ぼくに何かできるのかと言えば、難しいところだ。例えば逃げ出すことを考える。
I know it's wrong, but this was the best I could come up with:
"I can't really say what I can't do. For example running away."
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ぼくに何かできるのかと言えば、難しいところだ。例えば逃げ出すことを考える。
The first sentence is a roundabout one that is typically heard from an embattled politician, but it roughly just means "I can hardly think of what I can do".
- ぼくに何かできるのか: "whether or not I can do something". (embedded question; why に is used with できる)
- と言えば: と is the quotative particle. Literally "if [I] say ～", but here this works as an idiomatic and emphatic topic marker. "Speaking of ～", "When it comes to ～". More examples on JGram.
- 難しいところだ: "that's the difficult part/point/problem." See: Meaning of ところ in アメリカのいいところ
- 例えば逃げ出すことを考える: "For example, I think of running away." He says so because he can't think of something more helpful.
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This sentence has the nuance of someone saying they can't do something. But Japanese are not direct and won't flat out say "I can't" to be polite as possible - in most cases. This person is basically saying "If you're asking what I can do about this (whatever) it's too much for me. I'll just run away." Basically you're saying "I can't do this." But you'd never hear someone just flat out say it in most contexts. I don't know where you found this sentence, but I'm guessing it's from a novel or an older, more story-driven game.
"If you're asking whether I can do something about it, it's too much trouble for me. (I'm considering running away for example.)"
Chocolate
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Eggs Benedict
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僕に(me
) 「何か出来る(do something) のか(question asking for confirmation)」と(quote) 言えば(conditional – Eggs Benedict Oct 17 '16 at 07:46) むずかしいところ (difficult position/situation) 例えば(for example) 逃げ出すこと ( running away を考える (consider) -
It seems to me that everything before と is the cited phrase, including ぼくに. – broccoli facemask Oct 17 '16 at 08:58
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Ah, I see. Although むずかしいところだ is a phrase hard to find literal translation in English, I'm very sure this expression is grammatically self-containing that takes no object or argument. – broccoli facemask Oct 17 '16 at 09:21
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“ぼくに何ができるのか?” と言えば、むずかしいところだ。 Yes you are correct, thank you. Sorry I had a little trouble trying to put all those weird symbols in hahah. I still don't know how to use the editing and line breaks on this site – Eggs Benedict Oct 17 '16 at 09:22
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The 僕に is being quoted. But in a kind of weird sense is modifying the first verb できる, and pushing out into a question. I'm sorry if I can't really explain well in English. I just sort of know but can't tell... This is is just a round about way to say "No" but it's very confusing, – Eggs Benedict Oct 17 '16 at 09:25
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Some Japanese verbs translated as transitive in English are actually intransitive: わかる "be intelligible" instead of "understand", できる "be possible/available" rather than "can". btw, in order to insert a line break without making a new paragraph, you can put two (Western) spaces before a newline. – broccoli facemask Oct 17 '16 at 09:36
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Haha didn't work. Yes some verbs function differently than in English countries. I think the best way to learn the differences is to just hear them being used. The main reason I can look at this sentence and know what's being said is because I've heard many variations of it from my co workers hahaha – Eggs Benedict Oct 17 '16 at 10:02
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ぼくに To me
何かできるのか (Is there) anything that you can do(?)
と言えば、If you say
難しいところだ。(It is) a difficult thing.
例えば For example,
逃げ出すことを考える。I think about running away
The above is the word for word literal translation. It might not make perfect sense in English. But the following sentence could make more sense.
If you say to me, "Is there anything that you can do?", it is difficult to say, but I think running away is the thing that I could consider.
Rathony
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I'm afraid that what ぼくに modifies is できる instead of 言う in the regular way of parsing. – broccoli facemask Oct 17 '16 at 08:56
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トリビア回答になりませんか？ – broccoli facemask Oct 17 '16 at 09:43