A relative clause is a clause that is used to describe or modify a noun. For example, in “the photo that I took” the phrase “that I took” is a relative clause, because it describes the photo. Here is an example of a relative clause in Japanese:
Notice that in Japanese the relative clause comes before the noun! In fact, that’s one of the four main rules that you can usually follow to form a relative clause in Japanese:
The relative clause comes before the noun.
Use the plain form of the predicate.
There are no relative pronouns (e.g. “that” or “who”).
The subject of the relative clause is usually marked with が transcribed ga.
In this post, we’ll explain how to apply those four rules, go through some examples and discuss some of the exceptions you’ll want to be aware of. Ready to have a look? Let’s get started!
How to form different types of relative clauses in Japanese?
In Japanese, there are four rules to follow for all types of relative clauses:
The relative clause in Japanese precedes the noun it modifies.
relative clausenounこれはきのう私が公園でとった写真です。Transcription: Kore wa kinō watashi ga kōen de totta shashin desu.Translation: This is a photo (that) I took at the park yesterday.The predicate of the relative clause is usually in the plain form. This means that you won’t add polite endings like ます transcribed masu or です transcribed desu to the predicate of a relative clause.
Plain forms can come in various tenses and with a variety of different endings. Check out this chart of Japanese plain forms to see some of the possibilities!
There are no relative pronouns in Japanese. This means, in Japanese there is no equivalent of the words like “which,” “that,” “who,” “whose,” or “where” that you often see at the beginning of a relative clause:
the photothatI tookthe parkwhereI took the photothe womanwhoI photographedLuckily there is no particular grammar you’ll need to learn to replace these words, you can just leave them out!
The subject of a relative clause (if it’s present) is usually marked by が transcribed ga or sometimes の transcribed no, but not by は transcribed wa. Compare:
きのう私は公園で写真をとった。Transcription: Kinō watashi wa kōen de shashin o tottaTranslation: I took a photo at the park yesterday.relative clauseこれはきのう私が公園でとった写真です。Transcription: Kore wa kinō watashi ga kōen de totta shashin desu.Translation: This is a photo (that) I took at the park yesterday.You’ll usually use が transcribed ga for the subject of a relative clause, but you can use の transcribed no if the relative clause is very short.
Let’s look now at some examples!
Example 1: Relative clause with a verb
Imagine we want to combine the following two sentences by using a relative clause:
The resulting sentence is given in the box below. Can you see how the four rules all apply here?
relative clausenoun ここはきのう私が写真をとった公園です。 Transcription: Koko wa kinō watashi ga shashin o totta kōen desu. Translation: This place is the park (where) I took a photo yesterday. | |
Rule 1: | The relative clause precedes 公園 transcribed kōenmeaning park. |
Rule 2: | Here we have replaced the polite verb from the original sentence with the equivalent plain form: とりました transcribed torimashita → とった transcribed totta |
Rule 3: | There is no Japanese relative pronoun meaning “where.” Instead, the word 公園 transcribed kōenmeaning park is just not present in the relative clause. |
Rule 4: | The subject 私 transcribed watashimeaning I is followed by が transcribed ga. |
Example 2: Relative clause with a progressive verb
Let’s look, now at this sentence and use it to build a couple relative clauses. Notice that here, the verb is in the progressive, or ～ている transcribed -te iru form!
Here, we can build a couple different relative clauses, with some notes about particular rules from the list.
relative clausenoun これは山本さんが読んでいる本です。 Transcription: Kore wa Yamamoto san ga yonde iru hon desu. Translation: This is the book (that) Ms. Yamamoto is reading. | |
Rule 2: Predicate in the plain form | The verb of the relative clause, 読んでいる transcribed yonde iru, is still progressive, but is also is plain, rather than polite. |
Rule 4: が transcribed ga instead of は transcribed wa | In this case, the relative clause is short enough that we could also have used の transcribed no after the subject of the relative clause: relative clausenoun これは山本さんの読んでいる本です。 Transcription: Kore wa Yamamoto san no yonde iru hon desu. Translation: This is the book which Ms. Yamamoto is reading. |
relative clausenoun 山本さんは本を読んでいる人です。 Transcription: Yamamoto san wa hon o yonde iru hito desu. Translation: Ms. Yamamoto is the person (who) is reading a book. | |
Rule 2: Predicate in the plain form | The verb of the relative clause, 読んでいる transcribed yonde iru, is still progressive, but is also is plain, rather than polite. |
Rule 3: No relative pronouns | Notice that, since there is no relative pronoun, the relative clause does not have a subject in Japanese. |
Now let’s move on to some examples of relative clauses with different kinds of predicates!
Example 3: Relative clause with a noun predicate
Relative clauses with noun predicates (e.g. “that is an X” or “who was a Y”) mostly follow the same four rules we saw above. Just remember that the state-of-being endings attached to nouns in these clauses are a bit different.
relative clausenoun 先月まで学生だった人はクラークさんです。 Transcription: Sengetsu made gakusei datta hito wa Kurāku san desu. Translation: The person (who) was a student until last month is Mr. Clark. | |
Rule 1: Relative clause comes first | The description of the person comes before 人 transcribed hitomeaning person. |
Rule 2: Predicate in the plain form | The plain form だった transcribed datta is used instead of the polite form でした transcribed deshita. |
Rule 3: No relative pronouns | There is no “who” in the Japanese clause, so the relative clause has no subject. |
Example 4: Relative clause with an adjective predicate
As above, relative clauses with adjective predicates (e.g. “that was tall” or “who was faster than me”) mostly follow the four general rules. Just remember that you’ll need to use the plain forms of the adjective conjugation endings.
relative clausenoun さっきまで暖かかった風が、急に冷たくなった。 Transcription: Sakki made atatakakatta kaze ga, kyūni tsumetaku natta. Translation: The wind (which) was warm until a while ago suddenly turned cold. | |
Rule 1: Relative clause comes first | The description comes before 風 transcribed kazemeaning wind. |
Rule 2: Predicate in the plain form | The plain form 暖かかった transcribed atatakakatta is used instead of the polite form あたたかかったです transcribed atatakakatta desu. |
Rule 3: No relative pronouns | There is no Japanese parallel to “which.” |
Which Japanese nouns can take a relative clause?
Whether a noun in a sentence can be modified by a clause can be generally determined by the particle that would have followed the noun you’re describing, if the relative clause was an independent sentence.
This is because you need to be able to figure out the role the noun you’re describing is supposed to play in the relative clause, given that there is no particle signaling what role it should play.
Let’s use this independent sentence to help us go through the relative clauses below.
Now, we’ll turn this sentence into several relative clauses. Look carefully at which particle follows the noun you’re describing in the sentence above.
| Clause describes… | Particle | Relative Clause |
|---|---|---|
お母さん Transcription: okāsan Translation: mother | は transcribed waが transcribed ga | 朝から台所で子供とお弁当を作ったお母さん Transcription: asa kara daidokoro de kodomo to obentō o tsukutta okāsan Translation: the mother (who) prepared a box lunch with her child in the kitchen from the morning |
台所 Transcription: daidokoro Translation: the kitchen | で transcribed de | お母さんが朝から子供とお弁当を作った台所 Transcription: okāsan ga asa kara kodomo to obentō o tsukutta daidokoro Translation: the kitchen (where) the mother prepared a box lunch with her child from the morning |
お弁当 Transcription: obentō Translation: the box lunch | を transcribed o | お母さんが朝から台所で子供と作ったお弁当 Transcription: okāsan ga asa kara daidokoro de kodomo to tsukutta obentō Translation: the box lunch (which) the mother prepared with her child in the kitchen from the morning |
子供 Transcription: kodomo Translation: the child | と transcribed to | ❌ お母さんが朝から台所でお弁当を作った子供 Transcription: okāsan ga asa kara daidokoro de obentō o tsukutta kodomo Translation: the child the mother prepared a box lunch in the kitchen from the morning The phrase above does not work on its own, because the meaning of と transcribed tomeaning with is lost. You can make it work if you add that meaning back in with a word like いっしょに transcribed isshonimeaning together: ✅ お母さんが朝から台所でいっしょにお弁当を作った子供 Transcription: okāsan ga asa kara daidokoro de isshoni obentō o tsukutta kodomo Translation: the child (with whom) the mother prepared a box lunch in the kitchen from the morning |
朝 Transcription: asa Translation: the morning | に transcribed niから transcribed kara | ❌ お母さんが台所で子供とお弁当を作った朝 Transcription: okāsan ga daidokoro de kodomo to obentō o tsukutta asa Translation: the morning when the mother prepared a box lunch with her child in the kitchen The phrase above does not work on its own, because the meaning of から transcribed karameaning from is lost. If the original sentence had given a simple time with に transcribed ni, as in 朝に transcribed asa nimeaning in the morning, the above relative clause would be acceptable. |
As you can see from the above examples, the particle that comes immediately after the noun determines the noun’s function like the subject or the object of a verb. In English, we often rely on prepositions to supplement the meaning, like “with who” or “from which.” In Japanese too, if the deleted particle needs more indicators to make sense, we can add supplementary words to make up for the missing particle, like the case of と transcribed to in the table above.
To sum up
In this post we discussed how to form and use relative clauses in Japanese. Here’s what you should remember:
There are four basic rules for forming Japanese relative clauses:
The relative clause comes before the noun.
Use the plain form of the predicate.
There are no relative pronouns like “that” or “to whom.”
The subject of the relative clause is usually marked with が transcribed ga.
Because there are no relative pronouns, you need to be sure that the role the noun you’re describing plays in the relative clause is clear.
Ready to practice? Have a look at these Japanese relative clause activities!
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