Ray
「背の高い」 or 「背が低い」 I study Japanese with Rosetta Stone and I see these examples: 背の高い男の人は黒いスーツを着ています。 背が低い男の人はセーターを着ています。 背が高い女の人はジーンズをはいています。 The grammatical structure is identical, why is it 「背の高い」 in one case and 「背が低い」in others? I know that it's correct to say 彼は背が高い and not 彼は背の高い but I don't get the sentences above. I thought that 'no' is used instead of 'ga' in modifying clauses but the above are all modifying clauses...
Oct 14, 2018 10:48 AM
Answers · 2
1
背の高い is used with noun. 背の高い男(⭕️背が高い男)→a tall man 彼は背が高い(❌彼は背の高い)→he is tall 彼は背が高い男だ(⭕️彼は背の高い男だ) →he is a tall men 私は背が低い男が好きだ (⭕️私は背の低い男が好きだ) →I like a short guy
October 15, 2018
”の“ and ”が“ originally meant the same. "の“ meant, and still means, "genitive" in the old days. And "が“ also meant "genitive". (It still remains in the phrase "我が祖国“, my country) Historically "が“ acquired the new meaning "marker for so-called 'subject'". That's why 1). there are two expressions: 背の高い男の人は.... 背が低い男の人は... (These の and が, I think, are marker for genitive, not for subject) and 2). you can say "あの人は背が高い“ but cannot say "あの人は背の高い“. (”の“ cannot be marker for subject)
October 15, 2018
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