「の」is a genitive case particle; used to indicate possession, but can also link general nouns to more specific ones. の can also be a nominaliser.
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1answer
460 views
So-called の-adjectives - how does の *really* work?
Ok, so there seems to be some controversy over whether we can really say that there are 'の-adjectives', or whether we simply use a noun in an "attributive" way (a term which I don't actually really ...
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2answers
634 views
If Vて+いる isn't a gerund, then what is it?
I always thought that a verb ending in the て form along with the いる suffix was the English equivelent of the "ing" form of a verb.
Thus:
see = 見{み}る, seeing = 見{み}ている
do = する, doing = している
...
8
votes
2answers
216 views
相手の日本人 or 日本人の相手?
If I wanted to describe the person I was speaking as being Japanese, to me it seems natural to say:
日本人の相手 【にほんじんの あいて】
... however, one time a Japanese teacher told me it's more correct to say:
...
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votes
3answers
800 views
How do I say “I am the best” ? の,は or が and 私 or 俺?
I'm making a shirt for a (rather egotistical) friend of mine and so am trying to do something with the slogan "I am the best" for fun. I need something with four characters only, and would like to ask ...
10
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1answer
194 views
Contraction of particle の to ん before nouns in colloquial Japanese
I am familiar with contraction of の to ん before です (and variants で, だ, でした etc) but I noticed that の is also contracted before 家 in spoken set-phrases like あたしんち and おれんち.
Are there any other ...
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4answers
320 views
What is the significance of [の] (no)?
I've seen it used on many places, and sometimes it feels like a connection between words.
For example "鳥の詩" (tori no uta), it looks as if the の is connecting 鳥 (tori) and 詩 (uta), and I would like to ...
7
votes
2answers
192 views
How should I view でより and でのより?
My basic understanding of より to compare things or ending letters, is failing me when there's a で or での in front of it.
As I write this, I'm wondering, can read でより as "with, more", "in, more"?
...
6
votes
5answers
514 views
What is the difference between は and のは?
The following sentence means "seeing all the different foreign people was interesting."
This, according to my Japanese friends is incorrect:
色々な外国人を見ているは面白かった。
... and this is correct:
...
13
votes
3answers
424 views
Blue blistering barnacles, what is Captain Haddock saying?
For those who might not be familiar with the series Tintin (soon to be in a major motion picture, by the way), there is a character named Captain Haddock who is famous for shouting out colourful ...
6
votes
1answer
202 views
Function of の in these phrases
I know that の is used as a noun modifier.
But recently I've come across these pharases 心の強い人,母の作れる料理.
The first phrases will be sth like strong person of heart/mind, which somehow differs from ...
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4answers
213 views
Can someone explain the difference between の as a pronoun vs. の as a particle?
I'm guessing this is a pretty straightforward question. Examples would be helpful too, thank you!
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votes
1answer
117 views
How does のは work in this sentence?
彼が持っているのは二百円です。 Supposedly this means "It is 200 yen that he has.". But I am really not familiar with this sentence construction. Therefore, I'm not sure how everything before の works with the rest of ...
