Sentences with 2 subjects

f4senkyo69 · 3 Feb 2005

Most beginner japanese texts show sentences in the form

A wa B desu.

where A is the subject.
Suppose I have a sentence with 2 subjects, like

"I saw your photo in this magazine".

The 2 subjects would be 'your photo' and 'this magazine', right? How would this sentence be phrased?

Elizabeth · 3 Feb 2005

f4senkyo69 said:
Most beginner japanese texts show sentences in the form

A wa B desu.

where A is the subject.
Suppose I have a sentence with 2 subjects, like

"I saw your photo in this magazine".

The 2 subjects would be 'your photo' and 'this magazine', right? How would this sentence be phrased?

You could say "Kono zasshi ni (wa), anata no shashin wo mimashita." ?

Your photo becomes the object in Japanese, not a subject.

bentenmusume · 3 Feb 2005

Elizabeth said:
You could say "Kono zasshi ni (wa), anata no shashin wo mimashita." ?

Your photo becomes the object in Japanese, not a subject.

I think you want "zasshi de", not ni.

Also, just a stylistic point, but "anata" is a good word to avoid. "X-san no shashin" (where X is the name of the person you're talking to) is much better, I think.

To the OP:

f4senkyo69 said:
A wa B desu.

where A is the subject.

A is the topic, not the subject. Sometimes these can be one and the same, but often they're not. Try to keep them straight to save yourself some confusion when you start getting into more complex sentences.

f4senkyo69 said:
Suppose I have a sentence with 2 subjects, like

"I saw your photo in this magazine".

The 2 subjects would be 'your photo' and 'this magazine', right? How would this sentence be phrased?

You seem to be confused about what a "subject" is, even in English. The subject is the doer of the verb. In the above sentence, "I" is the subject, i.e. the one doing the seeing. "your photo" is a direct object (that which the subject saw), and "this magazine" is a prepositional phrase.

Elizabeth · 3 Feb 2005

jt_ said:
I think you want "zasshi de", not ni.

He he, it still gets me every time -- thinking of "ni" as referring to the specific physical 'container' of an object and 'de' as a the general medium in which it comes, not necessarily the particular copy or issue in the case of a magazine. Anyway, I was erroneously likening it to a sentence such as "There's an article in todays paper" as in Kyou no shinbun ni....ga notte imasu."

bentenmusume · 3 Feb 2005

Right, right... it's understandably confusing, really. The way I think of the difference is that with the "notte imasu" example, that's describing the _location_ of the article, not the place of an action (i.e. "notte imasu" isn't an action being performed by the article), so it's parallel to like an "~ni arimasu" expression describing place of existence.

Elizabeth · 3 Feb 2005

jt_ said:
Right, right... it's understandably confusing, really. The way I think of the difference is that with the "notte imasu" example, that's describing the _location_ of the article, not the place of an action (i.e. "notte imasu" isn't an action being performed by the article), so it's parallel to like an "~ni arimasu" expression describing place of existence.

Thanks, that's about as helpful an explanation as you're likely to run across. I don't know what's up with me tonight. I'd would never have chosen ni for "read in a magazine" or "he said .... in this email." ..

Hiroyuki Nagashima · 3 Feb 2005

"I saw your photo in this magazine".

I tried to translate it literally.
I = WATAShIHA(WA)
saw = MITA
your photo =anata no syasin
in this magazine =kono zasshi no naka

"watasiha(wa) mita anata no syasin kono zattusi no naka."

I tried to paraphrase it.

"watashiha(wa) kono zasshi de anata no syasin wo mimasita."

"貴方の写真が、この雑誌に載っているのを見た。"

anata no syashin ga kono zasshi ni nttuteiruno wo mita.

(学生のころ、英語は赤点でした。)

Sentences with 2 subjects

f4senkyo69

先輩

Elizabeth

先輩

bentenmusume

原点回帰

Elizabeth

先輩

bentenmusume

原点回帰

Elizabeth

先輩

Hiroyuki Nagashima

TAN

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