Is 東京出身です correct? I feel like it should 東京は出身です。Specifically in the context of written Japanese (I know particles are often dropped when spoken)
I don’t think a particle is necessary. To me, it makes sense as it is.
But if I were going to use a particle, I’d think it’d be の not は. But I’m no expert so maybe someone else can confirm.
I think if you were to use は it would be 出身は東京です.
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I’ve never seen it used with the は particle, but I think you can use の. Not sure it’s necessary though.
I could see の being correct as well. My point in either case is both 東京 and 出身 are both nouns.
jisho.org gives this example sentence for the word 出身:
私は東京出身です。I’m from Tokyo.
Which, to me, sounds like something you would say if you were introducing yourself.
But I also agree with Heiopei that 出身は東京です。also sounds correct. I think how exactly you phrase it would depend on the context. i.e. self-introduction speech or in answer to somebody’s question
I’m sufficiently convinced that 東京出身です is in fact valid Japanese, so I must be missing something in my internal grammar rules.
I was under the impression 出身 is a noun that represents the concept of someone’s origin. In the example sentence we are more specifically stating that their place of origin is Tokyo, so 東京の出身です. should connect them.
Given this isn’t the case, it seems the の isn’t always required. Is this an exceptional case, or more generally, how can one sometimes connect two nouns without a particle? i.e. why isn’t 日本語学生 as valid as 日本語の学生?
Asked my Japanese friend and she says 東京は出身です is not correct.
東京出身です is more natural/common (re: original poster’s (@charliec364) question).
You can, however, say something like this:
東京が出身ですが、今は大阪に住んでいます。I’m from Tokyo, but I live in Osaka now.
Hope that answers your question~
Thanks! Is 東京の出身です also incorrect then, or just less common?
Nope, it’s correct! Asked her about that one too. Just less common she says.
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Just like in English, sometimes you can just smash nouns together to make longer nouns. That’s why the JLPT is not the 日本語の能力の試験.
Whether or not this works is something that is based more on intuition than written rules.
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