Having trouble with saying a verb before a time during the year.

[confusedEj]

I would like to say:

People cooked before the new years.

Would this be correct:

人は料理を作るまえにおしょがつ。

Also was wondering how to say, "for the first three days of january, several million people visit the Meiji Shrine"

Thanks

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by confusedEj

I would like to say:

People cooked before the new years.

Would this be correct:

人は料理を作るまえにおしょがつ。

Also was wondering how to say, "for the first three days of january, several million people visit the Meiji Shrine"

人は料理を作るまえにおしょがつ has got a serious issue in having a noun at the very end, which doesn't occur in formally written Japanese. You need to place the time word(s) before the verb.

人 sounds fairly strange in this context. A more natural-sounding choice would be 多くの人. You could also use 多くの日本人.

The correct word is おしょうがつ, not おしょがつ. The kanji for this word is easy, so why not try to remember it today. お正月

「多くの人はお正月の前に料理を作ります。」
________

As for "for the first three days of january, several million people visit the Meiji Shrine", how about something like:

「三が日には数百万人の人々が明治神宮を訪れます。」

三が日（さんがにち） is the word for "the first three days of January". It cannot be used for other months.

[sarasi]

It really looks like you need to go back to the beginning and revise word order in Japanese sentences. You can't construct a sentence using Japanese words in the same order as the words come in an English sentence. In a simple sentence, time words come first, (generally speaking) and verbs come last.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by confusedEj

I would like to say:

People cooked before the new years.

Would this be correct:

人は料理を作るまえにおしょがつ。

Also was wondering how to say, "for the first three days of january, several million people visit the Meiji Shrine"

Thanks

Not to mention your attempt say something like "Before a person cooks, Nw Yrs Day."

[chryuop]

hahahaha Kyle, you translation just made me notice one thing. In both English and Japanese "before" can mean before in time or in front of.
Just a stupid thing I noticed....never mind me LOL.

[futurebeast]

Originally Posted by Nagoyankee

人は料理を作るまえにおしょがつ has got a serious issue in having a noun at the very end, which doesn't occur in formally written Japanese. You need to place the time word(s) before the verb.

人 sounds fairly strange in this context. A more natural-sounding choice would be 多くの人. You could also use 多くの日本人.

The correct word is おしょうがつ, not おしょがつ. The kanji for this word is easy, so why not try to remember it today. お正月

「多くの人はお正月の前に料理を作ります。」
________

As for "for the first three days of january, several million people visit the Meiji Shrine", how about something like:

「三が日には数百万人の人々が明治神宮を訪れます。」

三が日（さんがにち） is the word for "the first three days of January". It cannot be used for other months.

Isn't it more properly:

「お正月の前に多くの人は料理を作りました。」

I know that お正月の前 can be before or after the subject. Just seemed better somehow.

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by futurebeast

Isn't it more properly:

「お正月の前に多くの人は料理を作りました。」

I know that お正月の前 can be before or after the subject. Just seemed better somehow.

While that is also correct, it isn't any more proper.

But why change the tense? This is what we do EVERY year.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by chryuop

hahahaha Kyle, you translation just made me notice one thing. In both English and Japanese "before" can mean before in time or in front of.
Just a stupid thing I noticed....never mind me LOL.

Yes, that was tricky for me when I was first learning Japanese and Chinese. I always wondered "why does it mean 'in front' but it's talking about a time behind me?"

But someone pointed out to me it's better to think of it this way: You can see your 前 but not your 後ろ. However, with time, you can see what happened 前に, but not what will happen 後で.

So what you can see is 前. What you cannot is 後.