Breakdown of kono mati ni kuru tabi ni, eki no mae no atarasii mise ga huete iru ki ga simasu.
Questions & Answers about kono mati ni kuru tabi ni, eki no mae no atarasii mise ga huete iru ki ga simasu.
What does 来るたびに mean, and why is 来る in the dictionary form?
たびに means every time or whenever.
So:
- 来るたびに = every time (I) come
- この町に来るたびに = every time I come to this town
Before たびに, verbs usually appear in the dictionary form:
- 行くたびに = every time I go
- 見るたびに = every time I see
- 来るたびに = every time I come
With nouns, you usually use のたびに:
- 旅行のたびに = every trip / every time I travel
So this is a very standard pattern.
Why is there a に in この町に来る? Could it be へ instead?
Yes, に marks the destination of 来る here.
- この町に来る = come to this town
You can also say この町へ来る, and it would still be natural. The difference is small:
- に focuses more directly on the destination
- へ emphasizes the direction toward it
With 来る, 行く, and 帰る, both are often possible. In this sentence, に is completely natural and probably slightly more common.
How does 駅の前の新しい店 work grammatically?
This is a chain of modifiers, and Japanese often stacks them before the noun.
Break it down like this:
- 駅 = station
- 駅の前 = in front of the station
- 駅の前の店 = the shop(s) in front of the station
- 駅の前の新しい店 = the new shop(s) in front of the station
So the full phrase means:
- new shops in front of the station
A useful thing to remember is that Japanese puts descriptive information before the noun, much more than English does.
Why is there a の twice in 駅の前の新しい店?
Because の is linking nouns/phrases step by step.
First:
- 駅の前 = the front of the station / in front of the station
Here, 前 is a noun, and 駅の modifies it.
Then:
- 駅の前の新しい店 = the new shops that are in front of the station
Here, 駅の前の modifies 新しい店.
So the two の are doing different pieces of linking:
- 駅 → 前
- 駅の前 → 店
This kind of noun + の + noun + の + noun structure is very common in Japanese.
Why is 店 marked with が?
Because 店 is the thing that is increasing.
- 新しい店が増えている = new shops are increasing
The verb 増える is an intransitive verb, meaning the thing that increases is marked as the subject.
Compare:
- 店が増える = shops increase
- 店を増やす = increase the number of shops
So here, the shops themselves are the grammatical subject of 増えている, which is why が is used.
Why does the sentence use 増えている instead of just 増える?
増えている suggests an ongoing trend or a state that has developed over time.
- 増える = to increase
- 増えている = are increasing / have been increasing
In this sentence, the speaker is talking about what they notice over repeated visits. So 増えている fits well because it gives the sense that the number of shops has been going up over time.
If you said 増える気がします, it would sound more like I feel like they increase in a more general or less grounded way.
増えている気がします sounds more like I feel like they’ve been increasing.
Does 増えている mean the shops themselves are increasing, or the number of shops is increasing?
It means the number of shops is increasing.
Japanese often says this in a shorter way than English:
- 店が増える literally looks like shops increase
- but the meaning is the number of shops increases
This is normal Japanese. The same thing happens with many nouns:
- 人が増える = the number of people increases
- 車が減る = the number of cars decreases
So even though English might prefer the number of new shops is increasing, Japanese naturally says new shops are increasing.
What does 気がします add here?
気がします makes the statement sound like a personal impression rather than a hard fact.
- 増えている = they are increasing
- 増えている気がします = I feel like they are increasing / it seems to me that they are increasing
This is a very common softening expression in Japanese. It is useful when you do not want to sound too absolute.
So this sentence is not a strong factual claim like:
- 新しい店が増えています。 = New shops are increasing.
Instead, it sounds more like:
- It feels like there are more and more new shops.
- I get the impression that new shops have increased.
That softer, more subjective tone is important.
Why is it します and not です after 気が?
Because the fixed expression is 気がする.
Literally, 気 is something like feeling, sense, or impression, and する means to do / to occur / to feel in this expression.
So:
- 気がする = to feel that..., to seem that...
- 気がします = polite form
You do not say 気がです.
Common forms are:
- 気がする = plain
- 気がします = polite
- 気がした = felt like / seemed
- 気がしています = have had the feeling / continue to feel
Is 新しい modifying 店 only, or the whole phrase?
It modifies 店.
So:
- 駅の前の新しい店 = new shops in front of the station
It does not mean:
- the newly in-front-of-the-station shops
- or something modifying the whole phrase in a broad way
A simple way to see it is:
- 駅の前の = in front of the station
- 新しい店 = new shops
Then those combine into one noun phrase.
Could this also be said as 駅前の新しい店 instead of 駅の前の新しい店?
Yes. 駅前の新しい店 would also be very natural.
- 駅の前 = in front of the station
- 駅前 = the area in front of the station / station-front area
So:
- 駅の前の新しい店 = new shops in front of the station
- 駅前の新しい店 = new shops near the station front / in the station-front area
駅前 is often a little more compact and idiomatic.
The original sentence with 駅の前の is still perfectly correct and easy to understand.
Is the speaker explicitly saying I anywhere in this sentence?
No, but it is understood from context.
Japanese often leaves out subjects when they are obvious. In this sentence:
- 来る = come
- 気がします = I feel / it seems to me
Both strongly suggest the speaker is talking about their own experience, so English naturally supplies I:
- Every time I come to this town, I feel like...
This omission is completely normal in Japanese.
Why are there spaces in the sentence? Does Japanese normally write like this?
No. Normal Japanese writing usually does not use spaces between words.
The sentence would normally be written like this:
この町に来るたびに、駅の前の新しい店が増えている気がします。
Spaces are often added in teaching materials to help beginners see the word boundaries more clearly. So the spaced version is a learning aid, not standard writing.
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