83914
In _Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo_ 's opening, there is this part:

> 1回めまぐれで
>
> 2回めってどうだろう
>
> 偶然じゃないよね？3回目が合うのは

I understand it, but one part: the translations I found say "The third time
our eyes meet", and I noticed that at least in some written version "1回め" and
"2回め" use め, while "3回目" uses 目.

I tried to understand if the 目 in 3回目 is ordinal ("The third time") or "eye"
("The third [time our] eyes"), but I didn't really find anything useful: if
it's ordinal, I can't understand the subject of 合う: is it left unsaid, like
"The third time [our eyes] met"?

If it's "eye", I'm not sure why 1回め and 2回め has an ordinal marker, while 3回目
doesn't, since they all mean "The nth time".

I'm wondering if it's meant to be a word play, like using 目 as ordinal, but
impliying "eyes" since it means that too; no luck in finding info about that,
though.

Edit: Without ordinal marker it should be cardinal, but I'm not sure if, maybe
as poetic license it being in a song, it could be left out while still having
an ordinal meaning.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-27T09:03:25.047
83913
2021-01-27T10:08:38.827
2021-01-27T09:40:59.223
35362
35362
question
translation words
目 as "eye" or ordinal marker
The lyrics are arguably wordplay-like, in that they try to invite listeners
into a [garden path sentence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-
path_sentence). But the only way eventually parses meaningfully is 3回 "three
times" + 目が合う "eyes meet". This 目 cannot be a suffix and a noun at the same
time.

By the way, lyrics I found in Japanese sites all seem to have spaces in
between, which suggest the official way of parsing.

> 1回め まぐれで  
>  2回め ってどうだろう  
>  偶然じゃあないよね? 3回 目が合うのは
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-27T10:08:38.827
83914
2021-01-27T10:08:38.827
7810
83913
answer