I am currently doing lesson 2 of this book and wanted to check some of the grammar. In this section it’s using location words in relation to other places. The first sentence is
たんすのみぎうえにランプがあります。and the translation is “There is a lamp on top of the dresser on the right”. This is because みぎうえ modifies たんす because of the の particle and the whole phrase before に modifies where the ランプ is correct?
So in the next sentence コンビニのひだりうしろにほんやがあります。 I would read that as “behind and to the left of the convenience store, there is a book store” because ひだりうしろ is attached to コンビニ by のand に is showing the location of the book store. But the translation below is “There is a convenience store behind the bookstore on the left”. Is there something I am misunderstanding or is this an error in the textbook? Thank you!
3 comments
I am not sure I fully understand your confusion, but if I am reading this correctly, this seems like a case of the English translation being correct, but potentially misleading/ambiguous in the second sentence. Both your translations look correct to me. The book’s translations are also correct, but especially in the second case it leaves room for a wrong interpretation that has confused you.
I am not a linguist, so I am a bit wary to use various grammatical terms and then get things wrong, which may confuse you even more. Even so, I will say that I think your understanding of the grammar of the first sentence is correct. In the first sentence, ‘lamp’ is the subject. ‘たんすのみぎうえに’ is the location. So the sentence is ‘On the upper right (corner) of the dresser, there is a lamp.’ Or, flipped around, the sentence means ‘The lamp is on the upper right (corner) of the dresser.’
Your translation of the second sentence is correct. The translation of the second sentence by the book also seems correct to me, but I can see why it tripped you up. I think you interpreted it as ‘There is a bookstore on the left. Behind it is a convenience store.’ You could take both meanings from the English phrase offered up by the book. However, in Japanese, the word ひだりうしろ is one word, showing it is a single concept that only pertains to the bookstore, so you end up with only your translation being the right one. ‘Behind and to the left of the konbini, there is a bookstore.’ If you were to look at a map of the area, and the konbini was in the middle of it, the bookstore would be to the northwest of that konbini.
You understood the second sentence correctly. The english translation is incorrect.
Have you watched the YouTube video? Maybe he mentions it or the concept