# verb + "私です" at the end of sentences



## lrosa

Hello,

I have seen sentences written and spoken by native Japanese which end with *verb + "私です"/"僕です"*. I do not have any particular sentence, but I am just wondering what effect this has on the sentence, and is it possible to apply this structure to most sentences?

For example, could I say "日本語を勉強している私です" and what would be the particular meaning of this? My guess is that the nuance would be lost if one tried to translate it into English. 


Many thanks!


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## Wishfull

Hi.

My try is;
It's me who are learning Japanese.
There is I who are learning Japanese.
This is me who are learning Japanese.

It is literal translation, which I think might be Starfrown's method.
The meaning or nuance might not be translated correctly.


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## wathavy

Wishfull said:


> It's me who are learning Japanese.
> There is I who are learning Japanese.
> This is me who are learning Japanese.


I thought the same as you Wish, at first sight.(site was wrong sorry)

But I feel this(these) may be correlated to the sentence like;
"日本語を勉強している*のは*私です" 
What do you think?


The simple sentence like "日本語を勉強している私です" might be ...
"I am learning Japanese."
"A Japanese learning person as I am here."
"A learner of Japanese who is me,..."

Or pointing out a person in a classroom in a photograph, one would say,
"This is me who is learning Japanese."

These are my impressions and I don't deny Wishfull's interpretation at all.
Thanks.


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## Wishfull

Hi, wathavy.



wathavy said:


> But I feel this(these) may be correlated to the sentence like;
> "日本語を勉強している*のは*私です"
> What do you think?
> *Oh, yes. I agree with you.*
> *I understand that mine is a little differenct from original meaning.*
> 
> 
> The simple sentence like "日本語を勉強している私です" might be ...
> "I am learning Japanese."
> *"A Japanese learning person as I am here."*
> "A learner of Japanese who is me,..."
> *I like green one...*


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## lrosa

Thank you very much for your responses! I would have the impression that "日本語を勉強している*のは*私です" would put the emphasis on "日本語を勉強している" while "日本語を勉強している私です" puts the emphasis more on 私. Do you think this is correct? 

Also, can you imagine some situations where it would be natural and appropriate to say "日本語を勉強している私です"?


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## wathavy

lrosa said:


> Thank you very much for your responses! I would have the impression that "日本語を勉強している*のは*私です" would put the emphasis on "日本語を勉強している" while "日本語を勉強している私です" puts the emphasis more on 私. Do you think this is correct?


Precisely.




lrosa said:


> Also, can you imagine some situations where it would be natural and appropriate to say "日本語を勉強している私です"?


Is the one I wrote as an example which one is looking at your picture at a classroom with other students sitting with you and watching the picture.
But the feature of you may not be clear because you're face is not taken or what ever, and you use this sentence.

Similar situation may be proposed by...

#I did not deny your suggestion totally Wish, rather it inspired my thoughts.


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## lrosa

Sorry Wathavy, I should have read your explanation more carefully! At first, I thought that the function of "日本語を勉強している" in your example was to identify the person in question by referring to the fact that he/she learns Japanese, but now I understand completely that the meaning of this sentence would be: "This is me, learning Japanese/This is me while learning Japanese" "日本語を勉強している" functions like a kind of adjective which describes the person, just like in English we might put on happy and angry faces as a joke and say "This is happy me" and "This is angry me", etc...

And now I remember that in novels I have read sentences like "音楽を聞いていたジョンは..." It is starting to make sense to me, although I am still not sure of all the contexts where it can be used.


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## wathavy

Yes!
The whole sentence ahead are adjective.
I vaguely knew I needed to mention this and kept losing my chance to say.
You got it, I guess.

Cheers!


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## Morrow

lrosa said:


> "日本語を勉強している*のは*私です" would put the emphasis on "日本語を勉強している"


Actually, not.
"X (な)のはY[だ/です]." is a cleft sentence, where Y is the focus, and X is background information, information that is already known, or assumed by the speaker to be known to the addressee.  
So, the corresponding sentence will be "It's me who is learning Japanese." or "I'm the one who is learning Japanese."

As you suspect, when put into English, the three sentences in (1) will all be translated into (2). 

(1) a. 最初は嫌いでしたが、今では日本語が大好きな私です.
      b. 最初は嫌いだった日本語も今では大好きです.
      c. 最初は嫌いでしたが、今では日本語が大好きです.
(2) I didn't like Japanese at first, but I do love it now.

(1a) gives me an impression that the speaker is introducing herself.

Morrow


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## wathavy

> "日本語を勉強している*のは*私です" would put the emphasis on "日本語を勉強している"


I overlooked this part Morrow.
Yes you're right.

But this is mentioned once at the beginning of the thread as well.
Assuming the corresponding Japanese being "日本語を勉強している*のは*私です" 


> So, the corresponding sentence will be "It's me who is learning Japanese." or "I'm the one who is learning Japanese."


And there has been no objection to this part as far as I understand.


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