Let’s learn Japanese with Porco’s quote from Porco Rosso.
CONTENTS
Video
Porco’s Quote
Japanese: 飛ばねえ豚はただの豚だ。
Romaji: tobanē buta wa tada no buta da.
English: A pig that doesn’t fly is just an ordinary pig.
Analysis
This is the basic sentence structure, “A wa B da” which means “A is B”.
A: 飛ばねえ豚 (the topic of the sentence)
飛ばねえ means “doesn’t fly”. It is a broken version of 飛ばない, usually used in very informal, male speech.
豚 means “a pig”.
飛ばねえ is a verb, modifying the noun 豚, so it means “a pig that doesn’t fly”. In Japanese, when you modify a noun with a clause, the word order is just like when you modify a noun with an adjective or a noun such as おいしい食べ物 meaning “delicious food” and 日本の食べ物 meaning “Japanese food” so the modifier always comes before the noun that is modified. For example, 昨日買った食べ物 meaning “the food that I bought yesterday” 勉強している人 meaning “a person who is studying” 昨日読んだ本 meaning “a book that I read yesterday”.
B: ただの豚 (the predicate noun)
ただの means “ordinary” or “just”. So ただの豚 means “an ordinary pig”.
Examples
Nouns Modified with Clauses
昨日行ったレストランはとても高かった。
kinō itta resutoran wa totemo takakatta.
The restaurant that I went to yesterday was very expensive.
私が住んでいる町は海の近くにある。
watashi ga sundeiru machi wa umi no chikaku ni aru.
The town where I live is near the sea.
お母さんが作る料理は全部おいしい。
okāsan ga tsukuru ryōri wa zenbu oishii.
Meals that my mother makes are all delicious.
Only verb casual form is used in the modifying clause such as dictionary-form, ta-form, nai-form, etc.
The Basic Sentence “A は B だ” (A is B)
夜の新宿は賑やかだ。
yoru no shinjuku wa nigiyaka da.
Shinjiku at night is lively.
アルバイトの女性はまだ学生だ。
arubaito no josei wa mada gakusei da.
The part-time girl is still a student.
このマンションは新しくてきれいだ。
kono manshon wa atarashikute kirei da.
This apartment is new and clean.
だ is only attached to a noun or na-adjective in casual speech.
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