# Who are you trying to impress?



## ty604

very popular phrase ne 

"who are you trying to impress?"

dare ni yoi inshou wo ataetai? (who do you [want] to impress?).

dare ni yoi inshou wo ataeyou to shiteimasu ka?

Thanks


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## imchongjun

Hi, ty604.
So you need to know the Japanese counterpart of this expression?
It is:
Erasoo ni, nani-sama no tumori da?
"Erasoo ni" is, I understand, a short form of 
"Erasoo ni shabette iru ga" 
("you are speaking with an air of superiority").
The latter half means "who do you think you are".
If you are familiar with the suffix "-sama" and the usage of "tumori", I guess you have no trouble understading this.


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## imchongjun

Hi, ty604.
Having said the above, I noticed that the Japanese expression I showed("who do you think you are speaking with the air of superiority") is not the exact counterpart of "who are you trying to impress?". 
Hmmmm.
I would just say
"Dare ni shabette iru no?" ("Who are you talking to?")
or
"Dare ni shabette iru tumori?"
with an intonation to make fun of his popousness.


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## Flaminius

Depending on a larger context, typical Japanese equivalents are;
[sonna koto-o shite-mo] dare-mo kanshin shinai-yo.
(そんなことをしても)だれも感心しないよ。
literally; What you did does not impress anyone.

hitori-yogari dana
ひとりよがりだな。
You are self-imporant.
etymologically promoting oneself while no-one is impressed.

sotozura dake wa ii ne
外面だけはいいね。
You show the pretty face only to the world [as opposed to the staff].
外面 here is not the outward appearance as opposed to the inward attitude but the face for outsiders as opposed to the face for insiders.  The sweet attitude of a boss does not impress those who works for him if he is a slave-driver.


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## Flaminius

Like a thunderbolt this answer has just struck me.  So here it is, even though after a little while:
だれにいいところ見せようとしているの。


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## akimura

The problem for me is, I'm not sure how much I understand the phrase: Who are you trying to impress?  I don't have much experience of that said by an English native speaker.

However, I am wondering how the following try would work:

そんなことして何の足しになるんだい？
Sonna koto shite nan no tashi ni narundai?
(What good does it do to do that?)

I believe this Japanese phrase is very very popular.  But if it doesn't sound any good to you, the そんなことして～になるんだい？ structure can be used as the foundation for a wider variety of possible phrases, so I would still wonder if any of the following may work:

そんなことして何の得になるんだい？
Sonna koto shite nan no toku ni narundai?
(What good does it do to do that?)

そんなことして誰の得になるんだい？
 Sonna koto shite dare no toku ni narundai?
  (To whom does it do any good by doing that?)

そんなことして誰のためになるんだい？
Sonna koto shite dare no tame ni narundai?
 (Who are you doing that for?)

Please note that men would more likely use   そんなことして～になるんだい？ and women would more likely say そんなことして～になるの？

Just some thought...


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## ty604

Flaminius said:


> Like a thunderbolt this answer has just struck me.  So here it is, even though after a little while:
> だれにいいところ見せようとしているの。


Thanks. Can you break that down grammatically for me please?　だれ　に　いい　ところ　みせよう　しているの？

Thanks


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## akimura

I just came up with other possibilities:

そんな格好つけて、誰に見せびらかそうとしているの？
Sonna kakkoo tsukete, dare ni misebiraka soo to shite iru no?
Who are you trying to show yourself off to by acting such kind of a hero?

そんなことして、誰に見せびらかそうとしているの？
Sonna koto shite, dare ni misebiraka soo to shite iru no?
Who are you trying to show yourself off to by doing that?

Or simply,

誰に見せびらかそうとしているの？
Dare ni misebiraka soo to shite iru no?
Who are you trying to show yourself off to?
（≒ Who are you trying to impress？）

Now, 見せびらかす(misebiraka su) equals ひけらかす (hikeraka su), so:

誰にひけらかそうとしているの？ (_Currently, this is my personal favorite._)
Dare ni hikeraka soo to shite iru no?
Who are you trying to show yourself off to?
（≒ Who are you trying to impress？）

Again, the ～の？ structure may be used more by women, and the ～んだい？ structure by men.


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## lammn

ty604 said:


> Can you break that down grammatically for me please?　だれ　に　いい　ところ　みせよう　しているの？


 
Hi, ty604-san. Perhaps Flaminius-san can better answer your question, but here are my attempts:

だれ: Who/whom (interrogative pronoun)
に: to (particle)
だれに: To whom
いい: good (adjective)
ところ: place/points (noun)
いいところ: (your) good points/ something attractive (about you)
みせよう: volitional form of the verb "show"(みせる)
と: particle
している: present progressive form of the verb "do"(する). Note that とする is often added after the volitional form.
の: particle use at the end of a question

Hope that helps.


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## Mugi

It would help if the OP explained what they mean by "Who are you trying to impress?", or at least give some context. It can be understood in two different ways in English, which will give two different sorts of answers in Japanese.
Is it meant as a serious question? One friend genuinely asking another who he or she is trying to impress.
Or is it meant as a rhetorical taunt, someone berating another for their affecting attitude?


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## ty604

Well both cases are taken care of above in previous replies.


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## Mugi

Just out of curiousity then, which did you initially mean?


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## ty604

The fun version with banter.


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