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Gogaku

All N4 grammar

N4

名詞修飾節

Noun-modifying clauses (人がくれた本)machine translation

FormationPlain-form clause + noun (な-adjective + な, noun + の)

Japanese places an entire clause BEFORE a noun to modify it — the exact opposite of Vietnamese: 友だちがくれた本 = "the book (that) my friend gave me". There's no connecting word equivalent to Vietnamese "mà" ("that/which") — the clause simply sits right in front of the noun.

The verb inside the modifying clause is always in the plain form: 読む本 (a book to read), 読んだ本 (a book one read), 読んでいる本 (a book one is reading). The subject inside the clause is marked with が, not は: 母が作った料理. な-adjectives connect with な, nouns with の, as you know from N5.

This is a structure you must learn to parse quickly in the reading section: when you hit a noun, look back to see which chunk is modifying it. The 〜ている pattern from N5 shows up here a lot: 眼鏡をかけている人 (the person wearing glasses).

Examples

Related patterns

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