本当に / 年をとってから / それ / 国の / ～て来た

Hiya,

1. ジョンさんのおかげで本当に助かりました。ジョンさんがいなかったら大変でした。

My translation "Thanks to John, I was saved. If John hadn't been there, it would have been terrible."

I'm a bit unsure about what 本当に is adding. I would assume it modifies 助かりました, but obvious translations like "Thanks to John, I was really saved" sound a bit weird in English. "It was really thanks to John..." would work, but I don't know whether the Japanese can mean that.


2. 貯金があるおかげで、年をとってから心配しないで生活ができる。

My translation: "Thanks to my savings, I'll be able to live without worry when I get old."

Is this OK? Are the tenses OK?


3. This is an explanation of the use of the word せい (in the sense of "reason" or "fault"):

悪い結果が出たとき、それに責任があるという気持ち。

My translation: "When a bad outcome arises, (せい) has the sense that something is to blame."

Does それ refer to 悪い結果?


4. 国の両親が私の好きなお菓子を送って来た。

My translation: "My parents back home sent me / brought me some of my favourite sweets".

a) I assume 国の means something like "back home"?

b) How do we interpret ～て来た here? I don't know whether it's saying the parents came, or just that the sweets (were sent and) came.

1)
"You helped me a lot" might be more close to 本当に助かりました.

2)
Yes. I would use 生活ができている for the present tense.

3)
No. それ refers to "～" in ～のせい.

4) a)
Yes. The kanji 故郷 is often used for that meaning.(The reading is the same; くに.)

b)
The latter. 持って来た is used when the parent brought (and came).

Hi Toritoribe, thanks for your reply.

In #1, I guess you mean the speaker is talking to John, right? I didn't realise that, but how do you know? Is it anything specific in the sentence or just the overall tone/wording?

Oh sorry, one other thing if I may. I originally thought that 来た in #4 meant that the sweets (not the parents) came, but then I got confused because that interpretation seemed to make 来た a transitive verb (with object お菓子), which seemed wrong. Do we interpret it like that, or does the fact that it's ～て来た mean that only 送る needs to be transitive, and 来た, being a kind of auxiliary, has no particular transitive/intransitive nature of its own?

I hope that question makes sense!

eeky said:

In #1, I guess you mean the speaker is talking to John, right? I didn't realise that, but how do you know? Is it anything specific in the sentence or just the overall tone/wording?

Click to expand...

Hmm, it would be just my impression. Grammatically, it can be a situation talking to third person or "He helped me a lot". Both interpretations are equally possible.

eeky said:

Oh sorry, one other thing if I may. I originally thought that 来た in #4 meant that the sweets (not the parents) came, but then I got confused because that interpretation seemed to make 来た a transitive verb (with object お菓子), which seemed wrong. Do we interpret it like that, or does the fact that it's ～て来た mean that only 送る needs to be transitive, and 来た, being a kind of auxiliary, has no particular transitive/intransitive nature of its own?
I hope that question makes sense!

Click to expand...

Yeah, the auxiliary verb きた can be used both with transitive and intransitive verbs. For instance, 彼がボールを投げてきた (usually) doesn't mean he came here. It's 彼がボールを投げて、ボールが来た. When he came here, I would write 彼はボールを投げて（から）、来た instead.

Thanks Toritoribe.