様(よう)に祈(いの)るPray that/for, Hope that/for, Keep fingers crossed that

Most Recent Replies (10 in total)

• 

  Pushindawood

  pray that/for
  hope that/for
  keep fingers crossed that

  Structure

  • Verb[る/ない] + ように + (と) + 祈る

  Used when literally praying for something or when expressing a hope or a wish for something]
  [Sometimes 祈る is omitted, often when ように follows ます (「宝くじが当たりますように」)]

  Can be rephrased to:
  ・といいな (if the speaker hopes for themselves, but not when actually praying)
  ・といいね (like といいな, but for others)
  ・ように願う, ように頼む, ように望む, ように希望する

  View on Bunpro

• 

  seanblue
• 

  NickavGnaro

  Sorry if this is coming in too late, but in my (limited) experience with this grammar, the present progressive is always used when an individual describes an ongoing reason for/habit of praying. One case where it was 祈る instead of 祈っている was the below sentence:

  毎年お正月に神社に行って、今年も大きな病気をしないように神様に祈ることにしている。

  But as you can tell, that still ends up using the present progressive, it just gets pushed later on down the line.

• 

  NickavGnaro

  For each review I’ve had on this grammar point, I’ve not been allowed to write ようにと～. I’m not sure if that’s intentional, but since the grammar explanation (both here and in the Tobira textbook) says there is room for the optional と, I figured I might as well bring this up.

• 

  Johnathan-Weir

  When it says “praying” does this have the same feel as “praying” in the western religious sense? And is this still used regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof?

• 

  Johnathan-Weir

  Still kind curious about this

• 

  mrnoone

  @Johnathan-Weir
  Good think you have bumped it! I wouldn’t have noticed it other way

  Yeah, Japanese use it quite often even if they do not pray at all or are atheist. Similar to English. You can think of it as “hope” in that case.

  生きて街を出られるように祈る
  I pray (or simply “hope”) that you can live the town alive.

  I hope () it helps,
  Cheers!

• 

  shadowstar

  In one of the example sentences given,

  友達の車に乗る前に死なないように祈る。

  The supplied translation was " I hope that I don’t die before I get to ride in my friend’s car."

  However, I had initially read it as “Before I ride in my friend’s car, I pray that I don’t die.” (with the nuance being that the friend is a bad driver, and that 祈る here is more of a literal prayer). I was wondering if this translation could be accurate as well, and if not, how the sentence differs? Thank you.

• 

  casual

  I would guess that:

  • both translations are possible
  • most people would interpret it like your version (I hope my friend is a safe driver, perhaps as a joke)
  • to disambiguate it in one direction, one could add a comma: 友達の車に乗る前に、死なないように祈る。
  • to disambiguate in the other direction, one could use potential: 友達の車に乗れる前に死なないように祈る。

  But I’m also curious what the staff meant and what the correct answer to your question is.

• 

  Fuga

  Hey @shadowstar !

  The translation should have been ‘Before I get in my friend’s car, I pray that I don’t die.’ so I have just fixed the translation!

  However, both translations would work depending on the situation!

• 

  shadowstar

  Thank you both!!