Breakdown of nihongo de zibun no kanzyou wo sizenna hyougen de ietara, totemo kimoti ga ii darou to omoimasu.
Questions & Answers about nihongo de zibun no kanzyou wo sizenna hyougen de ietara, totemo kimoti ga ii darou to omoimasu.
で here marks the means or medium used to perform an action.
- 日本語で言う = “say (something) in Japanese”
- Literally: “using Japanese / by means of Japanese, say…”
In Japanese, when you talk about the language you use to do something, you almost always use で:
- 英語で話す – speak in English
- フランス語で書く – write in French
Using を would be wrong here, because を marks the direct object. You could say:
- 日本語を勉強する – study Japanese (Japanese = object being studied)
But for “say something in Japanese”, Japanese is not the thing being said, it’s the tool/medium you use to say it, so で is correct.
Japanese often drops the subject when it’s clear from context. In this sentence:
日本語で自分の感情を自然な表現で言えたら、…
The most natural interpretation is that the speaker is talking about themselves. Clues:
- 自分の感情 – “one’s own feelings”. In a sentence about how good it would feel, the default “one” is usually the speaker.
- だろうと思います – “I think it would (probably) feel good.” That’s already a first-person opinion.
If you wanted to make it explicitly “I”, you could say:
- 私は、日本語で自分の感情を自然な表現で言えたら、…
But in normal Japanese, adding 私は here sounds a bit redundant or heavy unless you’re contrasting yourself with someone else. So it’s simply omitted.
Both 自分の感情 and 私の感情 can mean “my feelings”, but the nuance is a bit different.
- 私の感情 – very directly “my feelings” (emphasizes me as a person)
- 自分の感情 – “one’s own feelings” / “my own feelings” (more neutral, a bit more introspective)
自分 is often used when:
- Talking about inner states (feelings, thoughts, true self)
- Emphasizing “my own” in contrast to others, but softly
- You want it to sound a bit less “me, me, me” and more like a general “one’s own”
Examples:
- 自分の気持ちを大切にしたい。
I want to value my own feelings.
Using 自分の感情 in this sentence sounds more natural and reflective than 私の感情, which can feel slightly more blunt or personal. 私の感情 isn’t wrong, but 自分の感情 is stylistically smoother here.
自然な表現で literally means:
- 自然な – natural
- 表現 – expression(s), phrasing
- で – by / with / in the form of
So 自然な表現で = “with natural expressions”, “in natural phrasing”, i.e. using natural-sounding Japanese.
Here, で marks the manner or means again:
- 自然な表現で言う – say (something) using natural expressions
Could you use 自然に?
- 自然に言う = “say (it) naturally”
This is also correct, but the nuance changes slightly:
- 自然な表現で言う – focuses on the phrases/wording themselves being natural
- 自然に言う – focuses on how you say it (smoothly/naturally), more adverb-like
In a sentence about language learning and “natural expressions”, 自然な表現で fits very well, because it highlights using native-like phrasing.
言えたら comes from:
- 言える – can say / be able to say (potential form of 言う)
- 言えたら – if I could say / if I were able to say
So:
日本語で自分の感情を自然な表現で言えたら…
If I could express my feelings in natural Japanese…
Using 言ったら (if I said) would change the meaning:
- 言ったら – “if (I) said (it)” (simple past conditional), no idea of ability.
Compare:
- 日本語で…言えたら – focuses on having the ability to express yourself that way
- 日本語で…言ったら – imagines the situation after actually saying it
The original sentence is about the wish/goal of being able to do something in the future, so the potential form (言える → 言えたら) is the natural choice.
〜たら is a very common conditional that often translates as “if” or “when”, depending on context.
Form:
- past tense (た-form) + ら
→ 言えたら, 行ったら, 終わったら etc.
In this sentence:
言えたら、 とても気持ちがいいだろうと思います。
If I could say (express) it, I think it would feel really good.
This is a hypothetical future condition:
- It hasn’t happened yet.
- The speaker imagines that if that condition were fulfilled, then the result (feeling good) would follow.
Could it be 言えるなら or 言えると instead?
- 言えたら – natural, slightly emotional/subjective “if (I) could”
- 言えるなら – also “if (I) can”, a bit more “if that’s the case that I can…”
- 言えると – more formal, can sound like a general rule (“whenever/if you can say X, then Y happens”)
For this personal, wishful tone, 〜たら is the most natural choice.
気持ちがいい is the full, basic form:
- 気持ち – feeling, sensation
- 〜がいい – is good
So literally: “the feeling is good.”
In fast everyday speech, 気持ちがいい often gets contracted to 気持ちいい:
- 気持ちがいい → 気持ちいい (the が sound disappears)
Both are widely used. Differences:
気持ちがいい
- slightly more formal / complete
- clearer grammatically (気持ち is the subject marked by が)
気持ちいい
- more casual / spoken
- extremely common in conversation
In a written, polite sentence with と思います, using the full form 気持ちがいい matches the slightly more careful style.
Compare the two:
気持ちがいいと思います。
I think it feels good / would feel good.気持ちがいいだろうと思います。
I think it would probably feel good.
I imagine it would feel good.
だろう adds a sense of guessing / supposition / “probably”.
- 気持ちがいいと思います:
The speaker simply states their opinion: “I think it’s (or will be) good.” - 気持ちがいいだろうと思います:
The speaker is speculating about a situation they haven’t actually experienced yet.
“I haven’t done it yet, but I expect it would feel good.”
This fits perfectly here, because the speaker has not yet been able to fully express their feelings naturally in Japanese. They’re imagining how it would feel.
It looks like a double “I think”, but grammatically they have different roles.
Structure:
- [気持ちがいいだろう] と思います。
I think that [it will probably feel good].
Here:
- だろう modifies the inner sentence, expressing probability / conjecture:
“It will probably feel good.” - と思います is the speaker’s act of thinking:
“I think (that)…”.
So the whole thing is:
“I think that it would probably feel good.”
If you remove と思います, you get:
- 気持ちがいいだろう。 – “It will probably feel good.”
(a straight statement of your guess)
If you remove だろう, you get:
- 気持ちがいいと思います。 – “I think it (simply) feels/would feel good.”
(less explicitly “guessy”, a bit more confident)
Using both together is natural and common in Japanese when you want to hedge gently and sound modest or cautious about your prediction.
The と in 〜と思います is the quotative particle. It marks what you’re thinking (or saying, feeling, etc.) as a “quote” or content.
Pattern:
- [sentence] と 思います – “I think that [sentence].”
In this case:
- 気持ちがいいだろう – “it would probably feel good” (inner sentence)
- 気持ちがいいだろうと 思います – “I think that it would probably feel good.”
You can see the same と with many verbs that take “content”:
- 〜と言う – say that ~
- 〜と思う – think that ~
- 〜と感じる – feel that ~
- 〜と信じる – believe that ~
So と here is essential; without it, 思います can’t correctly attach to the sentence you’re thinking.
Japanese word order is fairly flexible, as long as:
- The verb comes at the end, and
- Particles stay attached to the words they belong to.
Original:
日本語で 自分の感情を 自然な表現で 言えたら、 とても 気持ちがいいだろうと思います。
Some acceptable variations:
- 日本語で 自然な表現で 自分の感情を 言えたら、…
- 自分の感情を 日本語で 自然な表現で 言えたら、…
Moving とても:
- とても気持ちがいいだろうと思います。 (original)
- 気持ちがとてもいいだろうと思います。 (also possible, but slightly shifts focus: “the feeling is very good”)
However:
- You cannot move the verb 言えたら away from the end of the first clause.
- You cannot detach particles: 日本語で must stay で, 感情を must keep を, etc.
The original order is very natural and clear, but small rearrangements of the noun + particle blocks are usually fine.