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Let’s learn Japanese with Saitama’s quote from One-Punch Man (Wanpanman).

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Saitama’s Quote

Japanese: 趣味でヒーローをやっている者だ。
Romaji: shumi de hīrō o yatteiru mono da.
English: I’m a guy who’s a hero for fun.

Analysis

趣味 means “a hobby”. The particle で is used to explain the background or situation when the particular action or thing happens. So 趣味で means “as a hobby“ which explains why he is doing the following action.

ヒーロー means “a hero“.

を is the particle that indicates the direct object of the following action.

And the following action is やっている meaning “doing”, the present progressive tense of the verb “やる” meaning “to do”. There is another verb with the same meaning, which is する. Both やる and する have many idiomatic usages but when they simply mean “to do some volitional actions” they are interchangeable so he can also say ヒーローをしている. But やる sounds a bit more casual than する.

So ヒーローをやっている means “doing a hero”.

者 means “a person“, used towards yourself or someone with a lower status. When you want to modify a noun with a clause in English, you need a relative pronoun such as who, which, that, and so on. In Japanese you don’t need such things. All you need to do is to change the word order. For example, “the book (本) that I am reading (私が読んでいる)” is 私が読んでいる本, “things (物) that I ate this morning (今朝私が食べた)” is 今朝私が食べた物.

So 趣味でヒーローをやっている者 means “a person who is doing a hero as a hobby”.

Lastly, だ is the auxiliary verb attached to a noun or na-adjective to make the statement affirmative or declarative. So in this case it’s “I am”. The topic of this sentence “俺は” is omitted which often happens in Japanese.

Examples

The Particle で (explains the background or situation when the particular action or thing happens)

今年ことしの夏なつ、旅行りょこうでスウェーデンに行いきます。

kotoshi no natsu, ryokō de suwēden ni ikimasu. 

We’re going on a trip to Sweden this summer.

思おもいつきで日本語にほんごの勉強べんきょうを始はじめた。

omoitsuki de nihongo no benkyō o hajimeta.

I started studying Japanese on impulse.

休暇きゅうかで日本にほんに来きています。

kyūka de nihon ni kite imasu.

I’ve come to Japan for a holiday.

やる (to do)

宿題しゅくだいはもうやったの？

shukudai wa mō yatta no?

Have you done your homework?

放課後ほうかご、いつも友達ともだちとサッカーをやる。

hōkago, itsumo  tomodachi to sakkā o yaru.

I always play soccer with friends after school.

この仕事しごとをやったら帰かえります。

kono shigoto o yattara kaerimasu.

I will go home after doing this work.

Nouns Modified with Clauses

大おおきい犬いぬを飼かっている人ひと

ōkii inu o katte iru hito

A person who has a big dog

私わたしが淹いれた熱あついお茶ちゃ

watashi ga ireta atsui ocha

Hot tea that I made

コンビニで売うられている食たべ物もの

konbini de urarete iru tabemono

Food that is sold at convenience stores

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