JLPT N5 grammar

AのBmeaning and usage

Meaning

Connects nouns A and B to show possession (A's B) or another relationship between them. It can also show that B is A, as in 友達の田中さん (my friend Tanaka). Context determines the relationship.

How to form it

  • nounのnoun

How it is used

「の」 links two nouns so the first describes the second: its owner, content, place, time and so on, as in 「私の本」 (my book). い-adjectives go straight before a noun without 「の」: 「高い本」, not 「高いの本」.

Examples

  1. 彼は日本語の先生です。

    He is a Japanese-language teacher.

  2. これは父のかばんです。

    This is my father's bag.

  3. 三時の電車に乗ります。

    I'll take the three o'clock train.

About the example In 「日本語の先生」, the 「AのB」 construction links the subject taught, Japanese, to the teacher. It does not state the teacher’s nationality.