Using の as a nominalizer will allow you to make more complex sentences. This would literally be “The thing that is going to Japan is very expensive,” but, more reasonably, “It is very expensive to go to Japan.” To add onto this, we could then take our now “noun” phrase and add “Nihon e iku no wa takai desu” (日本へ行くのは高いです). Or “The thing I learned.” But it can get more complicated than that.įor example, “Nihon e iku” means “to go to Japan.” But saying “Nihon e iku no” is more like “The thing that is going to Japan.” It’s a bit clunky in English, but it can be very useful to turn entire phrases into nouns with a language where the verb generally ends the sentence. You could add it to a verb like “Manabu” to say “Mananda no” The “er” at the end turns the verb into a noun. “Bake” is a verb, but “baker” is a person who bakes. We have these in English, but a lot of times they are baked into the word. “Nominalizer” is a fancy grammar word for something that turns another part of speech into a noun. This next use can be a little difficult to differentiate from the pronoun use. The Japanese Particle “NO”(の) : Nominalizer Meaning “The one I bought.” It’s important to note that you don’t say “cupcake” in these sentences. To refer to “the blue one.” If you buy the cupcake, and want to refer to the one you bought, you can say “Katta no” If you are being asked to choose between cupcakes, and you want the blue one (see, there’s the word “one” in English), you can say “Aoi no” This is a lot easier to understand with examples. You can’t put it by itself, because whatever comes before it determines what it is. Sometimes の is used as a pronoun to mean “one.” You can put it directly after i- adjectives, with a “na” after na- adjectives, or after verbs that are either in their dictionary form or past tense. This is definitely how you’ll hear it used the most in Japanese, and you’ll be able to pick it up through careful listening. Overall, there are a lot of uses for の as a phrase or noun modifier. の can also show what something is made of, what attributes it has, or any other modification you could make to A. “Peach tree.” That one doesn’t even have a word in English that translates to の. Or “Peach tree.” That one doesn’t even have a word in English that translates to の. Or “The exam on history.” You could say “Momo no ki” Meaning “The phone at the restaurant.” You could say But this is only one part of how の can modify a phrase or noun. Or “Tanaka-san’s book.” In English, you would translate の as the ’s at the end of a noun. This could be possession, such as “Tanaka-san no hon” When you have “の” between A and B, it is showing that B somehow modifies A. And I want you guys to be better than me as you learn Japanese, so I’m going to explain what の really is. That’s part of it, but not quite the whole picture. The way I initially learned how to use の was as a “possessive” particle. The Japanese Particle “NO”(の) : Phrase Modifier 4 The Japanese Particle “NO”(の) :Sentence-Ending Particle (Feminine).3 The Japanese Particle “NO”(の) :Nominalizer.2 The Japanese Particle “NO”(の) :Pronoun.1 The Japanese Particle “NO”(の) :Phrase Modifier.Nihongo-Pro is proud to offer some of the best Japanese teachers available anywhere. Nothing ensures your success in learning Japanese more than an excellent teacher. Nihongo-Pro teachers have years-over a decade, in some cases-of professional experience teaching Japanese, including experience teaching Japanese online. We hope you'll also consider our private Japanese lessons from our experienced Japanese teachers.Įvery online Japanese school touts professional teachers, but read between the lines and you may find instructors with little or no experience. The free Japanese quizzes at Nihongo-Pro are a great addition to any Japanese study plan. Spend just a few minutes a day, every day, learning Japanese, and your Japanese skill will grow quickly. If you learn how to use this small number correctly, your Japanese will shine.Īs with any language skill, practice and perseverance are the keys to success. Thankfully, there are just a few basic particles in Japanese. If you use the wrong particle, the whole meaning changes, and you might wind up with a quizzical look from your Japanese listener. In Japanese, the particle attached to another word indicates how that word is being used in the sentence. Particles are one of the trickier parts of Japanese grammar.
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