Breakdown of sizen no ooi mati ni sumetara, petto wo katte iru hito mo siawase darou to omoimasu.
Questions & Answers about sizen no ooi mati ni sumetara, petto wo katte iru hito mo siawase darou to omoimasu.
Both 自然の多い町 and 自然が多い町 are grammatically correct and mean roughly “a town with a lot of nature.”
X の 多い N is a very common pattern:
- 自然の多い町 = “a town rich in nature” / “nature-rich town”
- 問題の多い会社 = “a company with many problems”
- 人の少ない場所 = “a place with few people”
X が 多い N treats X が多い as a relative clause:
- 自然が多い町 = “a town where there is a lot of nature”
In everyday conversation, the nuance difference is tiny. 自然の多い町 may sound a bit more like a fixed description (“nature-rich town”), but both are fine and natural.
住めたら is:
- the potential form 住める (“can live”)
- in its past form 住めた
- plus the conditional 〜たら → 住めたら
So 住めたら ≒ もし住むことができたら = “if (I/we/etc.) could live (there).”
住んだら is just “if/when (I) live (there)” and doesn’t include the idea of ability or possibility.
Nuance:
自然の多い町に住めたら
“If I were able to live in a town with lots of nature (if I had that opportunity / if that were possible)…”自然の多い町に住んだら
“If/when I live in a town with lots of nature…” (more neutral condition, less about whether it’s possible)
Here, the speaker is imagining a situation that may or may not be realistic, so the potential 住めたら is natural.
Japanese often omits the subject when it’s clear from context or when you’re speaking in general terms.
In this sentence:
自然の多い町に住めたら
The implied subject could be 私 (“I”) or 人 (“people in general”). Context would decide. On its own, most readers would first think “If I could live in a town with lots of nature…”ペットを飼っている人も幸せだろう
Here, the explicit subject is ペットを飼っている人 (“people who keep pets”).
So: “People who have pets would also probably be happy.”〜と思います
The subject here is clearly the speaker: “I think…”
So a natural reading is:
“If I could live in a town with lots of nature, I think that people who keep pets would also probably be happy.”
The “I” is understood but not stated; the “people with pets” is stated.
The verb 住む (“to live, reside”) normally takes the particle に to mark the place you live:
- 東京に住んでいます。 = I live in Tokyo.
- 田舎に住みたいです。 = I want to live in the countryside.
So:
- 町に住めたら = “if (I) could live in the town”
Using で with 住む is not standard. で usually marks the place where an action occurs (eat, work, study, meet, etc.), but “reside” uses に.
Both can be used, but there is a nuance:
ペットを飼う人
Literally “people who keep pets” (focuses more on the act in a general/habitual sense).ペットを飼っている人
Uses 〜ている, which often means a current state or ongoing situation, not just progressive “-ing”.
So it implies “people who (currently) have pets / are pet owners.”
Since we’re talking about people who own pets as their current situation, 飼っている人 fits better.
It suggests “pet owners” rather than just “people who (ever) keep pets.”
も means “also / too / as well”, and it attaches to 人 here:
- ペットを飼っている人も
“people who keep pets also …”
What is it compared to? It’s often an implicit comparison. For example:
- The speaker might be thinking: “If I could live in such a town, I would be happy, and people who keep pets would also be happy.”
- Or: “Not only people without pets, but people with pets would also be happy.”
Even if the previous group isn’t explicitly mentioned in the sentence, Japanese often uses も with an implied “others.”
So the nuance is: “People who keep pets, too, would be happy (in addition to other people).”
Yes, you can say ペットも飼っている人, but the meaning changes:
ペットを飼っている人も
- も is attached to 人.
- Meaning: “people who keep pets also …” (they are also in the set of happy people).
ペットも飼っている人
- も is attached to ペット.
- Meaning: “people who also keep pets” (in addition to something else they keep: fish and dogs, pets and farm animals, etc.).
In this sentence, we want to say people who have pets are also happy, so ペットを飼っている人も is the correct and natural choice.
幸せだと思います
= “I think (they are/will be) happy.”
This is your opinion, fairly straightforward.幸せだろうと思います
= “I think (they would probably be) happy.”
だろう expresses conjecture / probability, similar to “probably, I guess, I suppose.”
So:
- だろう: “probably / I expect”
- と思います: “I think”
Putting them together softens the statement twice:
“I think they would probably be happy.”
It sounds more tentative and less absolute than just 幸せだと思います.
It’s not considered redundant in Japanese; it’s a common, natural pattern:
〜だろう by itself:
“They’d probably be happy.” (a bare guess/assertion)〜と思います by itself:
“I think they’ll be happy.” (a personal opinion without explicit “probably”)〜だろうと思います together:
“I think they would probably be happy.”
→ It clearly marks the statement as your personal, tentative speculation. It sounds softer and more polite, especially with 思います in the polite form.
- だろう and でしょう both express conjecture / probability (“probably, I suppose”).
- だろう:
- Plainer, often sounds a bit more masculine or neutral.
- でしょう:
- Politer/softer, very common in polite speech.
In this exact structure:
- 幸せだろうと思います is natural.
- 幸せでしょうと思います is not natural; でしょう and と思います don’t combine the same way.
If you want a polite form, you would usually choose one of these:
- 幸せだろうと思います。
- 幸せだと思います。
- 幸せでしょう。 (without と思います)
In the given sentence, 幸せだろうと思います is a standard and natural combination.
Yes, this is normal and important in Japanese.
- In complex sentences, the main verb at the end determines the overall politeness.
- Verbs/adjectives inside subordinate clauses (like 住めたら, 飼っている, 幸せだろう) are usually in plain form, even in polite speech.
So:
- 自然の多い町に住めたら、ペットを飼っている人も幸せだろうと思います。
is perfectly natural polite Japanese.
If you used polite forms inside the clause as well, it would sound wrong or very unnatural:
- ✕ 住めましたら (here)
- ✕ 幸せでしょうと思います
Keep subordinate clauses plain; make the final verb polite.