-1

The bolded sentence in the following excerpt contains the passive form of a verb which is also being used in a relative clause. Should I translate the verb as a relative clause first, then transcribe the relative clause as the "evil act" in the passive form format? Or should I first translate the sentence using the passive form first, then transcribing the relative clause into the passive translation? Or does the order of translation not matter at all?

コレクションの手入れには、厳密な順序がある。作業は、銃の開発された年代順を忠実に追って進める。

I understand that the "Victim" or "person/thing affected by the passive verb" (denoted by は or が, according to Genki II textbook and linked answer) would be 作業. I am uncertain if passive sentences can exist without a "villain" or "doer of passive verb" preforming the passive verb to make the "victim" suffer, as my two sources have "Villains/doer's" in their examples. More research is required on this, but I think the "doer" would be 忠実 in the bolded sentence; if a "doer" to perform the "evil act" is required as a prerequisite for passive sentence formation. The "evil act" would be the passive form of the verb, 開発された.

Relative Clause: 開発された

Main Noun: 年代順

Toyu_Frey
  • 1,470
  • 8
  • 19
  • 1
    It's true that the passive voice is sometimes used to indicate that a given action has a negative event on the someone (the so-called "suffering passive"). However, it is not particularly helpful to think of most or all uses of the passive voice in terms of a "victim," a "villain," and an "evil deed," as suggested in the answer you linked to. You can read a bit about the suffering passive in Chocolate's answer here https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/50421/how-to-use-わめかれた/50432#50432. – Nanigashi Feb 20 '22 at 17:45

1 Answers1

4

You don't seem to be parsing the sentence correctly, I'm afraid.

作業 is the object of 進める. 作業 is the topic of the sentence, so it's marked with は. This 作業 refers to コレクションの手入れ in the previous sentence.

「銃の開発された」(can be rephrased 銃が開発された) is a relative clause that modifies 「年代順」.

「（銃の開発された）年代順を（忠実に）追って」 describes how they conduct(進める) the work(作業). 　

「忠実に」"faithfully" adverbially modifies the verb 「追って」"following". (忠実に is the adverbial form/連用形 of the na-adjective 忠実な.)

The basic structure is:

作業は、［年代順を追って］進める.
As for the work, we conduct it [following the chronological order].
⇓
作業は、［年代順を（忠実に）追って］進める。
As for the work, we conduct it [(faithfully) following the chronological order].
⇓
作業は、［（銃の開発された）年代順を（忠実に）追って］進める。
As for the work, we conduct it [(faithfully) following the chronological order (in which the guns were developed)].

Chocolate
  • 62,056
  • 5
  • 95
  • 199