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- "田中さんに花をあげます。"
"田中さんに花をあげます。"
Translation:I will give flowers to Mr. Tanaka.
58 Comments
It also doesn't need to be any. There are many instances where you may not address someone as a Mr./Mrs./Ms. in English, but still use さん when referring to them in Japanese.
San- さんー is placed on names for respect. Do not place it on your name. (No mr., no mrs., No miss)
Just when I thought I was getting to know Mrs. Tanaka she is suddenly a Mr
I disagree. There is nothing grammatically wrong (or socially wrong for that matter) with giving flowers to a man.
720
I mean, this is true, but I don't know where it came from. Pretty sure Pablo was talking about the translation Duo provided saying "Mr." when there have been previous sentences saying "Ms." or "Mrs." in reference to Tanaka-san.
- 468
That's because さん is a gender-neutral honorific, so it works as a suitable translation for Mr., Ms., or Mrs.
- 720
I know. I'm talking about the English sentences, which used to use Ms. or Mrs. in reference to Tanaka-san and NEVER used Mr. before.
Fellas, most of the time when it's a single Japanese name Duo is using the family name, just like they do in their culture (mostly). Tendency is family name first, individual second. If a single name is used you have to either know what kind of name it is or pay close attention to the context (level of formality / closeness between parties). A complete honorific drop is a severe case of disrespect among acquaintances or casualness between very close people.
In previous lessons we got that Tanaka and Honda are family names. Shigeru and Sakura are personal names. We had lessons coupling personal and family names before. Just relax and let the words soup duo provides sink in and your brain will connect the dots when you are relaxed eventually. For any specifics there's always the comments.
Most important: have fun!
Just あげる, rarely 上げる when you give something. やる means the same but a bit impolite.
田中 could be any gender and nothing says that it is multiple flowers like it looks for
Correct.
"I give Mr. Tanaka a flower." was marked wrong; Duo corrected it to "flowers". I've reported it. (October 15, 2017)
I came here for this convo. I think a counting word is used for a flower like "a single flower" and otherwise plural. but i'm not sure.
You can use a counter to specify the number of [noun]s if it's important. Otherwise, it can be either singular or plural.
Surely "I give flowers to Tanaka" is just as acceptable? "San" doesn't denote gender.
Nope, but it denotes a title. Tanaka is the person's surname, so Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms is needed.
But when translating to English you don't use -san. It's not English, it's Japanese in rōmaji. Adding -san to an English translation is foolish, I'd even go so far as to call it lazy. There's also no context available here to discern whether poor Tanaka here is an equal or a superior. As an equivalent example, you wouldn't call your classmate/friend/junior 'Ms. (Kate) Anderson.' Unless you're being weird and overly, almost creepily formal, you'd just call her Kate, right? So in the absence of such context, both 'Tanaka' or 'Ms/Mr Tanaka' should be accepted as correct for this answer.
But Tanaka is a surname. Surnames in English almost always require a title like Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss or a more specific one like Dr/Professor/etc.
- 863
Indeed, only using the surname is familiar, or even rude depending on context — which is the exact opposite of what -さん is conveying!
"I give Mr. Tanaka a flower." was marked wrong; Duo corrected it to "flowers". I've reported it. (October 15, 2017)
田中さんは私に花をくれます。
たなかさんはわたしにはなをくれます。
(あげる is used when the receiver is respected; くれる is used when the giver is respected.)
I put "I give a flower to Mr. Tanaka" and it was rejected. There's no number implied in the Japanese here, so shouldn't "a flower" also be acceptable?
- 215
Well, when you give only one flower to Mr Tanaka means two things : you are mean and you are insinuating that Mr Tanaka is homosexual...
I keep messing this up because of how awkward it is to say this in English. I would never say this. I might say "I will give ..," but "I give..."? Am i narrating my own life now?
- 218
Just pretend you're Yoda and that every day is Talk Like a Pirate Day, and you'll get the hang of it.
Does あげます usually mean only that you give someone something instead of offering it to them? Does あげます imply that they took the thing? Because this is the second sentence where I've put "I offer __ flowers" and it's been marked as wrong.
im also wondering is there a better way to say this, as 上げる has a multitude of possible meaning. here is obvious you are giving flowers and not deep frying them, but alas! is this a verb used to express a polite giving (like you suggest in english we may "offer a gift")?
- 387
In this lesson, the sentence 姉にスカートをもらいます is "My older sister gives me a skirt", and this sentence 田中さんに花をあげます is "I give flowers to Mr./Ms. Tanaka" - so would I be correct in saying the particle に here is indicating the person to whom the verb is referring? Just want to make sure I understand this usage of the particle correctly.
Since we don't know gender, it seems best just to say "Tanaka," but that gets rejected.
Altough in English we can drop the honorific, but Japanese ALWAYS put the さん (san) after someone's name. So we must practice it (putting Mr. Mrs. Ms.) in English too to make sure we always remember it.
I know it has been a long term practice for educators to be giving an English interpretations of Japanese verbs in their present tense form by using the word "will". However "will" is actually refers to future time and often in future tense. So, if possible I would try to drop the modal verb "will" and just use a verb which in present tense form. And I know that makes the sentence in English sound a bit more stilted, but in actually it is more of an accurate reflection on how the Japanese sounds, which is very stilted.
It's not the Japanese present form, it's the Japanese non-past form. It can be used for both present and future tense, so both "will give" and just "give(s)" are acceptable translations.
It seems to me if the communication is formal enough to use さん that お花 should be used, not just 花。
San being translated seems kinda weird, San is an honourific given to everyone, Kun is a male honourific, Chan is a Female honourific, and chan and kun are also interchangeably used with friends it just seems weird for San to be translated when it's just part of Japanese culture
People lossing their minds over a implication of a man giving flowers to another. Lol
- 720
Maybe it's a different word in Japanese. I'm not an advanced enough student to say for sure, though.
Are people usually referred to by their last name if they are your friends or coworkers? Would you still use their last name (Tanaka) if you knew their first name?
- 720
I think that referring to someone to his or her given name in Japan is kind of like giving a hug in the west. There's a certain level of familiarity required for it to not be uncomfortable, and it's indicative of that level of familiarity.
The use of さん adds to the sentence. If the person was spoken of as simply 田中 there wouldn't be a Mr/Ms in the translation, but there is. Tanaka-san = Mr/Ms Tanaka.
Plus, it's a surname. You wouldn't say in English "I gave a flower to Jones". You could say "I gave a flower to Kate", but if you use her last name you'd say "I gave a flower to Miss Jones"
