Why is the が particle used in this sentence?


In this sentence:

> 彼女はお姉さん **が** 着るのと同じ種類の服 **を** 着る。
>
> She wears the same variety of clothes as her sister wears.

Why is the が particle used to mark the sister as the subject, when the one
doing the action of wearing を着る is 彼女?

* * *

If my understanding is correct, the が particle always without exception marks
the noun (the subject) that is doing or being something:

> 犬 **が** 走る The dog is running (doing)
>
> 花 **が** 赤い The flower is red (being)

I also understand that the subject doing the action can be implied and not
included (zero pronouns).

The zero pronoun Ø takes the equivalent of "it", "I", "she", "he" etc. which
is included in English but omitted in Japanese.

The は particle is the topic and does not indicate the noun that is doing or
being (the job が already does).

> 私は (Ø **が** ) 日本人です。
>
> As for me, (I) am Japanese. (Øが means "I")

Ordering food in a restaurant:

> 彼は (Ø **が** ) 天ぷらです。
>
> As for him (it) is Tempura. (not he is a Tempura) (Øが means "it")

If I am misunderstanding this concept please correct me.

* * *

But in the first sentence above I am not confident when applying these
concepts.

> 彼女は (Øが）姉さん **が** 着るのと同じ種類の服 **を** 着る。
>
> As for her (she Ø) wears the same type of clothes her sister wears.

My questions are:

  1. Am I correct in putting (Øが) in the sentence? Does (Øが）mean 彼女が in this case? And does 彼女が indicate that she is doing the action of wearing **を** 着る?
  2. Is the second が in 姉さん **が** 着る used to indicate that her sister is doing the action of wearing her own clothes? Would this be a second が different from this first invisible が?
  3. But if 着る is a transitive verb, why is this second が used instead of を? お姉さん **を** 着るのと同じ種類の服 **Edit: disregard this question.**




It's not a good idea to assume there is always ～が (explicit or implicit) along
with ～は in Japanese sentences. 私は私が日本人です is plain "ungrammatical" rather than
"redundant" or "wordy". Japanese people don't interpret Japanese sentences in
that way. If your first language is English, imagining an implicit ～が may help
you better understand certain sentences like 私は天ぷらです, but that's nothing more
than that.

> Am I correct in putting (Øが) in the sentence? Does (Øが）mean 彼女が in this
> case?

If you put 彼女が in that place, the sentence would look awfully wrong. This
sentence is complete as-is.

> Is the second が in 姉さんが着る used to indicate that her sister is doing the
> action of wearing her own clothes? Would this be a second が different from
> this first invisible が?

Yes, this が after 姉さん is a plain subject marker in a relative clause. I would
say there is no such thing as "first invisible が" in the first place.

> if 着る is a transitive verb, why is this second が used instead of を?

Because が marks the subject of 着る (i.e., who wears), を marks the object of 着る
(i.e., what to wear). 姉さんを着る means "wear her sister" rather than "her sister
wears".

In case you you did not know relative clauses, please [learn them
first](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14550/5010). 姉さんが着るの is "ones her
sister wears". ～と同じ種類 is "the same kind as ～".




It's not a good idea to assume there is always ～が (explicit or implicit) along
with ～は in Japanese sentences. 私は私が日本人です is plain "ungrammatical" rather than
"redundant" or "wordy". Japanese people don't interpret Japanese sentences in
that way. If your first language is English, imagining an implicit ～が may help
you better understand certain sentences like 私は天ぷらです, but that's nothing more
than that.

> Am I correct in putting (Øが) in the sentence? Does (Øが）mean 彼女が in this
> case?

If you put 彼女が in that place, the sentence would look awfully wrong. This
sentence is complete as-is.

> Is the second が in 姉さんが着る used to indicate that her sister is doing the
> action of wearing her own clothes? Would this be a second が different from
> this first invisible が?

Yes, this が after 姉さん is a plain subject marker in a relative clause. I would
say there is no such thing as "first invisible が" in the first place.

> if 着る is a transitive verb, why is this second が used instead of を?

Because が marks the subject of 着る (i.e., who wears), を marks the object of 着る
(i.e., what to wear). 姉さんを着る means "wear her sister" rather than "her sister
wears".

In case you you did not know relative clauses, please [learn them
first](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14550/5010). 姉さんが着るの is "ones her
sister wears". ～と同じ種類 is "the same kind as ～".

