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Let’s learn Japanese with Kaito Kid’s quote from Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky.

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Kaito Kid’s Quote

Japanese: 泥棒は盗むのが商売、たとえそれが人の心だとしてもね。
Romaji: dorobō wa nusumu no ga shōbai, tatoe sore ga hito no kokoro demo ne.
English: Stealing is what thieves do best, even if it’s a person’s heart.

Analysis

泥棒は盗むのが商売

The grammar is AはBがC meaning “As for A, B is C”. It’s used when you introduce the topic A and describe what A does or what A is like.

The declarative だ can be added which sounds more confident and assertive whereas it sounds softer without だ. In polite speech, simply add です.

Here are some examples:

• 私は月曜日が休みです (literally “As for me, Monday is my day off”) – “I have a day off on Monday”.
• 田中さんはテニスが趣味です (literally “As for Mr. Tanaka, tennis is his hobby”) – “Mr. Tanaka’s hobby is tennis”.

So 泥棒は盗むのが商売 literally is “As for thieves, stealing is their business” saying “thieves’ business is stealing” or “stealing is what thieves do best”. Let’s look at each word:

The A is 泥棒 meaning “thieves“.

The B is 盗むの meaning “stealing”. A verb plain-form followed by the nominaliser の works as a noun.

The C is 商売 meaning “business” or “trade”. It can be replaced with 仕事 meaning “work” but 商売 sounds more entrepreneurial whereas 仕事 sounds more like an employed job.

たとえそれが人の心でもね

The grammar is たとえ A が B でも meaning “even if A is B”. Only “A が B でも” also means “even if A is B” but たとえ emphasises that the statement is very hypothetical.

The A is それ meaning “it” which indicates what thieves steal.

The B is 人の心 meaning “a person’s heart”.

So たとえそれが人の心でも means “even if it’s a person’s heart”.

And the last ね is the particle used to adjust the tone and draw the listener’s attention to the statement.

These clauses are actually inverted and the normal clause order without inversion would be たとえそれが人の心でもね、泥棒は盗むのが商売。By inverting the clauses, you can emphasise the subordinate clause as well as making the speech catchy or dramatic.

Examples

A は B が C (As for A, B is C)

私わたしは漫画まんがを読よむのが趣味しゅみです。

watashi wa manga o yomu no ga shumi desu.

My hobby is reading manga.

今いまの私わたしは仕事しごとだけが生いきがいだ。

ima no watashi wa shigoto dake ga ikigai da.

My only reason to live for right now is my job.

赤あかちゃんは寝ねるのが仕事しごと。

akachan wa neru no ga shigoto.

The baby’s job is to sleep.

たとえ + A が + B でも (even if A is B)

たとえそれが冗談じょうだんでも、傷きずつくなぁ。

tatoe sore ga jōdan demo, kizutsuku nā.

Even if it’s a joke, it hurts me.

たとえ仕事しごとが大変たいへんでも、辞やめたくない。

tatoe shigoto ga taihen demo, yametakunai.

Even if my job is hard, I don’t want to quit.

たとえその噂うわさが本当ほんとうでも、彼かれのこと嫌きらいになれない。

tatoe sono uwasa ga hontō demo, kare no koto kirai ni narenai.

Even if the rumour is true, I can’t hate him.

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