In Japanese, if you want to describe something or someone that is performing an action, one of the ways you can do this is through a relative clause. A relative clause is when two phrases are joined into one sentence, rather than two individual sentences. The た (plain-past), or
ている (continuous) form of verbs are usually used.
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たかしさんは東京(とうきょう)に住(す)んだ男(おとこ)。
Takashi-san is a man that lived in Tokyo.
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貴方(あなた)が食(た)べたハンバーガ。
The hamburger that you ate.
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田中(たなか)さんが飲(の)んでいるコーヒー。
The coffee that Tanaka-san is drinking.
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道(みち)で寝(ね)ている犬(いぬ)。
A dog that is sleeping on the road.
る-Verbs and
う-Verbs follow their regular conjugation rules when making a relative clause. In the first example, we can see that ‘Takashi-san is a man that lives in Tokyo’, is one sentence, rather than ‘Takashi-san is a man. He lives in Tokyo’. In English, words like ‘that’, and ‘which’ are used to create a relative clause. However, seeing as though these words do not exist in Japanese, the first phrase is simply attached to the noun.
The ます (polite) forms of verbs may not be used when making a relative clause.