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-   -   'If you had to' (https://www.japanforum.com/forum/japanese-language-help/35945-if-you-had.html)

StueyT 02-02-2011 03:31 PM

'If you had to'
 
I am trying to reply to someone who is going somewhere with a friend, but was prepared to go alone if that friend wasn't available. I want to say 'Its good that you're now not going alone, but its also good that you were ready to go alone if you needed to'.

This is alot of guesswork, but would the following make sense in this respect?

一人で行かないことがいいだけど、もし一人で行かなけ ればならなかったら行くこともいいだよ!

Head...hurts...

masaegu 02-02-2011 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StueyT (Post 849342)
I am trying to reply to someone who is going somewhere with a friend, but was prepared to go alone if that friend wasn't available. I want to say 'Its good that you're now not going alone, but its also good that you were ready to go alone if you needed to'.

This is alot of guesswork, but would the following make sense in this respect?

一人で行かないことがいいだけど、もし一人で行かなけ ればならなかったら行くこともいいだよ!

Head...hurts...

If getting your idea across were your main goal, that would probably work.

If you are asking if that's natural Japanese, then the answer is negative. It contains several not-so-minor-by-the-native-standards mistakes.

StueyT 02-02-2011 03:47 PM

What would be a more natural way of saying it? Still in the upper-beginner stages at the moment, but for reference it'd be nice to know.

KyleGoetz 02-02-2011 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StueyT (Post 849342)
'Its good that you're now not going alone, but its also good that you were ready to go alone if you needed to'.

Scottish people: Butchering the English language for over eight hundred years. ;)

StueyT 02-02-2011 04:03 PM

Americans.

Period.

;)

masaegu 02-02-2011 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StueyT (Post 849344)
What would be a more natural way of saying it? Still in the upper-beginner stages at the moment, but for reference it'd be nice to know.

We (Japanese-speakers) never, ever say いいだけど or いいだよ.  We say いいのだけど (OR いいんだけど) and いいね/いいですね respectively.

行かないこと > 行かない方
ならなかったら > ならなかったとしたら

You used 行く three times in saying 「一人で行かないことがいいだけど、もし一人で行かな け ればならなかったら行くこともいいだよ!」 but that is a little wordy and awkward. Delete the last of the three.

To use as much as what you used, I would phrase it as follows:

「一人で行かない方がいいのだけど、もし一人で行かな け ればならなかったとしたら、それもよかっただろうね。 」

Maxful 02-04-2011 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz (Post 849345)
Scottish people: Butchering the English language for over eight hundred years. ;)

You just can't stop being sarcastic eh? :)

KyleGoetz 02-04-2011 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxful (Post 849579)
You just can't stop being sarcastic eh? :)

It is the Internet, after all :)


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