I would do, what he would have never done.

Japanese translation: 私ならやるよ、彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを。

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	I would do, what he would have never done.
Japanese translation:	私ならやるよ、彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを。
Entered by:	bochkor

17:35 Nov 24, 2021

English to Japanese translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics / Japanese Conditional Tense and Conditional Perfect Tense

English term or phrase: I would do, what he would have never done.

I know, this is very difficult, but I just can't understand, how native Japanese people would express this specific statement accurately. I'm sure, there are situations in life, when you can't get around this any other way, but to translate it precisely, as is. How would a court interpreter or presidential interpreter translate this?

I understand very well, that English and European tenses have very few equivalents in Japanese, so I'm not looking for those. It actually makes me frustrated, that whenever tense 時制 comes up, even by Japanese authors, they always give you a comparison to English and then end up talking much more about English and almost nothing about Japanese and a lot of nonsense.

But what I'd like to see, is, how Japanese children are taught Japanese tenses in Japanese schools in Japan. I'd like to see a table of Japanese tenses 日本語の時制表 with the entire verb forms mentioned, not just endings. So I imagine, that in Japanese schools they teach non-past 非過去 (which concept I don't agree with; they should just say, that Future takes the same form, as Present and that's it) and that they use 大過去 instead of Present Perfect Tense. Or they just talk about Present, Past and Future, nothing more. But then they forget about the two Conditional Tenses and that's the point, I'm most curious about.

And my point here is, that I need to know, how to build these two Conditional Tenses, but NOT in a compound sentence, but a simple one = containing only 1 clause, not 2. Why? Because there are many situations in a conversation, when someone would like the other person know, that he would do it, but he doesn't want to name the condition, when or in which case he would do it. So the speaker just wants to leave it in a general sense, meaning, that he's open to the idea of doing that specific thing in general, so he's not opposed to it in general. But that's all, he's saying. Then it's his conversation partner's turn to ask, when or not ask, when. So I'm interested in how the speaker could make this general statement in Japanese.

I know, this is a tough one, but that's my question.
Explanations in English, please!
Thanks.

bochkor KudoZ activity Questions: 182 (2 open) (3 without valid answers) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 122
Local time: 21:50

私ならやるよ、彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを。

Explanation:
Since ”I would do” is a hypothetical situation in the present, I would put it as 私ならやるよ. (If I were in that situation, I would do it.)
See Structure 111 in the link below:
https://learnjapanesedaily.com/jlpt-n3-grammar-lesson-23.htm...

"What he would have never done" refers to a hypothetical situation in the past. So, I would translate it as 彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを.

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Note added at 2 days 14 hrs (2021-11-27 08:32:17 GMT)
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The first definition of だろう in the link below may help; it says 助動詞のうち、断定の助動詞「だ」の未然形に推量の助動詞「う」がついた形で、不確かではあるが一応の断定、あるいは推量を表す.
I think it explains why だろう/でしょう is used in three different ways you mentioned. It is used when a speaker is not absolutely certain. Hence you see it used when talking about the future or under a certain condition regardless of whether it is a realistic condition or an unrealistic one. It is also used as だと思う. I think だろう is used when making a statement with an element of assumption.

Regarding your second comment, 私ならやるだろうな is possible. (It would end with な, instead of よ.) It's like "if I were in that situation, I wuold do.)

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Note added at 4 days (2021-11-29 07:26:20 GMT)
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Sorry I didn't put the link I mentioned. Here you go:
https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/だろう

Here is another link, which may be more helpful:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/だろう

Selected response from:

Port City
New Zealand

Grading comment

Thank you very much.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

私ならやるよ、彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを。

Port City

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

1 day 8 hrs confidence:

i would do, what he would have never done.

私ならやるよ、彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを。

Port City
New Zealand
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thank you very much.

Notes to answerer

Asker: Yes, this is a very interesting approach, namely to insert a conditional word, なら, into the first clause, although not attached to the verb, but to 私. Yet the sign of conditional still got inserted in that first clause. So bravo!

Asker: Well, on second thought なら is actually still just the word IF, but not the conjugation of any verb, which I was looking for. We can't write 私ならやるだろうよ、彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを。Or can we? Or 私はやるだろうよ、...?

Asker: My problem with だろう or でしょう is, that it's sometimes used as future, sometimes as conditional and sometimes as だと思う, while I'm desperately trying to separate these 3.

Asker: What is the actual Japanese grammar term for だろう and for でしょう ?

Asker: So what is だろう exactly called in grammar? 未然形 or 推量の助動詞? Is it even an auxiliary verb 助動詞? OK, maybe when it stands alone, then it means "to be" or "is/are" = a full verb, but when it comes after a full verb, then it just counts as an auxiliary verb. That's, how I understand it, if I'm right. But still, what's the official grammatical name for it? 未然形 or 推量の助動詞 or just 助動詞? Actually, it can't be Mizenkei, because Mizenkei is negative. Correct me, if I'm wrong. I'm a little confused.

Asker: Now about 私ならやるだろうな, can't I just say 私はやるだろう? I mean, without なら and without な? And I also don't get it, why YO has to change to NA. I understand, that YO is kind of an exclamation, like an exclamation mark, ! But what is NA? Is it also an exclamation, just in an informal, colloquial form? I'm not sure.

Asker: Maybe I should by a book on 学校文法 from Amazon.co.jp, but I don't know, which one. And I assume, you're not allowed to recommend one in particular, because of ProZ rules, I guess.

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I would do, what he would have never done.

Japanese translation: 私ならやるよ、彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを。

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I would do, what he would have never done.

Japanese translation: 私ならやるよ、彼なら絶対にやらなかっただろうことを。

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