"そのことばはすぐにじしょでひきました。"
Translation:I looked up that word in a dictionary right away.
20 Comments
Is there a difference between 辞書で引く and 辞書を引く seen in other examples?
760
I must admit I'm getting a bit confused about it as well, though it seems that 辞書を引く is the more common phrase. See these example sentences.
- 760
8 months later, I actually get it.
To say "I consult a dictionary", you say 辞書を引く (jisho o hiku), where the dictionary is the object of the verb. When you want to specify what you're looking up, you say ～を辞書で引く (~ o jisho de hiku). The dictionary is the means you use to look something up, so the thing you are looking up becomes the direct object (marked by を) rather than the dictionary.
- 234
I still can't figure out when to use は and could anyone tell me why は is used here?
It actually means, "That word I looked up in a dictionary right away." は makes "That word" the topic of the sentence. This goes against some English speakers sensibilities though (breaking SVOCC rule, as if you're trying to employ two grammatical subjects). Another way to do it is to use stress or intonation to emphasize "that word" and by so doing deemphasizes the subject as in, "I looked up that word in a dictionary right away." This looks nicer in written form with these fancy italics. You could make it, "It's that word (that/which) I looked up in a dictionary right away." That would back-translate to, "すぐに辞書に引いたのは・がその言葉です。" Hey I tried . . .
で can be used to mark tools. Like, "I use a fork to eat pizza." ”フォークでピザを食べる” So in this case they are checking a word and they are using a dictionary to do it.
引く • ひく • to look up Although, it apparently means a multitude of other things too..
WHAT`s WRONG WITH "I looked up that word right away in the dictionary"
- 1075
I'm Japanese.
わたしはそのことば を すぐにじしょでひきました。（私はその言葉 を すぐに辞書で引きました） is a native-like expression.
