Some questions....

Hi everyone.
I have a couple of questions, and I'll be using this thread to post them and see if anyone could help me. But I'll ask one by one, so there's time to discuss each one... lol
So, my first questions is, I'd like to know if a phrase I've translated is O.K., because I'm very very new at this, and I've only been perusing the language for a fortnight or so, and I came across a couple of things that are not on any of the theory I've read so far.
The phrase is the following:
あなたの肩に 揺れてた木漏れ日
(Anata no kata ni yureteta komorebi)
and I've translated it as
"I want to cradle in your shoulders like sunbeams streaming through the leaves"
is that ok? because I don't get the "ta" at the end of "yurete", I assumed it had something to do with "tai" and some of the theory I have says that the "tai" ending means you "want to" in relation to the verb it follows... am I close? or I'm way out?
Thanks for your help!
Noelia.

hello. Ok, just to let you know, I might not be the greatest help, but I'll try

to me, this sentence looks like "I am craddeling in your shoulder sunbeams streaming through leaves."

O.O

I don't think this sentenc emakes sence in English... XD wouldn't you want to craddle in someones arms...no shoulders...but I'll try to translate this...

"(watashi wa) anata no kata no you na komorebi ni yureritai."

"（私は）あなたの肩のおうな木漏れ日に揺れりたい。"

I am about 60% sure it's right...soo wait for toher people to post...

I'm just not sure how to use like in this sentence...good luck with your Japanese!

plzzz tell me if im wrong!

Are you sure it isn't broken up like あなたの肩に 揺れてた木 漏れ日? Just so you know, 揺れてた is a contracted form of 揺れていた.

I think the problem you may have in this phrase could be where to seperate phrase.
I guess this is a part of some lyrics or a poem, because of the way they put a space between them.

original: あなたの肩に 揺れてた木漏れ日
= あなたの肩に揺れていた 木漏れ日

This phrase is not a sentence, but was supposed to be a noun plus its modifier, actually. So, there shouldn't be any space as a matter of fact.
(These spacing happens in poem or lyrics, though)

あなたの肩に揺れていた="shimmering on your shoulder"(?? I couldn't find the appropriate word for "yureru".)

木漏れ日＝"sunbeams/the sun streaming through the leaves of trees", (according to Yahoo dictionary) or,
"sunshine filtering through foliage" / "Light falling onto <something> through the trees" (according to ALC dictionary)

"Komorebi" is a noun, and "anata no kata ni yureteta" is its adjective modifier/adjectival(?? I'm not sure how you call it in English).

Does the above help you a bit or has it made you even more confused...?^^;


Q

Noelia said:

Hi everyone.
あなたの肩に 揺れてた木漏れ日
(Anata no kata ni yureteta komorebi)
and I've translated it as
"I want to cradle in your shoulders like sunbeams streaming through the leaves"
is that ok? because I don't get the "ta" at the end of "yurete", I assumed it had something to do with "tai" and some of the theory I have says that the "tai" ending means you "want to" in relation to the verb it follows... am I close? or I'm way out?
Thanks for your help!
Noelia.

Click to expand...

Hi Noelia, welcome to the world of Japanese language! :joyful:

Now let's see the phrase which seems to be taken from lyrics of a song.

Ｂ［ Ａ［あなたの肩に］ 揺れてた］ Ｃ［木漏れ日］

C is the main subject of this phrase.
木漏れ日： sunshine filtering through the (tree) leaves

B modifies C.
揺れてた： It's a contracted form or 揺れていた, as Glenn san has already explained.
揺れる is to move to and fro, or from side to side. Width of the movement varies depending on the context, so it can be translated sway, swing, shake, tremble, shiver, etc.
Here the subject is the sunshine through the trees, thus it is actual trees that make the sunshine look 揺れる. Perhaps sway? Or more focusing on the light itself, tremble or shimmer?
揺れる (to sway) ＋ている (movement is in progress) ＋た (past tense)

A modifies 揺れてた. Where was it trembling? And it elaborates where it was.
あなたの肩に： on your shoulder
Putting A + B + C together, it can be roughly translated something like this:
sunshine filtering through the leaves trembling on your shoulder

----
If you have just started learning Japanese, I'd like to suggest you to read a lot of short sentences. While it is interesting to learn the meanings of songs etc., often those lyrics show structures and styles which are not normal in ordinary sentences. In other words, they are not the best material to learn the basic grammars as there can be a lot of irregularity...
Maybe after you learn the basics and get more used to the sentence structure and words/phrases, it will be easier for you to understand those lyrics. (Not that I'm saying you should not read those lyrics, it's fine to read them just for fun!)
Ganbatte kudasai ne!

--- edit ---
Oops, Cue san beat me while I was thinking and writing...

oh, undrentide san, I think your explanation is way more detailed and explicit!!
Honestly, I always learn a lot from your posts!

Q