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Japanese て-form before のこと | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| metordorus Newbie United States Joined 5745 days ago 26 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 3 15 March 2011 at 11:23pm | IP Logged |
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I'm very, very slowly learning Japanese. Currently, I have been working on understanding the Japanese film "Shall We ダンス?"
In the introduction, I came on this sentence: 下心があってのことだ。 I think this must mean "It's that there is an ulterior motive." But what puzzles me about this is the apparent use of a て-form right before the particle の (あっての). Is that what this is? I've never seen that before. Is it common? When is it used? Does this differ from saying 下心があることだ。 Thanks, John 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6946 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 2 of 3 16 March 2011 at 3:44am | IP Logged |
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If I recall correctly, the form 「て form＋のこと」is also tested on the JPLT 1. I really
envy you for taking the initiative to learn these kind of things in a fun, adventurous way instead of cramming from a book! You're right about the meaning, and also about the fact that there's a much more common way of expressing it. However, I think we wouldn't say 「下心があることだ」 but rather, 「下 心があるということだ」or more colloquially,「下心があるってことだ」. My impression is that these are used a hundred times more than the one you came across in the movie (which isn't to say that it isn't a good thing to know!) I'm not sure if it's etymologically correct, but the way I got this puzzling construction to make sense to me was by remembering that the て form can sometimes be used to give a reason for something (similar to ので). For example, if you asked me how a party went, I could say「風邪引いて行けなかったよ」 in which case the て form doesn't just join the sentences with a neutral "and", but is more of a "I caught a cold, and SO (as a result of that) I couldn't go". And sometimes we can use this first part by itself: 昨日のパーティー、行かなかったの？ So you didn't go to last night's party? そうね。風邪引いて。 Yeah, that's right. I caught a cold, so because of that... Your example might be related: 下心があってのことだ。 He has an ulterior motive, so because of that... [*], that's what it is. * Here the result isn't mentioned because it's self-explanatory/already mentioned. Anyway, that's how I rationalize it. I hope this makes sense to other people! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Monox D. I-Fly Senior Member Indonesia monoxdifly.iopc.us Joined 5132 days ago 762 posts - 664 votes Speaks: Indonesian* | Message 3 of 3 29 March 2018 at 3:49pm | IP Logged |
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By the way how to pronounce 下心? Is it "fushin"?
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