Planning a Forest Visit

Wow, talk about biting off more than I could chew here! If I took a smaller portion, I would have had this complete many months ago Because of the sheer amount of time and effort I put into it, I ended up slacking off most for a few months, so I’m going to post it as-is, even though it’s incomplete. I’ll use much smaller portions from now on. Otherwise, I’ll make no progress in learning new words.

The dialogue for this section is available to listen to.

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Dialogue

While on break during cheerleading practice, なおこ tells ちはる and さくら about her encounter with a ghost in a nearby forest. Just as the story has the ghost flying toward なおこ, さくら can’t stand it anymore and lets out a frightened scream, forcing her two friends to cover their ears.

ちはる：「さ…さくらちゃん…」

さくら：「ご、ごめんなさい。」

The phrase ごめんなさい is an apology, meaning here, “I’m sorry”.

ちはる：「なおこちゃん、　その　話　本当　なの？」

その means “that”. The word 話 has various (related to speaking) meanings, and here it means “story”. 本当 means “real” or “true”.

I’ve read that なの goes at the end of a question and gives emphasis. なんだ functions in the same way, but なの is the feminine of the two, and gives a softer emphasis. (More on this below, with さくら’s dialogue.)

なおこ：「うん。」

This is a simple confirmation, such as the English “mm” (or “mm-hm”).

ちはる：「何か　お見間違い　ちゃったって　ことは？」

Thanks to Kay in the comments for helping out with this line.

The first word, 何か, is an expression meaning “something”.

Next is お見間違い, which uses the polite prefix お〜. The word 見間違い, which combines 見る (the verb “[to] see”) with 間違い (the noun “mistake), has a combined meaning of “mistaken in seeing”. Related to 間違い is the verb 間違います (“is mistaken, is wrong, is in error”).

〜ちゃった is the past tense of 〜ちゃう. 〜ちゃう is an informal way of saying 〜して　します. This means 〜ちゃった is an informal 〜して　しました. This form of grammar marks a verb as being an action in the “past perfect tense”. If “saw” is in the past tense, then “had seen” is in the past perfect tense.

For another example, consider 見る, which is the verb “see”, or “to see”. Writing it as 見てします provides the present perfect tense, “has seen”. This may be condensed informally to 見ちゃう.

In the past tense form 見ました, it becomes “seen”. The past perfect tense is written as 見てしました. This is “had seen”. Because 〜てしました can be condensed into 〜ちゃった, an informal way of saying “had seen” is 見ちゃった.

The ことは part I’m uncertain of. From what I’ve read in the past, I’m under the impression that the ことは following しました (from the ちゃったて) gives a meaning along the lines of “(has) done”. With “mistaken in seeing” in its past perfect from before this, it would read as “have been mistaken in seeing”.

Putting the pieces together, the sentence word-for-word becomes “Something mistaken-seeing have been?” Or, reordered, “Could you have mistakenly seen something else?”

The region one translation is, “Can it be you saw something else?” The bootleg translation goes with “Could you have just mistaken it with something else?”

なおこ：「んん。」

“Mmn” better matches the sound なおこ makes, but that’s not so easy to express in Japanese letters. This time, it’s a negative sound, along the lines of the English “mm-mm”.

さくら：「その　話を　やめよよ。」

This is another I’m uncertain of, especially the “やめよ” + “よ”.

Here, その, meaning “that”, and 話, referring to a “discussion” or “conversation” or “talk(ing), are a single object. “That conversation”. The following を marks “that conversation” as the object of the sentence, the item being talked about. The verb of the sentence is directly targeted as this object. The verb here is found in やめよ. やめよ is the verb やめる, meaning “stop”, in its imperative (requesting) form. The final よ marks this sentence as a request, as さくら is urging her friends to cease discussion of the scary story.

My translation puts this as, “(Let’s) stop that conversation.” The region one translation is “Let’s stop talking about that…”

さくら：「こわい　話　ダメ　なんだよ。」

Another uncertain, transcribed as “なんだ” + “よ”.

Starting さくら’s second sentence is こわい, an adjective meaning “scary”. Once more, 話 is the noun for “story”. The word ダメ is a noun, meaning “no good”. Finishing is なんだ, an auxiliary verb (used similarly as です). It’s actually a contraction of なのだ, the casual form of the polite なのです. なのです, to my understanding, is a softer way of saying です. A “polite” way for さくら’s sentence to be written would then be, “こわい　はなし　ダメ　です”. The よ here again makes this sentence an urged request by さくら.

Scary + story + no good + auxiliary = “Scary stories are no good (for me).” Fitting it more comfortably into English might result in a translation along the lines of “I can’t handle scary stories.”

ちはる：「ねぇ、ねぇ。」

ちはる：「その　話が　ほんとう　かどうか　確かめて　見ない？

“その 話” combines その (that) with 話 (story) for “that story”, and が marks “that story” as the subject of the sentence.

The adjective ほんとう describes something as “real” or “true”.

かどうか is an expression, with a meaning along the lines of “whether (or not)”.

The new verb here is 確かめます (“make sure” or “check out [something]”), heard here in its て form (making it an imperitive, a “let’s do this”, sentence).

見ない is the verb 見る (mean “[to] see”) spoken in its 〜ない (negative present tense) form, meaning “not see”. Within the context of the sentence as a whole, I don’t clearly understand the use of “not see”, so I’m judging its meaning based on the subtitled translations.

Putting the pieces together, the sentence becomes “(Why) not see whether the story checks out as true?”

The region one translation is “Why don’t we see if that story is true?” and the bootleg uses “Why don’t we go check if that story is true.”

I’m at a loss as to how the “why” fits into the translations. (Anyone able to explain this?)

ちはる：「今日は　クラブの　早く　おわるし。。。」

The noun 今日, as its kanji for “now” and “day” suggest, is the word for “today”. The particle は　marks 今日 as the topic of the sentence. “As for today, …”

Written in katakana here, クラブ is a loanword from English. It’s “club”, referring to Sakura’s cheerleading class, which may be an afterschool club activity. (This would explain why Tomoyo and other students are casually walking around, rather than being in classes.) The region one subtitle replaces “club” with “practice”.

The の throws me off. On page 69 of Naoko Chino’s All About Particles, Chino writes that の is Used to replace [が] to indicate the subject of a clause modifying noun. I wonder if this applies here.

The adverb 早く means “early” or “soon”, and it modifies the verb following directly after it.

The verb おわる means “(to) finish” or “(to) end”. The final し is a particle similar to “and” or “and so”.

“Today, club ends early, and so…”

The region one translation for this line is “We’ll be done with practice early today.” Region two uses “Club ends early today,” continuing into the next line of dialogue.

ちはる：「。。。りかちゃんも　誘て　みんなで　行って 見ようよ。」

The も particle means “with”, for the meaning “with りか”.

The noun 誘い, or “invitation”, relates with the verb used here: 誘う. In its て form, the verb becomes imperative, saying “let’s invite Rika”.

みんな means “everyone”, and the で means “with”. “With everyone.” “Let’s invite Rika, and with everyone …”

The 行って is the て form of 行く, “(to) go”. This is the verb for “go” in its imperative form.

The final verb is 見よう. This is the verb 見る in its volitional form. Whereas 見る means “(you) see”, 見よう means “(you) will see”.

The ending よ once again makes the sentence a request (“Let’s do …”).

“Let’s invite Rika, and everyone will go together.” Or, better worded in English, “Let’s invite Rika, and we’ll all go together.”

The region one subtitles translate this sentence as “Let’s invite Rika and go together!” The bootleg continues from the last sentence, with “…so let’s invite Rika-chan and all go together.”

さくら：「あのう、あのう、あのう！」

あのう means “um”, so さくら here is saying, “Um, um, um!” to get the attention of her friends.

ちはる：「なに？」

なに here simply means “what”.

さくら：「ほら！」

ほら is an expression along the lines of “Hey!”, used in this situation to get the attention of ちはる and なおこ.

さくら：「あそこの　もり、 　おくが　がけみたいに　なってる　じゃない。」

Once again, some words I can’t hear clearly enough to transcribe. I’ll work with what I can here. Any help on what さくら is saying would be appreciated.

あそこ is “(over) there”, or “(that place) (over) there”. The noun もり refers to a “forest”. With the possessive particle の, this becomes “that forest”. The noun おく means the “inside” of something, and the particle が marks “inside of that forest” as the subject of the sentence.

The noun がけ refers to a “cliff”.

I don’t know the meaning of みたい, but the general context I gather by checking sites via Google is “(something) like …” or “(something) along the lines of …) Add to the end the particle に, or “at”, and it becomes “There’s (something) like a cliff inside of that forest.”

This appears to me to be the verb なる (“become”) in its 〜て いる form (present progressive; continuing), and contracted from なって いる to なってる. However, “becoming” doesn’t seem to fit the subtitle translations, unless I’m missing something. Any help on the meaning here?

The negative of である (“is”) ie じゃない (“not is”, “isn’t”).

The region one translation goes with, “Y–You know, those woods… The other end is like a cliff.” The bootleg’s translation is, “Isn’t there a cliff inside the woods?”

さくら：「危ないよ。」

The adjective 危ない means “dangerous”, and the following よ adds certainly to さくら’s statement. It isn’t simply dangerous, it’s definitely dangerous.

ちはる：「そばに　？？？　だいじょうぶよ。」
そば means “near” or “beside”, and the particle に marks it as a location where the verb takes place.

Any help on the ？？？ portion?

だいじょうぶ means “all right”, and with the よ adding certainty, it means along the lines of “(Everything will be) all right”.

The region one translation is “It’ll be okay if we don’t go near that.” The bootleg’s translation is “As long as you don’t go next to it, everything is okay.”

さくら：「で、でも、　もし　本当に　おばけがて たら？」

The “がて　から” part I’m very uncertain of my transcription of.

でも means “but”. もし means “if”.

While 本当 means “real” or “true”, 本当に means “really” or “truly”.

An おばけ is a “ghost” (or “monster” in other contexts).

The rest I believe I’ve incorrectly transcribed, as I can’t determine its meaning.

The region one translation is “B–But if a ghost really appeared…”

ちはる：「すぐに　にげて　？？？　だいじょうぶよ。」

Any help on the missing portion?

すぐ means “quickly”, and すぐに means “right away” or “at once”.

The verb にげる, meaning “run”, is used in its て form here, its imperative form. If I can transcribe the whole sentence, I can expand on this form of the verb.

The region one translation is, “It’ll be okay if we run away as soon as it shows up.” The bootleg uses “If we run away right away, it will be fine.”

さくら：「だ…だけど…」

The conjunction だけど means “however”.

ちはる：「とにかく、だいじょうぶよ。」

とにかく means “anyway” or “in any care”. だいじょうぶよ is “safe” or “all right”. ちはる is saying, “At any rate, everything will be fine.”

The region one translation is “I’m saying, it will be okay.”

さくら：「うんん…」

なおこ：「？？？」

Laziness means I didn’t get this far. The region one release subtitles it as “Oh, break is over.”

ちはる：「行こう！」

Based in the verb 行く, meaning “go”, and in its volitional form, its form when expressing intent to do something. In this case, “go” becomes “let’s go”.

さくら：「？？？」

Difficulty in making out what’s said means I didn’t get this far. The region one release subtitles it as “Why does everyone like scary stories?” The bootlet uses “Why does everybody like scary things?”

My notes on what’s being said are written as “Doushita minna kowai-no [suki] kowai koto ??? shiranai ??? [doushita].” Any help?

さくら：「？？？」

Laziness means I didn’t get this far. The region one release subtitles it as “Scary things might happen… Why are they going?” The bootlet uses “Even though scary things might happen, why do we go?” Any help on what’s being said?

ともよ：「？？？」

Difficulty in making out what’s said means I didn’t get this far. The region one release subtitles it as “Oh, Sakura, what’s wrong?”

Any help on what’s being said? My written notes are “Ara, Sakura-chan. [Doushitan] desu ka?”, but I’m not sure if the word in square brackets.

さくら：「ともよちゃん…」

さくら：「？？？」

Difficulty in making out what’s said means I didn’t get this far. The region one release subtitles it as “Tomoyo, come with me!” The bootleg uses “Tomoyo-chan, come along!”

My notes on what’s said are “Wahah, Tomoyo-chan [suki-atte],” but I’m uncertain of the last part. Any help?

ともよ：「はい、はい。」

Vocabulary

Nouns

Verbs

Adverbs

Auxiliaries

Adjectives

Conjunctions and Expressions

Interjections

Miscellaneous

Forms of Verbs

Out of laziness, I’m going to hold off on this for now. After I become for familiar with the verbs used, I may come back and fill this out to practice on forms of verbs.