This is a discussion topic for the updated N5 Lesson 4 reading passages. (May 2024)
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Can someone explain what is さん supposed to mean here?
家に近い場所に有名なカラオケ屋さんがあります。
Can anyone explain the なん in this sentence?
テニスサークルがある大学なんです
I feel like I see なん or 何 a lot in contexts where it definitely doesn’t mean “what”, and there’s almost never an explanation.
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It’s an explanatory ～んです・のです (JLPT N5) | Bunpro
The Japanese love it, so you’ll see it a lot.
You use な to attach it to both na-adjectives and nouns (such as 大学). Strangely enough, all examples in the lesson seem to be focusing on verbs and i-adjectives.
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I didn’t know it could be attached to nouns like that. All this time, I’ve been hearing 何です, and getting confused. Thank for clearing that up!
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Could someone help me understand this line and its translation?
歌うのが好きな友達です。
That friend likes singing.
The fact that 好き is used right before the noun is throwing me off.
I thought it would mean something like “I like my friend who sings” or “my favorite friend is the one who sings”.
Whereas, to write “That friend likes singing”, I would expect something like “友達は歌うのが好きです。”
An explanation would be much appreciated! For comparison, I would also love to know how to write what I thought the translation was (“I like my friend who sings”).
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Yes, that’s completely fine as well.
You can use な-adjectives both ways:
きれいな本です。
この本がきれいです。
it’s a beautiful book.
歌っている友達が好きです。
I love my friend who is singing. (“love”? do you mean romantically!?)
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In this particular sentence, the のが is showing you that 歌う is a phrase that is being attached to what follows it as part of its description.
歌うのが ‘that which is singing’
好きな友達 ‘the friend who likes’
All put together ‘The friend who likes singing’.
Note that the のが好き is working all together here as a single phrase basically, where 歌う ‘to sing’ is the thing that is liked. You can find more out about this grammar structure/common expression here のが好き.
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@casual @Asher Thank you both! I was having trouble viewing 好きな友達 as something other than “likeable friend”, but I have a clearer understanding now.
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Ah, I think I see what you mean.
If you take all sentences of the shape (A)好きな友達, then there are two distinct possibilities:
(A) could be modifying 好き, that is specifying what the friend likes:
（歌うのが好き）な友達
friend (who likes singing)
（雨が好き）な友達
friend (who likes rain)
Or (A) could be not modifying 好き, for example describing the friend further:
私の（好きな友達）
my (favorite friend)
今歌っている（好きな友達）
(favorite friend) who is singing now
So you have to analyze the particles to see which scenario you are dealing with. It also comes up on JLPT in the question type where you have to arrange given fragments to form a valid sentence.
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This breakdown is super helpful, thank you!