NI of done by
When used with a passive verb, ni にmeans "by".
An "active" verb means basically "did", that's what we use
when
we are speaking about somebody and then say he did something:
| kolosu ころす | = will kill |
| tabeta たべた | = ate |
| katsu かつ | = will win |
A passive verb is used when you are speaking about something
(or somebody) and then you say that it got done by somebody:
| tabelaleta たべられた | = got eaten / was eaten |
| kolosalelu ころされる | = will get killed / will be killed |
| makelu まける | = will lose / will be defeated |
| tsukamalu つかまる | = will get arrested |
When you want to specify who did the eating, killing,
defeating, add ni にafter the who:
| tola ni とら に |
tabelaleta たべられた |
| by tiger |
got eaten |
| = was eaten by a tiger |
|
| ninngenn ni にんげん に |
kolosaleta ころされた |
| by human being |
was killed |
| = was killed by a human being |
|
| gaujinn ni がうじん に |
makelu まける |
| by westerner |
will be defeated |
| = will lose to a westerner |
|
This "makeru" isn't gramatically speaking a passive verb,
but if you lose a battle, it's clear that somebody defeated you.
Some verbs in Japanese refer alays to the thing than gets done, even if
their most common english translation speaks about the doer. such are
kakelu かける"can be painted",
wakalu わかる"gets understood", dekilu できる"can be done". When you say who does the
painting, understanding.. with these verb, you MUST use ni に:
| ekaki ni kakelu えかき に かける | = by an artist can be painted |
| watashi ni wakalu わたし に わかる | = by me can be understood |
| watashi ni dekilu わたし に できる | = by me can be done |
Of course, often the most natural translation to English will
use an active English verb:
"an artist could paint it", "I can undertand that", "I can do it".
NI-adverbs
ni に
NI of becoming something (ni naru)
Copyright (c) 2003-2008
Jordi Mas Trullenque.
email: jordimastrullenque at gmail dot com
http://purl.oclc.org/NET/manga/nip.en.html
Last revised: 2008-10-25
