Why is there plain form in this sentence?

Question

The following examplatory sentence in the grammar section of my textbook: どうして医者になりたいんですか。 ...医者は人を助けるすばらしい仕事だからです。

It translates to (according to my textbook): Why do you want to become a medical doctor? ...Because medical doctor is a great job in which you help people.

What confuses me is that in the bold part, there is no connective form like て form or ます stem. I know plain form as a way to make a verbal expression an attribute to the related noun. In my textbook, it is said that a plain-form-sentence + からだ expresses the reason(s) for an event. However, is it necessary to omit other grammatical habits like the aforementioned て and ます form for chaining verbal expressions inside the respective clause? I just want to avoid being confused down the road when I'm encountering such constructions in the wild :D

Answer 1

どうして医者になりたいんですか。
...医者は人を助けるすばらしい仕事だからです。

It translates to (according to my textbook): Why do you want to become a medical doctor? ...Because medical doctor is a great job in which you help people.

in the bold part, there is no connective form like て form or ます stem.
I know plain form as a way to make a verbal expression an attribute to the related noun.

I think you are talking about 連体形{れんたいけい} here, and this grammar point is the answer to your case. The modifying adjective (すばらしい) might have caused your confusion. The noun that is modified by a relative clause can also take other adjectives.

医者は〔人を助ける〕〔（すばらしい）仕事〕だからです。

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In my textbook, it is said that a plain-form-sentence + からだ expresses the reason(s) for an event. However, is it necessary to omit other grammatical habits like the aforementioned て and ます form for chaining verbal expressions inside the respective clause?

Yes, we say 助けるからだ to express a reason, and yes, to connect a verb with the particle て, or a helping verb like ます, た, etc., the verb form is conjugated to the particular form (連用形{れんようけい}): 助けてくれた, 助けます, 助けた, etc. So, this form is not to connect to a noun. It's like the English conjunction 'and': 彼は小さいころから親{おや}を助けて働{はたら}いた.

Answer 2

It should be parsed as:

医者は［人を助ける］［すばらしい］仕事だからです。

人を助ける and すばらしい both modify the noun 仕事.
人を助ける is a relative clause here.

［人を助ける］仕事 = a job [in which you help people]
［すばらしい］仕事 = a [wonderful] job

You could also see it as ［人を助ける（すばらしい仕事）］, the relative clause 人を助ける modifying the noun phrase すばらしい仕事.

Hence the translation:

"Because medical doctor is a [wonderful] job [in which you help people]."

A few examples with the same structure:

• ［友達に会える］［楽しい］場所 -- a [pleasant] place [where I can see friends]
• ［私の部屋にある］［かわいい］時計 -- a [cute] clock [in my room]
• ［あの子が履いている］［赤い］くつ -- [red] shoes [that the girl is wearing]

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I know plain form as a way to make a verbal expression an attribute to the related noun.

Correct. The plain form 助ける is the attributive form here and modifies the noun 仕事.

In my textbook, it is said that a plain-form-sentence + からだ expresses the reason(s) for an event.

Precisely. 「医者は（人を助ける）（すばらしい）仕事だ。」 is a plain-form-sentence. ～～からだ/～～からです added at the end means "Because~~" "It's because~~", indicating that the whole sentence is a reason for some event or action.

Answer 3

Because 助ける is used as a noun modifier of 仕事. When using a verb as noun modifier, it's always in plain form.

If you were to use the て form it becomes:
医者は人を助けて、すばらしい仕事だからです。 Which I think roughly translates into: "Doctors help people, because it's a great job."