Verb Nominalization
～の
~ing (Noun)
Dictionary form + の
The の particle can nominalize the dictionary form of verbs; that is, to make them into nouns. This the gerund (noun) “ing” in English.
Examples
- 勉強するの – Studying (the thing of)
- 食べるの – Eating (the thing of)
Combining with particles
Since this makes a verb into a noun, we’re able to treat it as a noun and add particles onto the の。We will mostly use を (for verbs) or が (for adjectives).
のを
- 勉強するのをさぼる。 – To skip the thing of studying. → To skip studying.
- がんばるのをやめる – To stop the thing of trying. → To stop trying.
のが
- 勉強するのが嫌い – The thing of studying is disliked. → I hate studying.
- ポケモンを集めるのが楽しい – Collecting Pokemon is fun.
のが
Doing verb is Adjective
Dictionary form ＋ のが + Adjective.
のが is the nominalizing の+が; that we just did above. It is used mostly for adjectives.
のが is very common, so here are some common expressions to learn for N5. All of them are adjectives.
Common のが Patterns
- ～のが好き – ~ing is liked
- ～のがきらい -~ing is hated
- ～のが上手（じょうず）- ~ing (I’m) good at/skillful
- ～のが下手（へた）- ~ing (I’m) bad at/unskillful
- ～のがにがて – nicer way to say don’t like – (Literally “bad at”)
Examples
- 勉強するのが嫌い。- Studying is disliked. → I hate studying.
- 魚を食べるのがにがて – I’m not good at eating fish. (I don’t like fish)
- 料理するのが好きです。- Cooking is liked. → I like cooking.
- スポーツをするのが下手だ。- I’m bad at playing sports.
- 日本語を勉強するのが好きです。- I like studying Japanese.