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お父さんと一緒の時間を生きる事が命を受け取るって事なんだ。

I don't understand the "を生きる" being applied to a non-living thing like the time you spent with your dad.

The "が命を受け取るって事なんだ" extends the first sentence into another part before I can even understand the ending of the first part?

How do you break it down?

Flaw
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shoryuu
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    Are you familiar with the end-of-sentence construction ということだ in a definition or "X is a kind of Y" statement? I believe って事なんだ is just another way of expressing the same thing. – mamster Jan 05 '18 at 00:19
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    This を before 生きる is a [sort of location particle](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3243/5010). – naruto Jan 05 '18 at 02:30
  • Helpful suggestion everyone thank you all!. Interesting read naruto. I think I've heard it before mamster but not familiar with the meaning and the contraction didn't help to make it simpler to spot. Also the verbiage confused me. – shoryuu Jan 05 '18 at 19:00

1 Answers1

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「お父{とう}さんと一緒{いっしょ}の時間{じかん}を生{い}きる事{こと}が命{いのち}を受{う}け取{と}るって事なんだ。」

This sentence is in a very simple construct of:

"Phrase A + が + Phrase B + という/っていう/って + こと + だ/なんだ/です/である"

which means:

"Phrase A means none other than Phrase B."

A = "making the most of my time with my dad"

B = "taking the baton of life"

「～～を生きる」 means "to make the most of ~~". We often say 「今{いま}を生きる」、「現在{げんざい}を生きる」, etc. A cool expression to know.

"To make the most of my time with my dad means (none other than) to take the baton of life (from him)."

  • Thank you for breaking it down so nicely for me! You answered the points I needed help with and added in extra help along the way as well. Very helpful answer! The bolding is also a nice touch! – shoryuu Jan 05 '18 at 18:57