私が食べるものはうなぎだ。WHY?
Can someone explain to me this phrase? Particularly the choice of words and their order. I understand that GA is the subject marker, but why does TABERU preceds MONO? And why is DA used instead of DESU?

THANK YOU!

Question

私が食べるものはうなぎだ。WHY?
Can someone explain to me this phrase? Particularly the choice of words and their order. I understand that GA is the subject marker, but why does TABERU preceds MONO? And why is DA used instead of DESU?

THANK YOU!

Answer

MONO is relative pronoun like WHAT in next sentence; WHAT I eat is UNAGI. In this case, main verb in the sentence is not EAT, but IS. TOKORO and HITO are often used like that too. Some examples... 私が住んでいる所は新宿駅の近くです。The place where I live is near the shinjuku station.
君が話しかけた人が私の母親です。The person who you talked to, is my mother.

And you can choose ending form(口調Kucho) as you like. DESU(-MASU) form is polite, respectful way to speak. DA form sounds relatively rough, but preferred in written text, since it is short and clear.