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One of the hardest things for students of English as a second language is the subjunctive mood, especially talking about what might have been. Just look at the grammar of the title of this post: If I had been X, Y would have been Z. And that’s with the simplest of all verbs, “to be”! Because of this, many non-native speakers will simply avoid saying sentences with the subjunctive in them, as there’s just no time to get the grammar right when speaking… Another result of this is that many students of Japanese avoid using the subjunctive even when speaking Japanese.
However, the truth is that in Japanese, sentences about what could have been are extremely easy! For example, a current advert for a Japanese newspaper shows a serious-looking student, and the caption “If I hadn’t read the newspaper, this would have been a pretty boring day.” In Japanese, “Shimbun wo yomanakattara, kyou ha taikutsu na ichinichi datta.” Transliterated to English, this is something like “Newspaper (object marker) if don’t read, today (topic marker) boring day was.” The fact that the speaker did read the newspaper and so this wasn’t a boring day (i.e., that the sentence is expressing what could have been), is all held in the suffix “ttara“, “if”. If we change just that part, for example to “node” (meaning “therefore”), the meaning of the whole sentence changes: “I didn’t read the newspaper, so this was a pretty boring day.” (“Shimbun wo yomanakatta node, kyou ha taikutsu na ichinichi datta.“)
Isn’t that simple? Notice how much the English changed between those two sentences, for comparison. It’s often hard for native speakers of English to grasp the simplicity of this sentence pattern, and we see students trying to make sentences that are as complex as the corresponding English. But there’s really no need! Sometimes simple really is best.
However, the truth is that in Japanese, sentences about what could have been are extremely easy! For example, a current advert for a Japanese newspaper shows a serious-looking student, and the caption “If I hadn’t read the newspaper, this would have been a pretty boring day.” In Japanese, “Shimbun wo yomanakattara, kyou ha taikutsu na ichinichi datta.” Transliterated to English, this is something like “Newspaper (object marker) if don’t read, today (topic marker) boring day was.” The fact that the speaker did read the newspaper and so this wasn’t a boring day (i.e., that the sentence is expressing what could have been), is all held in the suffix “ttara“, “if”. If we change just that part, for example to “node” (meaning “therefore”), the meaning of the whole sentence changes: “I didn’t read the newspaper, so this was a pretty boring day.” (“Shimbun wo yomanakatta node, kyou ha taikutsu na ichinichi datta.“)
Isn’t that simple? Notice how much the English changed between those two sentences, for comparison. It’s often hard for native speakers of English to grasp the simplicity of this sentence pattern, and we see students trying to make sentences that are as complex as the corresponding English. But there’s really no need! Sometimes simple really is best.