- before
- in front of
Structure
- Verb + 前・に
- Noun + の ・ 前・ に
All the examples that use <noun> の 前に use it in the location rather than time sense. It can still be used in the time sense with nouns too, right? E.g. 昼ごはんの前に寝た . If so, would be nice to have an example or two of that included.
Should it not be a の between 買う前に for it to “become buy_ing_”?
I understand that there is no need for it before 前に, but for nominalizing the verb. There are other such sentences in this lesson. So should it not be like that or, alternatively should it not translate rather to: “before i buy”
I don’t think that’s possible.
Why do you want to nominalize it? Is it because of the English translation? But it’s not nominalized there either (the sentence is the conjunction “before” followed by a participial clause).
In general we can’t expect translations to line up 1:1 on the grammatical level anyway, though.
Since “買う前に” doesn’t specify who is doing the buying, I think “before buying” is a better fit.
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Maybe the translation could be “before one buys” or “before you buy” (using the generic you not the specific you).
But I agree that “before buying” sounds like a more natural translation.
Don’t know where to ask this but here I go:
The grammar point uses this as the first example:
病院の前にあるコンビニ
There’s a convenience store in front of the hospital.
The first half makes sense but I’m kinda confused why we can put ある directly after the に and follow it with a noun?
病院の前に コンビニがある makes more sense to me.
Hi there!
Both 病院の前にあるコンビニ, and 病院の前にコンビニがある are correct, but they have a slight difference in the nuance. 病院の前にあるコンビニ has the nuance of ‘The convenience store that exists in front of the hospital’ and 病院の前にコンビニがある has the nuance of ‘A convenience store exists in front of the hospital’. I hope that helps.
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Yeah I think that helped, thanks!
Can someone elaborate on the distinction between this point and 手前? Thank you!
With the example 病院の前にあるコンビニ -
How can you tell what’s in front of what? Like how do you know the convenience store is in front of the hospital and not the other way around?
(A)の前に just means in front of (A). So 病院の前に would be “in front of hospital”, and コンビニの前に would be “in front of convenience store”.
And then the noun that A is in front of comes in through direct noun modification… mm not sure if there is a more specific point on bunpro, but let’s link this one: がある + Noun (JLPT N5) | Bunpro
So, together (A)の前にある(B) means “(B), that exists in front of (A)”. You can’t mix them up.
Hope this helps?
Ok folks, hear me out: お前の前にいるのは、千年以上生きた魔法使いだ
If I want to add something one to the Bunpro, it is this sentence, so maybe something could be replaced)