Word
彼女 は のど が 渇いて いた らしく、 冷たい お茶 を 一口 飲んで すぐ おかわりした。kanojo wa nodo ga kawaite ita rashiku, tsumetai ocha o hitokuchi nonde sugu okawarishita.
Meaning
She seemed thirsty, took one sip of cold tea, and asked for more right away.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of kanojo wa nodo ga kawaite ita rashiku, tsumetai ocha o hitokuchi nonde sugu okawarishita.
はwa
topic particle
をo
direct object particle
飲むnomu
to drink
がga
subject particle
Questions & Answers about kanojo wa nodo ga kawaite ita rashiku, tsumetai ocha o hitokuchi nonde sugu okawarishita.
Why is it 彼女は but のどが?
は marks the overall topic: as for her...
Inside that topic, のどが渇いていた is the actual statement, and が marks the grammatical subject of 渇く.
Japanese uses the expression のどが渇く, literally the throat gets dry, to mean to be thirsty. So the structure is basically:
- 彼女は = as for her
- のどが渇いていた = her throat was dry / she was thirsty
This is very natural in Japanese, even though English would usually make she the subject of was thirsty.
What does のどが渇く literally mean, and is it just an idiom for to be thirsty?
Yes. Literally, のどが渇く means the throat becomes dry.
In normal Japanese, this is the standard way to say to be thirsty. So even though the literal image is different from English, learners should treat it as a very common set expression.
Related forms:
- のどが渇く = get thirsty
- のどが渇いている = be thirsty
- のどが渇いた = got thirsty / became thirsty
- のどが渇いていた = was thirsty
Why is it 渇いていた instead of just 渇いた?
