When you're small with 〜うちは
Grammar Explanation: While with 〜うちは
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.
- 杏子の母:
- 「小さいうちはコントロールできないんだろうね。不安になると今みたいに降らせちゃうんだね」
- “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:
- 「なるほど。そうですよね。いきなり知らない所じゃ心細いですよ。我慢してたんですね」
- “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
- 小さいうち frames childhood as the period when control is difficult.
- The focus is on a temporary stage that will eventually change.
- んだろうね means the mother is reasoning it out gently.
- She is explaining the rain magic rather than blaming the child.
- 不安になると means “when he gets uneasy”.
- 今みたいに降らせちゃう says he ends up making it rain like now, with ちゃう adding the sense of an unintended result.
Vocabulary
うち (I)
うち can mean “I” or “me”, especially in Kansai speech and in casual speech among women. It also has other meanings, including “home” and “inside”.
不安 (Anxiety)
不安 means anxiety or unease, often a vague fear that something may go wrong.
見る (To see)
見る means to see or look at something. It can also mean to examine its condition or nature.
知る (To know)
知る means to learn or come to know a fact or person. In the form 知っている, it describes already knowing.
我慢 (Patience)
我慢 means patience, endurance, or self-restraint when bearing something difficult.
See Also
- Grammar: While with 〜うちは
- Future entry: Past tense with 〜た・〜だ
- Grammar: Likening things with 〜みたい
- Grammar: Presuming with 〜だろう and 〜でしょう
- Grammar: Doing completely or ending up doing with 〜てしまう and 〜ちゃう
- Grammar: Natural result with 〜と
- Grammar: Marking the topic with は and も
- Kanji: Negation and lack with 不
- Kanji: Peace and ease with 安