Originally posted by Nu Archetype
I have another question, so I'll just keep using this thread.
I was trying to find out exactly what "n desu" means, so I looked around on google. I went to about.com and I came acros this example "Haha ga byouki nan desu." It's supposed to mean "Because my mother is sick," but I don't really understand how. Could someone explain the sentence?
Konnichiwa Nu Archetype-san!
I recently put up a very similar question on another thread and received the below response....In the example you posit, "nan"
is short for "na no" and used primarily for emphasis. It may translate something like "as to the reason, (Because) my mother is so sick...."
It is a confusing construction, though, as there is also "Byouki datta'n desu" for "Because she was sick," in which case "'n" becomes the contraction of "no."
Originally posted by Elizabeth:
One instance I recently came across would be "Sensei nan da" translated by a non-native English speaker as "He is a teacher" and assumed the "nan" was mainly for emphasis, something to the effect "and what a teacher he was." I wasn't sure, though, if maybe if "n da" could also be a contraction for "no" -- it wouldn't make sense in this case. But after an adjective like sukina nanda? To make a long story short, it has somehow gotten entangled in my mind with "....irun'desu" as in "it is that thing" or "it is that way."
tasuki []
Registered: 22-04-03
Posts: 376
(Post #6)
Mmm... I think I'd have to ask a pro about that one, because I use it so much I just don't think about it anymore. Venturing a guess, I'd say it's a twist on the "na no da"/"na no desu" phrasing, which is redundant, but sometimes used for emphasis. It's mainly used informally in conversational situations, though, and the "da" is often cut out, in which case it sounds better to say na no, instead of nan. "nan" would be the contracted form of "na no". In the present tense "Sensei nan da", in the past tense "Sensei nan datta". (Of course, da is just short for desu, that at least, I'm sure of).
