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Building sentence from the ground.

Msnoir

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This is my first real try, in building up a sentence from the beginning.

The english term.
I am happy to meet you.
Watashi wa anata ni atta o shiawase-na *desu
私はあなたにあったお幸せなです。

I believe that the shiawasena is not correct, because it sounds wrong to me. Should it be shiawase-da.
 
One thing you need to learn with languages is idioms don't translate at all. You need to break down the sentence to the point where literal meaning is deduced first then translate.

I am happy to meet you don't literally mean you feel happiness by meeting someone (it could be usually it isn't the intent), 'happy to' in English sometimes simply means willing to or okay with or invitation to meet depending on context so without context it is impossible to translate hence why all these machine translators are useless.

あなたに会って嬉しいです。is literally I feel happiness to meet you but is that what you wanted to say.

Also in Japanese anything that is obvious can be dropped. Unlike English where dropping subject and objects is ungrammatical, Japanese sentences are usually partial sentences where you need to fill in the blank.

E.g. 君のことが好き is a fine sentence. It literally only says 'like you' without a subject. It is usually obvious given the context who likes that person but this is Ungrammatical in English. How ever if you say 私は君のことが好き, even when it's obvious, it can feel unnatural in Japanese or you are making a point.

Btw we use idioms all the time without thinking. I just used the idiom 'to make a point'. If you read it literally, it actually makes no sense. In Japanese you'll get 点を作る which literally means a tiny point on a piece of paper is made. You need to break this down further so what I actually wanted to express is to emphasize. In Japanese 強調する means this and now it makes sense.
 
I think I understand what you are saying. The grammar book, I have been reading, is saying something similar. So I went back to the beginning, and taking one sentence, at the time. Breaking them down, into peaces. My biggest regret in all this, is that I am translating/learning from an English book, which is not my mother tongue
In Danish we do it a bit more, like in Japanese, and then not. It is a bit hard to explain.
But thank you for your answer.
 
What I wanted with the sentence was too;
Greet at person. In the same way, you could say: Hello, it is nice too meet/see you.
But let's say. If I want to say hello to a person, but not in person, but written, there is a difference, correct?
From passive sentence, to active sentence.
I hope, it's not too confusing what I'm saying.
 
You need to learn the functions of the-te form of verbs and the attributive form of na-adjectives. Your idea "it should it shiawase-da" is correct. It's OK you just change it to the polite form.


会って is usually used for a past event, i.e., あなたに会ってうれしかった "I was happy to meet you (at that time)". 会えて is more common for a greeting.

Another option is お会いできてうれしいです/幸せです. お会いする is a humble expression of 会う. It's obvious that this is toward the addressee, so you can omit even "you".
 
Your correct, and I went back to making it a lot more simple for myself.
I need to understand, the way you break down, and build up each word, and phrase. Before I can write it correctly.
One thing is too translating a premade text, the other is to write, and understand it once self.
 
Is this correct?

This is the only place too ask if its correct, so I hope it's okay..
Too eat, you say, taberu, its an ichidan vovel,
I eat - eat - watashi taberu desu, and taberu desu. 私食べるです。食べるです。
I did eat - did eat - watashi wa taberu dewa arimasen, and taberu dewa arimasen. 私食べるでわありません。食べるでわありません
I don't eat - don't eat - watashi taberu deshita and taberu deshita. 私食べるでした。食べるでした．
I didn't eat - didn't eat - watashi taberu arimasen deshita and taberu deshita. 私食べるありませんでした。食べるありませんでした。
Thank you for you time.
 
Last edited:
OKay thank you. Back too the books again. Hehe.
 
I am working from books. Thats it is hard.
 
Msnoir said:
I also forgot the particle, it seems.
And, I've been working with this for days
but grammar was never something I was good at in school.
Click to expand...

Particles is the least of your worries. Just for ref.
食べます to eat
食べません to not eat, don't eat
食べました ate
食べましょう let's eat
食べませんでした didn't eat
食べています eating
Etc etc should be in the textbook.
 

Hmm i didn't see anything like that.
Maybe the textbook I'm using isn't one of the best. Or its me.
I found a better textbook to practice particles.
 
I've been working with particles.
And now I tried with a simple sentence.
Is this correct?
"What is this? It's a cat"
Kore wa nan desu ka. Neko desu.
 
Yes, that's correct.
 
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