タグ: verb modified noun

Japanese learning (A5 S22): Application of “Verb Modified Noun” to a “ga” word of Wa-ga construction whose Predicate is I/Na-adjectives: [Topic] wa {[Verb Clause] + [Noun] }ga + [I-/Na- Adjective] desu.

We have been learning how to apply a “verb clause to modify a noun” to several types of sentences. Today’s sentence type is “Wa-ga construction” with adjective predicates. Though the same caution repeats every time when “Wa-ga construction” appears, a wa-ga construction and a transitive verb predicate sentence should not be confused.

– Wa-ga construction; [Topic] wa [Subject] ga [Predicate].

Example1; Ke’eki wa Kodomotachi ga Tabemashita. (When it comes to that cake, kids have eaten it.)

– Transitive verb predicate sentence; [Subject] wa/ga [Object] o [Transitive verb].

Example2; Kodomotachi wa Ke’eki o Tabemashita. (Kids ate the cake.)

More simply, the particle “ga” is for a subject, the particle “o” is for an Object. This is very the basic of Japanese language.

Actually, the Example1 is a minor type of wa-ga construction. For sake of simplicity, think there are two types of wa-ga constructions;

(1) Double subject and stative predicate

(2) The object turned to be the topic (-wa) and the predicate is a transitive verb.

Learning wa-ga construction of type (2) would end up confusion about the difference between wa-ga construction and transitive verb predicate sentence (hence confusion about the difference between particles “ga” and “o”). So, let us concentrate on the wa-ga construction of type (1). Type (1) has a stative predicate. At A5 in section22 (today), the predicates are I-adjective and Na-adjective, and at A6 (tomorrow), the predicate is the intransitive verb to describe existence, “Aru/Arimasu”.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is not to explain about wa-ga construction, but to show how “verb clause to modify a noun” can fit in the “-ga” word of a wa-ga construction.

Some of I-adjectives and Na-adjectives tend to be predicates of wa-ga construction. Let us pick up “Sukina” as example of Na-adjective, and “Hoshii” as example of I-adjective.

1. Watashi wa Hito ga Suki desu. (I like a human kind.)

Perhaps there is a person who likes any people. But it must be rare. Feeling information that the sentence1 gave you is not enough, you would like to ask what kind of human kind this person like. To say “what kind of human kind”, some modification needs to be placed in front of “Hito (a human kind)”. If the modification is a verb clause, it might be like below;

1’. Watashi wa Okane o Takusan Motte iru Hito ga Suki desu. (I like those who have a lot of money.)

In 1’, “Okane o Takusan Motte iru” is the verb clause modifying the noun “Hito”.

2. Watashi wa Reizouko ga Hoshii desu. (I want a refrigerator.)

There is no grammatical error in sentence 2. But if you said like this in a home appliances store, people there would ask you what kind of refrigerator you need. To say what kind of refrigerator you want, you put a modification in front of the noun “Reizouko (refrigerator)”. If the modification is a verb clause, the sentence 2 would change like below;

2’. Watashi wa Reitouko ga Aru Reizouko ga Hoshii desu. (I want a refrigerator that has the freezer.)

In 2’, “Reitouko ga Aru” is the verb clause modifying the noun “Reizouko”.

Usually, 1-door refrigerator doesn’t have the freezer. Opening the lid, you will see a small space that can make ice in the 1-door refrigerator. So, if you say that you want a refrigerator with freezer, it means you need to buy a 2-door refrigerator.

As was explained in A3 S22, not the particle “-wa” but “-ga” is used for the subject inside a verb clause that modifies a noun. Such “-ga” is often converted to “no” like the following;

2’’. Watashi wa Reitouko no Aru Reizouko ga Hoshii desu. (I want a refrigerator that has the freezer.)

This phenomenon is called “Ga-No Conversion”.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A5 on Section22 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese learning (A4 S22): Application of “Verb Modified Noun” to an Object of Transitive Verb Sentence: [Subject] wa [Verb Clause] + [Noun] o [Transitive Verb] masu/mashita.

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”

Japanese learning (A3 S22): Application of “Verb Modified Noun” to a Subject of Sentence: [Verb Clause] + [Noun] wa [Predicate].

Yesterday we learned the sentence construction in which “verb modified noun” is used in the predicate of “Noun predicate sentence” as below;

 [Subject] wa [Predicate] desu.

=> [Subject] wa { [Verb Clause] + [Noun] } desu.

Example: Kore wa Ichnen-sei ga Tsukau Kyoukasho desu. (This is a textbook that the first-grade students use.)

When a “Verb modified noun” is used in the predicate, the sentence must be a “noun predicate sentence (it may sound like a tautology, but)”. On the other, when a “Verb modified noun” is used in the subject, the predicate is not limited to be a noun. So, we are going to learn today the sentence construction whose subject is “verb modified noun”, while the predicate is either of noun, Na-adjective, I-adjective, and verb.

[Subject] wa [Predicate].

=> { [Verb Clause] + [Noun] } wa [Noun] desu.

=> { [Verb Clause] + [Noun] } wa [Na-adjective] desu.

=> { [Verb Clause] + [Noun] } wa [I-adjective] desu.

=> { [Verb Clause] + [Noun] } wa [Verb] masu.

<1> Predicate is Noun

Example: Haha ga yoku Iku Su’upa’a wa ABC Ma’ato desu.

(The supermarket that my mother goes often is ABC Mart.)

<2> Predicate is Na-adjective

Example: Watashitachi ga Toukyou de Itsumo Tomaru Hoteru wa Kirei desu.

(The hotel that we always stay at in Tokyo is clean.)

! “Kireina” is not an I-adjective but a Na-adjective.

<3> Predicate is I-adjective

Example: Satou-san ga Tsukatte iru No’oto Pasokon wa Karui desu.

(The personal computer that Sato-san is using is light.)

<4> Predicate is Verb

Example: Watashi ga Iku Tokoya wa Eki no Chikaku ni Arimasu.

(The barber I go to is near the train station.)

<IMPORTANT> the Subject marker is “ga” for a verb clause modifying a noun

Look at whether “ga” or “wa” is used for indicating the subject inside verb clause that is modifying a noun. The followings are the same as <1> through <4> above.

– { [Haha <ga> yoku Iku] + [Su’upa’a] } wa ABC Ma’ato desu.

– { [Watashitachi <ga> Toukyou de Itsumo Tomaru] + [Hoteru] } wa Kirei desu.

– { [Satou-san <ga> Tsukatte iru] + [No’oto Pasokon] } wa Karui desu.

– { [Watashi <ga> Iku] + [Tokoya] } wa Eki no Chikaku ni Arimasu.

You can see that “ga” is used for the subject inside verb clause that is modifying a noun.

When choosing “wa” or “ga” as the subject marker, the following criteria works;

– When to say condition or action about a known subject, “wa” is used.

– When the purpose of sentence is to say what the subject is, “ga” is used.

Then, why “ga” is used for the subject inside verb clause modifying a noun? The verb clause modifying a noun strongly specifies what kind of a noun that is. Therefore, the verb clause needs to clearly indicate who performs what action on the noun. Usually, the subject inside verb clause is not known to the listener, is what the speaker needs to specify. This is the reason why “ga” is used for the subject inside the verb clause that modifies a noun.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section22 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese learning (A2 S22): Application of Verb Modified Noun to a Predicate of Noun Predicate Sentence: [Subject] wa [Verb Clause] + [Noun] desu.

We have learned how to modify a noun with verb clause at exercise A1 in Section 22. But examples shown there were not sentence, but phrases. How can we use those phrases in a sentence? To begin with, let us think about where a noun is used in sentences.

– Noun predicate sentence: [Subject] wa [Predicate] desu.

=> [Predicate] is a noun => Exercise A2 : [Predicate] = verb-modified-noun

=> [Subject] is a noun => Exercise A3 : [Subject] = verb-modified-noun

– Transitive verb sentence: [Subject] wa [Object] o [Transitive Verb] masu.

=> [Object] is a noun => Exercise A4 : [Object] = verb-modified-noun

– Wa-ga construction : [Topic] wa [Subject] ga [Predicate]

=> [Subject] is a noun => Exercise A5 and A6 : [Subject] = verb-modified-noun

   — Predicates are adjectives in A5, and intransitive verb for existence “Aru/Arimasu” in A6.

Today we are going to learn A2 which uses “verb-modified-noun” for a predicate in noun predicate sentence.

1. [Subject] wa {[Verb clause] + [Noun]} desu.

And a quick review of “verb clause” to modify a noun is that the ending of the verb clause needs to be “concise ending”.

Take a look at the following noun predicate sentence.

2. Kore wa Kyoukasho desu. (This is a textbook.)

The sentence 2 is a correct one. But you may feel this sentence doesn’t have good information. Then let’s apply a verb modification to the predicate “Kyoukasho”.

2’. Kore wa Ichnen-sei ga Tsukau Kyoukasho desu. (This is a textbook that the first-grade students use.)

3. Satou-san wa Hito desu. (Sato-san is a person.)

This is apparently a sentence whose information is not enough.

3’. Satou-san wa Uwagi o Kite iru Hito desu. (Sato-san is the one who is wearing a Jacket.)

4. Koko wa Basho desu. (This is a place.)

This, too, lacks information. Let’s put a modification with a verb in front of the noun “Basho”.

4’. Koko wa Takushii ni Noru Basho desu. (Here is the place we get on a taxi.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section22 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”