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It seems to me that sometimes the "no" that should be between two nouns is omitted. if so, can this be done in any case or are there special cases?

For example, a case where I think there should be a "no" particle is this

Birusu-sei de shugyō kaishi da!

I translate this as "It's the training's start in Birusu's planet" (correct me if I'm wrong), and if I would have to write this back for me I would add a "no" to read

Birusu-sei de shugyō no kaishi da!

A similar phrase it's seen to use the "no"

Gokū wa shugyō no tabi he!?"

Why? Is it optional?

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    For consideration, a related question on another site: Is this an exception in the use of 的?. 的, like の, is a genitive case particle. This other question on CLSE might offer insight into our question here at JLSE.
    – Flaw
    Aug 27, 2016 at 9:11
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    Probably related: japanese.stackexchange.com/a/21166/5010
    – naruto
    Aug 27, 2016 at 9:21
  • @naruto you are japanese, right? does it sound unnatural to you saying "Birusu-sei de shugyō no kaishi da!" or it sounds ok? Aside of the reasons why it's right or not to say it so, it's important to know if it's used that way or not in everyday japanese language
    – Pablo
    Aug 27, 2016 at 10:34
  • @Flaw Just to clarify: 的 is a genitive particle in Chinese, but not in Japanese. I want to make sure people don't read the comment and think 的 is a particle in Japanese as well.
    – user1478
    Aug 27, 2016 at 15:32

2 Answers 2

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Some nouns tend to directly follow arbitrary nouns without any particle and form longer noun phrases. 開始 (kaishi) is one of such nouns, while 旅 is not (although there are several fixed noun + 旅 compounds). See my previous answer for other examples: the omission of an implied "の" creates the appearance of a 四字熟語{よじじゅくご}?

"Birusu-sei de shugyō no kaishi da!" is grammatically fine, but I feel this no should be omitted. That is partly because this is a subtitle (which should generally be short) and partly because this is a vigorous colloquial sentence where particles tend to be omitted.

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No, you basically can't omit it.

Birusu-sei doesn't stand for "Birusu's planet" but "planet Birusu", though it happens to be Birusu's planet (Birusu-no hoshi) too in the story. (The globe is ware-ware no hoshi while it can't be ware-ware-boshi.)

shugyō-kaishi is one compound word and in this case it's almost the same as omission from shugyo-no kaishi but not necessarily interpreted so in every context. For example, it doesn't really work when your mentor says it at the beginning of training.

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  • so If I learn all compound words I'll know when it goes noun-noun instead of noun no noun?
    – Pablo
    Aug 27, 2016 at 15:08
  • Making arbitrary compounds might work to some extent, but it's to some extent.
    – user4092
    Aug 28, 2016 at 6:04

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