Sentence of the Day 6/25/09
I hope to make this a recurring post, giving a sentence from my study regimen and a detailed breakdown of it.
Today’s sentence comes from クロノトリガー (Chrono Trigger), pretty early on in the game as I’m just starting to play through it again in Japanese. This particular quote comes from a soldier in Truce Village just after traveling to 600 AD for the first time, when Chrono is still trying to figure out where he is. Notice that while there is one special term used primarily in fantasy novels and video games （魔王）, most of the terms and grammar are normal, everyday words.
Vocabulary definitions are in Japanese, and where possible come from チャレンジ小学国語辞典, which I highly recommend as a dictionary with very simply-worded J-J definitions. Widely available in Japan, but you can order it from amazon.co.jp if you’re not over there. Has furigana over every character!
Anyway, without further ado, today’s sentence:
「わが国は、いま平和をとりもどすため魔王軍と日夜戦っているのだ。」
我が わが
わたしの。自分（じぶん）の。わたしたちの。
我が implies a level of pride in your ownership.
平和 へいわ
戦争（せんとう）などがなくて、世（よ）の中（なか）がよく治（おさ）まっていること。
取り戻す とりもどす
もとの状態（じょうたい）に回復（かいふく）する。
A compound of 取（と）る and 戻（もど）す.
魔王 まおう
悪魔（あくま）の王（おう）。
Wasn’t in my elementary school dictionary, so this definition was from the much more advanced 大辞林. Luckily there was a simple definition available – essentially it means “lord of evil magic”.
軍 ぐん
兵士（へいし）の集（あつ）まり。
日夜 にちや
昼（ひる）も夜（よる）も。いつも。
I originally selected this sentence to nail down this kanji reading.
戦う たたかう
武器（ぶき）を持（も）って争（あらそ）う。戦争（せんそう）をする。
I included all of the relevant definitions for your convenience, and as a kind of exercise for myself to make sure I really know each word, but for my own review flashcard I only include the following:
Front:
わが国は、いま平和をとりもどすため魔王軍と日夜戦っているのだ。
Back:
日夜 にちや 昼（ひる）も夜（よる）も。いつも。
わが 国[くに]は、いま 平和[へいわ]をとりもどすため 魔王[まおう] 軍[ぐん]と 日夜[にちや] 戦[たたか]っているのだ。
In other words, I have all the readings, and then the definition of the only word I’m likely to have trouble with. I get the most mileage out of my flashcards when I include only one new fact per card, so I try to select sentences with that in mind.
勉強中 