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I was going through one of the anki sentence decks when I came across this sentence – おとうとさん に １万円 を かしました。- which then translated to – I lent 10,000 yen to my dad.-
Can someone please explain how this translation makes sense? I’m not sure why “おとうとさん” translates to dad and not little brother. Is it just a mistake?
Also why is there a “に” in between おとうとさん and １万円? is it there to show who the money is lent to? I have never seen it used this way.
Thanks.
Yes I think it is a mistake. おとうとさん means little brother (formal), and おとうさん means father (again formal).
おとうとさん に １万円 を かしました means “I lent 10,000 yen to my little bother.”Koichi gives you a に you haven’t learnt about yet but the sentence is correct. I think he does it so that when you are going to learn it, you can say “hey that looks like something I’ve seen before” and thus it’ll be easier for you to understand later.
Yes, your assumption is correct. に tells to who the action is done. Actually the syntax doesn’t matter as long as the verb is in the end of the sentence. The particles tells you which words are connected to each other in what way. So
おとうとさん に １万円 を かしました。 could also be １万円 を おとうとさん に かしました。 They have the same meaning. Maybe some would find one of them a little odd to say but it isn’t wrong.Cimmik is right about に but maybe a little off on おとうとさん.
おとうとさん would not be used to talk about one’s own brother; simply おとうと would be used for that.
Similarly, おとうさん would not be used to refer to one’s own father when speaking to somebody outside the family.So, the sentence could mean: “(Somebody) lent 10,000 yen to (somebody’s) younger brother.”
Where the two somebody’s could be the same person (as long as it’s not the speaker) or different people (as long as the second somebody isn’t the speaker).Thanks for the answers. Very helpful.
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