isya ha watasi no syouzyou wo mite, kaze da to sindansimasita

Questions & Answers about isya ha watasi no syouzyou wo mite, kaze da to sindansimasita

Why are there spaces between the words?

Japanese normally does not use spaces between words. This sentence would usually be written as:

医者は私の症状を見て、風邪だと診断しました

The spaces in your version are just there to help learners see the parts more clearly.

Why is used after 医者 instead of ?

marks 医者 as the topic: the sentence is talking about the doctor.

So 医者は feels like:

  • As for the doctor...
  • The doctor, ...

If you used , it would focus more on the doctor as the one who did the action, often with a nuance like answering who did it? Both can be grammatical, but is very natural here for a neutral statement.

What does 私の症状 mean exactly?

私の症状 literally means my symptoms.

  • = I / me
  • = links nouns, often showing possession or relationship
  • 症状 = symptom / symptoms

So 私の症状 is the symptoms belonging to me, or the symptoms I had.

Also, 症状 does not have to show singular or plural. Depending on context, it can mean a symptom or symptoms.

Why is attached to 症状?

marks the direct object of the verb 見る.

Here, the thing being looked at is 症状, so:

  • 症状を見る = to look at the symptoms

That is why 症状 takes .

What is 見て doing here?

見て is the て-form of 見る.

The て-form often connects actions. Here it links:

  • 症状を見て
  • 風邪だと診断しました

So the flow is:

  • the doctor looked at the symptoms
  • then diagnosed it as a cold

In this sentence, 見て has a natural meaning like after looking at or based on looking at.

Could 見て be replaced with 見てから?

Yes, it could.

  • 見て = looked at and...
  • 見てから = after looking at...

見てから makes the sequence more explicit. 見て is a little lighter and very natural when one action leads directly to the next. In this sentence, 見て already clearly suggests that the diagnosis came after examining the symptoms.

Why is there a comma after 見て?

The comma helps show a pause and makes the sentence easier to read.

Japanese punctuation is more flexible than English punctuation. The comma here is natural, but in some contexts it could be omitted:

医者は私の症状を見て風邪だと診断しました

That would still be understandable.

Why does the verb 診断しました come at the end?

Japanese is generally a verb-final language. The main verb usually comes at the end of the sentence.

So instead of putting the verb earlier, Japanese often builds up the information first:

  • 医者は
  • 私の症状を見て
  • 風邪だと
  • 診断しました

This is a very normal Japanese sentence pattern.

What form is 診断しました?

診断しました is the polite past form of 診断する.

Breakdown:

  • 診断 = diagnosis
  • する = to do
  • 診断する = to diagnose
  • 診断しました = diagnosed

This is a very common kind of verb in Japanese: a noun plus する.

Why is it 風邪だ and not 風邪です, even though the sentence ends politely?

This is a very common question.

In Japanese, when a clause comes before to show content, that clause normally uses the plain form, not the polite form.

So:

  • 風邪だと診断しました = natural
  • 風邪ですと診断しました = not natural in this kind of sentence

The overall sentence is still polite because the main verb is polite:

  • 診断しました

So the politeness is carried by the end of the sentence, while the embedded content stays in plain form.

What is doing in 風邪だと診断しました?

Here, marks the content of the diagnosis.

You can think of it as something like:

  • diagnosed that it was a cold
  • diagnosed it as a cold

So 風邪だと is the thing the doctor concluded.

This is often used after thoughts, statements, and judgments.

Could you also say 風邪と診断しました?

Yes. 風邪と診断しました is also natural and common.

There is a small difference in structure:

  • 風邪だと診断しました treats 風邪だ as a full clause: it is a cold
  • 風邪と診断しました treats 風邪 more directly as the diagnosis result: diagnosed it as a cold

In everyday meaning, the difference is small. Both are used.

Why doesn’t the sentence explicitly say me as the person who was diagnosed?

Japanese often leaves out information that is clear from context.

In English, you might say:

  • the doctor diagnosed me with a cold

But in Japanese, it is very natural to focus on the diagnosis itself:

  • the doctor looked at my symptoms and diagnosed that it was a cold

Because 私の症状 is already mentioned, it is easy to understand that the diagnosis is about me.

Could 私の be omitted?

Yes, very often it could be omitted if the context is clear.

For example:

医者は症状を見て、風邪だと診断しました

This could still be understood as the doctor looking at my symptoms and diagnosing a cold, if that is obvious from the situation.

Japanese often omits possessors like my, your, or his/her when they are easy to infer.

Is 見る the right verb for a doctor examining symptoms? Should it be 診る?

見る is a broad, common verb meaning to see, to look at, or to examine depending on context, so it is fine here.

In medical contexts, you may also see 診る, which is a more specialized writing choice meaning to examine medically.

So:

  • 症状を見て = natural and understandable
  • 症状を診て = also possible, with a more medical feel

In speech, you usually cannot hear the kanji difference anyway, since both are read みて.

Does 症状 mean one symptom or multiple symptoms here?

It can mean either, depending on context.

Japanese nouns usually do not have a built-in singular/plural distinction like English does. So 症状 may be understood as:

  • a symptom
  • symptoms

In a sentence like this, English often translates it as symptoms, because that sounds natural in a medical context.

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How do verb conjugations work in Japanese?
Japanese verbs conjugate based on tense, politeness, and mood. For example, the polite present form adds ‑ます to the verb stem, while the past tense uses ‑ました. Unlike English, Japanese verbs don't change based on the subject — the same form works for "I", "you", and "they".

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