやすく解説。［動ラ五（四）］《「移る」と同語源》１写真に姿・形が現れる。写真が撮れる。「にやけた顔で—・っている」２下にある文字や絵が、紙などを通して、透けて見える。「裏のページの絵が—・って読みにくい」 - goo国語辞書は31万4千件語以上を収録。政治・経済・医学・ITなど、最新用語の追加も定期的に行っています。

dictionary.goo.ne.jp

As you can see in the examples in the dictionary, the subject is "ill" for this verb. It's not 風邪にうつる, 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.

healer said:
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.

healer said:
Is 感染する a transitive verb or an intransitive verb?

The latter.

healer · 30 Nov 2020

Thanks again Toritoribe-san.

Toritoribe said:
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.

Toritoribe said:
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?

Toritoribe · 2 Dec 2020

healer said:
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.

healer said:
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.

healer said:
Can they be either depending on the context?

No.

healer · 2 Dec 2020

Toritoribe said:
It's ungrammatical but understandable, as I wrote.

Thanks! I forgot my original question.

Whether it is ウイルスにうつらないように or ウイルスに感染しないように, could you please tell me what the に does or mean here? Thanks!

mdchachi · 3 Dec 2020

healer said:
Whether it is ウイルスにうつらないように or ウイルスに感染しないように, 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.

Toritoribe · 3 Dec 2020

に indicates the cause/reason or target for ウイルスに感染する.

healer · 7 Dec 2020

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?

Toritoribe · 11 Jan 2021

healer · 11 Jan 2021

Thanks again!

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うつるとは？意味・読み方・使い方をわかりやすく解説 - goo国語辞書

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