こと

Pasted image 20250529104443.png The activity, the fact, of my having been to Japan in the past exists. (Cần phân biệt chút là từ "đi" kia là ở quá khứ, không phải non-past, nên để ám chỉ việc "đã đến Nhật"). In other words, we're saying I sometimes go to Japan / going to Japan is a fact that exists. If we say どんな人にも失敗することがある, we're saying everybody sometimes makes mistakes / whatever kind of person it may be, the fact of making mistakes exists (Ở đây dùng non-past, để ám chỉ điều này đang/sẽ/có thể xảy ra?). You might go into one of those Penguin Cafés where the waiters and waitresses are all penguins and you may see a sign saying ペンギンをくすぐらないこと and that means Don't tickle the penguins. And the reason it's marked with こと is because this is a rule of the establishment. If you go into that café, you are duty bound not to tickle the penguins, ever, however tempting it may be, because it's a こと. And what is a こと? In this case it's a decision which also means a rule or a regulation (Hiểu đúng hơn là こと -- a decided thing).

Một cái nữa chúng ta có (Ở bài 73): あなたのことが好きだ is fairly understandable if it were just あなたが好きだ (I like you), but actually what we're saying is that I like your こと. Nghĩa là: I like things about you or I like the thing about you.

どういうこと, そういうこと & ということ

  • どういうこと is one that we often hear. It means, in a way, what kind of こと?
  • そういうことでした (So that's how the situation was explained).
  • Now, そういうこと or どういうこと doesn't have to be something particularly recondite or difficult, but it tends to imply a greater depth of needed explanation than a simple どんな.
  • そんなこと: we have some kind of a negative reaction to it.

もの

If we say 冬は寒いものだ, what we're saying is "winter is cold, and that's just a thing, that's a thing, you have to come to terms with it". Someone says Ooh, it's cold and you say 冬は寒いものだ -- winter IS cold / winter's a cold thing. we may say 希望のあるところには必ず試練があるものだ, and what we're saying there is Where there's hope, there's always a test, a test here meaning something we have to overcome, something we have to do in order to attain that hope.

It doesn't make logical sense, but what you're doing is making that statement and then emphasizing it and also putting a particular kind of stress on it by saying ものだ – that's just how it is, it's a thing, that's something we have to understand, that's something we have to get used to, it's something that doesn't change, it's something that's inevitable: ものだ – it's a thing.

The ものだ we've just discussed has to be in the present tense because we're talking about generalization, and the present tense, as we know, isn't really a present tense.

What's the difference between saying 東京に行ったものだ and 東京に行ったことがある?

  • The ことがある is simply a literal statement: The fact of my having been to Tokyo exists.
  • 東京に行ったものだ is in English like saying I used to go to Tokyo and it has much more emotional weight. It's like saying This is a thing I used to do, this is something that used to happen

(Cần đọc lại sau... hiện giờ vẫn còn một số điểm chưa hiểu rõ lắm...)