"おふろはどこですか？"
Translation:Where is the bathtub?
51 Comments
There are no definite or indefinite articles in Japanese. "The" and "a" should both be acceptable here.
No, there are no articles, but the use of は shows that the bathtub is topic and the topic is generally marked with definite form in English. To ask something like "Where is a bathtub when you need one?", I suspect you would use あります. I suppose you could translate it as "Where can I find a bath", but that is somewhat free and again probably would use another verb.
Someone told me recently that ga was definite and wa indefinite. I'm interested in learning more.
Doesnt the o- in front imply that it's 'your' bathtub instead of 'the' bathtub?
Aren't the o prefixes used to increase the politeness level? It will mostly be used about other people's things, since it's polite to raise others up and lower yourself in your speech, but it doesn't actually mean "your".
No, the 'o' has nothing to do with possessiveness. It is simply more-polite speech.
I was taught that it is another (maybe more poliet, not sure) way of saying it. Like how the "o" in ocha [tea] is there. It may be understandable, but without the "o" it feels weird. I can't remember the exaxt reasons why or the words my sensei used to describe it.
The tub, mostly. A "bathroom" would be 風呂場 （ふろば）, or one of several synonyms (depending on what you mean by bathroom in English).
In どこ ("where") it's part of a unique compound in which it loses its individual pronunciation. Thankfully, どこ is rarely written in kanji. The same goes for いつ ("when") which can technically be written as 何時.
And the beginning 御 is also rarely written in Kanji, お風呂 is much more common. Same as お茶、お名前.
なに is a word that can be represented by 何 but that's not the reading of the kanji, and there is no 「なに」in this sentence.
Probably because if you're asking about a bathtub you're imposing on someone.
I thought that I need to use が instead of は when referring to an object?
Can i also say おふろがですか in this case?
The distinction between が and は is unrelated to whether it's an object or a person or something else entirely, and has more to do with the shared knowledge of the topic between speaker and listener.
おふろが [どこ] ですか (you forgot the word 'where') may be grammatically correct, but sounds a bit odd to me. As if you are talking about one specific bathtub you're familiar with.
I accidentally typed bathroom instead of bathtub... and it still marked it as correct. O_o
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おふろ in general means "bath" and is used for larger outside baths as well.
Whats the point of 'お' in this sentence? Ive heard before its used to treat non living things with respect. Is that correct?
So confusing, as my gf always refers to the shower as おふろ、but duo doesnt accept it.
does the お at the beginning telling you that your bathtub is superior to all, or actually part of the word?
Do they throw the "three" in as a possible answer just so ill click it on accident?
DL allows some Japanese words (sushi, tempura) but not furo. with the honorific お, translating this as 'tub' is silly. most non-Japanese speakers use this word
interesting, it's the second speaker pronouncing ふ as hɯᵝ and not ɸɯᵝ. I assume, it's some kind of remnant from an older pronunciation Also, in these examples I sometimes hear the Japanese R being pronounced closer to ʒ/ʐ, as it happens in my beloved Bzhitish English =) Nice, universal trends...
Has any Japanese speaker ever heard "おふろ" for bathtub? Here (Hawaii) if you said "おふろ" everyone would know you meant 'furo'. Maybe if you said "ふろ" they might think 'bathtub, but more likely they would think you were confused.
