Japanese in Depth Vol.5

41. The subtlety and variety of no

By Shigekatsu Yamauchi

Founder of ICI (the International Communication Institute)

www.stepupnihongo.com

www.icijapan.com

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Last month's article was all about the particle to, which is typically seen in the ‘X to Y’ combination. Seeing this combination could very naturally remind readers of another combination, "X no Y." Today we will talk about this "no."

Unlike "X to Y," where the particle to combines the two nouns on an equal basis (Y with X), "X no Y" is a phrase where noun X modifies noun Y. Because of this, it is often said that no here means Y of X or X’s Y; most textbooks go on even further to say no is a possessive particle. This explanation is misleading because it covers only one aspect of no's entirety.

As I've noted in the past, Japanese is built upon three main pillars, i.e. three major word classes: verbs, adjectives and nouns. Each word class behaves differently, but within a word class there is generally consistent and regular behavior. Today’s theme relates to how words of each class behave when modifying nouns.

Before going further, remember a golden rule of Japanese: modifiers come before the modified.

When you think of typical phrases with modifiers in English, like the tall man or a pretty woman, you might think the rule quite natural and that English obeys it, too. However, only when the modifier is an adjective alone, do the two languages behave the same; if the modifier is a longer phrase or a clause (a sentence-modifier), then it goes after the modified noun in English:

- a man 20 years of age

- the man reading a paper over there

- a woman who looks much younger than her age.

In these examples, 20 years of age, reading a paper over there and who looks much younger than her age modify man and woman respectively, and they are all placed after the modified word (man and woman). In other words, English does not observe the same rule. In English, modifiers may come before or after the modified noun. It just depends. In contrast, however lengthy they may be, Japanese modifiers always come before the modified.

Recall that Japanese follows its rules very strictly, and is very regular. When an adjective or a verb modifies a noun in Japanese, the modifying word simply goes in front of the modified noun, such as:

- oishii osake (tasty sake)

- oishikatta osake (sake which tasted good)

- taberu tokoro (a place to eat, a place where we eat)

- tabeta tokoro (a place where we ate)

When it comes to nouns modifying other nouns, Japanese has