How should this sentence be understood? 「小さなゴンドラに四人は手狭だ」

Question

小【ちい】さなゴンドラに四人【よにん】は手狭【てぜま】だ

Could に be used as part of a modifying clause without verbs like ある, いる to describe 四人【よにん】 to mean "4 people in a small cabin is too cramped" or does it mean "4 people are too cramped for a small cabin"?

Am I correct to think 「小【ちい】さなゴンドラに四人【よにん】」is the equivalent to the English "4 people in a cabin" vs "4 people who are in a cabin" which would be 「小【ちい】さなゴンドラにいる四人【よにん】」? In that it can be considered an abbreviation of the latter and can have similar meaning in the right context but に or "in" in the former are also free to interact with other elements in the whole sentence since it's not confined to being a relative clause?

Answer 1

“4 people in a cabin”

This sentence means “小さなゴンドラにいる四人” in Japanese.

“4 people who are in a cabin” it means 小さなゴンドラにいる4人 as well.

「に」this word doesn’t have that meaning like ある、いる

小さなゴンドラに四人 it means also “4 people in a cabin” This type of grammar is called 体言止め (Taigendome) This grammar is to make sentence with noun or pronoun at the end of the sentence. This technique is used to make sentences more rhythmical and shorter.

Ex normal version:

A “旅行はどうだったの？”
How was your trip?

B “小さなゴンドラに4人いたから、狭くて、嫌になっちゃったよ。”
There were 4 people in a cabin and it was cramped. So I was fed up with it.

体言止め　version :

A “旅行はどうだったの？”
How was your trip?

B “小さなゴンドラに4人、狭くて、嫌になっちゃったよ。”
There were 4 people in a cabin and it was cramped. So I was fed up with it.

Ex2 normal version

ドアをあけ、前を見たら、そこには綺麗な景色がありました。私はすぐに写真を撮りました。
After I opened the door and looked forward ,there were so beautiful view. So I took a picture immediately.

体言止め　version

ドアをあけ、前を見たら、そこには綺麗な景色。私はすぐに写真を撮りました。
After I opened the door and looked forward ,there were so beautiful view. So I took a picture immediately.