48548
I'm reading a story about a taxi driver picking up a young girl. He is driving
when he notices that the girl has disappeared. However, at a certain point he
hears her voice telling him to change his destination. At this point I found
this sentence: **もう声が出ず体でうなずいて** 真っ直ぐ前だけ見て走らせた。 What does the part in bold
mean?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-19T16:40:06.247
48546
2017-07-18T22:06:23.150
18269
question
translation meaning
I don't understand this sentence もう声が出ず体でうなずいて
Lets break this down, and see what we can get out of this sentence.

**声が出ず** : You're going to find a really good grammar here ～ず。 If you want to
do some research, look [here.](http://www.guidetojapanese.org/negverb2.html)
Simply put, it is a grammar where you do something without doing something
else. This portion translates to `without using his voice`

Here's another example of ～ず usage:

> 忘れずにやりました。(I did it without forgetting)

**もう** : This is probably one of the most important parts of the sentence. As
you'll see discussed in the comments below, もう changes the meaning of 声が出ず
from `without using his/her voice` to `unable to use his/her voice.`

**体{からだ}で** ： Literally translates as "with the body."

[**うなずいて**](http://jisho.org/word/%E9%A0%B7%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6): This is a
conjugation of うなずく、whose translation can be found
[here.](http://jisho.org/word/%E9%A0%B7%E3%81%8F) However, you'll also find
that うなずいて also has a [definition
listed](http://jisho.org/word/%E9%A0%B7%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6) on jisho.org.
Compounded with 体で we get: `Nodding with his/her body.`

Ok, now lets put it all together:

> **もう声が出ず体でうなずいて** 真っ直ぐ前だけ見て走らせた。
>
> **Unable to speak, he/she nodded with his/her body,** and ran straight
> forward not looking left or right.

I want to add an appendage that 前だけ見て means `only looking forward.` In
translating that to English, I changed it to `without looking left or right.`

Hope it helps.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-19T17:53:13.693
48548
2017-07-18T22:06:23.150
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
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answer
Literally, "His voice no longer came out and he nodded with his body [only]".
Presumably he is so scared by hearing her voice after she has disappeared that
he cannot speak, only nod. I'd suggest "His voice failed him. He could only
nod silently. He drove on with his eyes fixed straight ahead".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-19T18:03:42.893
48549
2017-06-19T18:03:42.893
20069
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answer