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The below sentence is inner thoughts produced by the guy going out with a hot girl (from manga). I get a general idea but I am not sure about its grammar.

俺みたいなのに、付き合ってるの、なんて時間の無駄くらいに思ってて、当然なのに...

I wonder if the first の is a normalizer for 人. Also, I am not sure about the particle に with the verb 付き合う. It is supposed to be と.

What is the second の is doing? I think it is redundant because of なんて?

Maybe I am parsing the whole sentence wrong. There are two のにs in this sentence meaning although. The second の is normalizer and なんて means something like なんといっても.

俺みたいなのに... 付き合ってるのはなんて時間の無駄くらいに思ってて当然なのに...

But I am still not sure about 俺みたいなのに. Why it can't be 俺なのに.

John Davies
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2 Answers2

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  • Aと付き合う and Aに付き合う are both valid expressions. Aと付き合う tends to mean "to date A" (A and the subject are in a romantic relationship). On the other hand, Aに付き合う does not assume a romantic relationship, and it's often more natural to translate it like "to keep A company", "to go out with A (for a practical purpose)", "to spend time with A", "to socialize with A" or even "to play along with A".
  • The first の after 俺みたいな is a substitute for 人. There is no のに meaning "although" at this position.
  • The second の after 付き合ってる is a nominalizer that turns 付き合う into a noun. なんて can take both a verb and a noun, so this の is optional, but this の doesn't feel redundant to me.
  • 俺なのに ("although it is me") makes no sense here.

俺みたいなのに付き合ってるのなんて時間の無駄(だ)くらいに思ってて当然なのに...

It's only natural if she thinks it's a waste of time to socialize with a person like me, but...

naruto
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Grammatically the following should answer your question.

Also regarding なんて, you can see

The sentence without using の should be something like

  • 俺みたいなやつに付き合ってることなんて時間の無駄くらいに思ってて、当然なのに

which literally means

  • It should be natural that (the subj.) think it is a waste of time to go out with a guy like me.

The first の is a substitute for やつ and the second is a nominalizer.

sundowner
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