# Write this sentence in Japanese.



## furrykef

I'm making flash cards using a flash card program. Some of my flash cards will have audio and ask me to write the sentence in Japanese, so I want the cards to say "Write this sentence/phrase in Japanese." I figured it'd be appropriate for it to ask me this question in Japanese, the same way that it would be written if I were taking an exam.

Here's my attempt:

この句は日本語で書いてください。

What do you think?

- Kef


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## fitter.happier

I'd go for:

 この文を日本語で書いてください。


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## furrykef

I chose 句 because it wouldn't necessarily be a complete sentence. I don't know if that actually makes it a better choice... that's why I'm posting here. 

I'm pretty good at choosing between は and が, but choosing between は and を is trickier for me -- probably because everyone focuses so much on wa/ga that the use of 'wa' with other particles gets neglected...

- Kef


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## uchi.m

It's just the other way around for me-- I find it quite hard to choose between は and が!

As for は and を, the latter is used attached to objects -- direct objects, to be more specific --, while the former is attached to subjects.

Usage example: read the next sentence. We will translate it to Japanese._Jack bought me an apple._​_Jack_ is the subject; the _apple_ is the direct object, and the word _me_, which refers to yourself -- I -- is the indirect object.

How do you know which is which? Ask yourself these questions:_Who_ bought? Answer: Jack ---> *Jack* is the subject

Jack bought _what_? Answer: apple ---> The *apple* is the direct object

Jack bought the apple _to whom_? Answer: me ---> *I* am the indirect object​So the whole sentence would likely be written like this in Japanese:_Jack_ は_ I _に _apple_ を _bought_。​Let's say that we know two Jacks: one is Mr. Jack Smith, and the other one is Mr. Jack Smog. Someone asks you,Jack Smith さんですか？ Jack Smog さんですか？​to what you clearly specify, with a complete sentence, the gentleman:Jack Smith さんが　私に　りんごを　買ってくれました。​


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## furrykef

uchi.m said:


> As for は and を, the latter is used attached to objects -- direct objects, to be more specific --, while the former is attached to subjects.



Nope. は has to do with topics and doesn't have anything at all to do with subjects except that it happens to be used for subjects much more often than other things. は can actually be used with almost any particle, including を. Most of the time it just goes after the other particles, but in the case of を, the は completely replaces the を.

Here's an example where it's used with に:

あそこには猫がいます。
"Over there is a cat."

(Contrast with "猫があそこにいます", "a cat is over there".)

So "この文は日本語で書いてください" would be a perfectly grammatical sentence ("As for this sentence, write it in Japanese"), but it isn't necessarily the most natural sentence.

- Kef


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## Mugi

If you want something more natural, consider:

日本語で書いてください
日本語に訳してください
和訳してください


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## Ume

I don't think "この文は日本語で書いてください" is a perfectly grammatical sentence. I'm pretty sure that it sounds awkward to all native speakers of Japanese.

Write this sentence/phrase in Japanese.
この文／フレーズを日本語に訳してください。
この文／フレーズを和訳してください。


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## furrykef

Umeboshi said:


> I don't think "この文は日本語で書いてください" is a perfectly grammatical sentence. I'm pretty sure that it sounds awkward to all native speakers of Japanese.



Awkward and ungrammatical are not the same thing. "As for the following sentence, write it in Japanese" is a perfectly grammatical English sentence, in that it correctly follows the rules of sentence structure, but a native speaker would almost never say anything like that.

訳くす wouldn't be the right verb to use here because the sentence is _already_ in Japanese (spoken aloud), and I want the sentence to be written also in Japanese, that is, without translating it. I've realized that this is probably sounds a bit odd in both languages, though, so I'm no longer considering using this sentence for my flash cards.

Maybe instead I should use something like this:
この文／フレーズを漢字で書き写してください。

My intended meaning: "Please transcribe this sentence/phrase using kanji." It's slightly problematic because kanji might not actually be needed in the transcribed sentence, but the vast majority of the sentences would use kanji.

- Kef


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## uchi.m

Hello!



furrykef said:


> Awkward and ungrammatical are not the same thing.



Hey, buddy, calm down! All I was trying to do is to help you out.

IMHO, good communication, at some extent, doesn't imply grammatically well-formed sentences.

But that's just a personal opinion.

Uchi.m


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## furrykef

Calm down? I wasn't upset or anything. ^^; I was just pointing stuff out. (Also, I was responding to somebody else in the post you were responding to... it seems strange you would interpret that to mean I'm mad about something you said. ^^



> IMHO, good communication, at some extent, doesn't imply grammatically well-formed sentences.



That's true: you can communicate well with incomplete sentences, and you can communicate badly with perfectly-formed sentences. Of course, you still should know whether or not your sentences are well-formed and be able to speak in well-formed sentences if you have to, which is typical of formal contexts. Though that wasn't really the point I was making; my point was that Umeboshi seemed to imply that unnatural sentences are automatically ungrammatical, which is not the case.

- Kef


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## Ume

「ここで”この文は日本語で書いてください”と言うのは不適切です」と言うべきでした。すみません。
「この文”は”・・・」だと、ほかの文を他言語で書くことを同時に依頼しているように聞こえてしまいます。


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## furrykef

umm... 僕は日本語がわかりません。 Or at least, I don't understand _that_ much Japanese. ^^;;


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## uchi.m

Hello again!



furrykef said:


> umm... 僕は日本語がわかりません。 Or at least, I don't understand _that_ much Japanese. ^^;;



LOL! I will give you a hand, then.



Umeboshi said:


> 「ここで”この文は日本語で書いてください”と言うのは不適切です」と言うべきでした。すみません。



Umeboshi-san apologizes, as he/she should have said instead that _"Kono bun ha nihongo de kaite kudasai"_ was inappropriate on this situation [not awkward, neither ungrammatical].



Umeboshi said:


> 「この文”は”・・・」だと、ほかの文を他言語で書くことを同時に依頼しているように聞こえてしまいます。



"_Kono bun *ha*..._" sounds as if you were being asked to write another sentence in some other language as well, at the same time. 

[I don't know why, but an image of a stern instructor commanding just like this---_"this one, in Japanese!... that one, in Portuguese!"---comes into my mind _]


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## furrykef

Ahh, I see. Thanks


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## Ume

この文／フレーズを漢字で書き写してください。
This doesn't make any sense.

この文／フレーズを日本語で書いてください。そのとき、漢字で書けるものは漢字を使ってください。
これでよろしいでしょうか。


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