Breakdown of wasurenai you ni, kaigi no zikan ga kaite aru gamen wo sukuriinsyottosite okimasita.
Questions & Answers about wasurenai you ni, kaigi no zikan ga kaite aru gamen wo sukuriinsyottosite okimasita.
What does 忘れないように mean here?
It means so that I won’t forget or to avoid forgetting.
This pattern is:
- dictionary form / nai-form + ように
In this sentence, the verb is 忘れない (not forget), so:
- 忘れないように = so that I don’t forget
It often expresses purpose in situations where you are trying to make sure something does or does not happen.
Why is it 忘れないように and not something like 忘れるために?
ように and ために can both express purpose, but they are used differently.
Here, 忘れないように is natural because it means to make sure I don’t forget. This is the kind of purpose Japanese usually expresses with ように, especially when the goal is about:
- preventing something
- making something possible
- ensuring a certain result
By contrast, ために is more direct and often used when someone intentionally does something to achieve a goal.
So:
- 忘れないように = so that I won’t forget
- 忘れるために would mean in order to forget, which is the opposite meaning
If you tried 忘れないために, that can exist, but 忘れないように is more natural for this everyday “just to be safe” kind of sentence.
What is 会議の時間 doing here?
Why is it 時間が書いてある and not 時間を書いてある?
This is a very common point of confusion.
In 時間が書いてある, the が marks 時間 as the thing that is written.
- 時間が書いてある = the time is written there
This whole part modifies 画面:
- 会議の時間が書いてある画面
- the screen on which the meeting time is written
So 時間 is not the direct object of the main sentence. It belongs inside the descriptive clause before 画面.
A helpful way to see it:
- 画面をスクリーンショットした = I screenshotted the screen
- Which screen?
- 会議の時間が書いてある screen
Inside that smaller clause, 時間が書いてある is like saying the time is written.
What does 書いてある mean? Is it just is writing?
No. Here 書いてある does not mean is writing.
V-てある often means that something has been done and the result remains, usually because someone intentionally did it.
So:
- 書く = to write
- 書いてある = has been written / is written there
In this sentence:
- 会議の時間が書いてある画面
- the screen where the meeting time is written
It describes the visible state resulting from someone having written or entered that information.
This is different from:
- 書いている, which can mean is writing or sometimes is written, depending on context
- but 書いてある strongly suggests a resulting state, often with intentional setup
Why is there another ある in 書いてある when the sentence already has おきました later?
Because they are doing completely different jobs.
- 書いてある describes the screen
- スクリーンショットしておきました describes what the speaker did
So the structure is:
- [会議の時間が書いてある] 画面
= the screen [that has the meeting time written on it]
Then the main action:
So ある is part of the description of the screen, not part of the main verb.
How does 会議の時間が書いてある画面 fit together grammatically?
This is a noun modified by a clause.
Japanese often places descriptive clauses directly before the noun they describe.
So:
- 会議の時間が書いてある = the meeting time is written
- 画面 = screen
Together:
- 会議の時間が書いてある画面
- the screen on which the meeting time is written
This is called a relative clause in English grammar terms.
Japanese does not use words like that, which, or where here. It just puts the descriptive clause right before the noun.
What does スクリーンショットしておきました mean exactly?
It means I took a screenshot in advance or I took a screenshot and kept it ready.
The key part is 〜ておく:
- スクリーンショットする = to take a screenshot
- スクリーンショットしておく = to take a screenshot beforehand / for later convenience
Then the past polite form:
- スクリーンショットしておきました
So the sentence is not just saying that the speaker took a screenshot. It says they did it ahead of time, for a useful purpose.
That matches the earlier 忘れないように very well.
What is the nuance of 〜ておく here?
Why is the object particle を attached to 画面?
Because 画面 is the thing being screenshotted.
The main verb phrase is:
- 画面をスクリーンショットしておきました
- I took a screenshot of the screen
Even though English says take a screenshot of the screen, Japanese often marks the thing as a direct object with を.
So:
- 画面を = the screen
- スクリーンショットしておきました = screenshotted in advance
Is スクリーンショット a noun or a verb here?
It starts as a loanword noun, but here it is being used with する to make a verb:
- スクリーンショットする = to take a screenshot
In the sentence, it appears in the て-form:
- スクリーンショットして
So:
- スクリーンショットしておきました
- took a screenshot in advance
This is very common with loanwords in Japanese:
- コピーする = to copy
- メモする = to make a note
- スクリーンショットする = to screenshot
Why doesn’t the sentence say who wrote the meeting time or who might forget?
Because Japanese often leaves subjects and agents unstated when they are obvious from context.
In this sentence:
- the person who might forget is almost certainly the speaker
- the person who wrote or entered the meeting time does not matter
Japanese focuses on what is relevant, not on stating every role explicitly.
So the sentence naturally leaves out:
- I in so I won’t forget
- someone in the time is written on the screen
This omission is extremely normal in Japanese.
Why is the whole sentence in polite past form with おきました?
Because the speaker is politely reporting something they already did.
- おきました is the polite past of おく
- the action happened before now
So the sentence means something like:
- I’ve taken a screenshot in advance
- I took a screenshot so I wouldn’t forget
The polite form makes it suitable for everyday polite conversation, including work-related situations like talking about a meeting.
Could this sentence be translated more naturally than word-for-word?
Yes. A very natural English rendering would be something like:
- So I wouldn’t forget, I took a screenshot of the screen showing the meeting time.
- I screenshotted the screen with the meeting time on it so I wouldn’t forget.
- Just so I wouldn’t forget, I took a screenshot of the screen where the meeting time was written.
These translations capture the grammar without sounding too stiff in English.
Is 画面 specifically a computer screen?
Usually 画面 means screen/display in a broad sense. It could be:
- a phone screen
- a computer screen
- an app screen
- some displayed page on a device
In this sentence, because of スクリーンショット, it most likely refers to the displayed screen on a phone or computer.
So 画面 is best understood as the screen/page being shown on the device.
What is the overall structure of the sentence?
It breaks down like this:
忘れないように、
so that I won’t forget会議の時間が書いてある画面を
the screen on which the meeting time is writtenスクリーンショットしておきました。
I took a screenshot in advance
So the full flow is:
- purpose: so I won’t forget
- object: the screen with the meeting time on it
- action: I screenshotted it in advance
That is a very typical Japanese sentence structure.
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