Page 221 - Basic Japanese

doing something; doing

something)

行ったこと itta koto the fact of having gone
(the occasion for me to
be there)

These are examples of modifier expressions.
The modifying expression preceding a noun phrase may

be very short, or it may be quite long. It will always make a
complete sentence by itself except that the predicate part is

in the plain form, and you would want to change this to the
polite form to use as a complete sentence. Notice that the

meaning of the juxtaposition between the modifying verb
and the noun may be either that of a “subject” or an

“object” relationship:

見た人 mita hito the person who saw (it)

見た人 mita hito the person whom
(someone) saw

The relationship is usually made clear by the particles in

the rest of the clause:

その映画を見た人 sono the person who saw
eiga o mita hito that movie

私が見た人 watakushi ga the person I saw

mita hito

The subject of a modifying clause is never followed by wa
—that would make it the topic for the entire sentence, not

just the modifying clause. It is marked either by ga