Japanese Relative Clauses: Describing Nouns Without “Who” or “Which”
Japanese has no word for “who”, “which” or “that” in relative clauses. Instead, you put a whole clause directly in front of the noun it describes, using the plain form of the verb: 昨日買った本 (the book [I] bought yesterday), 東京で働いている友達 (a friend who works in Tokyo). The describing part always comes first and the noun always comes last, however long the description gets. Once this clicks, long Japanese sentences become much easier to read.
The basic pattern: clause + noun
| Before the noun | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Verb, plain present | 毎朝乗る電車 | the train I take every morning |
| Verb, plain past | 先週見た映画 | the film I saw last week |
| Verb, negative | 肉を食べない人 | people who don’t eat meat |
| Verb, ~ている | 眼鏡をかけている人 | the person wearing glasses |
| い-adjective | 駅から近いホテル | a hotel that is close to the station |
| な-adjective | 料理が上手な友達 | a friend who is good at cooking |
| Noun | 医者の兄 / 医者だった祖父 | my brother, who is a doctor / my grandfather, who was a doctor |
If you need a reminder of plain forms, see Japanese verb conjugation basics and Japanese adjectives.
Three rules that trip learners up
- Use plain forms inside the clause. Politeness goes at the end of the whole sentence: 昨日買った本はおもしろいです, not 昨日買いました本.
- は becomes が (or の). The subject inside a relative clause takes が, never は: 私が住んでいる町 (the town where I live). In short clauses の also works: 私の住んでいる町.
- No word for “where” or “when”. 生まれた町 is “the town where [I] was born” and 日本に来た日 is “the day [I] came to Japan”. The noun tells you the relationship.
Reading long sentences
Japanese descriptions can stack: 去年京都で会った、英語が上手な大学生 (the university student, good at English, whom I met in Kyoto last year). Read backwards from the noun: first find 大学生, then work out each piece that describes it. This is a key skill for the reading section of the JLPT from N3 upwards. See JLPT reading tips.
| Japanese | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 日本語を教えている友達がいます。 | nihongo o oshiete iru tomodachi ga imasu. | I have a friend who teaches Japanese. |
| これは祖母がくれた着物です。 | kore wa sobo ga kureta kimono desu. | This is the kimono my grandmother gave me. |
| 昨日話した件ですが… | kinō hanashita ken desu ga… | About the matter we discussed yesterday… |
| 一番行きたい所は北海道です。 | ichiban ikitai tokoro wa Hokkaidō desu. | The place I most want to go is Hokkaido. |
Turning clauses into things: の and こと
Put の or こと after a plain verb and the clause becomes a noun: 料理するのが好きです (I like cooking), 日本に住んだことがあります (I have lived in Japan). の is more conversational; こと is required in some set patterns such as 〜ことがある and 〜ことができる.
How Hanabuddies can help
Relative clauses are what make Japanese sound grown-up: instead of short, choppy sentences you can describe people, places and ideas in one go. Our native tutors teach one-to-one online, help you build longer sentences step by step and use real reading texts at your level so you get used to finding the noun and reading backwards.