の
Meanings
- Verb nominalizer
- The one who...
- That which...
About this pattern
Explanation
の nominalizes verbs and phrases, turning them into nouns. This lets you talk about actions as things, or refer to 'the act of doing', 'the thing that ...', or use の as a pronoun substitute for a noun. After nominalized clauses, の can function as the subject or object, and it can be followed by particles or be embedded in longer sentences. In casual speech, の often replaces です/だ in explanations or questions.
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Example sentences
I like reading books.
What he makes is delicious.
This is the one I use.
I forgot to read this book.
Studying Japanese is hard.
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More N5 patterns
to be; is; equals; identifies as
View detailsto be; is; am; used to state something politely
View detailsAs for... (highlights sentence topic); Topic marker used to indicate what the sentence is about; Marks the topic of the sentence, sometimes with contrast
View detailsalso; too; as well; even; either; neither
View detailsthis (near the speaker); this thing; this one
View detailsthat; that thing (near the listener); the thing referred to earlier
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