がこわいの

[Jini3]

Difference in the meaning of two sentences with こわいの？

Hi
I have two possible translations depending of the structure of the sentence.
It is this one
Xが．．．こわいの？= X...are you scared.?
And
Xがこわいの？= are you scared of X ?

for the context it is the speaker who talks to X and said this sentence.
I wonder. Deepl gives me the two translations depending on the "..." structure. Does "..." change the meaning of the sentence?

Thanks.

 

[kimko_379]

Difference in the meaning of two sentences with こわいの？

Hi
I have two possible translations depending of the structure of the sentence.
It is this one
Xが．．．こわいの？= X...are you scared.?
And
Xがこわいの？= are you scared of X ?

for the context it is the speaker who talks to X and said this sentence.
I wonder. Deepl gives me the two translations depending on the "..." structure. Does "..." change the meaning of the sentence?

Thanks.

I understand that the original sentence was "Xが　・・・　こわいの？”
In that case, the proper translation would be "X ... are *you* [not other person, but very *you* yourself, among other people] scared?" or "X ... is it very *you* that are scared?" That sentence must be showing the speaker's great surprise from the un-expected seeming scare of X's, judged from X's character or X's external appearances/phenomena so far.

You can emphasize the surprise like this:
"Xが？！　・・・　こわいの/こわい、だって？！"

In a Disney non-anime movie ”A Computer in Tennis Shoes," a below-average/"foolish" college student, not the super-achiever college student onto whose brain all the memories of a computer got transferred/superimposed or whom the computer "possessed" like in a demon-possession but who got "overheated" and groggy, shouted "I know! I know! I know! (分かった！　分かった！　分かった！）," about/ready to answer the last question to win in a TV quiz show, one of their rooting professors shouted in a surprise: "*He* (= the fool) knows?!" that was translated into the Japanese caption/subtitle of "彼が　（わかった、だって）？！”

Pls see:
寂しいの色

 

[Jini3]

Oh I see ! Well I always thought that (が)こわいの meant to be scared of. In this case being "scared of X" though it is a bit odd that she asks the question "Am I scared of X?" When she talks to X there. が is very notion that I find complicated to translate sometimes.

 

[Jini3]

Not to mention beforehand the character is like "X?" And repeat "X??" Every time. Before hand the character was like "X, I am afraid".

 

[KLAUSED]

You should probably quote the exact words with what was said before/after. I don't think your sentence makes sense in the context you provided.

 

[Jini3]

I do not have the exact sentences in Japanese though...

Basically they are in dangerous situation (X and the speaker). The speaker feels something bad and says that she is afraid to X (saying there are a lot of things that are scary). X does not believe her. The speaker keeps saying "X I am afraid!" X reassures her. The speaker keeps saying she is afraid. X gives her an order. The speaker hesitates. X repeats the order. The speaker asks "X?" Then X hears her voice is confused. Then the speaker says "Xが．．．こわいの?" X repeats the order and the speaker ends up accepting.

 

[gengo]

Xが．．．こわいの？= X...are you scared?
And
Xがこわいの？= are you scared of X?

What is the ellipsis (...) here?

I do not have the exact sentences in Japanese

Is it because you made up the sentence yourself? If that is the case, please make up the context for us. That is, tell us what you are trying to express in English, and we can tell you how to say it in Japanese. On the other hand, if you did not make up the sentence, why do you not have the full version?

 

[Jini3]

It is not an ellipsis. It is the character who made a pause in the sentence.

 

[Jini3]

No I did not make the sentence myself. Unfortunately I cannot access to the full version anymore though I remember the context. But I wondered how it changed when Deepl gives me two different translations according to the structure of the sentence.

 

[gengo]

It is not an ellipsis. It is the character who made a pause in the sentence.

Ah, I see. Then, yes, only the context can tell us which of the two meanings is intended. In speech, we convey the difference through pauses and intonation, but in writing only the surrounding context makes the meaning clear.

 

[Jini3]

Yes. I noticed that in translations I checked, "が怖い" meant "To be scared of something" (so here it would be "to be scared of X") but as there was the pause between "Xが" and こわいの? Deepl gave me another translation.
In context the speaker talks to X so it was a bit odd to me.

 

[kimko_379]

I understand that the original sentence was "Xが　・・・　こわいの？”
In that case, the proper translation would be "X ... are *you* [not other person, but very *you* yourself, among other people] scared?" or "X ... is it very *you* that are scared?" That sentence must be showing the speaker's great surprise from the un-expected seeming scare of X's, judged from X's character or X's external appearances/phenomena so far.

You can emphasize the surprise like this:
"Xが？！　・・・　こわいの/こわい、だって？！"

In a Disney non-anime movie ”A Computer in Tennis Shoes," a below-average/"foolish" college student, not the super-achiever college student onto whose brain all the memories of a computer got transferred/superimposed or whom the computer "possessed" like in a demon-possession but who got "overheated" and groggy, shouted "I know! I know! I know! (分かった！　分かった！　分かった！）," about/ready to answer the last question to win in a TV quiz show, one of their rooting professors shouted in a surprise: "*He* (= the fool) knows?!" that was translated into the Japanese caption/subtitle of "彼が　（わかった、だって）？！”

Pls see:
寂しいの色

In English you can say: ”You?! A genius?!" meaning "Do you dare to assert that the very fool like you are a genius among other people?! What a nerve/megalomania!"
So, you can also say: "You, X?! (*You*) Scared?!"

 

[kimko_379]

Oh I see ! Well I always thought that (が)こわいの meant to be scared of. In this case being "scared of X" though it is a bit odd that she asks the question "Am I scared of X?" When she talks to X there. が is very notion that I find complicated to translate sometimes.

Wa shows the nominatives (sometimes blended with other grammatrical cases like in accusatives/datives/locatives/instrumentals/etc. left-dislocations in the broadest sense, including topicalizations [like "John, I called. = Jon (ni) wa denwa shitoita yo.” and "John, I *called* him. = Jon (ni) wa denwa shita n da yo. [Tegami wo kaita n ja naku te. etc.]) intra-sentence/-sentential "presupposition/presupposed"-ness.

Ga shows the nominatives (sometimes blended with other cases) with intra-sentential "focus"-ness = "info-slot-filler"-ness: "Watashi/Boku/Ore ga (denwa) shi mashi ta (or shita n desu, when that answer must be unexpected to the listener)." = "*I* called John./It is me that called John." in answer to "Who called John? = Dare ga Jon ni denwa shita no (ka/da/desu[-ka]/daroo[-ka]/deshoo[-ka])?"
Ga sometimes show mere non-"presupposition/presupposed"-ness in the wholly-/all-"non-presuppositions" sentences:
A, hito ga taore te ru! (where no info is presupposed)
Kuruma ga kita yo! (ditto)

With the multiple/layered/substrata-ed nominatives-&-other-cases-blendings, you can say things like:
Daitai wa/ga, sen-go wa/ga, senshin-koku wa/ga, toshi-bu wa/ga, josei wa/ga, jumyoo wa/ga nagak-atta.

Thus, you can translate the OP sentence also as "X, do you really mean that it is you (of all people) that are scared?! (Unbelievable! or I could never imagine your/you getting scared!)"

PS:
Wa can be said to be able to express also 取り立て/semantic-contrasts/-reliefs/-highlightings/-"prominences"/-restrictions like:

Jon wa ki (mashi) ta (yo). = (At least) John came (, I'm telling you). (But other guys did not. or As for other guys, I fail to know.)

Jon wa ki wa shi (mashi) ta (yo).
= Jon wa kuru koto wa ki (mashi) ta (yo).
= As far as I know: at least John came; and at least he did the coming, but nothing else.

Here are some easier-to-see explanations of Wa and Ga by some answerers:
"Where is the ..." vs "Where can I find a ..."

 

[Jini3]

I see ! So it had been like Xがこわいの？it could have been "are you scared of x?" But there with all the context and pause が...こわいの？would be "you? Scared ?"