Translation help

あなたは１年後に死ぬとしたら、だれのことを考えながら死ぬと思いますか？

I'm a little stumped, but is this something like: if someone dies in a year/a year after their death (?) when you are thinking of them do you think they are really dead?

For me the greatest problem in the understanding of this sentence is : 死ぬとしたら
"Shinu to suru" ??? is this correct ?
"shinu to" sounds like a conditional form
"shitara" also sounds like a conditional form
so, both uses are correct ?

Maybe I am mistaken, but I don't think that the translation is "do you think they are really dead?".
Because that's "dare no koto" and not "dareka no koto".
I think that is a question like
"In 1 year, if someone dies, who do you think he is ? / who do you think he should be ?"

As I've written I don't really understand "shinu to shitara", that's the reason why my translation is probably wrong...


Elizabeth, was this sentence written by a japanese ?

"死ぬとしたら"の意味を本当に分かりません。
これを読む日本人が居れば、ちょっと説明して下さい、お願いします！

Originally posted by Oliver Twist
For me the greatest problem in the understanding of this sentence is : 死ぬとしたら
"Shinu to suru" ??? is this correct ?
"shinu to" sounds like a conditional form
"shitara" also sounds like a conditional form
so, both uses are correct ?

Click to expand...

Konnichiha, Oliver Twist-san! Anata ni totte mo ii benkyou ni naru to omoimasu. (I think this is instructive for you as well).

Yes, this was written by a native speaker. I'm fairly certain shineba, shindara or "to shitara" are all conditional forms. The latter may just be more clearly "if" as opposed to "if" or "when" --maybe more like our subjunctive case, "if I were to die."


And 'koto wo kangaenagara' is 'while you're thinking about'
if that helps.

And the answer is...

If you die a year from now, who do you think you will be thinking about when you die?

(I wouldn't bet my life on this translation but I'm pretty confident this is correct.)


I don't know the difference enough to explain but the "to shitara" form (in this case anyway) can be taken to mean pretty much the same as the -tara form i.e.
shinu -> shindara
shinu to suru -> shinu to shitara

If you break it apart (and know the grammar forms) it is fairly straight foward e.g.
You in-one-year if-you-die who thinking-while-you-die will-[you]-be-thinking-of

Originally posted by mdchachi
And the answer is...

If you die a year from now, who do you think you will be thinking about when you die?

(I wouldn't bet my life on this translation but I'm pretty confident this is correct.)


I don't know the difference enough to explain but the "to shitara" form (in this case anyway) can be taken to mean pretty much the same as the -tara form i.e.
shinu -> shindara
shinu to suru -> shinu to shitara

If you break it apart (and know the grammar forms) it is fairly straight foward e.g.
You in-one-year if-you-die who thinking-while-you-die will-[you]-be-thinking-of

Click to expand...

Arigatou mdchachi-san!

I was probably a little thrown off by the in-one-year part and then shinu as "while/when you die" -- but it makes perfect sense now.