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- "My blouse is nowhere to be s…
"My blouse is nowhere to be seen."
Translation:私のブラウスがどこにもないです。
32 Comments
Isn't です always unnecessary? Since it does not cause any change in conjugation... Can a native speaker confirm it for us?
As far as i know, the です is not necessary, but it makes the sentence more polite.
454
If you mean always unnecessary for i-adjectives, then yes. In those cases, its a politeness marker. But it is technically necessary when it serves as a copula, for example, after nouns and na-adjectives.
For anyone who needs a way to remember do ko ni mo: In the movie Finding nemo (Finding Ni mo) (Where Ni mo?) They cant find nimo so its as though hes everywhere and no where at the same time (positive sentence for anywhere) negative for (no where or not anywhere)
が kinds of makes the blouse the subject, while は gives it a context of "as for the blouse, ...". With は, you were already kind of talking about the blouse, while が suddenly throws attention on it specifically, most likely without prior conversation about the blouse. You wouldn't really say "As for the blouse, it is nowhere to be found" It's weird that you were already talking about the blouse and then suddenly said that it's nowhere to be found. A few strange contexts could be made I guess, but が makes more sense.
That being said, は should be acceptable as well.
- 373
Ga emphasizes what precedes in a sentence, wa what follows. Want to say "My BLOUSE has disappeared"? - Use ga. "My blouse has DISAPPEARED"? - Use wa
- 873
So what's wrong with「私のブラウスはどこもありません」?
Isn't 「ありません」the polite form of 「ない」?
Can't は be used instead of が?
And is the に in 「どこにも」absolutely necessary?
- 750
I guess that your example should be acceptable too.
Yes, ありません is the polite form of ない. Sometimes, people simply prefer to use the construction of negative plain form + です when they want to be polite, because words with -ません rather have some certainty and firmness.
I suppose that は should be accepted as well instead of が because the sentence is negative. However, it would sound weird using は unless you haven't established it earlier in the conversation.
And in the end... yes, the に in どこにも is needed because you are describing the location.
も is appended to mean "every" so that いつ (when) becomes いつも (everywhen, that is, everytime or all the time) for example.
When used in the negative it becomes none.
So, どこにも=everywhere どこにもない=nowhere.
Hii! I guess this is the same problem as we have it with sentences which start with には for example. You kinda just need it here.. :-D
No, it would be weird if it wasn't. Case particles always come before も and は.
Can anyone explain why it's どこにも rather than どこもに? どこも with a negative verb means nowhere or "not anywhere," doesn't it?
"nowhere to be seen?"
Going from EN to JA, this phrasing is extremely confusing and off-putting.
And が in the JA translation is stupid too.
透明なブラウスですか？
is the 私の at the beginning really necessary? I thought if you just said "blouse" it would be assumed to belong to the speaker...
“Nowhere to be seen” is an English idiom. Probably it can't be translated literally into Japanese and they just say “My blouse is nowhere”.
Surprised it accepted 俺のブラウス - is it likely somebody would call themselves 俺 and admit to owning a ブラウス? I'd read supposedly 俺 usually has a "traditionally" masculine feel to it.
No 見る ? So where does seen come in? If your blouse is covered under other clothes and therefore not visible, would you still say "私のブラウスがどこにもないです"
