#14 What does 子ども mean? ~ Japanese kanji and about Japan!~

2018. 12. 29

A boy who goes to school alone.

You'd be surprised at this picture, but it's not rare in Japan.

Hello everyone.
How are you?

Thank you so much for coming here.

It's kÜshi.

🔴I help you study kanji and Japanese
by making example sentences with
kanji.

And then I explain the grammars and
all the kanji which are used in the
sentences

🔴I realized that I should make useful
sentences so that you can learn kanii
with very natural Japanese which we
usually use, not formal ones.

🔴The method to study here.

I always make very natural sentences,
so they are sometimes difficult to
understand.

But don't worry. I explain everything in
detail.

So this is one of the best methods to
study here.

1. Copy the sentences on paper
carefully.

2. Read aloud the sentence while
looking it.

3. Read the explanations.

I hope this helps you a lot!!

🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵

So today's word is 子ども

Reads: ko-domo
Means: child

How to write 子👇
https://kakijun.jp/page-ms/0323200.html

子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子子

Example sentence.

・In Japan you can find children riding on the train alone

...日本 で は 一人 で 電車 に 乗って いる 子ども を 見る こと が できる

/nihon de wa ko-domo tachi ga hitori de densha ni no-tte iru no o mi-ru koto ga dekiru/

This seems to be very strange to foreign people, Google says so.

In USA(I think) parents have to send their children if they're under 10. Or they have to school buses.
Is this right?

Anyway, in Japan, you can find children aged as little as 7.

That could be one of the evidence that Japan is safe.

Still they get troubles on their ways to school or home, so you'd say that parents or any other bodyguards should protect them.

But parents are busy, school buses are expensive, and schools are sometimes far, so we haven't been able to realize that.

I hope they would be able to go to school safely someday.

So I explain about the grammars used in the sentence!

👉日本(nihon)

This means Japan.

👉日本で(nihon de)

で means like "in", "on", and "at".

For example,

家で...at home
→家(ie)...house

電車で…on the train
→電車(densya)... train

公園で...in the park
→公園(kouen)...park

So 日本で means "in Japan"

👉一人で(hitori de)

で means "by" in this case.

For example,

電車で…by train

自分で…by oneself
(jibun de)

And 一人(hitori) means "alone"

So 一人で means like... "by alone"?

This sounds strange, but you'd get the nuance.

"By oneself" has a more close meaning.

So 一人で and 自分で has similar meaning, but 一人で is emphasized that he is "alone"

👉電車に乗っている(densya ni no-tte iru)

乗っている is a passive form of 乗る, which means "to ride in/on"

電車 is a train.

So 電車に乗る means "to ride on the train"

And 電車に乗っている means "riding on the train"

👉子ども(ko-domo)

This means "child"

If you put たち(tachi) after nouns, you can make clearer that it's plural, but you don't have to emphasize that in this case.

Of course you can also say 子どもたち and it still sounds natural.

So 電車に乗っている子ども means "children riding on the train"

👉見ることができる(mi-ru koto ga dekiru)

This is a little confusing to understand.

This can be divided into four parts like

(ⅰ)見る (ⅱ)こと (ⅲ)が (ⅳ)できる

So I'll explain each part.

🔵ⅰ. 見る(mi-ru)

This means "to see"

🔵ⅱ. こと(koto)

This makes verbs to be nouns by being put after verbs.

For example,

たべる(taberu)...to eat
たべること(taberu koto)... eating

So you use that like

私はたべることが好き
... I like EATING

→私(watashi) means "I"

→たべること(taberu KOTO)... eating

→好き(su-ki)...to like

So 見ること(mi-ru KOTO) means "seeing"

🔵ⅲ. が(ga)

This means "is"

So 見ることが means "seeing is"

🔵ⅳ. できる(dekiru)

This means "possible"

So 見ることができる(mi-ru koto ga dekiru), this means "seeing is possible"

So that's all explanations.

Now you can understand the sentence!!

Let's translate it from the back!

見ることができる means "seeing is possible"

子どもを見ることができる means
"it's possible to see children"

Then it can be also said like
"it's possible to find children". Ok?

電車に乗っている子どもを見ることができる, this means
"it's possible to find children riding on the train"

一人で電車に乗っている子どもを見ることができる, this means
"it's possible to find children riding on the train alone"

Last, 日本では一人で電車に乗っている子どもを見ることができる, this means
"In Japan, it's possible to find children riding on the train alone"

And the other word, it can be said
"In Japan, you can find children riding on the train alone"

So that's all today.

Thank you so much for reading!

Ask me if you have any questions.

I hope this helps you a lot.

See you next time~!