Qualifying Nouns with Verbs and Adjectives
In Japanese, qualifiers or modifiers of a noun always precede the modified noun. These modifiers can be:
読みたい本 (the book I want to read)
買う本 (the book I will buy)
Modifiers can be very long and look like sentences. For example, the entire string of words in these phrases except for the noun 本 is a modifier.
私が一番好きな本 (the book that I like the best)
父が昨日読んだ本 (the book that my father read yesterday)
父が昨日家で読んだ本 (the book that my father read at home yesterday)
This “long modifier” is also called a relative clause. It’s the part of a sentence that describes a noun. In English, the relative clause comes after the noun it describes.
The cake (that) I ate yesterday was delicious.
In English, this follows the pattern: Noun X that Y.
Noun X = a particular noun
“that Y” = a descriptor clause (i.e. a relative clause)
In Japanese, a relative clause is ordered a bit differently. It still modifies a noun, but acts like an adjective and comes directly in front of the noun it describes.
The cake (that) I ate yesterday was delicious.
*Note: The particle は in the above sentence is not a part of the relative clause. It is marking the relative clause as the topic of the sentence.
Rules for Writing Relative Clauses
The verb just before the noun must be in the short form, not the polite form (～ます).
When a noun-modifying clause is used in a sentence, there are always at least two predicates in the sentence.
The first predicate appears inside the relative clause. This predicate must be in the plain form.
The second predicate appears outside the relative clause (i.e. is the end of the sentence). This predicate can be either in the plain form or the polite form. (Plain forms include: た, ない, たかった, ている/でいる.)
There is no は particle inside a relative clause. The particle は is replaced by が. が is used to mark the subject because a relative clause is always a subordinate (dependent) clause.
From the earlier example:
First predicate = 昨日食べたケーキ (The verb 食べた is in the plain form. Verbs or adjectives in the relative clause must always be in the informal form.)
Second predicate = 美味しかったです (The conjugation of 美味しい is in the polite form. Verbs or adjectives in the second predicate can be either polite or informal.)
The particle は is outside of the relative clause (昨日たべたケーキ). It marks the relative clause as the topic of the second predicate. (i.e. What about the cake i ate yesterday? It was delicious.)
Blue = relative clause (first predicate of the sentence)
Orange = noun being described by the relative clause
Purple = second predicate of the sentence
Subject が verb + modified noun は predicate
Ex: 田中さんが食べている食べ物は刺身です。(The food that Tanaka-san is eating is sashimi.)
Object を verb + modified noun は predicate
Ex: あそこで写真を撮っている人はだれですか。(Who is the person taking pictures over there?)
Topic は object を verb + modified noun です
Ex: 昨日来た人は日本語を勉強しています。(The person who came yesterday is studying Japanese.)
Subject が verb + modified noun に predicate
Ex: 今日年末結婚した友達に手紙が来ました。(A letter came from a friend who got married last year.)
Subject が verb + modified noun を predicate
Ex: 友達は私が作ったケーキを食べました。(My friend ate the cake that I made.)
These particles determine what the relative clause is doing (its function) in the sentence:
は after the clause puts emphasis on the predicate as the topic of the sentence.
は before the clause emphasizes the clause as the topic of the sentence.
に marks the noun being modified by the relative clause as a destination.
を marks the noun being modified by the relative clause as a direct object acted on by the verb after を.
*Note: There are particles inside the relative clauses (indicated in blue). These are a part of the relative clause!
先週見た映画は面白かったです。(The movie I saw last week was interesting.)
昨日読んでいた本を図書館に返した。(I returned the book I was reading yesterday to the library.)
めがねをかけている背の高いあの人は私の先生です。(That tall person (over there) who wears/is wearing glasses is my professor.)
猫が好きな女の人は私の友達です。(That woman who likes cats is my friend.)
Different tenses can also be used:
The tense of the verb or adjective inside the relative clause (along with other time words like 明日 or 昨日) can indicate whether the rest of the sentence is talking about something in the present, past, or future.
Telling the difference between the present or future tenses in Japanese depends on the context of the sentence (e.g. time words like 明日 or 昨日).
彼女が今日着ているドレスはすてきです。(The dress that she is wearing today is nice.)
彼女が明日着るドレスはすてきです。(The dress that she will wear tomorrow is nice.)
彼女が昨日着ていたドレスはすてきでした。(The dress that she wore yesterday was nice.)
# 48 Learn Japanese - How to make “Relative Clause” by Masa Sensei
@kanjikiwi‘s post about Adjectival Clauses
Relative Clause (Modifying Noun) & Word Order by Misa Sensei (Japanese Ammo with Misa)
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