Modifying nouns - iku

Question

My textbook (Minna No Nihongo I ch. 22) gives:

私がいつも買い物するスーパーは野菜が安いです

(The supermarket I always do my shopping at has cheap vegetables (for sale)).

I'm guessing this is ok actually, and it might be better than

私がいつも買い物しているスーパーは野菜が安いです

(The supermarket I'm always doing my shopping at has cheap vegetables (for sale)).

However when I solved it I rather wrote:

私がいつも買い物に行くスーパーは野菜が安いです

(The supermarket where I always go to do my shopping has cheap vegetables (for sale)).

But now I'm doubting this a little (such is the nature of the very immature student of Japanese, without tutor): maybe the -iku actually modifies the noun too much in the "traveling" sense of "to go", and this does sound a little off?

Maybe Japanese just say

いつも買うスーパーは野菜が安いです

Although this may sound like I always buy the supermarket.

I feel like I will learn a lot by just asking this and asking for the best type of nuance, because noun modification is a little scary in that I don't know how the end result might feel like.

Answer 1

• 私がいつも買い物するスーパーは野菜が安いです。
• 私がいつも買い物しているスーパーは野菜が安いです。
• 私がいつも買い物に行くスーパーは野菜が安いです。
• 私がいつも買い物に行っているスーパーは野菜が安いです。

These are all natural, and there is almost no difference in meaning. ている and に行く are both optional. Japanese speakers use this type of に行く a lot, and it won't make this sentence unnatural or wordy. See also: Habitual aspect

いつも買うスーパーは野菜が安い is also perfectly valid, and rest assured that no one would think you are buying supermarkets themselves (unless you are speaking as an investor who is constantly acquiring companies). See this discussion.

EDIT: Of course you can simply say いつも行くスーパー or いつも行っているスーパー, too. The reason for going to a supermarket is normally self-evident.