Basic Grammar Question from a newbie

Grammar Points
#1

So I’m a newbie currently going through N5 on Bunpro and Level 3 on wanikani. For review on Bunpro I’ve been glancing at the English translation and doing my best to ignore the Japanese and then trying to figure out the entire clause or sentence in Japanese instead of just the missing piece. Hopefully that made sense.

The example I looked at was for the sentence, “The man who is eating sushi is my older brother.”

I translated that as 私の兄がお寿司を食べている男の人です。

But when I checked, bunpro had that as お寿司を食べている男の人は、私の兄です。

Are these two grammatically equivalent or was I just flat out wrong? It seems to me that they are basically

  1. My older brother is the man eating sushi, and
  2. The man eating sushi is my older brother.

Thanks!

1 Like
#2

don’t quote me on this, but your translation seems to put emphasis on the older brother being a man, rather than the man being the older brother, if that makes sense?

I believe your translation would be more like, “My older brother eating sushi is a man.”

Hope this helped and hope I wasn’t totally wrong lmbo :joy:

3 Likes
#3

You’ve essentially got it right, although I’m pretty sure が should be は:

私の兄はお寿司を食べている男の人です。

Not sure, but maybe the が is giving the vibe about emphasis on him being a man? Personally based on instinct, it doesn’t sound right with が.

Yours would be the answer if someone asked ‘who is your brother?’
bunpro’s sentence would be the answer if someone asked ‘who is the man eating sushi?’

1 Like
#4

I’d say it lines up this way…

Who is your brother?
私の兄はお寿司を食べている男の人です。
As for my brother, (he) is the man who is eating sushi.

Who is the man eating sushi?
お寿司を食べている男の人は、私の兄です。
As for the man who is eating sushi, (he) is my brother.
私の兄がお寿司を食べている男の人です。
My brother is the man who is eating sushi. (emphasis or new info to listener)

1 Like
#5

When you put it that way it makes a lot more sense. The が kept giving me vibes that the sentence should end after 食べている, as in: 私の兄がお寿司を食べている。Idk why

2 Likes
#6

Thank you for the explanation. I have recently discovered Cure Dolly on YouTube and watched her video on が and it really cleared that particle up for me. I didn’t really understand the difference between が and は before. It’s a lot clearer now.

1 Like
#7

Not sure if this will be of use to you, but when I first started I relied on this cheat sheet a lot to really nail down some of the differences in the particles which can be daunting at first

2 Likes
#8

I’ll definitely check that out. Thank you.