Structure Legend
Structure
Verb + の
Details
Part of Speech
Particle
Word Type
Case Marking Particle
Register
Standard
品詞
助詞
単語の種類
格助詞
使用域
一般
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.
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.
- 沢山食べるのは彼です。He is the one that eats a lot. (Literally 'the one that eats a lot, he is')
- 私はバスに乗るのが嫌いです。I don't like riding the bus. (Literally 'that which is riding a bus, I hate')
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.
- 彼は走るのが好き。He likes running.
- お菓子を全部食べたのは、娘だ。My daughter is the one that ate all of the candy.
- 山を登っているのは、今田さんだ。Imada-san is that one who is climbing the mountain.
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.Synonyms
Examples
この仕事をするのは私だ。
I am the one who does this job.
読むのは私です。
I am the one who reads.
寿司を食べるのは、彼だ。
He is the one who eats sushi.
漢字を覚えるのは、彼女です。
She is the one who remembers kanji.
文法を勉強するのは、私です。
I am the one who studies grammar.
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Page 42
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Page 84 [CH 38]
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の – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (19 in total)
Daru
About 1 year ago
Pretty much! Uses like this is what make は and が almost indistinguishable from each other at first.
It’s worth mentioning that は would establish that プールで泳ぐ is going to be either what you’ll be comparing stuff to or the subject for the rest of the things you’ll be saying, whereas が has “shorter” range, and it’s energy or relevance in the sentence would pretty much stay in the same sentence you’ve said.
This of course depends 100% on context, but you’d possibly need to clarify you’re still talking about プールで泳ぐ later on in this imaginary conversation.
Hope this helps!
Glaciem52
About 1 year ago
Can someone explain me why is のは instead of こと. I don’t understand really well the difference betweeen nominalizers
Marcus
About 1 year ago
I’m currently watching Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You and mining it for example sentences to add to self study here in Bunpro (sticking to N5 and easy N4 sentences). The anime is very sweet and good fun, and mining it for sentences is really helping my Japanese a lot, making me think hard about grammar, and helping me see patterns.
Anyway, I was about to add this sentence to the の(は) grammar point, but then I started thinking about it! It seems simple enough…
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