Wednesday 3 June 2015

grammar - How to express "and/also" in this context?


Of the various ways to express the word "and" in Japanese, I don't understand how you would express the following.



For example, how would you translate the sentence, "I play music, and/but I also write music." From my understanding, you wouldn't use a て-form construction here because the two are not happening in sequence necessarily, and you can't use も because the nouns are the same, correct? As another example, perhaps in response to the question "What are you hobbies?", one might respond with "I play music, and I also climb mountains."


Also, would the grammatical structure change if instead of "I play music, and I also write music," you said "I play music. Oh, but I also write music!" sort of as an added-on part?



Answer



The word "and" is usually translated as "そして" but it is literary and "し" and "と" are more used than it. The word "also" is translated as "も".


"I play music, and I also write music." is translated as "私は音楽を演奏するし、作曲もする". As you said, て with this sentence may be unnatural but も can be used because the words "play music" and "write music" are different in meaning.


The response for "What are your hobbies" is "My hobbies are to play music and to climb mountains," and it is translated "私の趣味は、音楽を演奏することと山に登ること".


"I play music. Oh, but I also write music!" is translated as "私は音楽を演奏する。しかし、作曲もする."


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