kagakusya no intabyuu wo yondara, syougakusei no toki ni titioya kara bouenkyou wo purezentosarete utyuu ni mutyuu ni natta to kaite arimasita.

When I read an interview with a scientist, it said that when he was in elementary school his father gave him a telescope, and he became crazy about space.

Breakdown of kagakusya no intabyuu wo yondara, syougakusei no toki ni titioya kara bouenkyou wo purezentosarete utyuu ni mutyuu ni natta to kaite arimasita.

• を: direct object particle
• 読よむ: to read
• の: possessive case particle
• に: time particle
• 書かく: to write
• なる: to become
• と: quotative particle
• とき: when
• 〜て: connective form
• 〜た: past tense
• 〜たら: conditional form
• に: target particle
• 〜て ある: resultant state (intentionally)
• から: source particle
• 宇宙うちゅう: outer space
• 科学者かがくしゃ: scientist
• 望遠鏡ぼうえんきょう: telescope
• インタビュー: interview
• 小学生しょうがくせい: elementary school student
• 父親ちちおや: father
• プレゼントする: to give as a present
• 〜される: passive form
• 夢中むちゅう に: absorbedly; crazy about

Questions & Answers about kagakusya no intabyuu wo yondara, syougakusei no toki ni titioya kara bouenkyou wo purezentosarete utyuu ni mutyuu ni natta to kaite arimasita.

Why is の used in 科学者のインタビュー?

の here is a possessive / descriptive particle, similar to English “of” or “’s”.

• 科学者のインタビュー literally: “interview of a scientist” or “a scientist’s interview”
  → naturally: “an interview with a scientist”

So 科学者 (scientist) is describing which interview it is.
You could think of it as: scientist + の + interview → scientist’s interview.

What exactly does 読んだら mean here? Is it a conditional “if” or “when/after”?

読んだら is the たら-form of 読む (to read). It often means:

• “when (I) read”, “after (I) read”, or
• “when I did X, I found (unexpectedly) that Y”

In this sentence:

科学者のインタビューを読んだら、 …書いてありました。
When I read the scientist’s interview, it said that…

So it’s not really “if I read”, but “when/after I read (and then I discovered…)”.
Compared to:

• 読んだとき – “when I read (it)” (more neutral timing)
• 読むと – “whenever I read (it), (always) …” (habitual/result sense)

〜たら is very commonly used for “I did X and then I found / realized Y.”

In 小学生のときに, why do we have both の and に?

Break it down:

• 小学生 – elementary school student
• 〜のとき – “the time when ~”, “when ~”
• 〜に – particle marking a point in time (among other uses)

So:

• 小学生のとき = “the time when (he/she) was an elementary school student”
• 小学生のときに = “at the time when (he/she) was an elementary school student”

The に attaches to とき (time) to say the event happened at that time:

小学生のときに父親から望遠鏡をプレゼントされて…
When (he) was in elementary school, (he) was given a telescope by his father…

You’ll often see X のときに Y した = “When X, (someone) did Y.”
Sometimes the に can be omitted in casual speech, but のときに is very standard.

Why is から used in 父親から? Could it be 父親に instead?

Here から means “from”, marking the source/donor in a giving situation:

父親から望遠鏡をプレゼントされて
(He) was given a telescope from his father.

In passive sentences involving giving, both 〜に and 〜から can appear, but:

• 〜から emphasizes the source / where it came from.
• 〜に can emphasize the actor / agent (“by …”).

So:

• 父親から望遠鏡をプレゼントされた
• 父親に望遠鏡をプレゼントされた

Both are grammatically possible. から is just more natural here because it’s a “gift from someone” nuance.

What is going on with プレゼントされて? Why is it in the passive form?

プレゼントされて is the passive form of プレゼントする (“to give as a present”).

• Active:
  父親が 私に 望遠鏡を プレゼントした。
  The father gave me a telescope.
• Passive:
  私は 父親から 望遠鏡を プレゼントされた。
  I was given a telescope (by/from my father).

In the sentence, they use the passive to focus on the receiver (the scientist, as a child), not on the father as the doer.

The 〜て at the end (プレゼントされて) is the て-form, used to connect this clause to the next:

プレゼントされて、宇宙に夢中になった
(He) was given a telescope, and (then) became fascinated with space.

Why is 望遠鏡 marked with を in 望遠鏡をプレゼントされて?

Even in the passive sentence, the gift itself is still marked by を.

• Active:
  父親が 私に 望遠鏡を プレゼントした。
  The father gave me a telescope.
• Passive:
  私は 父親から 望遠鏡を プレゼントされた。
  I was given a telescope (by/from my father).

In both cases:

• 望遠鏡を marks “what was given”
• The subject changes (父親 → 私), but the object (the telescope) still uses を.

So 望遠鏡をプレゼントされて = “(he) was presented with a telescope”.

What does the 〜て in プレゼントされて宇宙に夢中になった do?

The て-form here is linking two actions/states:

望遠鏡をプレゼントされて、宇宙に夢中になった。

Literally:

1. (He) was given a telescope
2. (He) became crazy about space

〜て can show:

• simple sequence: A happened and then B
• or cause → result: because A, B (especially when it’s a natural effect)

So here it’s naturally understood as:

Because he was given a telescope, he became fascinated with space.
/ He was given a telescope, and as a result he became fascinated with space.

What does 夢中 mean, and how does Xに夢中になる work?

夢中 (むちゅう) is a na-adjective meaning:

• “absorbed in,” “crazy about,” “totally into,” “engrossed in”

Common patterns:

• X に夢中だ – “(someone) is crazy about X / totally into X”
• X に夢中になる – “(someone) becomes crazy about X / gets really into X”

So:

宇宙に夢中になった
(He) became totally absorbed in space.
(He) got really into space.

Here:

• 宇宙に – marks the thing he’s into (space)
• 夢中になる – “to become absorbed/obsessed”

Together: “to become obsessed with space.”

In 宇宙に夢中になった, why are there two に particles? What does each one do?

You can break it into two separate roles:

1. 宇宙に

   • This に marks the focus/target of the interest:
     “(be) into space / (be) absorbed in space”.

2. 夢中に なった

   • 夢中 is a na-adjective.
   • With na-adjectives, you use 〜に なる to say “become X”:
     
     • きれい に なる – become pretty
     • 便利 に なる – become convenient
     • 夢中 に なる – become absorbed

So structurally:

• 宇宙 に (about space / in regard to space)
• 夢中 に なった (became “in a 夢中 state”)

Put together:

宇宙に（target）＋ 夢中に（adverbial form of na-adjective）＋ なった（became）

Both に are correct and have different grammatical jobs.

What is the role of と in 宇宙に夢中になったと書いてありました?

と here is the quoting particle. It marks the content of what was written.

• X と 言いました – (someone) said “X.”
• X と 思います – (I) think “X.”
• X と 書いてありました – it was written “X.” / it said that X.

In this sentence:

宇宙に夢中になった と 書いてありました。
It was written that (he) became fascinated with space.

Everything before と (from 小学生のときに… up to 夢中になった) is the quoted content: what the interview said.

Why 書いてありました instead of just 書いていました or 書かれていました?

〜てある is a special pattern:

• 書いてある = “is written (and left there as a result of someone writing it)”

It describes a resulting state of a deliberate action.
Using the past tense:

• 書いてありました = “it was written (there)” / “it said (there)”

Nuances:

• 書いていました – “was in the middle of writing” / “was writing” (progressive action)
• 書かれていました – plain passive “was written” (more neutral)
• 書いてありました – “had been written and was (there)” – natural for text on a page, website, sign, etc.

So 〜てある fits well because the interview is already written, and you read the result.

Who is the subject in this sentence? There is no “I” or “he/she” written anywhere.

Japanese often omits subjects when they are clear from context.

You can infer:

1. (私が) 科学者のインタビューを読んだら、
   – I read an interview with a scientist, and when I did…

2. (そのインタビューには / そこに) …と書いてありました。
   – in that interview / there, it was written that…

Inside the quoted part:

小学生のときに父親から望遠鏡をプレゼントされて宇宙に夢中になった

The implied subject is the scientist being interviewed:

• When (he) was an elementary school student, (he) was given a telescope by his father and (he) became fascinated with space.

So the full idea (with subjects filled in) is:

When I read an interview with a scientist, it said that when he was in elementary school, he was given a telescope by his father and became fascinated with space.