He looked upon any time not spent in study as so much lost time.tatoeba
彼は彼女を説得しようとしたが無駄だった。
He tried to persuade her in vain.tatoeba
彼は彼らの激論を終わらせようとしたが無駄だった。
He tried in vain to put an end to their heated discussion.tatoeba
彼は彼らに自分の無実を信じさせようとしたが無駄だった。
He tried in vain to convince them of his innocence.tatoeba
Real voices: how native speakers say it
These sentences were read aloud by real people — native Japanese speakers — for the open Mozilla Common Voice project. Listen to how a phrase sounds in real speech: the intonation, the pace, the way words run together. Two speakers mean two different people read it — compare them.
よく通う駄菓子屋さんが潰れた
よくかようだがしやさんがつぶれたThe old-fashioned candy shop I often went to has closed down.
大層粋な駄洒落だからである
たいそういきなだじゃれだからであるBecause it is a very stylish pun.
いくら意地を張っても駄目だ。それは不可能だ。
いくらいじをはってもだめだ。それはふかのうだ。No matter how stubborn you are, it's no good. That's impossible.