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#8	Japanese by salpfish
Japanese	English
死が一番悲しい意味を持つことではない。土の毛布でみんなを覆うなら、私も覆われたい。だが貴方はみんなの信じるものを死なせたいので、彼らは土の毛布を壊す。なのに彼らも死ななければならない。 Shi=ga ichiban kanashii imi=wo motsu koto de=wa nai. Tsuchi=no moufu=de minna=wo oou nara, watashi=mo oowaretai. Da ga anata=wa minna=no shinjiru mono=wo shinasetai no de, karera=wa tsuchi=no moufu=wo kowasu. Na no=ni karera=mo shinanakereba naranai.	Death is not what holds the saddest meaning. If it will cover all in the blanket of the earth, I also want to be covered. But you want to let those who we trust die, and so they destroy the blanket of the earth. Nevertheless, they also must die.

Japanese by salpfish

Japanese

English

死が一番悲しい意味を持つことではない。
土の毛布でみんなを覆うなら、私も覆われたい。
だが貴方はみんなの信じるものを死なせたいので、彼らは土の毛布を壊す。
なのに彼らも死ななければならない。

Shi=ga ichiban kanashii imi=wo motsu koto de=wa nai.
Tsuchi=no moufu=de minna=wo oou nara, watashi=mo oowaretai.
Da ga anata=wa minna=no shinjiru mono=wo shinasetai no de, karera=wa tsuchi=no moufu=wo kowasu.
Na no=ni karera=mo shinanakereba naranai.

Death is not what holds the saddest meaning.
If it will cover all in the blanket of the earth, I also want to be covered.
But you want to let those who we trust die, and so they destroy the blanket of the earth.
Nevertheless, they also must die.

Lexicon

anata	pn. 2SG
da	v. to be, it is, that is the case, that said (irregular conjugation)
de	v. copula converb used to link to later verbs
ga	conj. but
kanashi-	adj.v. sad
kare	pn. 3SG.M
koto	n. thing, fact, the fact that ...
kowas-	v. to break, to destroy
ichiban	adj.n. most, first
imi	n. meaning
minna	n. everyone, all
mono	n. thing, person, one
mot-	v. to hold
moufu	n. blanket
na-	adj.v. not, nonexistent, is not, negative verb auxiliary
nar-	v. to become, to succeed, to be acceptable, to be complete
no	n. nominalizer (contraction of mono)
oow-	v. to cover
shi	n. death
shin-	v. to die
shinjir-	v. to believe, to trust
tsuchi	n. earth, soil
watashi	pn. 1SG

Grammar

Nominal morphology:

-ra	plural
=wa	topic
=ga	nominative
=wo	accusative
=no	genitive
=de	instrumental, locative
=ni	dative, locative, agentive, "despite"
=mo	"also"

Verbal morphology:

6 stems (used before applying further suffixes or 'auxiliaries'):
- irrealis (used for negatives, causatives, passives, and volitionals)
  - no marking for verbs ending in vowels
  - -a/o for verbs ending in consonants
  - -karo for adjectival verbs
  - copula daro
- continuative (used in a linking role)
  - no marking for verbs ending in vowels
  - -i for verbs ending in consonants
  - -ku/kat for adjectival verbs
  - no copula form
- terminal (used at the end of a sentence as the predicate)
  - -ru marking for verbs ending in vowels
  - -u for verbs ending in consonants
  - -i for adjectival verbs
  - copula da
- attributive (used to modify nouns, as adjectives or relative clauses)
  - -ru marking for verbs ending in vowels
  - -u for verbs ending in consonants
  - -i for adjectival verbs
  - copula na
- hypothetical (conditional and subjunctive)
  - -re marking for verbs ending in vowels
  - -e for verbs ending in consonants
  - -kere for adjectival verbs
  - copula nara
- imperative
  - -ro marking for verbs ending in vowels
  - -e for verbs ending in consonants
  - no adjectival verb or copula forms

Auxiliaries:

irrealis + -na	negative (adjectival verb)
irrealis + -(sa)se	causative, permissive (verb)
irrealis + -(ra)re	passive (verb)
continuative + -tai	desiderative (adjectival verb)
hypothetical + -ba	conditional

Additional notes:

Head-final.
SOV word order.
Modifiers go before nouns.
Dependent clauses act as direct noun modifiers and thus also go before nouns.

Allophony:

tu > tsu
wu > u