Japanese with Manga

When you're small with 〜うちは

Grammar Explanation: While with 〜うちは

Manga panel from ふらいんぐうぃっち showing example of When you're small with 〜うちは.
ふらいんぐうぃっち » Volume 5 » Page 49

During a visit with Anzu’s family, Makoto receives a request to babysit for another witch. Things are fine at first, but after a while, rain begins to pour inside. Anzu’s mother realizes that the child they’re watching over has rain magic.

杏子(あんず)の母(はは):
「小(ちい)さいうちはコントロールできないんだろうね。不安(ふあん)になると今(いま)みたいに降(ふ)らせちゃうんだね」
“You don't have control while you're small, right? When he's uneasy, it pours like just now.”
Literal: “While he is small, he probably can't control it. When he gets uneasy, he makes it fall like now.”
真琴(まこと):
「なるほど。そうですよね。いきなり知(し)らない所(ところ)じゃ心細(こころぼそ)いですよ。我慢(がまん)してたんですね」
“I see. So that's it. It's a little scary suddenly being in a place you don't know. You've been patient, haven't you?”

Key Points

1小さいうち means while someone is still small
  • 小(ちい)さいうち frames childhood as the period when control is difficult.
  • The focus is on a temporary stage that will eventually change.
2コントロールできないんだろうね is an explanatory guess
  • んだろうね means the mother is reasoning it out gently.
  • She is explaining the rain magic rather than blaming the child.
3降(ふ)らせちゃう is casual 降(ふ)らせてしまう
  • 不安(ふあん)になると means “when he gets uneasy”.
  • 今みたいに降(ふ)らせちゃう says he ends up making it rain like now, with ちゃう adding the sense of an unintended result.

Vocabulary

(Anxiety)

不安(ふあん) means anxiety or unease, often a vague fear that something may go wrong.

(To see)

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

(To know)

知(し)る means to learn or come to know a fact or person. In the form 知っている, it describes already knowing.

(Patience)

我慢(がまん) means patience, endurance, or self-restraint when bearing something difficult.

See Also

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