How should this sentence be understood? 「小さなゴンドラに四人は手狭だ」


> 小【ちい】さなゴンドラに四人【よにん】は手狭【てぜま】だ

Could に be used as part of a modifying clause without verbs like ある, いる to
describe 四人【よにん】 to mean "4 people in a small cabin is too cramped" or does it
mean "4 people are too cramped for a small cabin"?

Am I correct to think 「小【ちい】さなゴンドラに四人【よにん】」is the equivalent to the English "4
people in a cabin" vs "4 people who are in a cabin" which would be
「小【ちい】さなゴンドラにいる四人【よにん】」? In that it can be considered an abbreviation of the
latter and can have similar meaning in the right context but に or "in" in the
former are also free to interact with other elements in the whole sentence
since it's not confined to being a relative clause?




“4 people in a cabin”

This sentence means “小さなゴンドラにいる四人” in Japanese.

“4 people who are in a cabin” it means 小さなゴンドラにいる4人 as well.

「に」this word doesn’t have that meaning like ある、いる

小さなゴンドラに四人 it means also “4 people in a cabin” This type of grammar is called
**体言止め (Taigendome)** This grammar is to make sentence with noun or pronoun at
the end of the sentence. This technique is used to make sentences more
rhythmical and shorter.

Ex normal version:

> A “旅行はどうだったの？”  
>  How was your trip?
>
> B “小さなゴンドラに4人いたから、狭くて、嫌になっちゃったよ。”  
>  There were 4 people in a cabin and it was cramped. So I was fed up with it.

体言止め version :

> A “旅行はどうだったの？”  
>  How was your trip?
>
> B “ **小さなゴンドラに4人** 、狭くて、嫌になっちゃったよ。”  
>  There were 4 people in a cabin and it was cramped. So I was fed up with it.

Ex2 normal version

> ドアをあけ、前を見たら、そこには綺麗な景色がありました。私はすぐに写真を撮りました。  
>  After I opened the door and looked forward ,there were so beautiful view.
> So I took a picture immediately.

体言止め version

> ドアをあけ、前を見たら、 **そこには綺麗な景色** 。私はすぐに写真を撮りました。  
>  After I opened the door and looked forward ,there were so beautiful view.
> So I took a picture immediately.

