Thursday, February 19, 2009

Grammar a Day - Level 1 [ がてら (gatera) ]

がてら (gatera) - while doing something

--- Notes ---
[がてら]
Used to express getting one thing accomplished while doing a second thing.
Perhaps a good English equivalent would be 'to kill two birds with one
stone.'

--- Examples ---
散歩がてら本屋に寄った。
Since I took a walk. I stopped at a bookshop.

ドライブがてら駅に私を迎えにきてください。
Since you go for a run in the car, coud you pick me up at the station?

息抜きがてら同僚とチャットをする。
Chat with a colleague on the internet for a change.

せっかく上京したのだから見物がてら、買い物でもしよう。
Since I've come all the way to the capital, I might as well get some
shopping done on top of sightseeing.

--- Comments ---
more formal than -nagara but similar - ?? (contributor: dc)

gatera can be reaplced with ついでに or wo を兼ねて.
○散歩ついでに、本屋に寄った。
○散歩を兼ねて、本屋に寄った。
x散歩をしながら、本屋に寄った。This is not natural.
I think that がてら is used to show another action (本屋に寄る)
taken place in the middle of one main action (散歩をする),
散歩→本屋→散歩
While ながら、two or more actions are at the same time.
eg. 友だちと喋りながら歩く。 I walk as talking with a
friend. 歩く=喋る (contributor: Miki)

You can also use かたがた.
散歩かたがた公園に行った. (contributor: bamboo4)

got it. so its not a verb ending like 〜ながら。
It means more like 'on the occasion of' or 'while doing A, also did B' than
'during or while' ... ie slightly separated incidents.

Is it a very formal/written phrase? (contributor: dc)

Right on, dc.

ついでに is conversational, がてら,かねて and かたがた are
predominantly used in writing. (contributor: bamboo4)

My book says that this is not used for a 'big' event. It is used for
something small or something that can be finished soon.
旅行がてら = NO
散歩がてら = OK (contributor: blabby)

No, that is not correct.がてら can be used in any situation where you
say 'while doing X, I also did Y.'

There is such limitation as Blabby refers to.

It is perfectly correct to say
中国旅行がてらタイにも足を伸ばした。Or
花子と話がてら、夏子にも挨拶した。

I dn't know what your book is, but if that's what it says,it is not
correct.

(contributor: bamboo4)

The book I am using is
実力アップ!日本語能力試験一級文法編 by Unicom. The
explanations are in Japanese so Ill quote from the book.

〜がてら ー (〜をするときに)
たいへんなことや大きいことではなく、小さいことやすぐに終わること。
×旅行がてら  ○散歩がてる

Maybe this books explanations are not as good as I thought... (contributor:
blabby)

I think that 'gatera' is most like 'tsuideni'. It means 'on the occasion
of'.
To Mikisan: Vる/N の+ ついでに
--> 散歩のついでに....
(contributor: amenya)

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http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=gatera

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