Monday, 17 October 2016

translation - I was told to do X if Y


I have no idea how to translate this sentence pattern into Japanese. If I try with basic grammar, it sounds very wrong and overly complex.


What is the most natural way of expressing this? If there is a more business version, please share it as well.


For example




  • 電話が鳴ったら早く電話に出ると言われました


  • それが出来ると課長に報告してと言われました.




Answer



If you want to avoid using quoted speech, the common idiom worth memorizing is "Xするよう(に)言う".


Your translation attempt is not bad, but here are a few comments:



  • In the first example, are you intentionally using the plain form 出る as an imperative? That makes sense, but it's better to simply use the imperative form 出ろ.

  • No need to say 電話 twice.

  • In the second example, this それ is usually omitted.


  • Replace 出来ると with 出来たら. Explaining the difference between と and たら is difficult for me, but you can see this page: Conditionals | Learn Japanese


How about these?




  • 電話が鳴ったら早く出ろと言われました。

  • 電話が鳴ったら早く出るように言われました。

  • 出来たら課長に報告してと言われました。

  • 出来たら課長に報告するよう言われました。




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