Descriptive Modifiers
A modifier is any word or group of words that describes a noun in a sentence. In Japanese, if a noun has a modifier, the modifier will always come right before the it, whereas in English, modifiers can come before, after, or even both at once. There are 3 types of modifiers in Japanese.
The postposition "No"
You can connect one noun directly to another in Japanese by using the postposition "no." "No" has several translations in English. Please pay careful attention to the word order though.
no - neko no mizu
-----------------
's - the cat's water
nothing - the cat water
of - the water of the cat
* In the case of using "of," the order of the words is reversed.
In English, usually only one of these ways sounds natual, but the meaning is clear any way you say it. See how with both "no" and " 's," the word "cat" comes first, but when using "of" the word "cat" comes at the end? "Cat" in all three of these phrases is only a modifier. The actual noun at hand is "water." Here are a few examples:
Suzuki-san no shigoto = Mr. Suzuki's job
gaka no e = the artist's painting
inu no mise = a/the dog store
Here's an example of this used in an actual sentence.
Watashi wa inu no mise ni iku.
I am going to the dog store.
Remember NA adjectives? Well this is where they get their names. They work in pretty much the same way as nouns, except that you use the postposition "na" instead of "no."
shinsetsu na sensei = a nice teacher
kirei na e = a pretty picture
Ken-san wa kirei na e o mite iru.
Ken is looking at the pretty picture.
You can also use multiple descriptions together like this.
Ken-san wa inu no kirei na e o mite iru.
Ken is looking at the pretty picture of the dog.
I adjectives
I adjectives are simply put directly before the word they modify. You can also conjugate them before you put them before the word.
chiisai inu = the small dog
chiisaku nai inu = the dog that isn't small
chiisakatta inu = the dog that was small
chiisaku nakatta inu = the dog that wasn't small
Relative Clauses
You can even take an entire sentence and use it as a modifier. We usually do this in English by using the words "that..." or "which..." However Japanese doesn't use these types of words, so instead, they just take the part after "that..." or "which..." and put it before the main noun.
Also note that sometimes the "that..." or "which..." is left out in English, so this also applies for phrases like "the school I go to" because it is essentially the same as "the school that I go to."
the apple that I ate
the apple that I ate
I ate -> apple
watashi no tabeta ringo
However, the subject marker "wa" changes to either "no" or "ga" when this happens. I will explain this later. "No" is the same as the one you learned earlier in this chapter and "ga" is a new postposition you haven't yet learned.
Here are some more examlpes.
watashi no mita BIDEO = The video that I watched
tonde ita tori = the bird that was flying
watashi ga iku gakkou = the school I go to
Kinou watashi no tabeta sushi wa oishikatta.
This sentence has a pretty long modifier in it. "Kinou watashi no tabeta" translates to "that I ate yesterday." "Sushi" is the main noun here. So all of that simply means "the sushi I ate yesterday." The "wa" after "sushi" indicates it's the subject of the main sentence. "Oishikatta" is the past form of "oishii" (deliscious). So this all means
The sushi I ate yesterday was deliscious.
This may be hard to understand at first, but you will get used to it if you practice it.
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