# Gratitude Message



## Cereth

Hello amigos!

Today I have to say goodbye to my japanese teachers (4), unfortunately I won´t be able to go to japanese school for a while and I want to thank them, can you help me translating this?:

_I really appreciate your classes,I have learned a lot from you,and eventhough I don´t want to leave I must do it. I hope we can meet again in a future._
_I don´t have enough thanking words now, but I just want to let you know _
_that i will never forget what you taught me._
_Thank you so much._

.....nya I want to cry already....
I appreciate your help. Thank you


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## crises

Why don't you try to write it in Japanese first?


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## karuna

My attempt for personal study purposes is as follows:

xxx-sensē, anata no kurasu o hontō ni kansha shimasu. sensē kara takusan benkyō shimashita. detanakute mō, sore ga shinakute wa ikemasen desu kedo. mirai ni mata deaimashō, ne. 
ima watashi wa orē no kotoba ga jūbun ja arimasen, demo oshieru koto ga kesshite wasuremasen, sore o dake tsutaetai.
domo arigatō gozaimashita


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## Flaminius

karuna said:


> xxx-sensē, anata no kurasu o sensē-no go-shidō-ni hontō ni kansha shimasu.


Pronoun "anata" should be avoided (sounds like examining) for the sake of politeness.  The object for kansha-suru should be governed by _-ni_ particle.  Since _kurasu_ means a place or a framework where the act of teaching happens, I substituted it with shidō (指導) or teaching, instructions or directions.



> sensē kara -no moto-de takusan benkyō shimashita.


Your original was, "I studied from you."  I replaced it with, "sensē-no moto-de," which is roughly "[studied] under your auspices."



> detanakute mō, sore ga shinakute wa ikemasen desu kedo.


I am not sure how to salvage this part.  Here is my rewrite:

fuhon'i nagara saranakereba narimasen.
Even though unwilllingly, I have to leave.



> mirai ni mata deaimashō, ne.


shōrai mata aetara ī desu-ne.
If we could meet again in the future, it would be nice.

Your choice _mirai_ generally denotes future in technical sense (grammar, physics etc.).  The time which is yet to come to pass in one's life is _shōrai _(将来).  I prefer _au_ (potential form _aeru_) to _deau_ because the latter means "meeting someone by chance for the first time."



> ima watashi wa orē no kotoba ga jūbun ja arimasen, jūbunna orē-no kotoba-ga arimasen.


The contracted form "ja arimasen" is okay in speech but it is rather awkward in written language.  I also want to direct your attention that _-na_ particle is used to adjectivise a lot of Sino-Japanese morphemes.



> demo oshieru oshiete itadaita (oshiete moratta) koto ga wa, kesshite wasuremasen. sore o dake tsutaetai tsutae takatta-no desu.


Perfect tense is preferrable for "teach."  Also, the beneficiary of the act should be expressed too.  I did so by using an auxiliary verb to indicate the active of the main verb is directed at the speaker (_itadaku_ or _morau_).



> dōmo arigatō gozaimashita


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## karuna

Thanks Flaminius. That was more than I had hoped for. Truly it is an important topic that we should know as students – how to properly thank our teachers. I realized that I know only phrases_ gokurosama _and _otsukaresama _but these are not applicable when speaking with superiors. I could only think about _kansha suru _hoping that it won't be offensive. Are there any other set phrases for expressing gratitude to the teacher?

Is it possible to connect _sore dake..._ to the previous sentence as a subclause? Is this correct: ..._kesshite *wasurenai no dake *__tsutae takatta no desu_.

Addition: Also with subclause construction, do we need to use the past tense anymore? _tsutaetai n desu?_


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## Cereth

Karuna and Flam thank you sou much for your help, I said my own message to them yesterday, because nobody answered yesterday ^^

and Crises I think this is a forum where most of people who ask have a very-low japanese level and if we ask is because we don´t have any idea of how to say it.


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## cheshire

> sensē kara -no moto-de takusan benkyō shimashita.


It's just that 先生から勉強する　is a bad collocation. 先生から学ぶ is perfectly OK.





> Is it possible to connect _sore dake..._ to the previous sentence as a subclause? Is this correct: ..._kesshite *wasurenai no dake *__tsutae takatta no desu_.


The first one, yes. You can use either "koto" or "no" to connect infinitive to it. To answer the second one, no, it's grammatically OK but not natural. kesshite wasurenai (darou) koto wo tsutae takatta no desu.



> Addition: Also with subclause construction, do we need to use the past tense anymore? _tsutaetai n desu?_


 You can say either. If you say it near the end of a letter, you should choose the past tense.


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## Flaminius

karuna said:


> Is it possible to connect _sore dake..._ to the previous sentence as a subclause? Is this correct: ..._kesshite *wasurenai no dake *__tsutae takatta no desu_.


This is grammatically incorrect.



cheshire said:


> You can use either "koto" or "no" to connect infinitive to it.


cheshire, I don't understand what you call infinitive in Japanese grammar.  Perhaps you could explain with examples?



> kesshite wasurenai (darou) koto wo tsutae takatta no desu.


This sentence seems to me suffering from awkwardness, if not grammatical errors.  Off the top of my head, I would say Japanese does not have a very sophisticated way to make a subordinate clause out of a sentence whose main verb expresses intention of the speaker.


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## cheshire

Flaminius said:


> cheshire, I don't understand what you call infinitive in Japanese grammar. Perhaps you could explain with examples?


wasurenai koto 
I had the dictionary form in mind, like "wasureru. taberu. nomu." but I don't know how do you call it for Japanese grammar. 連体形？　終止形？　What do you call it in English?



> This sentence seems to me suffering from awkwardness, if not grammatical errors. Off the top of my head, I would say Japanese does not have a very sophisticated way to make a subordinate clause out of a sentence whose main verb expresses intention of the speaker.


I felt it too, but I was pressed for time when I wrote it, sorry.

kesshite wasurenai (darou) koto wo tsutae takatta no desu.​
Kesshite wasurenai darou *toiu* という　koto wo...​Adding という would solve the awkwardness. As you said, 「日本語は頭でっかちな構文を嫌う」（主語が長かったりするのは避けられる）


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## karuna

I am getting confused. So, how can we say "Thank you for x" in Japanese? Do we use postposition "o" with "arigatō"?

How about this:_ x wa kesshite wasuremasen yo. zembu o arigatō gozaimshita._


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## Flaminius

karuna said:


> I am getting confused. So, how can we say "Thank you for x" in Japanese? Do we use postposition "o" with "arigatō"?


Sorry for a belated reply.

If x is a noun, using postposition _-o _is the most appropriate construction.
E.g., チョコレートをありがとう
Thank you for the chocolate.

If x is a clause, however, ありがとう should immediately follow a verb in te-form with くれて.
E.g., ほめてくれてありがとう
Thank you for praising me (speaking highly of me).

Since ありがとう is an interjection and not a word in the usual sense, there are things that cannot be done with it (like following "[clause] koto-o").



> How about this:_ x wa kesshite wasuremasen yo. zembu o arigatō gozaimshita._


Zembu and arigatō is not a good collocation.  An oft-used adverb for conveying the same meaning is いろいろ; いろいろ（と）ありがとうございました。


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## karuna

Flaminius said:


> Sorry for a belated reply.



daijōbu desu, watashi mo konshū shigoto de zuibun isogashikatta desu kedo.

And as always your explanation made things so clear. mō ichido arigatō.


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## Hiro Sasaki

Cereth san

”先生”を主語にする方が　better です。日本語では　”私”　は　なるべく　言わない方が
よいのです。

先生にいろいろ　教えていただいて　感謝しています。　”私は　学ぶ”　より　”先生が
教える”　立場を変えて　考えてください。

Hiro Sasaki


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