Questions tagged [narration]
8 questions
8
votes
1 answer
Does Japanese have free indirect speech?
In English (and, I assume, its relatives), there is a style of narration called free indirect speech, some examples of which are given in the linked article.
I'm having trouble figuring out whether or not Japanese supports something similar.…
senshin
- 5,615
- 28
- 69
3
votes
1 answer
Question about 現金だとでも言うように
The context is this: two women are talking, with the first one (still unnamed) that asks the second girl (Himari) if her trip with her boyfriend went well. She says it was a very nice vacation and then:
陽葵の顔が、ぱーっと明るくなっていく。
Himari's face was…
Diripten
- 31
- 1
3
votes
2 answers
A question on narration: does きいた mean 'asked' or 'heard'?
「おかあさん、すきやきの支度、できた？」
まる子は台所をのぞくと、おかあさんの背中に向かってきいた。
「もうすこしだよ。待ってて」
"Mum, Did you prepare the sukiyaki?"
When Maruko peeked into the kitchen she faced Mum's back and xxx.
"It will be a little while. Keep waiting."
In this extract does きいた…
user3856370
- 28,484
- 6
- 42
- 148
1
vote
1 answer
Understanding this third person narration
The large majority of the stuff I've read (in Japanese) where there is narration has normally used first person. However in some cases (e.g. in the below) there are parts in works that are third person narrated where I am unsure of how understand…
tsao
- 97
- 3
1
vote
0 answers
Mixing of non-past/past in narratives
In the ASK Graded Readers, which present beginner-appropriate short stories, there is a frequently occurring pattern of writing with ~ます during the 'setup' of the story, and then switching to 〜ました when something important happens. The sentence…
frog
- 424
- 2
- 8
1
vote
1 answer
Confused by passive verb in 無理矢理されたこと
This is a sentence from the fifth story in キノの旅, which is 大人の国. For context, the narrator is talking about a time when she was a kid and she said something about the "surgery" that offended her parents. Everyone in the country has a surgery to…
Axe
- 3,296
- 18
- 35
0
votes
2 answers
Kaguya-sama: Dropping keigo when narrating?
Related: Kaguya-sama: 女の子 (onnanoko) as an opposite for 男子 (danshi)?
In Kaguya-sama Chapter 52 / S02E02, there's a character named Moeha Fujiwara (the imouto of a main character Chika Fujiwara) who talks about Kei Shirogane (the imouto of the male…
BCLC
- 605
- 5
- 20
0
votes
1 answer
Understanding subject of narration
I am looking for some assistance in understanding in first person narration when the narrator is speaking about themselves, or 'we'. Much of the time the meaning is unambiguous from context, however when a statement appears ambiguous (at least to…
Ajax
- 11
- 1