文法の説明

N3 レッスン 10: 13/20

折角(せっかく)

With trouble, At great pains, Take the trouble, Might as well..., Rare/long-awaited occasion

使い方・接続

せっかく + Phrase
せっかく + の + Noun (of Event)

詳細

  • 使用域

    Standard

  • 使用域

    一般

「折角」の情報

折角（せっかく) is an idiomatic adverb that is often used to express doing something 'with trouble', 'at great pains', or 'to be a rare/long-awaited occasion'. Being an adverb that often modifies the meaning of a whole sentence, it will commonly appear at the beginning of a statement. When 折角(せっかく) is nominating an event as being long awaited, it will appear directly before the event, separated only by the case marking particle の.
  • せっかく君(きみ)が欲(ほ)しかった靴(くつ)を買(か)ってあげたのに友達(ともだち)にあげたの？最悪(さいあく)。
    I took great trouble to get you the shoes that you wanted, but you gave them to your friend? How inconsiderate.
  • せっかく休(やす)みを取(と)ったのに雨(あめ)が降(ふ)ったから予定(よてい)が台無(だいな)しだ。
    I went through the trouble to get a day off, but it rained, so my plans were ruined.
  • せっかくの誕生日(たんじょうび)会(かい)を台無(だいな)しにしてごめんなさい。
    Sorry for ruining your long awaited birthday party.
  • 台風(たいふう)のせいで、せっかくの休暇(きゅうか)が中止(ちゅうし)になった。
    Due to the typhoon, my long awaited vacation has been canceled.
Fun Fact
There are several guesses for where 折角(せっかく) originates. One of the most common is that it is an abbreviation for 頭巾(ずきん)の角(つの)を折(お)る 'to fold the horn (tail) of a hood'. This was something that a famous confucian did intentionally to protect his hood from getting wet in the rain. The people of the time started to copy the act, and 折角(せっかく) also came to be used as an idiom to mean 'intentionally', or 'to go out of one's way to do something'.

例文

  • せっかく日本語(にほんご)を毎日(まいにち)数時間(すうじかん)勉強(べんきょう)したのに、日本語(にほんご)能力試験(のうりょくしけん)に落(お)ちたかと心配(しんぱい)して落(お)ち込(こ)んだ。

    I took great trouble to study Japanese for hours each day, but I got worried about whether I had passed the JLPT or not, and got depressed.

  • せっかく異世界(いせかい)に転移(てんい)したのに、チートをもらうどころか、ただの自動販売機(じどうはんばいき)になった。

    Even though I went through the trouble of being transported to a parallel universe, instead of getting cool powers, I became a simple vending machine.

  • せっかくのデートが風邪(かぜ)でつぶれた。ちょっと残念(ざんねん)だよ。

    A long-awaited date was spoiled because I caught a cold. It is a little disappointing.

  • 妻(つま)のためにせっかく家(いえ)を構築(こうちく)したけど、離婚(りこん)した。努力(どりょく)はみんな無駄(むだ)だった。落(お)ち込(こ)んでいる。

    Even though I went through great pains to build a house for my wife, we divorced. All of my efforts were in vain. I feel down.

  • せっかくの友達(ともだち)との遠足(えんそく)だから、たくさん遊(あそ)びたい。

    Since this trip with friends is a rare occasion, I want to have a lot of fun.

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「折角」に関する文法ディスカッション

最近の返信 (合計6件)

  • Johnathan-Weir

    Johnathan-Weir

    There is a set of 4 videos starting with this one that do a pretty good job explaining all the uses of せっかく

  • pandashoujo

    pandashoujo

    I’m struggling to tell whether the word that comes after せっかく is a “phrase” or a “noun expressing event.” What’s the difference…?

  • Daru

    Daru

    @pandashoujo
    Phrase would be just any old sentence, where a Noun expressing an event would be something like 大会、忘年会, etc. Just something that refers to an event.

    @Johnathan-Weir
    Added this to the resources, thank you!

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