Interpreting 本人がどうにかするしかないことなので


I just started reading a comic, and I'm having a bit of trouble understand a
line said in the first page. Basically a girl approaches her guy friend and
tells him that she's been worried for him since he hasn't been in school for
10 days, the guy responds by saying he was sleeping. She then says

> はいまあ、ゆっくり見守ってやるつもりでいます。本人がどうにかするしかないことなので,

The guy then responds with まあじ?

I'm a little bit confused on what is trying to be said in the latter part of
the sentence. Is she saying she has no choice but to look over him in person
because he's been skipping school?

_Well, my intentions were to keep an eye on you, looks like I have no choice
but to do in person_




I think you're confusing who 本人 is referring to. Looking at the context, the
speaker is probably talking about a third party rather than the listener. I
think we should break the sentence down a little more. It looks like you
understand the first sentence, so:

> はいまあ、ゆっくり見守ってやるつもりでいます。  
>  Yeah, well, I intend to just watch over (that person).

Although this sentence doesn't say who they are watching over, it implies that
there is someone that they are watching over. So that person is who 本人(the
person themself) is referring to. So,

Word/Phrase | Meaning  
---|---  
本人が | The person him/herself + subject marker  
どうにか | Somehow / Some way or another  
する | Do  
しかない | Have no choice  
こと | nominalizer  
なので | "So". Shows cause and result  
  
So if you string the first three together, you get:

> 本人がどうにかする。  
>  The person does something about it themself.

Adding the next「しかない」, meaning "having no choice" after a verb, you get:

> 本人がどうにかするしかない。  
>  Have no choice but to do something about it themself.

Adding こと nominalizes the phrase:

> 本人がどうにかするしかないこと。  
>  Something that the person has no choice but to do something about it
> themself.

And then finally adding なので just gives you a hanging "so..."

> 本人がどうにかするしかないことなので、  
>  It's something that the person has to something about it themself, so...

Maybe that's not the most natural translation, but I hope you get the gist of
it. This second sentence explains the reason why they are just watching over
the person in question. You could probably flip the two sentences over and
get:

> 本人がどうにかするしかないことなので、ゆっくり見守ってやるつもりでいます。  
>  (It's something) the person has to do something about it themselves, so I
> intend to just watch over them.

* * *

also I really just wanted to use the tables cause they looked cool




I think you're confusing who 本人 is referring to. Looking at the context, the
speaker is probably talking about a third party rather than the listener. I
think we should break the sentence down a little more. It looks like you
understand the first sentence, so:

> はいまあ、ゆっくり見守ってやるつもりでいます。  
>  Yeah, well, I intend to just watch over (that person).

Although this sentence doesn't say who they are watching over, it implies that
there is someone that they are watching over. So that person is who 本人(the
person themself) is referring to. So,

Word/Phrase | Meaning  
---|---  
本人が | The person him/herself + subject marker  
どうにか | Somehow / Some way or another  
する | Do  
しかない | Have no choice  
こと | nominalizer  
なので | "So". Shows cause and result  
  
So if you string the first three together, you get:

> 本人がどうにかする。  
>  The person does something about it themself.

Adding the next「しかない」, meaning "having no choice" after a verb, you get:

> 本人がどうにかするしかない。  
>  Have no choice but to do something about it themself.

Adding こと nominalizes the phrase:

> 本人がどうにかするしかないこと。  
>  Something that the person has no choice but to do something about it
> themself.

And then finally adding なので just gives you a hanging "so..."

> 本人がどうにかするしかないことなので、  
>  It's something that the person has to something about it themself, so...

Maybe that's not the most natural translation, but I hope you get the gist of
it. This second sentence explains the reason why they are just watching over
the person in question. You could probably flip the two sentences over and
get:

> 本人がどうにかするしかないことなので、ゆっくり見守ってやるつもりでいます。  
>  (It's something) the person has to do something about it themselves, so I
> intend to just watch over them.

* * *

also I really just wanted to use the tables cause they looked cool

