Is the "te" a quote particle? Isn't it strange to say "the minister is what". There is a similar sentence,
一番えらい大臣て事さ. How do you translate it?
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Is the "te" a quote particle? Isn't it strange to say "the minister is what". There is a similar sentence,
一番えらい大臣て事さ. How do you translate it?
i saw this question last week but i thought since it's a just a standard question, i'd let someone else answer it. but nobody did and i'm surprised.
って or the shortened form て, is the contracted form of という/と/とは/というのは depending on the situation. it is often used in casual speech.
it's really too long and such a pain to explain everything to you from scratch so i suggest u read up your japanese textbook on those chapters and if u have any questions then i'll be happy to help. but for a rough guideline, just think of quotation marks
now to answer ur questions....
if u translate 大臣て何? it would become: what is a "minister"?
in this sentence, て is the short form for とは or というのは (they are very similar...in fact its easier if u just think of them as the same) and u basically use it like a quote mark.
other sentences with the same grammar:
1) 愛って何だろう --> 愛とは何だろう
what is "love"?
2) 存在って複雑な概念 --> 存在とは複雑な概念
"existence" is a very complicated notion
its still the same (think of quiotation marks) in ur second question (一番えらい大臣て事さ) . athough this time, this て is the short form for という and is used in a slightly different way. the sentence before the という describes the noun after the という.
eg:
1) 太郎って人 --> 太郎という人
a person called "Tarou"
2) 鹿って動物 --> 鹿という動物
a animal called a "deer"
3) お互いに助け合うのは友達ってものさ --> お互いに助け合うのは友達というものさ
helping each other is a thing called "friendship"
and for ur sentence, 一番えらい大臣て事さ if directly translated becomes:
the thing is the most awesome minister
.....which doesnt really make sense ( u cant always just translate stuff the same way)
in natural english: basically he's the highest ranking minister
(this sentence has the nuance that the person speaking is summarizing what he has just said)
Last edited by tetekmakhang; 01-24-2008 at 04:10 AM.
Thank you tetekmahkang!!!
I thought it is tricky in this particular situation as one of the "te" is という while the other is というのは. Anyway thank you!
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