Line Ten
trust me おろしてみればいい そう 君のために 僕がいるんだ
Translation
trust me / just put it down and see yes, I’m right here for you
Vocabulary & Grammar Notes
Oroshitemireba
OK, now we’re getting into the heavy stuff. Good, good.
Keep in mind that the subject is the “baggage” that the listener has been “carrying” (from Line Eight).
“Orosu” means “To Put Down.” Japanese: おろす、下ろす。 “Miru” means “To See.” Japanese: みる、見る。
This is a compound verb combining the two.
To begin with, “oroshite” is the -te form (continuative form) of “orosu.”
Second, “mireba” is the conditional form of “miru.” That is, “See this, and X will happen.”
Put it all together, and you get “oroshitemireba,” or, “if you put down (the baggage you’re carrying) and see, X will happen.”
Ii (ii)
This is a plain, colloquial version of “yoi,” which uses the same kanji. Japanese: いい、良い.
Let’s get past the strict definitions and focus on what this really is, when used as a suffix like this: A Stamp of Goodness. It identifies what immediately precedes it as a Good Thing that should be thought of as such.
Putting It All Together
So, with the “baggage you’re carrying” from Line 8 as the subject:
(You can) trust me / just put it down and see
Now, we could leave the “yes” at the end of the phrase, but I’ll leave that for singers to decide. I think this works better as English: intensifier first, key phrase second.
Sou
Used in this way, “sou” (Japanese: そう) is an affirmative intensifier. You know when singers go “Yes!” at the end of a line? It’s like that.
Technically it’s used for things like “sou ka,” which reads like “Is that so?” but… not really here. It’s part of a statement, not a question. (No “ka” particle to be found.)
Kimi no Tame
The “kimi” is a 2nd person pronoun. We’ve covered this in previous parts.
The particle “no” establishes a relationship between the preceding and the following parts. (“kimi” and “tame”)
“Tame” means, in essence, sake/ benefit. Thus, this is “for your sake” (for the sake of “kimi”). There. It’s simple, so let’s not make it more complicated in a case where it’s really plain and obvious. Japanese: ため、為 (kanji would be used in formal high level writing, not for anything meant for teen consumption)
Ni
Just the particle identifying the “kimi no tame” part as modifying what follows.
Boku
Introvert 1st person (“I”) pronoun, usually used by men. We’ve gone over this one, too. Japanese: ぼく、ボク、僕
Ga
This is the “subject” particle. Remember, in Japanese, the topic and the subject can be different. “Ga” is used, when necessary, to mark a noun as the subject of the verb that follows. In this case, the subject is “boku,” above. Japanese: が
Iru
This is the existence/ presence verb for animate objects, which we covered two Parts ago in Part 8. This completes the phrase, “boku ga iru” (“I am here”). Japanese: いる、居る
Nda
Another copula, an affirmative existence sentence ender. In other words, “iru” may affirm that “boku” is present, but “nda” affirms that this is indeed so and not just your imagination. Japanese: んだ
Now, let’s go over a few of these:
Polite non-past affirmative: desu
Plain non-past affirmative: da
Old polite non-past affirmative: no da
Old plain non-past affirmative: nda
Now, I’m characterizing this as “old,” but at any rate, “no da” sounds like antiquated Japanese. As a consequence, “nda” sounds more adult and mature than “da” and is frequently used as a mature-sounding copula in Japanese, particularly by adult men.
So, in this case, the speaker is sounding older than a 12 year old, but still using “boku.” This is why Japanese has a lot of nuance to it.
Putting It All Together
The thing is, “for your sake” may be technically correct, but in English colloquial speech, “for you” carries the same meaning and sounds much more vivid. So:
Yes, I’m right here for you
That’s all we need.
