No Relative Pronoun Needed
English needs "who," "which" or "that." Japanese needs nothing — the clause simply sits in front of the noun.
- 昨日買った**本** (the book I bought yesterday)
- 日本語を話す**人** (a person who speaks Japanese)
Once you see this, a great deal of intermediate Japanese opens up.
Always the Plain Form
- ○ 買った本
- × 買いました本
Politeness lives on the final verb of the whole sentence, never inside the modifier.
が Replaces は Inside the Clause
The topic marker は cannot appear inside a modifying clause. Use が:
- ○ 母が作った料理 (the food my mother made)
- × 母は作った料理
の can also replace が in short modifiers: 母の作った料理.
The Whole Clause Comes First
This is the hardest part for English speakers, because the order is reversed:
| English | Japanese |
|---|---|
| the book I bought yesterday | 昨日買った本 |
| the restaurant we went to last week | 先週行ったレストラン |
Everything describing the noun is stacked before it, no matter how long.
With Adjectives and Nouns
The same shape covers な-adjectives and nouns:
- 静かな部屋 (a quiet room)
- 日本語が上手な人 (a person good at Japanese)
- 医者の友達 (a friend who is a doctor)