Help with -て and おく , and several other questions

I'm reading a children's book, and I don't have an English translation.

The book is もりの ゆうびんきょく. It's the story of the hedgehog who runs the forest post office.

It's morning, and the hedgehog is getting everything ready at the start of the day.

ふりこどけいにも はたきを かけます。 「じかんは あってるかな。」

それから、 こづつみの おもさを はかるときに つ かう はかりです。 はりねずみさんは、 ついでに はかりに のっかって、 じぶんの めかたも はかり ます。 「また ちょっと ふとっちゃった。」

でんわにも はたきを かけます。 「かえるさんに でんわして、 てんきよほうを きいて おこうかな。 」

My attempted translation is:

He dusts the pendulum clock too. (or: He uses the duster on the pendulum clock.) "I wonder if it's getting to be time?"

Then, it's time to test the small package scale. To do this, Mr. Hedgehog climbs up on the scale and weighs himself (measures his own weight). "I've put on a little weight again."

He dusts the telephone too. "I'll telephone Mr. Frog; maybe I should listen to the weather report."



My questions:

1. あってるかな : Is this the -te form of aru plus iru plus -kana? I'm translating this as
じかんは ある - to be time to do something
いる - ing, "it's getting to be time"
かな - I wonder, perhaps

Is that close?

2. はかるとき - I'm translating this as "testing time", sort of. If this is correct, what's the difference between じかん ある and -とき です ?

3. What does のっかって mean? The closest I could come is something like のぼる but I don't think that has a のっかって form.

4. What's the difference between おもさ and めかた ? My dictionary translates both as "weight".

5. I'm breaking down ふとっちゃった as a contraction of ふとって しまった - is that correct? Is this a -te shimau form? Am I correct in thinking it suggests surprise or an involuntary action?

6. This is the main question that prompted this post: What's the best way to translate the part about Mr. Frog? I'm interpreting おこうかな as the I'll/let's form of おく , implying "to do something in advance of or in preparation for something". Is he saying he should listen to the weather report before calling Frog? (Maybe to tell him about the weather?)



Is the rest of my translation more or less correct?

Thank you very much! どうも ありがとう ございまう！

1)
あってるかな: the -te form of あう（合う） + いる

2)
こづつみの おもさを はかるときに modifies つかう. This is an adverbial clause.
In that sentence, です is used as にも はたきを かけます.

3)
のっかる is a colloquial form of のる（乗る）.

4)
They are basically the same, but めかた often refers to a person's weight.

5)
That's right.

6)
Not "listen to the weather report before calling Frog" but "call Frog and listen to the weather report from him before doing something (today's work, for instance)".

Thank you so much, Toritoribe!

Toritoribe said:

1)
あってるかな: the -te form of あう（合う） + いる

Click to expand...

My dictionary defines あう（合う）as "to meet, see, meet with". Is he using it in the sense of "open up and meet with the customers"?

Toritoribe said:

2)
こづつみの おもさを はかるときに modifies つかう. This is an adverbial clause.
In that sentence, です is used as にも はたきを かけます.

Click to expand...

I'm afraid I'm still not clear on this. How does こづつみの おもさを はかるときに modify つかう? Are you saying the sentence means something more like "He dusts the small-postage scale?"

Toritoribe said:

3)
のっかる is a colloquial form of のる（乗る）.

Click to expand...

Thank you! Is there any pattern to that, or any way I might have found that out on my own?



Thank you again! This is most helpful.

1)

あう【会う・逢う】

Click to expand...

あう【会う】の英語・英訳 - 和英辞書 - goo辞書

あう【合う】
2 〔正しい〕be right [correct]

あなたの答えは合っていない
Your answer is wrong [incorrect].

この腕時計はいつも合っている
This watch keeps good time.

計算がどこか合わない
There's some mistake in the calculations.

Click to expand...

あう【合う】の英語・英訳 - 和英辞書 - goo辞書

See the kanji more carefully. (That's why I wrote it in my previous post.)

FYI, state verbs such like ある, いる（居る） or いる（要る） can't have -te iru form, since these verbs describe the present state in the present form.

2)
He uses the scale when~.
That's an adverbial clause, as I wrote. Adverbs modify verbs (and adjectives or other adverbs).

As for "He dusts the scale", yes.

He dusts the pendulum clock.
The next is the scale.
He dusts the telephone too.

In these lines, you would interpret the second line as "He dusts the scale", wouldn't you?

3)
J-J dictionary has the entry.
のっかる【乗っかる／載っかる】の意味 - 国語辞書 - goo辞書

"落[お]っこちる vs 落[お]ちる" is similar to "乗っかる vs 乗る". The etymology is unknow, but it's said that these expressions are originally from Kantō dialect.

Toritoribe, thank you so much - your additional explanations and links to J-J dictionary are, I think, helping me see my mistakes.

1. So, when he says, 「じかんは あってるかな。」, is he saying something like "I wonder if that's the right time?" or "Is that really what time it is?"

2. Thank you for re-emphasizing that this is adverbial clause. I finally found some useful info on adverbial clauses in some of my books and I think I understand this better.

So now I believe I was wrong to read this as "Then, it's time to test the small package scale." Instead, I'm wondering if it's more like "Next is the scale he uses when weighing small packages." - and given that that's an adverbial clause, we could leave that out and it would just be (as you pointed out) "Next is the scale." I'm now thinking there's nothing in there at all about testing the scale. (He does go on to weigh himself, but not to check the scale's accuracy.) Am I closer now?

3. Again, thank you so much for the pointer to the J-J dictionary. I'm still learning about the many useful resources on the Web and which ones to use when.


Thank you!

1)
The former. He actualy doesn't doubt the clock is wrong. He's just checking it while talking to himself, just like "The clock is right? and next,,,".

2)
You got it right!
The adverbial clause こづつみの おもさを はかるときに modifies つかう, and the whole attributive clause こづつみの おもさを はかるときに つかう modifies はかり. Thus, the core of the sentence is はかりです.
ついでに shows that his action "climbing up on the scale" is not done for the main purpose. If he does the action to test the scale, as in your initial interpretation, ついでに can't be not used.