A couple sentences I need to ask questions on?

[lv426]

Hi,

A friend tought me a couple of sentances I need to ask questions about, mainly about certain gramatical parts and literal word meings.

1) (watashi wa) douyade toukyou ni ikimasu ka?

The sentance is ment to meen, how do I get to tokyo? Say for instance if you were not sure which train to use to get there.

douyade is what I am intrested in, she said it literaly ment how and was a complete word. But I'm fairly sure the de at the end is the particle for by, so what does douya literally meen.
Would it be "how by toukyou to go"?

2) Anata no shashin wa totte ii desu ka.

Now this is ment to meen, please may I take your picture. Totte ii being what I'm slightly comfused about, what is the literal meeing of totte in this sentance. Ii usually meens good but in what context is it being used here, could the same sentance be used to ask if you can take something like and apple.

3) Moichido itte kudasai

Meening please can you repeat that, kudasai is also used in misette kudasai which meens please show me and kudasai on its own can be used to ask to buy something in a shop. But in what context is it being used here, I pretty much dont have any understanding other than the pronounciation of this sentance.

Any help on these would be very hepfull, It's always good to get your head around the full meeing of a sentance.

 

[Mike Cash]

Your friend is messing you up.

1. It isn't "douyade". It's "dou yatte".

2. "Totte" doesn't mean "good". It it the "-te" form of "toru" (take).

3. "Kudasai" is one of the verbs of giving/receiving and when tacked onto a verb ("itte" in this case, which is the "-te" form of "iu" (speak/say)) it indicates the giving or receiving of a favor. So in this case you're asking someone to do you the favor of repeating something.

4. "mou ichido", not "moichido".

 

[nice gaijin]

どう (dou) does mean how, やる (yaru) is another word for "to do." どうやって （dou yatte, not douyade) is how to do, so the proper way to ask would be どうやって東京に行けばいいですか。 (dou yatte toukyou ni ikeba ii desu ka?) the meaning of this would be "how would I get to tokyo?" using ikeba ii in this case is more like "how should I go about doing ____" using ikimasu in that sentence is more like "how do you go to tokyo?" and isn't exactly asking for help (although most people would catch your meaning from the lost look on your face).

I found one of the easiest ways to ask for help is to say what you want to do. by saying すみません、東京に行きたいんですけど。。。(sumimas en, toukyou ni ikitain desu kedo...) usually the person you ask will take it from there and give you help. If they don't catch on, you can through in どうやって行けばいいですか。 (douyatte ikeba ii desu ka) to make it explicit that you are asking for help.

the "shashin" sentence's grammar is "is it alright for me to do something," and it should be "shashin wo totte mo ii desu ka" (in more casual situations, particles like "mo" are sometimes dropped, but to be proper I would leave it in) Totte (the "te" form of toru) is indeed to take something, and it could mean to grab something as well as to take a photo, but the kanji are different.

something in the "te" form with kudasai or onegaishimasu is please do something (like something wo shite kudasai), it's a polite way to ask someone to perform an action for you. mou ichido is one more time, itte kudasai in this case means "please say." you could also say "motto yukkuri hanashite kudasai," which is like "could you please speak slower"

all of your questions seem to revolve around the te form, I would recommend studying it a bit, as it is very useful and has many applications.

 

[sasame]

Hello, lv426.

About "tte" for the connection.
接続のための「って」について。

>1) (watashi wa) douyade toukyou ni ikimasu ka?

どうやる＋行きますか？＝どうやって行きますか？

どうやる＋撮りますか？＝どうやって撮りますか？
どうやる＋言いますか？＝どうやって言いますか？

>2) Anata no shashin wa totte ii desu ka.

撮る＋いいですか？＝撮っていいですか？

行く＋いいですか？＝行っていいですか？
言う＋いいですか？＝言っていいですか？

>3) Moichido itte kudasai

言う＋ください＝言ってください。

行く＋ください＝行ってください。
撮る＋ください＝撮ってください。

 

[lv426]

Ok, cool thanks for the help.

1) どうやって 東京に いけば いい ですか。 = How would I go about getting to Tokyo?
どう = how
どうやって = how to do
行けば = ?

2) 貴方の しゃしん を とって も いい ですか。 = May I take your photo?
を = o? - not to sure, but do you meen 'o' like 'ha' is used to represent 'wa'
いい ですか = This seems to be the common ending in the past two sentances, what does いい represent?

3) もういちど いって ください。 = Please say one more time, could you also say もういちど as a more casual version say with friends?
もっと ゆっくり はなして ください。 = Could you please speak slower

I'm not sure what happened with douyade, maybe she wasnt thinking. She probably also gave me really simple grammar because I'm a 外人, like I asked how I would say this "do you have this CD?"
この シヂは ありますか。 = But I dont know this this seems a little to simple, arimasu meens there is so I guess arimasu ka will meen is there but it still seems a little basic!

Anyway thanks for your thoughts, looks like I will have to look up that te form!

 

[Elizabeth]

Ok, cool thanks for the help.

1) どうやって 東京に いけば いい ですか。 = How would I go about getting to Tokyo?
どう = how
どうやって = how to do
行けば = ?

Ikeba is "If I go"....for beginners, it would be easiest to follow it with "ii deshouka?" If I do it...what would be a good way to do it ?

But I'm not sure "douyatte" is the question you're looking for here. It sounds more, to me anymore, like the mode of transportation (train, bus, subway, auto, etc) than the particular route or line.

 

[nice gaijin]

このシーディーがありますか。would be fine for "do you have this cd,"

I see what Elizabeth means about the use of douyatte in this situation. I think using something like "東京に行きたいんですけど．．．" would get the message across. I would recommend finding out what train station you want to get to, tokyo is a big place.

 

[Mike Cash]

This is a good opportunity to point out (the obvious fact) that things are quite often phrased rather differently. One needs to be open to going for translations which are the functional equivalents of what one wants rather than working toward directly translating English to Japanese. Of course, prolonged exposure is pretty much the only way of picking up on the necessary skills.

For example:

I once was helping out someone who planned to go to pick up a Japanese friend at the airport. He wanted to translate, "If you tell me what time your plane arrives I'll go to the airport to pick you up."

His proposed translation went something like:
もしもあなたがあなたの飛行機が何時に着くかを教えてくれれば私は飛行場まで迎えに行ってあげます。

My proposed translation was:
お迎えは？

The literal, versus the functional.

 

[sasame]

>1) どうやって 東京に いけば いい ですか。

How I go to Tokyo?
＝Howどんな方法で（どうやって） I私 go行く [to Tokyo]東京へ.
＝私はどうやって東京へ行きますか？

How should I go to Tokyo?
＝私はどうやって東京へ行けばいいですか？

By what transportation should I go to Tokyo?
＝私はどのような交通手段で東京に行けばいいですか？

>2) 貴方の しゃしん を とって も いい ですか。

あなたの写真は撮ってもいいですか？
＝May I take your photograph (though it was refused by other people)?
In this case, the comparison is included in the unexpressed.
この場合、言外に比較が含まれています。

あなたの写真を撮ってもいいですか？
＝May I take your photograph?

>what does いい represent?

いいですか？＝May I do?（してもいいですか？）

あなたの隣に座ってもいいですか？
＝May I sit next to you? | Can I sit beside you?

>もういちど いって ください。

もう一度言ってください。
＝Please say again.

Casual version:
もう一度（一回）言ってくれる？＝Say again.

>もっと ゆっくり はなして ください
＝Please speak more slowly.

Could you please speak slower?
＝もっとゆっくり話してくださいませんか？

>"do you have this CD?"
＝あなたはこのCD（シーディー）を持っていますか？

 

[Elizabeth]

>1) どうやって 東京に いけば いい ですか。

How I go to Tokyo?
＝Howどんな方法で（どうやって） I私 go行く [to Tokyo]東京へ.
＝私はどうやって東京へ行きますか？

How should I go to Tokyo?
＝私はどうやって東京へ行けばいいですか？

私のガイドブックから、日常で使われていないかもしれない別の長い言い方：

東京への（一番）言い方はなんですか？

東京へはどういけばいいか教えてください（を教えてください）。

東京へ行く（の）には。。。


日本語で、物の言い方にルールはない方が多いと思いますね。