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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 interesting’, or ‘The hotel was convenient. We stayed in the hotel.’,
. . . 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. What can you figure out from the video above the examples below? For a complete explanation, watch the video at the bottom of the page.
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.
The two ideas shown separately.
大学生は、学生です。
  • A university student is a student. (An obvious sentence, but a simple way to illustrate the grammar!)
大学でべんきょうします。
  • He/She 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 (that is) in Japan.
The two ideas shown separately.
​ふじさんは、やまです。
  • Mt Fuji is a mountain.
日本にあります。
  • It's in Japan.
Sentence with relative clause:
​
​ゆかたは、なつにきるきものです。
  • A yukata is a kimono that you wear in summer.
The two ideas shown separately.
​ゆかたは、きものです。
  • A yukata is a kimono.
なつにきます。
  • You wear it 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.
The two ideas shown separately.
​ホテルは　べんりでした。
  • The hotel was convenient
私たちが　とまりました。
  • We stayed (there)
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.
The two ideas shown separately.
​私は、ケーキを　たべました。 
  • I ate the cake
友だちが　つくりました。
  • My friend made (it)
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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: