# Actor of トムと言います



## Pacerier

In a statement like トムと言います ("I'm Tom"),

I can tell that the object of the sentence is Tom, but who is the subject / actor of the verb 言います?


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## xiaolijie

Obviously "I/watashi" is the subject, but don't equate "subject" with "actor". There's no actor in this kind of sentences (just like the English "I'm Tom"). If you try to look for "actor" based on the verb 言います, you'll face with problems at some stage.


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## YangMuye

It's a interesting question. At first, I thought the actor was not a particular person. So the sentence might means 人々は私をトムという → 私はトムという.
The いう here is more or less passive.

But there are some problems:
If the actor of いう is "people", you can't explain why we can say
私はトムと申します
お名前は何と仰いますか
The 申す implies peoples are of lower social status, which is not what you want to say.
I even heard that you can also say something like “皇子はトムと申し上げます”, where 申し上げる=仰る.

Chinese don't use expressions like 申す 仰る. But it's also hard to find out the actor of いう.
『史記‧屈原列傳』屈原者、*名*平。
『離騷』*名*余曰正則兮，*字*余曰靈均。
『古楽府』自*名*秦羅敷
It's clear that second 名 means（お父様が）(私の)名をつける or （お父様が）(私の名)をよぶ. The third one means 自分が名づける.
How about the first one?

『儒林外史 第十回』三公子道：“先生*贵姓*，台甫？”。那人道：“晚生姓陈，*草字*和甫。”
It seams that the actor(if exists) of 字 and 姓 here is the one himself.


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## almostfreebird

Judy: Who is that man?

Mike: He is my friend. 

               He is an actor.　アクター / 俳優です。

Judy: What's his name?　名前は？

Mike: Tom, Tom Hanks.　トム　ハンクス。 /  トム　ハンクスです。 /  トム　ハンクスと言います。


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## Pacerier

In the last line, do you mean to say the actor of 言います is the speaker? That is in this case.. Mike ?


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## almostfreebird

Yes, the speaker is Mike; and the actor is Tom Hanks.

In that case, Mike was asked what his friend's name is,   so the complete answer would be:
 彼の名前はトム・ハンクスです　or 彼の名前はトム・ハンクスと言います.
(His name is Tom Hanks)

But you can also say "彼はトム・ハンクスと言います"


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## Pacerier

Lol with the word-play on Tom Hanks I'd got even more confused. 

So you do mean the actor and speaker are both Mike right?

Can Mike say  彼の名前はトム・ハンクスと申します instead of 彼の名前はトム・ハンクスと言います (in reply to Judy)?


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## almostfreebird

Mike is Judy's friend;  Tom Hanks is Mike's friend; 

Judy doesn't know who he(Tom) is, so asked Mike about him(Tom).


quote: Can Mike say  彼の名前はトム・ハンクスと申します instead of 彼の名前はトム・ハンクスと言います (in reply to Judy)?                 

Yes. In that case she would be Princess Judy or something like that.


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## Pacerier

I finally got it thx!


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