Japanese with Manga

Taking too much caffeine with 〜すぎる

Grammar Explanation: Too much with 〜すぎる

Manga panel from ご注文はうさぎですか？ showing example of Taking too much caffeine with 〜すぎる.
ご注文はうさぎですか？ » Volume 1 » Page 55

Thinking Syaro doesn’t like the taste of coffee, Cocoa suggests adding sugar and milk. Syaro says the bitterness isn’t the issue.

シャロ:
「カフェインを摂(と)りすぎると異常(いじょう)なテンションになるみたいなの」
“It seems if I consume too much caffeine, I get abnormally hyper.”
Literal: “It seems that when I take in caffeine too much, I become abnormally excited.”
「自分(じぶん)じゃよく分(わ)からないんだけど」
“I can't really tell myself, though.”
◯:
「コーヒー酔(よ)い!?」
“Drunk on coffee!?”

Key Points

1摂(と)りすぎる means consuming an excessive amount
  • 摂(と)る changes to the stem 摂(と)り before すぎる, and caffeine is the thing taken in.
2〜すぎると gives the consequence of excess
  • The conditional と links too much caffeine with Syaro entering 異常(いじょう)なテンション, a hyper state outside her norm.
3みたいなの softens the personal explanation
  • Syaro presents the reaction as how she seems to work, instead of giving a clinical rule about caffeine.
4自分(じぶん)じゃ expands to 自分(じぶん)では
  • The contracted じゃ marks Syaro herself as the contrastive viewpoint: she cannot tell what her caffeine reaction looks like.
5んだけど softens the caveat
  • Syaro adds that she cannot judge the effect herself and leaves room for the others’ reaction. コーヒー酔(よ)い!? then supplies their startled label for it.

Vocabulary

(Abnormality)

異常(いじょう) means abnormal, unusual, or outside the normal range. It can describe behavior, a malfunction, a medical finding, or an extreme degree.

(To see)

見(み)る means to see or look at something. It can also mean to examine its condition or nature.

(Oneself)

自分(じぶん) means oneself, myself, yourself, or one’s own, depending on context.

See Also

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