Skilled clock maker with 職人
Vocabulary Explanation: Skilled artisan with 職人
Having received a letter requesting help solving a mystery, Kogoro finds himself in a house filled with animal designs everywhere, including the doors, the chairs, and the plates. His attention turns to the clocks covering the walls.
- 小五郎:
- 「しかし動物もさることながら、時計もたくさんありますなー．．．」
- “But aside from the animals, there are also a lot of clocks, huh...”
- 男:
- 「当たり前ですよ．．． 祖父は時計職人だったんですから．．．」
- “Of course there are... Grandfather was a clock maker, after all...”
Key Points
- Here 職人 means a skilled craftsperson, not just someone with a job; it emphasizes trained hands-on workmanship.
- With 時計 in front, 時計職人 becomes a craftsperson who makes or works on clocks, which is why maker fits in the translation.
- There is no particle between the two nouns; 時計 directly specifies what kind of artisan he was.
- This same pattern is very common in Japanese: [thing] + [person/role] = a person who works with that thing.
- だった is the past form of です / だ, and んです adds an explanatory tone: you see / the reason is that….
- から gives the reason, so 祖父は時計職人だったんですから means it’s because Grandfather was a clockmaker.
- In context, he is explaining why the house has so many clocks.
- This replies directly to Kogoro’s observation about all the clocks and treats it as something completely expected.
- The polite ですよ adds a lightly emphatic, matter-of-fact tone: Of course there are.
Vocabulary
祖父 (Grandfather)
祖父 means grandfather. It is the ordinary formal word for one’s grandfather.
時計 (Clock)
時計 is a general term for any device or mechanism that measures and displays the current time (the hour and minute).
動物 (Animal)
動物 refers to any living organism that possesses sensory and motor abilities and relies on other organisms for sustenance. It often refers to mammals, birds, reptiles, and other creatures other than humans.
職人 (Craftsperson)
職人 means someone whose profession involves creating objects by hand using the skilled techniques acquired through years of training and experience.
See Also
- External: Past tense with 〜た・〜だ
- Grammar: Reasoning with 〜のだ
- Grammar: Marking the topic with は and も
- Kanji: Counting and planning with 計
- Kanji: Motion and activation with 動
- Kanji: People and persons with 人
- Kanji: Things and kinds with 物
- Kanji: Time and occasions with 時