は in いいえ。健康のために少しは外へ出かけてくれたらいいんですが and ご主人にもっと働いてほしいんですか


> いいえ。健康のために **少しは** 外へ出かけてくれたらいいんですが。 ([source: p
> 2](https://www.docdroid.net/a1B7uAr/img.pdf.html))

The placement of すこし and the function of すこし as a topic (I guess) kind of
makes my head spin. Maybe the は is a contrastive marker? Here's how I would
interpret the sentence, or at least the only way I can think of right now

> No. It should be good for the health to give going outside a little.

EDIT: This sentence, page 1 sentence from the very bottom, also puts a few
question marks over my head:

> ご主人にもっと働いてほしいんですか。

It is again に that confuses me. I'd rather expect a は or が here to mark ご主人 as
topic or at least grammatical subject. However, I could make sense of it if I
was sure that a passive voice is meant here. Like this:

> Is it wished from Mr. Clerk to work more?




The context is quite helpful here.

It seems that the wife is rather bothered with how her husband is currently
passing his days. When she says,

> 何もしないで、家でテレビばかり見てるんですよ。

She's expressing frustration that all he does is watch TV. So, person A asks,

> いいじゃありませんか。これまで４０年も働いたんですから。
>
> Isn't that OK? Up until now, he worked for 40 years?

The wife demurs with でも、・・・ to which person A then asks,

> ご主人にもっと働いてほしいんですか。
>
> Is it that you want your husband to work some more?

The grammar here is that of "wanting someone else to do something". In this
situation, the verb is then used in the て-form followed by ほしい to express the
idea of "want [someone] to do [something]". The person **wanting** this is the
subject of the sentence and would likely be marked by が/は depending on
context. The **someone** who is wanted to do something is usually going to be
marked by に, the particle to show the **agent** of the action.

Back to the story...

So, the wife then responds,

> いいえ。健康のために少しは外へ出かけてくれたらいいんですが。
>
> No [I don't want him to go back to work]. For the sake of his health, it'd
> _just_ be nice if he'd go out _once in a while_.

First let's look at 出かけてくれたら here. She'd like her husband to do something
other than sit and watch TV, so going out once in a while would be a kind of
favor to her. Hence the use of てくれる here.

Second let's look at 少しは. Here I wouldn't consider は to be a topic marker at
all. Nor would I consider it contrastive (but someone might be able to argue
that point). I'd say that it adds emphasis which is why in my translation I
used the word " **just** ". There are certainly other ways to translate 少し
instead of temporally as I did; I could have written "If he'd just go out a
little bit" might be a bit more faithful to the Japanese.

At any rate, I hope this helps clarify your two points.




The context is quite helpful here.

It seems that the wife is rather bothered with how her husband is currently
passing his days. When she says,

> 何もしないで、家でテレビばかり見てるんですよ。

She's expressing frustration that all he does is watch TV. So, person A asks,

> いいじゃありませんか。これまで４０年も働いたんですから。
>
> Isn't that OK? Up until now, he worked for 40 years?

The wife demurs with でも、・・・ to which person A then asks,

> ご主人にもっと働いてほしいんですか。
>
> Is it that you want your husband to work some more?

The grammar here is that of "wanting someone else to do something". In this
situation, the verb is then used in the て-form followed by ほしい to express the
idea of "want [someone] to do [something]". The person **wanting** this is the
subject of the sentence and would likely be marked by が/は depending on
context. The **someone** who is wanted to do something is usually going to be
marked by に, the particle to show the **agent** of the action.

Back to the story...

So, the wife then responds,

> いいえ。健康のために少しは外へ出かけてくれたらいいんですが。
>
> No [I don't want him to go back to work]. For the sake of his health, it'd
> _just_ be nice if he'd go out _once in a while_.

First let's look at 出かけてくれたら here. She'd like her husband to do something
other than sit and watch TV, so going out once in a while would be a kind of
favor to her. Hence the use of てくれる here.

Second let's look at 少しは. Here I wouldn't consider は to be a topic marker at
all. Nor would I consider it contrastive (but someone might be able to argue
that point). I'd say that it adds emphasis which is why in my translation I
used the word " **just** ". There are certainly other ways to translate 少し
instead of temporally as I did; I could have written "If he'd just go out a
little bit" might be a bit more faithful to the Japanese.

At any rate, I hope this helps clarify your two points.

