So, I was reviewing the explanatory 「の」 Tae Kim’s grammar guide, and I got a bit confused when it started talking about attaching the「んだ」to various words vs conjugating the「んだ」itself.
For example, what would be the difference between the following?
「学生じゃないんだ」vs. 「学生なんじゃない」
「学生だったんだ」vs. 「学生なんだった」
「学生じゃなかったんだ」vs. 「学生なんじゃなかった」
I’m also a little confused about using both at the same time. The guide gives this example: 「 その人が買うんじゃなかったの」and I have no idea how the addition of the 「の」in both places changes the meaning of the sentence (from, say, saying「その人が買うんじゃなかった」and「その人が買わなかったの」).
If anyone could help shed some light on this, I’d be super grateful. Thank you!
The location usually denotes the explanatory part:
「学生じゃないんだ」vs. 「学生なんじゃない」
“I’m not a student.” (General explanation, no real emphasis)
“I’m not a student.” (Emphasis on the student part, like, I’m not a student I’m a teacher)
In this case, the explanatory part is emphasizing both things.
Cure Dolly had a video about this and her approach was very memorable to me.
The の at the end of the sentence is the same one used to nominalize verbs. It nominalizes the whole sentence in this case. 〇のだ would translate to something like “It is that 〇”
「学生じゃないんだ」It’s that I’m not a student.
「学生なんじゃない」It not that I’m a student.
Thank you! I don’t think I’ve heard anyone explain sentences in similar ways, and this was an interesting way to think about the 「の」 usage, so I’ll be checking out her other videos to see if they help clarify other grammar points for me.
