Passive sentence translation

akbar · 10 Jun 2010

I have trouble with the following :
一時間経った頃、お茶が運ばれて、第ー回目のレッスンは終わりになった。
What is the proper translation of this sentence?
My difficulties are :
- The first part relates to the amount of time elapsed, but I have trouble justifying the translation. Is it something like: "One hour later"?
- I don't understand the context meaning of 運ぶ (to carry) here, and how it relates to お茶 (tea): "Tea was served"? "Tea was brought"? Something else?
- I simply don't get the 第ー回目 part. "Numbers"?
Thanks for your help in advance.

Glenn · 10 Jun 2010

akbar said:
I have trouble with the following :
一時間経った頃、お茶が運ばれて、第ー回目のレッスンは終わりになった。
What is the proper translation of this sentence?

"After about an hour, tea was served, and the first lesson had come to an end."

That should pretty much do the trick, I think.

akbar said:
My difficulties are :
- The first part relates to the amount of time elapsed, but I have trouble justifying the translation. Is it something like: "One hour later"?

Yes. It's like "around the time that an hour had passed," if you take it literally.

akbar said:
- I don't understand the context meaning of 運ぶ (to carry) here, and how it relates to お茶 (tea): "Tea was served"? "Tea was brought"? Something else?

It was carried, presumably to the table, so I think "served" is good as a translation. You're understanding the meaning of the word correctly.

akbar said:
- I simply don't get the 第ー回目 part. "Numbers"?
Thanks for your help in advance.

回 is a counter for the number of times an event or action occurs (it's usually for things that are expected to occur many times, or that could). ー is the number one, which I'm sure you know already, and ー回 means "one time". 第 and 目 are both ordinal markers, with the former being a prefix and the latter a suffix, and they generally serve the same function as English "th" (or "st" or "nd" or "rd", depending on the number). So this takes "one time" and turns it into "(the) first time". They don't necessarily have to be used together, though. In fact, one is probably preferrable over the other in certain circumstances, but I'm not sure what those are. Does that help?

Toritoribe · 10 Jun 2010

Just, just a tiny thing but 第ー回目 should be 第一回目.

ー: the long vowel mark
一: the kanji for "one"(as used correctly in 一時間)

Glenn · 10 Jun 2010

Man, I didn't get the difference until you pointed it out. I was wondering why you were saying it's not this it's this, where both thises were the same! At least they look nearly identical on this computer.

akbar · 10 Jun 2010

Thanks a lot for your explanations. The counting part was particularly useful. Translation is clear now.
And sorry for the tiny typo.

epigene · 10 Jun 2010

Glenn said:
Man, I didn't get the difference until you pointed it out. I was wondering why you were saying it's not this it's this, where both thises were the same! At least they look nearly identical on this computer.

Same here.
In my case, it's because I've chosen Meiryo as the default font.

It comes out when you choose Mincho...

Elizabeth · 10 Jun 2010

akbar said:
I have trouble with the following :
一時間経った頃、お茶が運ばれて、第ー回目のレッスンは終わりになった。

Is there something slightly funny about お茶が運ばれて ? I was expecting a hakobarte kite, itadaite - or I don't know what, but anyway a warm and softer sound.

akbar · 10 Jun 2010

This is an excerpt from a Japanese Language manual. Probably there isn't much to expect from it as far as style goes...

Toritoribe · 11 Jun 2010

Elizabeth said:
Is there something slightly funny about お茶が運ばれて ? I was expecting a hakobarte kite, itadaite - or I don't know what, but anyway a warm and softer sound.

お茶が運ばれてきて is an expression from the point of view of the receiver or the person the tea was served to, whereas お茶が運ばれて is more objective just like the descriptive parts of a novel.

Elizabeth · 11 Jun 2010

Toritoribe said:
お茶が運ばれてきて is an expression from the point of view of the receiver or the person the tea was served to, whereas お茶が運ばれて is more objective just like the descriptive parts of a novel./QUOTE]
OK, it was just conveniently thought of that way because I hadn't ever seen 運ばれて occur in a serve context without くる.

Passive sentence translation

akbar

後輩

Glenn

一切皆苦

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Glenn

一切皆苦

akbar

後輩

epigene

相変わらず不束者です

Elizabeth

先輩

akbar

後輩

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Elizabeth

先輩

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