Word
上司 は 部下 に、 まず ゆっくり 話す よう に 言って くれました。joushi wa buka ni, mazu yukkuri hanasu you ni itte kuremashita.
Meaning
My boss kindly told his subordinate to speak slowly at first.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of joushi wa buka ni, mazu yukkuri hanasu you ni itte kuremashita.
はwa
topic particle
話すhanasu
to speak
にni
indirect object particle
言うiu
to say
Questions & Answers about joushi wa buka ni, mazu yukkuri hanasu you ni itte kuremashita.
What does は do after 上司 in 上司は?
は marks the topic of the sentence, not necessarily the grammatical subject.
上司は means “as for (my/the) boss” or “speaking about the boss…”.
Using 上司は tells the listener that the rest of the sentence is information about the boss. The actual action is shown later with 言ってくれました (“(he/she) told (us)”), and we understand that it’s the boss who did that action because of the topic 上司は.
What does 部下に mean, and why do we use に here?
部下 = “subordinate(s)” (people below you in the workplace hierarchy).
に here marks the person to whom something is said.
So 部下に means “to (his/her) subordinates.”
In Japanese, verbs of giving, saying, teaching, etc. often use に to mark the recipient:
- 子どもに言う – to say to the child
- 友だちに教える – to teach a friend
- 部下に言う – to tell a subordinate
Does 部下に mean “to me (as a subordinate)”, or “to (some) subordinates in general”?
