hanashi ga dassen suru lit. ‘the talk derails’
Japanese idiom, everyday. To jump suddenly from one topic to a completely unrelated one.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Japanese speaker.
How do people use 話が脱線する
?
Everyday Japanese, common about teachers, meetings and anyone who rambles. 脱線 is intransitive, so the talk is the subject (“話が脱線した”); if a person drags it off course, use 話を脱線させる. Speakers often apologize with “話が脱線しましたが” before steering back.
Also said 脱線する, 話を脱線させる
話が脱線する
in real sentences
-
鈴木先生の授業はおもしろいんだけど、いつも話が脱線しちゃって、なかなか教科書通りに進まないんだよね。
Suzuki-sensei no jugyō wa omoshiroi n da kedo, itsumo hanashi ga dassen shichatte, nakanaka kyōkasho-dōri ni susumanai n da yo ne.
Mr. Suzuki’s classes are interesting, but his stories always get sidetracked, so we never make any good progress in our textbooks.
Tatoeba, sentence by bunbuku, translation by marshmallowcat, CC BY 2.0 FR
-
脱線しないようにしなきゃな。
Dassen shinai yō ni shinakya na.
We’ve got to stick to the point.
Tatoeba, sentence by bunbuku, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does 話が脱線する
come from?
The railway sense came first: the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (via Kotobank) lists 脱線 in the dictionary Kotoba no Izumi (1898 to 1899) and cites a derailed tram in Kinoshita Naoe’s novel Hi no Hashira (1904). The figurative sense, going off course in behavior or in talk, shows up soon after: the same dictionary quotes Natsume Sōseki’s Higan Sugi Made (1912). So the image is barely older than the 20th century, a product of Japan’s railway boom.
Mistakes learners make with 話が脱線する
Saying “話を脱線する” with を. 脱線する works like an intransitive verb (the train derails, the talk derails), so it’s 話が脱線する, or 話を脱線させる if someone causes it.
Other Japanese idioms like 話が脱線する
Spot a mistake in 話が脱線する
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.