Japanese Relative Clauses: How to Build Complex Relative Clauses in Japanese

Japanese relative clauses are way simpler than you'd think. Unlike English where you need words like "who," "which," or "that" to connect everything, Japanese just lets you plop a verb phrase right in front of a noun and call it a day. The whole clause works like one giant adjective describing whatever comes after it. Once you get the hang of this pattern, you can build some seriously complex sentences without breaking a sweat as a Japanese learner. Pretty cool how elegant it is compared to the relative clause gymnastics we do in English.

What makes Japanese relative clauses different

Here's the thing about Japanese relative clauses: they function exactly like adjectives. You know how you can say akai () kuruma () meaning "red car"? Well, you can do the same thing with an entire clause. Instead of just one word modifying the noun, you get a whole sentence doing the work.

No special particles needed. No connecting words. The clause just sits there in its plain form modifying whatever noun follows.

Let me give you a concrete example. Take the sentence watashi ga katta (), which means "I bought." Now stick hon () meaning "book" right after it, and you get watashi ga katta hon (), "the book that I bought." The entire phrase watashi ga katta works as one unit describing which specific book we're talking about.

The golden rule: Keep the verb clauses in plain form

One thing that trips up learners constantly is trying to use polite forms inside relative clauses. Don't do it.

So you'd say: watashi ga katta hon wa omoshiroi desu (), "The book that I bought is interesting." Notice how katta () stays plain, but the main verb at the end gets the polite desu (です).

This applies to all verb types. Whether you're using a ru-verb like taberu () meaning "to eat" or a u-verb like kaku () meaning "to write," they stay in their plain forms when modifying a noun. Same goes for adjectives. An i-adjective like atsui () meaning "hot" or a na-adjective like shizuka () meaning "quiet" both modify nouns in their plain dictionary forms when functioning as part of a relative clause.

Particle quirks you need to know

The particle situation in relative clauses is where things get interesting. Most particles work exactly like they do in regular sentences, but there are a couple of exceptions that'll save you from sounding weird.

So while you might say in a normal sentence haha wa ryouri wo tsukutta (), "My mother made food," inside a relative clause you'd switch to haha ga tsukutta ryouri (), "the food that my mother made."

This makes sense when you think about it. The topic marker wa sets up what you're talking about for the whole sentence. But inside a relative clause, you're just describing a noun, so you need the subject marker ga to show who's doing the action.

Both watashi ga sunde iru machi () and watashi no sunde iru machi () work fine for "the town where I live." The no version sounds slightly more literary or formal, but both are grammatically solid.

Building clauses with different verb types

And so in this respect, are verb clauses the part of the sentence containing the verb? Absolutely. The relative clause includes the verb and everything that goes with it: the subject, object, and any other elements needed to make the action clear. The whole package works together to modify the noun.

Have you noticed how many forms of verbs and the state-of-being conjugate in a similar manner to i-adjectives? This actually makes relative clauses easier to grasp. Both i-adjectives and plain form verbs end in sounds that flow naturally into nouns. The verb tabeta () meaning "ate" and the adjective oishii () meaning "delicious" both modify nouns in basically the same way structurally.

Using adjectives in relative clauses

Adjectives function super smoothly in relative clauses because, well, they're already designed to modify nouns.

Takai yama () means "a tall mountain." You can even use past or negative forms: takakatta yama (), "a mountain that was tall," or takaku nai yama (), "a mountain that isn't tall."

Kirei na hana (), "a beautiful flower." But here's where it gets interesting. When you use a na-adjective in a full clause with a verb, it behaves differently. You'd say: hana ga kirei da (), "the flower is beautiful," and when making this into a relative clause, you get: hana ga kirei na niwa (), "a garden where the flowers are beautiful."

Modifying subjects versus objects

Relative clauses can describe either the subject or object of the action they contain, and the context usually makes it clear which one you mean. This is where Japanese gets really efficient compared to English.

Take the sentence inu ga tabeta (), "the dog ate." Add a noun and you can create different meanings:

Stacking clauses like building blocks

Does Japanese have recursive relative clauses? Yeah, absolutely. You can nest clauses inside other clauses, creating these intricate sentence structures that would take forever to say in English.

Here's a straightforward example:

Break it down and you've got two layers. First, tomodachi ga katta () modifies hon (). Then that whole phrase hon wo yonda () modifies hito () meaning "person."

You can keep going too. Add another layer:

Three clauses deep. Gets a bit unwieldy, sure, but it's grammatically fine.

The key is tracking which clause modifies what. Each verb phrase directly modifies the noun that immediately follows it. Work backwards from the final noun and you can untangle even the gnarliest nested structures.

Relative clauses doing other jobs

Beyond just modifying nouns, relative clauses can function in some other clever ways.

For instance, watashi ga kinou mita () means "what I saw yesterday." You don't need to add a noun like mono () meaning "thing" after it, though you can if you want to be more specific. The clause itself acts as the subject or object of your sentence.

You'll see this pattern all the time: kare ga itta koto () means "what he said," where koto (こと) is a general noun meaning "thing" or "matter." But in casual speech, people often drop the koto entirely and just use the clause.

If you're wondering about adverbial uses, then yeah. Clauses can modify verbs and adjectives too, describing how, when, or why something happens. These aren't technically relative clauses anymore since they're not modifying nouns, but they use similar grammar patterns. The line between clause types gets pretty blurry in Japanese.

Common patterns you'll see everywhere

Some relative clause patterns show up constantly in everyday Japanese. Getting familiar with these makes reading and listening way easier.

For example: niwa ga aru ie () means "a house that has a garden." The verb aru (ある) means "to exist" for inanimate things, while iru (いる) works for animate things.

Another super common form uses hoshii () meaning "want": watashi ga hoshii kuruma (), "the car that I want." Simple and useful.

The suki () meaning "like" pattern appears everywhere too: watashi ga suki na tabemono (), "food that I like." Remember that suki is a na-adjective, so it needs the na connector before the noun.

Practice makes automatic

The grammar rules for relative clauses are honestly pretty straightforward. The challenge is getting fast enough to process them in real time when you're reading or listening. Seeing them in context over and over is what makes them click.

I know you're not satisfied with sharing simple sentences only!

Relative clauses aren't just some grammar point you need to check off a list. They're fundamental to how Japanese builds complex ideas. You can't read a newspaper article, follow a conversation about anything remotely detailed, or write a decent email without them. Moreover, you can't share your complex ideas with your Japanese friends either. So, from this day on, consciously take notice of the clauses you encounter when consuming media.

The more ideas you can convey, the easier to make true friends!