Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 4: 1/13

のは・のがVerb nominalizer, The one who..., That which...

Structure

Verb + の

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Particle

  • Word Type

    Case Marking Particle

  • Register

    Standard

About の

In Japanese, のは and のが behave in a very similar way to the words 'that' and 'which' in English. This means that they perform a task called nominalization. Nominalization is when a phrase is treated in the same way as a single noun.

Rather than a single noun, we can see from these examples that the phrases 沢山(たくさん)食(た)べるのは and バスに乗(の)るのが are behaving in the same way that a single noun would. In English, this can either mean 'that which', or 'the one who/that'.

This construction can be used after verbs in any tense, except for the polite ます or ません, which are only used at the end of a sentence, or certain clauses.

Caution

の cannot be used as a substitute for こと in set expressions like ことができる, or ことがある. It also may not be followed by だ, である, or です, as this would become the explanatory ～んです, or のです in that case.

Related

Examples

--:--

    読(よ)むのは私(わたし)です。

    I am the one who reads.

    君(きみ)を愛(あい)するのは、私(わたし)だ。

    I am the one who loves you.

    この仕事(しごと)をするのは私(わたし)だ。

    I am the one who does this job.

    寿司(すし)を食(た)べるのは、彼(かれ)だ。

    He is the one who eats sushi.

    漢字(かんじ)を覚(おぼ)えるのは、彼女(かのじょ)です。

    She is the one who memorizes kanji.

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