What is the purpose of を in this sentence?

Question

I'm playing through Ace Attorney's Japanese release to get reading experience, and decided to replay the first case, this time to focus on sentence structures.

Not long after progressing past the first testimony (where you prove the witness was wrong regarding the time at which the murder happened by a margin of 2 hours), the judge says this, in response to the prosecutor objecting that the witness simply made a trivial mistake:

...私には、そうは思えません。山野さん。どうして、死体を見つけた時間を２時だと...？

The meaning of the sentence comes across as clear to me - roughly, "I can't agree with that. Yamano-san, what's the reason for you saying that you discovered the body at 2 P.M.?"

However, I don't understand why the judge uses that last を. Is there a reason why it wouldn't be "時間が２時" instead? It doesn't look like there's an omitted verb there, as the だと implies the Judge is just quoting.

I'm most certainly missing something. I would like to know what the last を does in this sentence and if it's an established use of the particle.

Please see: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/56003/30454 https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/24375/30454 https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/56541/30454 — Eddie Kal, Jan 25 '22 at 02:52

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 25 '22 at 03:02

4

Based on A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar, page 521, 思う can take を inside the quoted と clause:

As the image explains, the を version here translates to:

What's the reason for you saying that the time you discovered the body to be 2 pm?

edited Jan 25 '22 at 03:02

Eddie Kal

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answered Jan 25 '22 at 02:55

Riolku

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Do you mean "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar" by any chance? It's a good practice to always cite the entire source (full title, author(s), and at least year of publication) – Eddie Kal Jan 25 '22 at 02:58
Fixed name and added page number – Riolku Jan 25 '22 at 03:01
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Great! +1 from me for pointing the questioner to a source. – Eddie Kal Jan 25 '22 at 03:02

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 25 '22 at 02:58

There is a hidden AをBと思う construction in the last part of the sentence. 思う can be other verbs listed here instead.

どうして、死体を見つけた時間を２時だと[思うのですか]？
Why do you think it was 2:00 that (you/they) found the body?

What is the purpose of を in this sentence?

2 Answers2