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I was trying to say "I write slow".

I figured it would be:

おそい（が）かく。

But a native speaker didn't understand me and said it was:

かくのがおそい。

Now I understand how の after a verb makes it a noun, but I always thought the verb had to be last. Why would you need to make it a noun if its the only acting verb? Is there a reason why the way I said the sentence is wrong?

Thank you.

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In Japanese, the verb (or adjective) has to be at the end of the clause, so it can very well be in the middle of a sentence.

おそい（が）かく

Is wrong because it doesn't make any sense. In this case, が would mean "but".

Even if you wrote:

おそいかく

It would be wrong because you cannot qualify a verb (here かく) with an adjective (here おそい), it would literally mean "slow write".

In:

かくのがおそい

You first nominalize the verb かく with の as you already know it makes it act like a noun. And then you qualify this nominal group with が/はおそい.

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    And the full idea is basically "(my) writing is slow", so you can make an English version where the verb becomes a noun too.
    – Leebo
    Dec 29, 2018 at 14:42
  • Yes, feel free to edit my answer if you want to add your translation
    – user32204
    Dec 29, 2018 at 21:35

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