危ないといけない

English translation: There may be a risk

15:19 Jul 15, 2021

Japanese to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama

Japanese term or phrase: 危ないといけない

Dear ProZ members,

I'm dealing with the following sentence, taken from an anime. The main character is dealing with a magic power that must be suppressed.

危ないといけないからすこし下がってて
(It must be dangerous, so stand back a bit.)

That "must be dangerous", however, sounds strange to me. This magical power actually creates a strange phenomenon (making things invisible), but there's no real risk. Similar events happened before in the series too.

Why is the main character sure there must be a risk involved? I was wondering if it's just a strange sentence of if that grammatical structure sounds milder than the literal translation to natives.

Thank you so much!

Riccardo91
Italy

English translation:There may be a risk

Explanation:
I agree with your opinion. 「いけないから」means "there may be a risk". It is not certain. It can be translated as "In order to avoid a risk" as well. Both translation can apply to another situation regardless of what you explained.

Selected response from:

Kayoko Kimura
United States
Local time: 05:13

Grading comment

Thank you!
2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 -1

There may be a risk

Kayoko Kimura

Summary of reference entries provided

Lest it becomes dangerous staying here

Port City

Answers

34 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

There may be a risk

Kayoko Kimura
United States
Local time: 05:13
Native speaker of:

Japanese

Grading comment

Thank you!

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you for confirming! However, why is it so? Is this an exception? I think it's the first time I see いけない used as "could" instead of "must". Thank you again!

Reference comments

14 hrs

Reference: Lest it becomes dangerous staying here

Reference information:
I agree with Kayoko. ~といけないから is used to avoid a potential risk, where the risk is mentioned immediately preceeding the phrase. Maybe the risk is to bump into an invisible thing?

https://lets-english.info/lest-for-fear-that-in-case/
https://shinuwakaeng.com/for-fear-should-in-case

Port City
New Zealand
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 6

Note to reference poster

Asker: Thank you!

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:

ProZ.com term search

Search millions of term translations

危ないといけない

English translation: There may be a risk

Answers

Reference comments

KudoZ™ translation help

Your current localization setting

Select a language

危ないといけない

English translation: There may be a risk

Answers

Reference comments

KudoZ™ translation help

You have native languages that can be verified

Your current localization setting

Select a language