6

I know this is dangerously close to a translation question, but bare with me.

Today I found out a co-worker of mine is studying Japanese as well. And at the end of the conversation I wrote: Jikan wa deru koto desu. Which, as far as I know, means: It's time to leave. One, is this correct? Two, when translating infinitives from English to Japanese is the proper conversion: to [verb] -> [verb] koto?

dotnetN00b
  • 6,776
  • 9
  • 57
  • 94

3 Answers3

9

1) Jikan wa deru koto desu means "Time is leaving". If you want to say "It's time to leave", just say 時間です. The "to leave" is kind of implied depending on your situation. But if you want to explicitly add it in, you can say

（もう）出る／出かける／帰る　時間　です／になった。　→　(It's already (become)) time to leave/go/go out.

2) To translate infinitives, just use the dictionary form of the verb (辞書形)

  • 行く　→　To go
  • 見る　→　To look/watch
  • 遊ぶ　→　To play

Adding 〜こと after it nominalizes the verb, i.e., turns it into a noun. 出ること means "(the act of) leaving". For more info on this, see What is the difference between the nominalizers こと and の?

Community
  • 1
istrasci
  • 44,120
  • 5
  • 112
  • 259
9

Jikan wa deru koto desu

If it is written in Japanese, 「時間は出る事です」. We don't say it.　

One, is this correct?

No. If you mean It's time to leave, 「もう出る時間です」 should be fine.

Two, when translating infinitives from English to Japanese is the proper conversion: to [verb] -> [verb] koto?

Not always. In addition to 名詞的用法, there are 形容詞的用法 and 副詞的用法. For more information: http://www.geocities.jp/gyouseikowa/eigo/futeisi.html

From the source (ヘッチャラ英語学習 http://www.geocities.jp/gyouseikowa/eigo/futeisi.html):

私は音楽をきくことが好きです。 I like to listen to music.

Here koto is used as 名詞的用法.

私は彼女に会えてうれしいです。 I am glad to see her.

Here it is used as 副詞的用法 and translated to て.

彼にはやるべき仕事がたくさんある。 He has a lot of work to do.

Here it is used as 形容詞的用法 and translated to べき.

Teno
  • 1,811
  • 12
  • 13
  • could one leave out the やるべき and get a similar sentence in meaning? "彼には仕事がたくさんある。" or maybe "彼は仕事がたくさんある"? i am confused as i thought having やるべき would add the meaning "He has a lot of work he should do". – yadokari Sep 28 '12 at 23:31
  • could one leave out the やるべき and get a similar sentence in meaning?　-- Yes, I think so. 「彼には仕事が沢山ある」 is almost the same meaning as 「彼にはやるべき仕事が沢山ある」. But 「やるべき仕事」 is clearer since 「仕事」 has several meanings including an occupation. With 形容詞的用法, in most cases, 「～するため」 is considered its meaning and 「～するべき」 is used as a kind of a free translation(意訳). I'm curious as to "He has a lot of work he should do" having a similar meaning to "He has a lot of work to do." in English since most Japanese would translate them to the same meaning. But it's gonna be an English question. – Teno Sep 29 '12 at 00:08
  • He has a lot of work he should do= he better do the work or something bad might happen, but in reality he might not do the work (it leaves open the possibility he will slack off) – yadokari Sep 29 '12 at 04:11
  • "He has a lot of work to do."= it is clearer that he will finish the work because it is implied that it is his duty, not necessarily that a good or bad result will happen because he does his work. – yadokari Sep 29 '12 at 04:12
  • Oh, that's interesting since I've learned should also has a meaning of obligation (duty). Anyway it seems they both have a similar meaning in English also. – Teno Sep 29 '12 at 04:47
  • @Teno: read literally, both of yadokari's sentences mean the same thing. The difference is simply that the one with "should" is very uncommon, because the "should" is always implied. This has the effect of emphasising "should" more than you might expect: "he has a lot of work, and he really should do it". Yadokari is (correctly) interpreting this heavy emphasis as an implication of "I don't think he will" or "he never does his work" by the speaker. Perhaps this is an answer to yadokari too: you're being confused by a peculiarity of English that doesn't carry across to Japanese. :) – Billy Sep 29 '12 at 22:35
2

You are not mixing up こと　with ころ as in:

いま、帰るころ(です)｜It is (now) time to go home

?

Tim
  • 10,784
  • 4
  • 31
  • 68