君は木を見て森を見とらんぞ。

Sentence Discussions Japanese
#1

見る → 見とる（見ておるの省略形）ー＞見とらん（否定形）

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#2
English Translation

You can’t see the forest for the trees.

Is 見とらん an abbreviation for 見取らない / 見取らぬ？

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#3

@Xiaomei @ericaw

  1. 見ている (be looking at) → 見ておる (sounds old-fashioned or bossy) → 見とる (shorten form) → 見とらん (denial)

  2. 見取る or 見て取る (to perceive/get an insight from/be by the bedside of someone dying) → 見取っておる (old/bossy) → no shorten form → 見取らん (denial)

気を見て森を見ず is a common proverb. It is categorized in the first 見ている case. The original Japanese sentence from Tatoeba sounds very bossy due to 君は and らん.

Another example with らん is:

そんなこと、知らん！ = I don’t know and don’t care such a stupid/tedious thing!

そんなことは知らないです is the standard neutral form.

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