Contextual and Explanatory Questions
Structure:
Verb + の(1)（だ）
［い］Adjective + の(1)（だ）
Noun + な + の(1)（だ）
［な］Adjective + な + の(1)（だ）
(1)ん
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“私のお母さんとさつきちゃんのお母さ ともだち んは友達なんですか” Wouldn’t なの also work for this sentence, instead of just なん?
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Hi, despite the fact that ん can be used instead of の, from what I understand from the example phrases, ん always requires ですか (or I’m guessing だか) after it - I mean contrary to の that can be used to end the question phrase. Is this true or can you also end a phrase with ん? It would be great if you could add an explanation regarding this, and maybe some relevant example phrases for ん used with the casual form (んだか - or simply んだ(?)). Thank you!
From my understanding, the ん comes from trying improve the spoken “flow” when connecting the part before it to the part after it. This is much like how ている can become てる in other cases in the same section. The い just sort of merged into the て while speaking
So, the ん requires something to be behind it, if there is nothing behind it, it returns to being a の instead
(That said, people will post on social media just “ん？” - but that is more like a “huh?” or “Hmm?”)