Let’s learn Japanese with Madoka’s quote from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (Puella Magi Madoka Magica).
CONTENTS
Video
Madoka’s Quote
Japanese: 私、魔女にはなりたくない。
Romaji: watashi majo ni wa naritakunai.
English: I don’t want to become a witch.
Analysis
私 means “I”.
魔女 means “a witch”.
にはなりたくない: If I break this down, it’s になりたくない with the particle は.
Noun になりたくない means “not want to become” something. なりたくない is the negative form of なりたい meaning “want to become” which consists of なる meaning “to become” and the auxiliary verb たい meaning “want to”. So 魔女になりたくない means “not want to become a witch”.
Then why do you need this particle は? – は particle basically has two functions. One is for the topic of a sentence, and the other is for contrast. In this sentence は for the topic is supposed to be after 私 but it’s omitted here which often happens in colloquial speech. So this は is the particle for contrast. In this situation, she is contrasting “being a witch” with “not being a witch”. Using this contrastive particle は changes the nuance of this sentence to “I want to become anything but a witch”. So she is implying that she really does NOT want to become a witch.
Examples
〜たい (want to)
週末はゆっくりしたい。
shūmatsu wa yukkuri shitai.
I want to relax on the weekend.
もっと日本語が上手くなりたいです。
motto nihongo ga umaku naritai desu.
I want to be better at Japanese.
明日学校に行きたくない。
ashita gakkō ni ikitakunai.
I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.
に + Contrastive Particle は
そんなこと、私にはできない。
sonna koto watashi ni wa dekinai.
I can NOT do such a thing. (Someone else might be able to do it)
他の人には内緒だよ。
hoka no hito ni wa naisho da yo.
Do NOT tell anyone else. (I am telling this only to you)
海外旅行はあまり好きじゃないけど、ヨーロッパには行ってみたい。
kaigai ryokō wa amari suki janai kedo, yōroppa ni wa ittemitai.
I don’t really like travelling overseas but I DO want to go to Europe.
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