「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.
11
votes
1answer
521 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 ...
10
votes
2answers
680 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
...
6
votes
5answers
538 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:
...
9
votes
3answers
270 views
相手の日本人 or 日本人の相手?
If I wanted to describe the person I was speaking about as being Japanese, to me it seems natural to say:
日本人{にほんじん}の相手{あいて}
... however, one time a Japanese teacher told me it's more correct to ...
5
votes
3answers
858 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
votes
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 ...
10
votes
4answers
329 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
194 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"?
...
13
votes
3answers
432 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 ...
4
votes
4answers
214 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!
3
votes
1answer
119 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 ...
