Dum3z,Nov 6 2005, 02:07 AM Wrote:piratebuddha,Nov 5 2005, 08:25 PM Wrote:Dum3z,Nov 5 2005, 10:48 PM Wrote:Sore wa chuugokugo ja arimasen.
Dum3z-san wa yagi to basu de depaato ni ikimasu ka?
EDIT: note: not starting a pyramid, these are actually responses
I am owned. Even with a dictionary all I can get out of that is goat & bus.
Close enough
Dum3z-san wa yagi to basu de depaato ni ikimasu ka?
Translation: Is Mr.Dum3z and a goat taking a bus to the Department store?
'wa' folloing the subject Dum3z-san
'to' signifying 'with someone' following yagi=goat
'de' being 'by means of' following basu=bus
'ni' particle following the destination depaato = department store
'ikimasu' the verb 'going'
'ka' makes it a question
my translation isnt really great, because the form is weird, if you translated that BACK into japanese it would suggest that i am asking if you are taking a bus to the department store, but its actually asking for affirmation of all the particles
answer: Iie, ikimasen. (No, I'm not going) [short]
or
answer: Hai, ikimasu. (Yes, I am going) [short]
those are the more common responses, but you can say 'Watashi wa yagi to basu de depaato ni ikimasu ka?' which is LITTERALLY 'I am taking a goat to the department store by bus'
hence the translation issues in a lot of anime or other japanese translated material.
note: you wont find 'ikimasu' in the dictionaries because 'masu' is a verb suffix. masen is negative, masu is the present tense, and ashita is the past. What you have to look for in the dictionary is 'iku' meaning 'to go'
That applies to most verbs, such as if I were to suggest that you were indeed a goat, i would say 'Dum3z-san wa yagi desu' (LIT. Mr. Dume3z goat is)
'desu' being 'is' (cant remember the dictionary version of desu)
and 'to' 'ni' 'wa' 'ka' 'de' are all particles, also not really found in dictionaries.