We have already learned how to apply “Verb modified noun” to a Subject and a Predicate. Now we are going to learn how to apply it to an Object. In order to do it, let’s review the construction of transitive verb predicate sentences;
1. [Subject] wa [Object] o [Transitive Verb] masu.
Of course, sometimes “[Subject] ga” happens, but it’s not our focus now. When we apply “Verb modified noun” to an object, “1.” turns to be like follows;
2. [Subject] wa { [Verb Clause] + [Noun] } o [Transitive Verb] masu.
Look at the following transitive verb sentence;
3: Watashi wa Ko’ohi’i o Nomimasu. (I drink (a cup of) coffee.)
The sentence 3 is okay, but if you want to add some information to the word “Ko’ohi’i (coffee)”, a verb clause could be placed in front of the noun “Ko’ohi’i” as below;
4: Watashi wa Satou o Ireta Ko’ohi’i o Nomimasu. (I drink coffee in which someone poured sugar.)
5: Watashi wa Satou ga Haitte iru Ko’ohi’i o Nomimasu. (I drink coffee which sugar is in.)
Although English translations in parenthesis may seem strange, let us examine the sentences and their verb clauses of 4 and 5’’.
– Sentences’ predicates are “Nomimasu”, which is in present tense for both 4 and 5.
– Verb clauses modifying “Ko’ohi’i”
4; [Satou o Ireta] — “Ireta” is in past/perfect tense.
5; [Satou ga Haitte iru] — “Haitte iru” is in present tense.
You can see that tenses don’t agree between the predicate “Nomimasu” and the verb in noun modifying clause “Ireta” in the sentence 4. As for the sentence 5, tenses do agree between “Nomimasu” and “Haitte iru”, which are both in present tense. The conclusion is that tenses of the predicate and verb in the modifying clause do not always agree. Or even you need to decide the tenses of the two in accordance with reality.
(“Tense of” is omitted in the titles of following <1> through <4>.)
<1> Sentence Predicate is present/future, Verb clause is also present/future
Example: Watashi wa Korekara, Tomodachi ni Ageru Ke’eki o Kai ni Ikimasu.
(Now I am going to buy a sweet cake that I will give to my friend.)
<2> Sentence Predicate is present/future, but Verb clause is past/perfect
Example: Watashi wa Korekara, Tomodachi ni Moratta Ke’eki o Tabemasu.
(Now I am going to eat a sweet cake that my friend gave to me.)
<3> Sentence Predicate is past/perfect, but Verb clause is present/future
Example: Watashi wa Sakki, Tomodachi ni Ageru Ke’eki o Katte Kimashita.
(I just came back from buying a sweet cake that I would give to my friend.)
<4> Sentence Predicate is past/perfect, Verb clause is also past/perfect
Example: Watashi wa Sakki, Tomodachi ni Moratta Ke’eki o Tabemashita.
(I have just eaten a sweet cake that my friend had given to me.)
Things are different between action has been done or not yet done. Therefore, when using a verb, you always need to pay attention to tense. If you want to apply a “noun modifying verb clause”, it is necessary to decide the both tenses of predicate verb and verb in modifying clause taking consideration of sequence of these actions.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section22 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
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