[Verb/Adjective] + Noun【[どうし・けいようし] + めいし（しゅうしょく）】

In Japanese, nouns can be modified by verbs, adjectives, and entire clauses placed directly before the noun. No special connecting word like "who", "which", or "that" is needed – the modifying phrase simply comes before the noun it describes.

This is one of the most important structures in Japanese and appears constantly in natural speech.

Adjectives modifying nouns

You have already seen adjectives used this way.

い-adjective + noun:

な-adjective + な + noun:

These also work in the past tense:

Verbs modifying nouns

A verb in its plain form (any tense) can directly precede a noun.

Non-past (present/future):

Past:

Full clauses modifying nouns

Entire clauses – with their own subject, objects, and time expressions – can modify a noun. Everything before the noun acts as one big modifier.

The subject of the modifying clause is marked with が (not は):

Comparison with English

In English, relative clauses come after the noun and use words like "who", "which", or "that": "the book that I read" / "the person who helped me".

In Japanese, the modifier comes before the noun with no connector word:

Japanese also makes no distinction between "who" (for people) and "which/that" (for things) – the same structure is used for all nouns.