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Lesson 22 — 名詞修飾めいししゅうしょく(relative clauses)

BOOK I · 初級 I みんなの日本語 · Mini no Nihongo

L22 · noun modification

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REF名詞修飾めいししゅうしょく(relative clauses)

Plain form + noun

A whole clause can modify a noun. The clause goes before the noun, verb in plain form.

ClauseModified noun

Subject inside the clause: が (or の)

Inside a modifying clause the subject takes が, never は. の is an accepted alternative: 母ははの作つくった料理りょうり.

Adjectives modify the same way

Where modified nouns appear

PositionExample
subject
object
after です
with a place particle

Frequent collocations

PatternExample

Clothing verbs — all use ています for the worn state

VerbWorn on
upper body / whole body (shirt, coat)
lower body / feet (trousers, shoes, socks)
head (hat)
glasses
accessories (tie, watch, scarf)

Apartment hunting会話かいわ

Key vocabulary

着きますはきますかぶりますかけます生うまれますコートスーツセーター帽子ぼうしめがね用事ようじ約束やくそくアルバイト髪かみ背せ広ひろい狭せまい家賃やちん台所だいどころ和室わしつ洋室ようしつ押おし入いれマンション階かい

詳説 In depth — grammar notes

Why there is no 関係代名詞かんけいだいめいし(relative pronoun)

English hangs a modifying clause behind the noun and glues it on with "who", "which" or "that". Japanese does the opposite: the clause goes in front, and nothing joins them at all.

EnglishJapanese
the book that I bought yesterday
the person who goes to Kyoto
the town where I live
the day when we met

"who / which / where / when" all collapse into the same shape. Do not look for a word to translate them with — there is none.

The head noun keeps its role inside the clause

The modified noun is understood as filling one of the clause's own slots. The same clause plus a different head noun gives a completely different phrase.

PhraseRole of the head nounMeaning
subject (が)the person who borrowed the book
object (を)the book I borrowed from someone
place (で)the shop where I bought the book
time (に)the day I bought the book
reasonthe reason I bought the book

Because the link is never spelled out, the phrase alone can be ambiguous — is normally 'the person who took the photo', but context decides. Japanese leans on context here where English forces you to choose a pronoun.

Full form chart — what goes immediately before the noun

Everything is plain form. The only shapes worth memorising are the two in the top-right corner.

Typenon-pastnegativepastpast neg.
verb +人ひと
い-adj +本ほん
な-adj +町まち
noun +本ほん

な-adjectives and nouns swap だ for な / の in the non-past affirmative only. Everywhere else the plain form is used untouched. ✕ · ○ · ○

ます-form never appears before a noun. ✕ → ○ — even when the sentence around it is polite.

が → の inside the clause

The subject of a modifying clause takes が. In short clauses it may be swapped for の with no change in meaning — a very common move in speech.

がのBoth fine?
yes — short clause
yes — set phrase, both common
の gets awkward once the clause is long

Never は on the subject. は marks the topic of the whole sentence, and a modifying clause is not a sentence: ✕ · ○.

は can still turn up inside a modifier — on a place or a time, where it is contrast rather than topic (L27): · . So は is not a full stop: what it can never be inside a clause is the subject marker.

Avoid の when it could be read as possession: is fine, but with a noun that could belong to 山田さん, が is clearer.

Reading strategy: find the verb, then look right

Long Japanese sentences are mostly stacked modifiers. Parsing one is mechanical: a plain-form predicate that is not followed by 。/が/けど/から is modifying whatever noun comes next.

StepOn
1. find a plain predicate
2. take the next noun
3. everything before it is the clause
4. the real sentence is

Modifiers nest freely: — 'the company where the person I met last week works'.

Where the modified phrase can sit

A modified noun is still just a noun, so it takes any particle and fills any slot.

SlotExample
は / が
を
に / へ / で
predicate (です)
with a counter

Nouns that live on modifying clauses

Some nouns are almost always preceded by a clause. Learn them as patterns rather than as vocabulary.

NounPatternExample
dict. + 時間じかんがない
dict. + 用事ようじがある
dict. + 約束やくそくがある
dict. + 予定よていだ
dict. + 仕事しごと

The same slot later takes こと and の as pure nominalisers — (L18), (L38).

ている in modifiers: state vs action

PhraseReading
state — the person who wears glasses
in progress — the person who is running
state — a married person
state — someone I know

Clothing verbs are all state verbs in this pattern, which is why the description of a person almost always uses ている: .

Error table

✕○Why
plain form only before a noun
no linker after a verb
は cannot sit inside a clause
な-adj takes な
きれい is a な-adjective
noun + noun needs の

Describing a person — the L22 workout

Note how (L16) chains two descriptions before the head noun. Modifiers combine with every connector you already know.

Try translating

EnglishJapanese
The book I bought yesterday was expensive.
Do you know the person who is wearing glasses?
This is the town where I live.
I ate the food my mother made.
I don't have time to eat breakfast.
I have an appointment to meet a friend today.

練習 Practice — 7 questions

  1. Q1 noun modification

    'The person who goes to Kyoto' — modify the noun.

    京都 きょうと
    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    B Plain form directly before the noun:行いく人ひと
  2. Q2 past clause + noun

    'The book I bought yesterday'

    本 ほん
    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    C Plain past 買かった + noun
  3. Q3 subject in clause

    'Food my mother made' — pick the right particle.

    料理 りょうり
    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    B Inside a modifying clause the subject takes が (の also ok), never は
  4. Q4 ている + noun

    'The person wearing glasses is Mr. Sato.'

    め
    が
    ね
    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    A かけている (plain) + 人ひと
  5. Q5 な-adj + noun

    'A quiet town' — な-adj modification

    町 まち
    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    B な-adj takes な before nouns
  6. Q6 clause + 時間

    'I have no time to eat breakfast.' —時間じかんmodified

    時間 じかん
    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    A dict form +時間じかん: 食たべる時間じかん
  7. Q7 full sentence

    'The house Mr. Yamada built is big.'

    家 いえ
    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    B が inside the clause; plain past 建たてた

解答 Answer key

  1. Q1 B Plain form directly before the noun:行いく人ひと
  2. Q2 C Plain past 買かった + noun
  3. Q3 B Inside a modifying clause the subject takes が (の also ok), never は
  4. Q4 A かけている (plain) + 人ひと
  5. Q5 B な-adj takes な before nouns
  6. Q6 A dict form +時間じかん: 食たべる時間じかん
  7. Q7 B が inside the clause; plain past 建たてた