Learn Japanese with Anime - There's Someone Else Inside You! (Hikaru no Go)

Analysis

君(きみ)を一(いち)番(ばん)知(し)っ(っ)て(て)いる僕(ぼく)だ(だ)か(か)ら(ら)わ(わ)か(か)る(る)

君(きみ) (pronoun) means “you”. It’s used when speaking to people of the same or lower relative position from the speaker’s perspective. It can sound a bit distant or superior, so you don’t hear it often in everyday conversation, but for Akira, an anime character who acts very mature for his age, his use of 君(きみ) to address Hikaru fits naturally. 君(きみ) also has literary or poetic connotations, so you often see it in literature such as novels, song lyrics, and anime titles.

を (particle) indicates the direct object.

一(いち)番(ばん) (adverb), literally meaning “number one”, is used to express the superlative degree, indicating “most” or “best” in various contexts.

知(し)っ(っ)て(て)いる (verb) means “to know”. Its dictionary form 知(し)る(る) represents the action “to get to know”, while 知(し)っ(っ)て(て)いる expresses the state of knowing.

僕(ぼく) (pronoun) means “I”. It’s used by males in casual speech with polite and well-mannered connotations. You hear it in everyday conversation, just as often as 俺(おれ), which has a more masculine or rough tone than 僕(ぼく) – exactly as we see with Akira using 僕(ぼく) and Hikaru using 俺(おれ).

When a verb phrase precedes a noun, it modifies the noun like an adjective clause in English. So 君(きみ)を一(いち)番(ばん)知(し)っ(っ)て(て)いる僕(ぼく) means “I, who know you best”.

か(か)ら(ら) (particle) means “because”. When it’s used with a noun or な-adjective, you need to attach だ.

わ(わ)か(か)る(る) (verb) means “to understand” or “to recognise”, used when something is clear to someone.

NOTE

This わ(わ)か(か)る(る) is used as a stative verb, so it can express a state by itself without the “te-form + いる”. On the other hand, 知(し)る(る) is an action verb, so it must take the form 知(し)っ(っ)て(て)いる to express a state of knowing.

So, 君(きみ)を一(いち)番(ばん)知(し)っ(っ)て(て)いる僕(ぼく)だ(だ)か(か)ら(ら)わ(わ)か(か)る(る) means “because it’s I who know you best, I understand”, which translates to “I can tell because I know you better than anyone else”.

僕(ぼく)だ(だ)け(け)がわ(わ)か(か)る(る)

僕(ぼく) (pronoun) means “I”, だ(だ)け(け) (particle) means “only”, が (particle) emphasises exclusivity of “I and no one else”, and わ(わ)か(か)る(る) (verb) means “to understand”, so 僕(ぼく)だ(だ)け(け)がわ(わ)か(か)る(る) means “I’m the only one who understands” or “Only I can tell”.

君(きみ)の中(なか)にも(も)う(う)一(ひと)人(り)い(い)る(る)

The pattern “Noun の location word に” indicates position or location. 君(きみ) means “you” and 中(なか) means “inside”, so 君(きみ)の中(なか)に means “inside you”.

The word も(も)う(う), followed by a number and counter word, indicates an additional quantity of what the counter word represents. 一(ひと)人(り) means “one person” so も(も)う(う)一(ひと)人(り) means “one more person” or “another person”.

い(い)る(る) (verb) means “to exist” or “to be”.

So, 君(きみ)の中(なか)にも(も)う(う)一(ひと)人(り)い(い)る(る) means “Inside you, another person exists” which translates to “There’s someone else inside you”.