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OTOKO NO HITO GA BIKKURI SHITA NYUUSU - THE NEWS THAT SURPRISED THE MAN

Relative Clauses
Giving more information
about the noun
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NEKO GA SUNDE IRU KAFE - THE CAFE WHERE CATS LIVE
RELATIVE CLAUSES ALLOW US TO GIVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE NOUN IN THE SENTENCE. 

Although we could say . . .
  • ‘I bought a book. The book is intereting’, or ‘We stayed in a hotel. The hotel was convenient’,
. . . these sentences feel a bit like the kind of sentences we wrote in primary school. What we really want to be able to say is . . .

  • ‘The book that I bought is interesting’, and ‘The hotel that we stayed in was convenient’.
    ​
Expressing ideas like ‘the book that I bought’ or ‘the hotel that we stayed in’ is very simple in Japanese, you just have to follow a few steps. Here goes . . .
Read this step-by-step explanation, or skip to the video at the bottom of the page (or better yet, try both).
Sentence with relative clause：
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私がかった本は、おもしろい　です。
  • The book that I bought is interesting.
We actually started with two ideas that we wanted to combine.
  • One idea is that I bought a book' (私は　ほんを　かいました).
  • The second is that the book is interesting (本はおもしろいです).
Forming the relative clause - step by step:
STEP
​1
In your mind, change the verb in 私は本をかいました to the plain form,  かった​ 
  • The verbs in relative clauses is always in the plain form. They can be in the past or present tenses or in the volitional (-tai) form, but they will always be in the plain form.
STEP
​2
Next, we have to change the word order so that 本 (book), the main thing we're talking about, comes at the end of the clause . . .  
私は本をかった (I bought a book) changes to 私がかった​本 (the book that I bought)
  • Note that the topic marker は changes to が in the relative clause. This is because 私 is no longer the topic of the sentence.​ In fact, our new main topic is the book.
STEP
​3
We can use the phrase we have just constructed in a sentence, by adding our second idea, which is  おもしろいです:
  • 私がかった本は、おもしろいです。
    ​The book that I bought is interesting.
And that's it, really. It's a lot quicker to do than to explain. Here are some more examples:
Sentence with relative clause:
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​大学生は、大学でべんきょうする学生です。
  • A university student is a student who studies at university.
Original ideas:
大学生は、学生です。
  • A university student is a student. (An obvious example, but a simple way to illustrate the grammar!)
大学生は、大学でべんきょうする。
  • A university student studies at university.
Sentence with relative clause:
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​ふじさんは、日本にあるやまです。
  • Mt Fuji is a mountain in Japan.
Original ideas:
ふじさんは、やまです。
  • Mt Fuji is a mountain.
ふじさんは、日本にあります。
  • Mt Fuji is in Japan.
Sentence with relative clause:
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​ゆかたは、なつにきるきものです。
  • A yukata is a kimono that you wear in summer.
Original ideas:
ゆかたは、きものです。
  • A yukata is a kimono.
ゆかたは、なつにきます。
  • You wear a yukata in summer.
Sentence with relative clause:
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​私たちがとまったホテルは、べんりでした。
  • The hotel we stayed in was convenient.
Original ideas:
私たちは、ホテルに　とまりました
  • We stayed in a hotel
そのホテルは、べんりでした
  • That hotel was convenient
Sentence with relative clause:
​私は、ともだちがつくったケーキをたべました。
  • I ate the cake that my friend made.
Original ideas:
ともだちは、ケーキをつ くりました 
  • My friend made a cake
私は、ケーキを　たべました
  • I ate the cake
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PRACTICE USING RELATIVE CLAUSES ON QUIZLET
Examples of relative clauses:
みちにまよった人
  • a person who lost their way
私が小さいときにみちにまよったとき
  • the time I got lost when I was little
ちちが買ったくるま
  • the car my father bought.
友だちが買ってくれたケーキ
  • the cake my friend bought for me.
いつかとまってみたいホテル
  • a hotel I'd like to try staying at sometime
私がいちばん楽しいと思うゲーム
  • the game I think is the most fun
私がすごくおもしろいと思った日本りょうり
  • a Japanese dish I thought was really interesting
友だちといっしょに見たホラーえいが
  • a horror movie I watched with a friend
WATCH THE THREE VIDEOS ON THE EASY JAPANESE GRAMMAR WEBSITE TO GET A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF RELATIVE CLAUSES: