Since the exercises A2 and A3 are similar in terms of use of the combination of nominalizer “no” and particle “ni”. In A2, “-no+ni” phrase expresses a purpose of action of the predicate verb. In A3, the predicate expresses how much money or how long time it takes for accomplishing the “no+ni” phrase.
<1> An example of A2 sentence
1. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu.
(I use this personal computer in order to browse the internet.)
<2> An example of A3 sentence
2. Kuruma o Kau no ni Nihyaku Man – en Kakari masu.
(Buying a car costs 2 million yen.)
where, Kakaru/Kakarimasu is an intransitive verb which means to take
When we look at A2 sentences and A3 sentences in macro perspective like;
[“no+ni” phrase] + [Predicate].
Saying [“no+ni” phrase] is important in the A2 sentences, while saying [Predicate] is slightly more important than [“no+ni” phrase] in the A3 sentences.
Other example sentences for A3are as below;
(1) How much money it costs;
1) [V-dic]+no+ni
3. Ryuugaku-Biza o Koushin-suru no ni Yon-man Hassen – en Kakari masu.
(In order to renew the international student visa, it costs 48,000 JPY.)
where, “Koushin-suru/Koushin-shimasu” is a transitive verb which means to “renew”.
2) [N] ni
4. Ryuugaku-Biza no Koushin ni Yon-man Hassen – en Kakari masu.
(For renewing the international student visa, it costs 48,000 JPY.)
“Koushin-suru” is a verb, but “Koushin” is a noun. Note that “Ryuugaku-Biza no Koushin” is in the form of “N1 no N2”.
(2) How long time it takes;
1) [V-dic]+no+ni
5. Kaisha e Iku no ni Ichi-jikan Kakari masu.
(In order for me to go to the office, it takes one hour.)
2) [N] ni
6. Tsuukin ni Ichi-jikan Kakari masu.
(It takes one hour for the commute.)
“Tsuukin” can be a verb in the form of “Tsuukin-suru”, but just “Tsuukin” is a noun.
Take a look at the sentences 2 and 6 again;
2. Kuruma o Kau no ni Nihyaku Man – en Kakari masu.
6. Tsuukin ni Ichi-jikan Kakari masu.
Do you find subjects in these sentences? Yesterday we learned that the subject and the predicate must be consistent in a sentence. The subject markers are particle “-wa” or “-ga”. Is there any word with “wa” or “ga”? Perhaps some people want to put “-ga” as shown below, but I don’t think it’s good.
2’. Kuruma o Kau no ni <Nihyaku Man – en ga> Kakari masu.
6’. Tsuukin ni <Ichi-jikan ga> Kakari masu.
The reason why I don’t think this is a good way to show the subject is that a number with quantifier is usually used without a particle because it works as an adverbial.
Let alone, words and phrases with the particle “ni” cannot be a subject because they are also adverbials that modify a verb behind. Therefore, if the subject should be stated in the sentences, it would be like the follows;
2’’. Kuruma o Kau no ni <Okane ga> Nihyaku Man – en Kakari masu.
6’’. Tsuukin ni <Jikan ga> Ichi-jikan Kakari masu.
Let us check the consistency between the subject and the predicate for these 2’’ and 6’’.
2’’=> [Okane ga]+[Kakari masu] => good
6’’=> [Jikan ga]+[Kakari masu] => good
But in most cases, when the predicate is “Kakari masu”, the listener can easily tell it costed some money or it takes some period of time. These [Okane ga] and [Jikan ga] can be omitted.
Anyway, it is good to look for a subject and a predicate in a sentence, and then once you have found them, to check the consistency between the subject and predicate. This procedure can improve your understanding about that particular sentence.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 of Section42 in “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
