～手前（てまえ）

About

As a piece of grammar, 〜手前てまえ (lit. "in front, nearby; just before") has two main meanings:

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  ① "Since/now that", as in "Since one has done X/is in X position, they must do Y to maintain their reputation/save face".

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  ② "In front of (someone)", as in "One cannot/does not want to X action in front of Y person".

The second half of a 〜手前てまえ statement is generally subjective in nature. In other words, it features the speaker's feelings about how they "cannot do X", as opposed to them objectively not being able to perform a given action.

For usage ①, 手前てまえ attaches to past casual, ている, or ていた form verbs.

①

E.g. 子供こどもに野菜やさいを残のこさず食たべなさいと言いった手前てまえ、自分じぶんも野菜やさいが嫌きらいとは言いえなかった。 "Since I told my child to eat all of their vegetables, I couldn't say that I, myself, do not like them."

E.g. 料理りょうりは得意とくい、と言いった手前てまえ、美味おいしいものを作つくらなきゃいけない。 "Since I said that I'm good at cooking, I have to make something tasty."

For usage ②, 手前てまえ attaches to nouns (which indicate a person) using の.

②

E.g. 腕うでが疲つかれていたけど、彼女かのじょの手前てまえ、腕立うでたてを5回かいで終おわるわけにはいかなかった。 "My arms were tired, but I couldn't afford to do only five pushups in front of her."

E.g. いつもはピザのLサイズを一人ひとりで食たべるが、好すきな人ひとの手前てまえ、二切ふたきれだけ食たべて終おわりにしておいた。 "I always eat a large-sized pizza by myself, but in front of the person I like, I went ahead and kept it to two slices."

～手前てまえ is used in spoken casual and polite scenarios.

Summary

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  〜手前てまえ has two main meanings: ① "Since/now that"; ② "In front of (someone)"

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  The second half of a 〜手前てまえ statement is generally subjective in nature