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Earlier today I read the following excerpt from a message:

結局今日はゲームやらなかったよ！ また、暇なときに開けよう

The part I'm most unclear on is how to translate 開けよう.

First off, let me mention that I'm currently working on making the transition from only recognizing the 1st-year textbook types of sentence structures, and learning the many ways that the various particles can be used. So, what I'm getting at is I'm not at all sure how to interpret に. (^.^') I'm inclined to think that's it's being used to say that 暇なとき is the object to the transitive verb 開ける. Then, perhaps, 開けよう is either a conjugation with which I'm simply not familiar, or perhaps it's just a contraction of akeru-yo, with the う at the end being added for the same reason that there was a ♪ at the end of that line. (Which, I suppose, can be chalked up to 'feminine speech.')

Speaking of which, the speaker is a female from the Nagoya area, if that sheds any light on colloquial choices or what have you.

So, if I'm correct in reading the second sentence as "himanatoki-ni akeru-yo" then this still leaves me unclear on how to interpret 'akeru.' In the dictionary I use (jisho.org), the definitions include things like "to open, as in a window" or "to open, as in a business." There is another definition, however, of "to empty; to clear out; to make space; to make room" that seems promising. So, perhaps I can interpret the sentence as

"Rest assured, I will make room for leisure time."

Anyone care to offer their own differing interpretation? Also, any insight on recognizing uses of に would surely be helpful and appreciated. I'm currently reading a book on grammar and particle usage, but I'm still in the 'absorbing' phase, so much of this stuff is still floating freely in my mid-range memory, waiting to be solidified.

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1 Answer 1

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A quick google search found the quote (from an SKE48 member). First a little background: After reading her other posts, it seems like she plays the game おいでよ どうぶつの森 on her Nintendo DS, I don't know anything about the game, but perhaps you can interact with other people online? If this is the case, then she didn't have a chance to open up her DS to play the game.

I ended up not playing the game today! I'll open it (my DS) up when I have some free time

Note that she is addressing this message to her fans, so it has the subtle implication of "let's play the game together".

Have you ever heard 開けましょう? 開けよう is just a shortened form of that, you could think of it as "Let's".

Also, your question about に, usually specifies a point in time, so in the sentence 暇なときに specifies that the action 開ける will happen at this point in time.

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I see, I see. Yeah, I was wondering how to take 開けよう by the definition of 'to open,' but if it refers to her DS, then that makes a lot more sense. When I looked up 暇なとき, the closest thing I saw was 暇な時 (where I guess the latter kana is read とき), so I latched on to its definition as 'leisure time.' I was guessing that 開けよう was a contraction of 開けましょう, but if I'd seen it before, I wasn't ready to recognize/remember it. ^-^ Glad to hear that I was on the right track, more so than not. Oh, and what you said about に as a point in time makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking. Thanks! –  ghorahn Nov 15 '12 at 0:24
I think "open" refers to the game, not the DS –  dainichi Nov 15 '12 at 2:33
@dainichi: Yeah, my first guess was she bought a new game and hadn't played it yet, but the guess in the answer was based off of reading older posts. –  Jesse Good Nov 15 '12 at 3:15

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