"母にそうじをしてとたのみました。"
Translation:I asked my mother to clean.
85 Comments
Debatable, 母 はは is a formal expression. Mom would be closer to 母さん かあさん
Edit: not sure what's with the downvotes; there is such a thing as formality in English as well. If someone is using the word 母 it is likely they are talking to someone with a bit of social distance, for example at work, where you might sound silly saying mom in an equivalent English situation. As Japanese is so contextual, you could make an argument for being strict here. That said, I don't think the original commenter is wrong (hence opening with "debatable,") I just thought to give a possible explanation.
From what I understand regarding formality in Japan, はは is used when a mother is in the "inside" group (humble), and かあさん for the "outside" group (respectful).
When speaking to your mother, she is in the outside group to respect her, and you in the inside group. Thus, かあさん is used.
When speaking to someone about your mother, they are in the outside group, and you and your mother are in the inside group, to humble yourselves. Thus, はは is used for your mother, and かあさん for theirs.
When speaking about someone else's mother, you are in the inside group and the mother is in the outside group to respect them, so かあさん is used.
No yeah maybe but the thing is, "I asked mom to clean" is shown as ALMOST correct. Correcting the answer as "I asked MY mom to clean." And requiring that "my" is just silly.
Cultural differences. I would think it was highly odd, even in formal situations, to say "my mother". It's just too... Pompous. Everyone I know would say "my mum" to anyone - a stranger, a boss. Anyone. Given these differences, all variations of mother should be included, I think.
I believe that you're using the word "formal" in this context "incorrectly". はは by itself is "informal", and is likely to be used by children or in more casually informal environments and situations. I disagree that haha alone is a formal term to describe your mother.
No, 母 (はは) is used to humbly refer to one's own mother. お母さん or 母ちゃん (かあちゃん) is used by children, and you are supposed to use お母さん when referring to someone else's mother.
This is correct.
お母さん is formal (or a way a child would address their mother and is therefore seen as childish to call one's own mother お母さん).
母 (はは) is informal and a way a teenager or adult child would address their own mother. You would never call anyone else's mother 母.
I agree... Sort of...
母{はは} 1. It's my impression that 母 {はは} is used when referring to your mother in the third person to someone who isn't part of the family: e.g. '私{わたし}のはは.' (I'm sure on that one).
母 {かあ} 2. When addressing (speaking directly to) your own mother, (お)母さん is typically used (and 母ちゃん informally by children). (also sure on that one).
母 {かあ} 3. お母さん is also used when referring to someone else's mother: e.g. '-blank- の お母さん'. (I'm pretty confident in that one.)
母 {かあ} 4. The only one I'm not as confident about is when addressing someone else's mother. I guess it would depend on the age gap... For kids would it be something like "田中{たなか}お母さん," using their last name? People of relatively similar age would likely just use "田中さん." I'm not sure how teenagers/young adults would refer to someone else's mom... Maybe おばさん or おねさん if they are younger?
I will just add a little bit of my own experience to everything. ;) My girlfriend, who is Japanese, is calling her mother お母さん or just オカン (a little bit affective). And when you are talking about your own mother, in most conversation (even polite) you would use はは. Here 私の is not useful since はは can only be your mother.
Hope it helped you. :)
母(はは) is used when referring to owns own mother in 3rd person in usually formal settings, like at work. It lacks honorifics, so you're downplaying her "rank". It's the kenson thing. So "mom" wouldn't be a proper translation since it's informal. E.g. 母は専業主婦(せんぎょうしゅふ)です。 (my mother is a housewife)
お母さん can be used to refer to own's own mother either directly to her, or in 3rd person in informal settings, like among friends. This can be translated as "mom" E.g. お母さんのお弁当(べんとう)が一番(いちばん)！ Your (Mom's) bentos are the best OR My mom's bentos are the best (when among friends) or even Bentos made by moms are the best (depending on context)
It can also be used to other people's mothers. And since it has the -san honorific, it can be translated as both mom / mother depending on context (like friend's mom/a student's mom) E.g. 君のお母さんはなにしてるの？(what's your mom/mother doing?)
The most formal/honoring way of referring to mothers in modern day Japanese is お母様 (also used to address mother in laws) And can be used in 3rd person or to refer to them directly E.g. お母様は休んでください (please rest, mother (in law)) お母様は元気してらっしゃるの？ (how is your mother doing?)
と is the particle used before the verb たのむ (to ask (for)) to indicate what was requested. It is also used in front of other similar verbs like 言う (いう) (to say) to indicate what was said. In my own mind I kind of equate it to the comma at the end of a piece of dialogue, as in...
"I like singing songs," I said. うたうのが好きだと言いました。 (Just a note, in this instance です becomes its short form だ )
と is a quotation marker in this case (shown by the use of して). "I asked my mother, 'Could you clean?' "
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"Could you clean?" by itself sounds awkward to me as an English speaker. Clean what, exactly? Clean my room? Clean the sink? Clean your teeth?
It is awkward in English, because English is a low context language and Japanese is a high context language.
Note that と here is the same as in the phrase most students probably learn early on といいます ("to be called") which is actually the と particle and the verb 言う ("to say" or "to call"). The difference here is that と is being used to refer to an entire clause rather than just e.g. a name.
Just consulted a Japanese language teacher and learned that, "母に掃除を頼みました", "母に掃除をするように頼みました”, "母に掃除をしてくれるように頼みました” are grammatically more correct, while " 母に「掃除して」と頼みました" with と is more like a quotation.
In Japanese the "て form" of a verb is used as a soft way of requesting something, often with the ending particle "ね" and is quite often used by parents to their children.
たべてね - (Go on) eat it そうじ を してね - (Go on and) Clean up (please)
So the mother would quite literally say "そうじ を して" and that is all as that sentence is a request.
"する" is the dictionary form of the verb, so in English this is literally saying "to clean up". In this context a person wouldn't say "to clean up" to someone, they would say "Clean up (please)" which is why "して" is used instead (because we are quoting what the mother actually said).
It's not the mother speaking in this sentence though, I'm speaking to the mother.
I looked up in the dictionary; there are two examples: 1. 隣人が病気になると、彼女は医者に治療してくれるように頼んだ。 2. 田中さんのことを頼むよ。
Therefore, I guess it should be either 1. 母に掃除してくれるように頼みました。 or 2. 母に掃除を頼みました。 but not "母に掃除してと頼みました。" ...Am I right?
I can't understand all this kanji people use. This is the hardest thing about being a beginner
Do not make a habit out of using 'tanomu' with people above your station. Colloquially it is often reserved for subordinates, children, etc. It is more equivalent to tell than to ask or request. If you want to request something from anybody above your station (yes, this would include your mother in Japan anyway), you would use 'negau'. 母に掃除をしてくれるように[と]ねがいました（おねがいしました）。 Even among friends, there is often a hierarchy which dictates whether or not you should use 'tanomu' or 'negau'.
Can you explain the kureru youni a bit.
I Googles it but it seems a confusing to me.
When will the endless repetition of the same sentence over and over end ? It teaches nothing but the joys of ctrl+v
"I asked mother to clean" was not accepted. Maybe "my" should be optional since that is implied? 私の母 would require "my".
That's my point. In English, you don't need to use the phrase "my mother" every time you talk about her. It is perfectly acceptable to say "mother" and have it imply "my mother", albeit less common.
You didn't get the point. While it is true you can just say mother in english an it is implied you are talking about your mother, making it correct answer. The duolingo requires you to say my mother to drill the fact that haha in Japanese can ONLY be used when refering to one's own mother. Same with requiring younger and older before brother or sister.
Requiring younger and older in talking about siblings is completely different since there is no one-to-one correspondence in words. But the correspondence is fine when talking about parents, and it would be creepy to use Mom or Mother unless talking about your own. In fact, duo elsewhere allows Dad as a translation for 父.
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I agree. If you say that you asked "mother" to do something, it is understood that you are referring to your own mother and not someone else's.
Agreed - but in that case, to be 100% correct, you would need to capitalise Mother.
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^ Moral of the story: Don't try this at home. xD
Source anime: Nichijou!
Editing and subtitles: by me! ;)
I also thought it's the mother who is asking. I'd like to know if "tanomimashita" is the only thing that indicate that it's the mother who is being asked. And if I change it to "tanomareta", would the meaning change to "my mother asked me to clean" ?
Yes, it would. Ordinarily, though the sentence structure would be 'Souji wo suru you ni to haha ni tanomaremashita'.
Not a native speaker, but here is how I understand it.
- 母 = my mother
- に = "to" particle, the sentence is directed at my mother
- そうじ = (the act of) cleaning
- を = direct object marker, cleaning is the object
- して = て-form of する (to do), I believe here used as a soft imperative; since そうじ is the object, the sentence asks to do the cleaning, or to clean
- と = quote particle, sort of like the quotation marks and/or the comma in: "Clean," I asked my mother.
- たのみました = past form of たのみます (to ask); [someone] (can usually be any pronoun without context, but here has to be "I" as 母 only refers to your own mother) asked someone else (here the mother) for something, in this case a favour
The sentence really offends me - mother may clean alright but TO ASK HER FOR IT? Whats wrong with you?
An Indian mother would proceed to deny the request and promptly pick up her chappals (slippers) to beat the ❤❤❤❤ out of the child (in this case, me).
On the bright side, she doesn't speak Japanese.
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Any mother would do that haha (or something equivalent)...
Just hope your mother is not secretly learning Japanese. xD
This article helped me understand how と is used here: https://www.thoughtco.com/japanese-particle-to-4077331 See "Quotation".
Would it be correct to use Japanese quotation markers in this case? 母に「そうじをして」とたのみました。Then would the translation "I asked my mother 'please clean'" be correct?
This is a sure fire way in my household to get a cuff across the ear and promptly grounded for the night. xD
Grammatical question: why is there no article needed after the と particle. That と is making the "to clean" like a noun; if we'd asked for something that didn't need the と, wouldn't we need an を or something to mark it?
I get that we don't need to say XXしてとをたのみました, but why?
と doesn't make a verb into a noun, it marks the end of a quote. You may have it confused with の, which can be used in this way.
Where I come from anyway, you can't "clean". You can clean the room, you can clean your shoes, you can clean the window, you can even "clean up", but you can't just "clean" - that is simply incorrect.
Again. Soul-crushing repetition of the same phrase or two, OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Why, am I still doing this Duolingo ❤❤❤❤?
