18180
Here is part of the lyrics of Mai Kuraki's Time After Time:

```

    風舞う花びらが
    水面を撫でるように
    大切に想うほど切なく…
    
    人は皆 孤独と言うけれど
    探さずにはいられない 誰かを
    儚く壊れやすいものばかり
    追い求めてしまう
    
    Time after time
    君と色づく街で
    出逢えたらもう約束はいらない
    誰よりもずっと傷付きやすい君の
    そばにいたい今度はきっと
    
```

The full lyrics can be found
[here](http://j-lyric.net/artist/a000616/l001d01.html), in case someone wants
to see them. This passage I translate to:

```

    The flower petals dancing in the wind
    Seem to be stroking the water's surface
    The more [I] believe [they] are important, the more [I] suffer…
    
    Although all people say they are lonely (lit. "say «loneliness»")
    [They look for] someone [they] can't depend on if [they] don't look for [them]
    [But] only fragile and transient things
    [They] end up pursuing
    
    Time after time
    If with you in the city of changing hues
    [I] were to meet, [I] would never need promises
    Of you, who are always easier to wound than anyone,
    I want to stay at the side, this time, surely.
    
```

I have a couple of questions:

  1. The main question is about `探さずにはいられない 誰かを`. Analyzing it, I see `sagasazu`, from `sagasu`, to look for, which is a negative connective form, so `not looking for`, then `ni`, stessing the "adverbial" nature of `sagasazu`, `wa`, marking the lot as a topic, `irarenai`, negative potential of `iru` (`要る`, I take it, but surely not `居る`), `to depend on`, `to need`, `dareka`, `someone`, and `wo`, marking `dareka` as object. So the translation should be:

> someone (obj) from whom [they] cannot depend if without looking for
> [him/her]

The question of course is: what is the verb holding this object? The subject
is probably `mina` in the line above, as in the whole verse, meaning
`everyone`.

  2. Then we have this "water's surface", which has come out of nothing since I don't remember anything before or afterwards referring to water, so what water is it?

  3. What is the subject of `大切に想うほど切なく…`?
  4. Why do some translations refer the "always" to "I want to be" when `zutto` is in the middle of the relative clause `dare yori mo zutto kizutsuki yasui kimi`?
  5. The `mono` in `koware yasui mono`, is it `者` (people) or `物` (things)?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-09T08:03:20.397
18179
2014-08-09T09:20:59.517
2014-08-09T09:20:59.517
5324
question
translation
Verb for the object `dareka` in `探さずにはいられない 誰かを`
① 誰かを探す  
何々せずにはいられない ～＝ 何々しないではいられない （＝居られない）  
  
人は皆 孤独と言うけれど  
They say we're all alone, but  
探さずにはいられない 誰かを  
I can't help but look... for someone  
  
② It's water in general; no context is needed.  
③  
風舞う花びらが  
like petals dancing in the wind  
水面を撫でるように  
caressing the water's surface  
大切に想うほど切なく…  
the more precious **you** feel them, the more painful

④ Could be ambiguous  
誰よりも **ずっと傷付きやすい** 君のそばにいたい今度はきっと  
or  
誰よりも **ずっと** 傷付きやすい君のそばに **いたい** 今度はきっと  
though the former is probably more likely with this phrasing.  

⑤ Either interpretation is probably ok; hence the かな.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-09T08:30:14.797
18180
2014-08-09T08:30:14.797
6841
18179
answer