Sunday, July 30, 2017

translation - The meaning of 「尋ねられもしないこと」


I'm reading a Japanese novel and there's this part of the sentence I don't know the meaning



公安からの情報が必要な場合は、何とかして引き出す。しかし、尋ねられもしないことをこちらからわざわざ連絡するつもりはない。



My rough translation is: "In case information from the police is needed, we'll manage to get it. But we have no intention to contact them for 尋ねられもしないこと."




Answer



「尋ねられもしないこと」 means "something that is not even asked."


Breakdown:
尋ねられ -- verb 尋ねる + passive られる
も -- binding particle (係助詞) "even"
しない -- verb する + negative ない
こと -- noun (事) "thing, something"


「the continuative form (連用形) of a verb + もしない」 means "don't even do~~", eg: 「知りもしない」 「見もしない」



尋ねられもしないことをこちらからわざわざ連絡するつもりはない。




literally means "We have no intention of taking the trouble to inform them of something we are not even asked." / "We are not going to bother to (contact them to) let them know something we are not even asked."


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