Breakdown of sensyuu no doyou ha kazoku to issyo ni yama no ue ni aru tiisana onsenryokan ni tomarimasita.
Questions & Answers about sensyuu no doyou ha kazoku to issyo ni yama no ue ni aru tiisana onsenryokan ni tomarimasita.
は here is making 先週の土曜 the topic of the sentence:
- 先週の土曜は = “As for last Saturday…” / “Last Saturday,”
Japanese often uses は to mark a time expression as the topic, especially at the start of a narrative. You could say:
- 先週の土曜日に家族と一緒に山の上にある小さな温泉旅館に泊まりました。
That is also grammatically fine and means essentially the same thing, but:
- 先週の土曜は… sounds a bit more like setting the scene (“Speaking of last Saturday…”),
- 先週の土曜日に… sounds more neutral and factual, just indicating when the action happened.
When は is used like this, に is normally not used on the same time word, so 先週の土曜には would sound odd here unless you needed a special contrastive nuance.
Both mean “Saturday.”
- 土曜日（どようび） is the full, “complete” word and is fine in all contexts.
- 土曜（どよう） is an abbreviation, often seen in:
- casual speech,
- schedules, timetables, ads, TV listings, etc.
In everyday conversation, both are natural. Here, 先週の土曜 just sounds a bit shorter and more casual than 先週の土曜日.
の is linking words in an “X of Y” / “Y’s X” relationship, or more broadly, making one word modify another.
先週の土曜
- literally: “last week’s Saturday”
- natural English: “last Saturday”
山の上
- literally: “the top of the mountain”
- 山（やま） = mountain
- 上（うえ） = top, above
- 山の上 = “on top of the mountain / the mountain top”
So in both cases, の is connecting the two nouns so the first one modifies the second.
- 家族（かぞく） = family
- と after a noun can mean “with (someone)”
- 一緒に（いっしょに） = together
家族と一緒に literally is “together with my family.”
You can say 家族と山の上にある…に泊まりました, and it would still be understood as “I stayed with my family…”, but:
- 家族と一緒に is more explicit and natural for “together with my family.”
- 家族と alone can also mean “and my family” (as a pair or group) in some contexts, not always emphasizing “doing something together.”
So 家族と一緒に clearly expresses that you did the action together with your family.
一緒に is an adverb meaning “together,” and it modifies the verb 泊りました. The most natural place is right after the person you are together with:
- 家族と一緒に泊まりました。 = “I stayed together with my family.”
In the full sentence, it stays close to 家族と:
- 先週の土曜は 家族と一緒に 山の上にある小さな温泉旅館に 泊まりました。
You could technically move 一緒に a bit, e.g. 先週の土曜は一緒に家族と…, but that sounds awkward or wrong. The standard pattern is:
[person] + と + 一緒に + [verb]
So 家族と一緒に is the natural chunk.
This is a noun phrase where everything before 旅館 modifies it. Break it down:
- 山の上にある = “that is on top of the mountain”
- 山の上 = top of the mountain
- にある = “exists on / is located on”
- 小さな = small
- 温泉旅館 = hot-spring inn (旅館 with onsen baths)
So the structure is:
[山の上にある] [小さな] [温泉旅館]
“a small hot-spring inn that is on top of the mountain”
Japanese puts relative clauses (like “that is on top of the mountain”) before the noun, without any “that/which” word. Everything just stacks up before 旅館.
In Japanese, when a verb clause modifies a noun (a relative clause), the verb is normally in the plain form, not the polite ます form.
- Dictionary/plain form: ある
- Polite form: あります
Because 山の上にある is directly modifying 温泉旅館, we must use the plain form:
- 山の上にある温泉旅館 = correct
- 山の上にあります温泉旅館 = ungrammatical in normal modern Japanese
So the rule is: relative clauses → use plain form.
ある is the verb “to exist / to be (located)” for inanimate things. With ある and いる, the place is marked by に:
- 山の上にある = “(it) exists on top of the mountain” / “is located on top of the mountain”
Using で with ある would change the meaning (and usually be wrong):
- 山の上である would not mean “is located on top of the mountain.” It sounds like something more like “is, as for the place, the mountain top” and is not used here.
For existence/location:
- [place] + に + ある / いる = “[thing/person] is at/in/on [place].”
For the verb 泊まる (“to stay overnight”), the standard pattern is:
- [place] に 泊まる = “stay at [place] (overnight)”
So:
- 温泉旅館に泊まりました。 = “I stayed at a hot-spring inn.”
で with 泊まる is generally not used to express “stay at.” The verb itself already implies “being there,” so Japanese uses に to mark the destination/point where you end up staying.
The dictionary form is:
- 泊まる（とまる） = to stay (overnight), lodge
The polite past is normally written:
- 泊まりました
You will sometimes see 泊りました with the り dropped in writing, but 泊まりました is the standard, clearer form that textbooks teach. So:
- 泊まる → 泊まりました (polite past)
Meaning in the sentence: “(I) stayed.”
Japanese often omits the subject when it’s clear from context. In this sentence:
- 先週の土曜は家族と一緒に…泊まりました。
In a normal conversation, it would be assumed that the speaker is talking about themselves, so “I” is understood. If you wanted to make it explicit, you could say:
- 先週の土曜は、私は家族と一緒に山の上にある小さな温泉旅館に泊まりました。
But including 私は is usually unnecessary unless you really need to contrast the subject or avoid ambiguity.
Yes, roughly.
- 温泉（おんせん） = hot spring (often natural geothermal spring)
- 旅館（りょかん） = a traditional Japanese-style inn (tatami rooms, futons, etc.)
温泉旅館 is a 旅館 that has hot-spring baths (onsen) as a major feature. So it’s more specific than just 旅館, and different from just 温泉, which could be only the bath facility without lodging.