Let’s learn Japanese with Saitama’s quote from One-Punch Man (Wanpanman).
CONTENTS
Video
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)
今年の夏、旅行でスウェーデンに行きます。
kotoshi no natsu, ryokō de suwēden ni ikimasu.
We’re going on a trip to Sweden this summer.
思いつきで日本語の勉強を始めた。
omoitsuki de nihongo no benkyō o hajimeta.
I started studying Japanese on impulse.
休暇で日本に来ています。
kyūka de nihon ni kite imasu.
I’ve come to Japan for a holiday.
やる (to do)
宿題はもうやったの?
shukudai wa mō yatta no?
Have you done your homework?
放課後、いつも友達とサッカーをやる。
hōkago, itsumo tomodachi to sakkā o yaru.
I always play soccer with friends after school.
この仕事をやったら帰ります。
kono shigoto o yattara kaerimasu.
I will go home after doing this work.
Nouns Modified with Clauses
大きい犬を飼っている人
ōkii inu o katte iru hito
A person who has a big dog
私が淹れた熱いお茶
watashi ga ireta atsui ocha
Hot tea that I made
コンビニで売られている食べ物
konbini de urarete iru tabemono
Food that is sold at convenience stores
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