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Textfugu has the following example with translation:
ときどき ワイン を すこし のみます
I sometimes drink a little wineShouldn’t it be:
すこし ワイン を ときどき のみますOr am I missing something?
Sorry, I think I’m being unclear on my question. I’ll try to show why I am confused.
If I take the original sentence, and translate the word without altering the grammar I get:
ときどき ワイン を すこし のみます
sometimes wine o (p.) little drinkThe English translation I’m given is
I sometimes drink a little wine.What I’d expect, based on my extremely limited knowledge is
little wine o (p.) sometimes drink.So the question is, is there a problem with the English translation in Textfugu, or is there a rule I’m forgetting or haven’t been exposed to yet that would explain this translation?
Japanese students will tell you that Japanese, on the other hand, while frothing at the mouth, is completely backwards!! Even some Japanese teacher might tell you that the basic Japanese sentence order is [Subject] [Object] [Verb]. This is a classic example of trying to fit Japanese into an English-based type of thinking. Of course, we all know (right?) that the real order of the fundamental Japanese sentence is: [Verb]. Anything else that comes before the verb doesn’t have to come in any particular order and nothing more than the verb is required to make a complete sentence. In addition, the verb must always come at the end. That’s the whole point of even having particles so that they can identify what grammatical function a word serves no matter where it is in the sentence. In fact, nothing will stop us from making a sentence with [Object] [Subject] [Verb] or just [Object] [Verb]. The following sentences are all complete and correct because the verb is at the end of the sentence.
What I’m trying to say is that these↓
ときどき ワイン を すこし のみます
I sometimes drink a little wineShouldn’t it be:
すこし ワイン を ときどき のみますare both plausible. If you want to translate it into proper English, thats how it will end up either way.
Wouldn’t ときどき ワイン を すこし のみます
translate as “sometimes wine” and “little drink”where as すこし ワイン を ときどき のみます
translates as “little wine” and “sometimes drink”The meaning of both of those sentences in English, although valid, convey different points.
So if both of those sentences are valid in Japanese are they actually identical in meaning?
Which leads you to the next section of the link I posted.
Grammatically complete and correctly ordered sentences
（１） 私は公園でお弁当を食べた。
（２） 公園で私はお弁当を食べた。
（３） お弁当を私は公園で食べた。
（４） 弁当を食べた。
（５） 食べた。They all could mean: “I ate bentou at the park.” with the (4) implying a park and (5) and implying a park and bentou
Just for anyone who may read this post in the future. I talked with missingno15 offline, and he helped me figure out my confusion.
Basically, the sentences appeared to me like they will have different meaning in Japanese because they have the adverbs flipped. However, when you take the time to translate them into proper English they end up with the same meaning.
… Which is exactly what he said four posts further up.
What I needed to know was the why.
If I didn’t convey it properly in the last post I made. Missingno15 did me a favor by walking me through it offline. Although his posts had good information there was a communication gap that I needed to be cleared before I could make use of the information he posted. He did that, and quite well. My followup post was intended to show what that missing understanding was on my part to help anyone else who may have a similar question, and to make it so future people didn’t waste time trying to help me when I had the answer. :)
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