Simple phrase with comma for emphasis, sounds natural?


I'm attempting to find an equivalent for the phrase "Broken, like glass.". It
should hold its emotional weight, so what comes to my mind is: 「ガラスみたい、破った。」,
but I'm not sure if holds the same notion, and if the order makes sense, or
just sounds strange.

Would be there a better version? Or the proposed translation makes enough
sense?

Also I am worried specially by the verb "to break", which seems a complicated
verb. My primary language is spanish (And you can tell that there are many
ways to say "break" also), so my guess is that there may be very distinct
meanings of this verb in japanese, depending on which I choose.




If I had to translate that phrase without knowing what got broken, I would
probably put it this way.

> [壊]{こわ}れた、ガラスみたいに。

First of all, you need an intransitive verb here. It’s kind of like using the
impersonal pronoun “ _se_ ” in Spanish, as in “ _se ha roto_.”

The verb that is usually used for glass is [割]{わ}れる, but its meaning is
specific and probably cannot be used for whatever is the other thing that got
broken _like_ glass. 壊れる is more general. Their transitive equivalents, by the
way, are, respectively, [割]{わ}る and [壊]{こわ}す.

The verb you chose is [破]{やぶ}る, which is used for things like paper and cloth
(if not a promise in a figurative usage). Besides, it is transitive. So 破った
would mean that you or someone else intentionally tore something. Its
intransitive version is [破]{やぶ}れる.

The に after ガラスみたい makes it an adverb to modify the verb. The sentence in the
normal word order would be ガラスみたいに壊れた, but the inverted sentence above feels
closer to the English.

If you wish to add a sense of regret, you could use the subsidiary verb しまう.

> 壊れてしまった、ガラスみたいに。




If I had to translate that phrase without knowing what got broken, I would
probably put it this way.

> [壊]{こわ}れた、ガラスみたいに。

First of all, you need an intransitive verb here. It’s kind of like using the
impersonal pronoun “ _se_ ” in Spanish, as in “ _se ha roto_.”

The verb that is usually used for glass is [割]{わ}れる, but its meaning is
specific and probably cannot be used for whatever is the other thing that got
broken _like_ glass. 壊れる is more general. Their transitive equivalents, by the
way, are, respectively, [割]{わ}る and [壊]{こわ}す.

The verb you chose is [破]{やぶ}る, which is used for things like paper and cloth
(if not a promise in a figurative usage). Besides, it is transitive. So 破った
would mean that you or someone else intentionally tore something. Its
intransitive version is [破]{やぶ}れる.

The に after ガラスみたい makes it an adverb to modify the verb. The sentence in the
normal word order would be ガラスみたいに壊れた, but the inverted sentence above feels
closer to the English.

If you wish to add a sense of regret, you could use the subsidiary verb しまう.

> 壊れてしまった、ガラスみたいに。

