Relative Clause Japanese Grammar Lesson
Essential Meaning: A clause that modifies a noun
Construction:
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal + Noun
- E.g. 話す人 [The person who is speaking]
- E.g. 高い本 [The expensive book]
- な-Adjective Stem + [な / だった] + Noun
- E.g. 静かな家 [The quiet house]
- Noun + [の / だった / である / であった] + Noun
- E.g. 先生である田中さん [Tanaka-san, who is a teacher]
Notes:
- A relative clause is a clause that is used to modify a noun or a noun phrase. In English, a clause must contain a subject and a predicate at a minimum in order to be grammatical, but a Japanese clause only requires a predicate. Here are some important notes about Japanese relative clauses:
- (1) A Japanese relative clause directly precedes the noun phrases that it modifies, as is the case for Japanese noun modifiers in general.
- E.g. 寝っている犬 [A sleeping dog] Notice that (1) the relative clause can consist of a lone verb, and (2) the relative clause directly precedes the noun that it modifies.
- E.g. 大きい犬 [The big dog] This is simply an い-Adjective, but it functions grammatically identically to a more complex relative clause.
- E.g. 目が大きい女子 [The girl with big eyes] This relative clause is slightly more complex with both a subject and a predicate.
- (2) There is no Japanese equivalent to English relative pronouns (i.e. “Who“, “Which“, and “That“). In other words, Japanese relative clauses directly connect to the noun or noun phrase and any particles or pronouns associated with the noun / noun phrase are erased.
- E.g. 頭がいい学生 [a smart student] Note that the relative clause connects directly to the noun that it modifies.
- (3) The は particle cannot be used to mark the subject of a relative cause since relative clauses are a type of subordinate clause. が is used instead. の can also be used as a subject marker in relative clauses as long as the word that immediately follows the particle is not a noun.
- E.g.トムが食べたステーキ [The steak that Tom ate]
- E.g. ジョンの食べたステーキ [The steak that Tom ate] Note that the meaning is identical to the prior example because the particle の precedes a verb rather than a noun.
- E.g. トムがフットボールの切符をあげた女の子 [The girl to whom Tom gave his football ticket]
- E.g. トムのフットボールの切符をあげた女の子 [The girl who gave away Tom’s football ticket] Note that the meaning is different from the prior example because the particle の directly precedes a noun. This creates an attributive relationship between the nouns that precede and follow の.
- (4) The noun that is modified by a relative clause (as well as its associated particles) can not be included in the relative clause itself. Also, any particles or pronouns associated with the noun that is modified by a relative clause are dropped.
- E.g. ジョンが食べたステーキ [The steak that John ate] The を particle that is associated with the direct object ステーキ is omitted when ステーキ is modified by a relative clause.
- (5) Verbs in relative clauses are always in the informal form, regardless of the formality of the main predicate
- E.g. 読んでいる学生 [The students who are reading]
- E.g. あそこで本を読んでいる学生 [The student who is reading over there]
- E.g. 髪が長い人 [The person who has long hair]
- E.g. めがねをかけている人 [The person who is wearing glasses]
- E.g. 猫が好きな人 [The person who likes cats]
- E.g. あそこで写真を撮っている人 [The person who is taking a photo over there]
- E.g. 毎日運動をする人 [The person who exercises every day]
- E.g. タバコが吸わない人 [The person who doesn’t smoke tobacco]
- E.g. 去年結婚した人 [The person who got married last year]
- (1) A Japanese relative clause directly precedes the noun phrases that it modifies, as is the case for Japanese noun modifiers in general.
- According to “A Dictionary Of Basic Japanese Grammar“, when you have two sentences such as ジョーンはステーキを食べました。そのステーキはおいしかったです。[John ate a steak. That steak was delicious], there are five steps for relativizing the first sentence:
- Step 1: Remove the common noun phrase from the sentence that you are relativizing.
- E.g. ジョンはXを食べました。そのステーキは美味しかったです。
- Step 2: Remove the object marking particle that is left over after removing the noun.
- E.g. ジョンはXX食べました。そのステーキは美味しかったです。
- Step 3: Change the verb into the appropriate informal form.
- E.g. ジョンはXX食べた。そのステーキは美味しかったです。
- Step 4: Convert any は particles to が or の.
- E.g ジョンが食べた。そのステーキは美味しかったです。
- Step 5: Connect the relative clause directly before the noun phrase by erasing any particles, pronouns, etc.
- E.g ジョンは食べたステーキは美味しかったです。[The steak that John ate was delicious.]
- Step 1: Remove the common noun phrase from the sentence that you are relativizing.
- In some cases, the relative clause may not directly relate to the noun phrase but instead represent some event that brings about the noun phrase.
- E.g. 魚がこげる匂い [The smell of burning fish] The act of burning fish brings about the smell.
- E.g. 誰かが廊下を走る音 [The sound of someone running down the hall] The act of running down the hall brings about the sound.
- E.g. 山に登った疲れ [The exhaustion from climbing a mountain] The act of climbing a mountain brings about the exhaustion
- Note that there is a distinction between relative clauses and appositive clauses. The difference is that a relative clauses modifies a noun (i.e. adds some kind of information or context) while an appositive clause re-states a noun in different terms. They are basically grammatically identical in Japanese.
- E.g. 日本へ行く計画 / 考え/ 予定 / 夢 [The plan / thought / schedule / dream of going to Japan] The subordinate clause defines the noun that it precedes rather than modify it or add context. It is therefore an appositive clause.
- E.g. 日本へ行った事実 / 経験 / 話 / 思い出 [The fact / experience / story / memory that I went to Japan.] The subordinate clause defines the noun that it precedes rather than modify it or add context. It is therefore an appositive clause.
- In English, we typically use “That” for restrictive relative clauses and “Which” for non-restrictive relative clauses. In Japanese, this distinction boils down to context.
- E.g. よく働く日本人は嫌われる。[Japanese people, who work hard, are hated. / Japanese people who work hard are hated.] Depending on context, the relative clause may refer to all Japanese people or it may be restricted to only the Japanese people who work hard.
- E.g. 私が日本語を教えてあげたブラウンさんはよく勉強する。[Mr Brown, to whom I taught Japanese, studies well. / Among the Brown’s I know, Mr. Brown, to whom I taught Japanese, studies well.] In this example, the relative clause may refer to all Brown-sans or it may be restricted to only the Brown-san that the speaker taught.
- Nouns marked by で (Cause) or より (Than) cannot be relativized. Nouns marked by other particles generally can be relativized.
Examples
田中さんが食べたステーキは高かった。[The steak that Tanaka-san ate was expensive.]
ステーキがおいしいレストランを知らない。[I don’t know any restaurants that have delicious steak.]
日本語を教えている先生は小林先生です。[The teacher who teaches Japanese is Kobayashi-sensei.]
テニスが上手な人を教えてください。[Please tell me of anyone who is good at tennis.]
お父さんが医者の学生は三人います。 [There are three students whose fathers are doctors.]
私が行った町は病院がなかった。[The town that I went to didn’t have a hospital.]
道子が行く学校が東京にあります。[The school that Michiko goes to is in Tokyo.]
スティーブがあなたの写真をとったカメラがこれですか。[Is this the camera with which Steve took pictures of you?]
WILD Examples:
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