What does the pattern "Past Verb + まま + N" mean?


The following sentence was in an N4 review test:

> 私の本棚には **買ったまま** 読んでいない まんが が たくさん あります。

The meaning, as I grasp it, is _"There are a lot of books that I bought in my
bookshelf that are left unread."_

But this is confusing because the [grammar
pattern](http://www.renshuu.org/index.php?id=25&page=grammar/individual),
**Past (た) + まま** essentially means "(while, left, stay) + verb" as in:

> 妹は制服を **着たまま** で寝てしまいました。

_My younger sister fell asleep **while wearing** her school uniform._

How does 買ったまま make sense in this context?




The link you have given defines 〜たまま as "remains unchanged". Before examining
your examples lets take an ordinary example:

> 弟はテレビをつけたまま寝てしまいました。

A natural translation would be:

> My younger brother fell asleep in front of the television.

A more literal translation, employing the idea of "remains unchanged" would
be:

> "My younger brother fell asleep while the TV was still on."

Please note that while these two sentences are different in English, they
amount to the same thing. But, we had to employ a certain amount of "literary
license" to get to what I think you would agree is the more natural English
equivalent.

In both your examples your reference has given you the more natural
translation. It sounds like you are looking for the "in-between" sentence that
gets us from the Japanese to the natural English sentence using the
explanation on your link of "remains unchanged". I would suggest:

> 私の本棚には 買ったまま 読んでいない まんが が たくさん あります
>
> There are many comics (ie manga) on my bookshelf that are unread, just as
> they were when they were bought. (ie new, in mint condition...remain
> unchanged from when they were first bought)

In the second sentence:

> 妹は制服を着たままで寝てしまいました。
>
> My younger sister fell fast asleep [unchanged] still wearing her uniform.

We can conveniently use the expression "remains unchanged" here to convey the
message that she did not **change** out of her day clothes (uniform) to her
night clothes but this would be to miss the point that translating Japanese
requires us to take the unwritten context into account. The situation that
remained unchanged was that she did not take off her uniform. This type of
expression is often (but not always) used to convey that an action that would
normally be done before a second action did not take place.

A more plain use for まま would be:

窓は開けたままだった｜The window had been left open.

話を聞いたまま話す｜tell a story just as one heard it




Look a little closer at the link you posted. It explains this grammar
structure as meaning "the situation _A_ remains unchanged." This can have the
meaning of "while" in English, but that's not necessarily a good way to think
of it. In your example "妹は制服を着たままで寝てしまいました。" it is approximated in English as
"while" because that's how we might say it in this case. But try to think of
it in the "remaining unchanged" meaning. The younger sister fell asleep, and
her uniform was left on. The suggestion is that she would have normally
changed into something else before falling asleep.

The point is you need to think of it as a continuation of an old state and
especially unchanged when you might expect a change. So when we apply this to
the sentence you're confused about, it might be a little clearer. On your
bookshelf are many books that are _as they were when you bought them_ , as in
still new, unopened and unread. This is a little more abstract than something
physical like wearing a uniform to bed or wearing something while it's still
wet or what have you, but it works.

Just try your best to avoid linking words, phrases, and other constructions
directly to English words/phrases and instead try to internalize the deeper
meaning.

