How to parse 「店は人の多いところがいいです」


> 店は人の多いところがいいです
>
> Book translation: stores are better (to be) located at heavily trafficked
> places.

My question is related to [Relative Clauses: 多い人 vs
多くの人](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/66648/relative-
clauses-%E5%A4%9A%E3%81%84%E4%BA%BA-vs-%E5%A4%9A%E3%81%8F%E3%81%AE%E4%BA%BA)
in which the answerer provides a similar example to the above:

> オーストラリア人の多い場所
>
> Given translation: a place where there are many Australians.

* * *

## 人の多いところ

My understanding is that の marks the subject of the adjective 多い, which can be
replaced が for emphasis.

  1. 人が多い
  2. 人の多い + ところ

Overall, it means "A place with lots of people." Assuming this parsing is
correct, I move on to my next question.

## Can 店は人の多いところがいいです be ambiguous?

ところ means "place" but it can also be used to refer to a point in time.
Therefore, can the above sentence convey the meaning "It's good when the shop
is crowded"?




I've been working with and in Japanese off and on since about 1988, but I'm
not a native speaker, so take this with a grain of salt. :)

## How to parse 店は人の多いところがいいです

> 人の多いところ  
>  My understanding is that の marks the subject of the adjective 多い, which can
> be replaced が for emphasis...  
>  Overall, it means "A place with lots of people."

Your parsing so far is correct.

## Can 店は人の多いところがいいです be ambiguous?

I don't think so.

You point out:

> ところ means "place" but it can also be used to refer to a point in time.

The term ところ used to refer to a point in time is, I think, ~~always~~
_usually_ in the context of a verb phrase:

  * するところ → just about to do
  * しているところ → in the moment of doing
  * したところ → just finished doing

I don't think it refers to time with _most_ adjectives, where instead it
refers to an aspect of something (as in 「彼女【かのじょ】のいい[と]{●}[こ]{●}[ろ]{●}」 "the
good aspects of [my] girlfriend"), or to a location (as in
「蚊【か】のいない[と]{●}[こ]{●}[ろ]{●}」 "a place without mosquitoes", or
「カバの少【すく】ない[と]{●}[こ]{●}[ろ]{●}」 "a place with few hippos").

## Can the above sentence convey the meaning "It's good when the shop is
crowded"?

I don't think so. To convey the sense of _" the point or span in time when a
quality is present"_, I'm much more accustomed to seeing the word とき used
instead:

> 店【みせ】は人【ひと】の多【おお】い[と]{●}[き]{●}がいいです

(Albeit, this isn't "crowded" so much as just "there are a lot of people".)

### Addendum

As pointed out by @[Nameless](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/45630/)
in the comment to this post, there are sometimes cases where `[ADJ]+ところ`
refers to a moment or time, such as 「忙【いそが】しい[と]{●}[き]{●}」 "a busy moment".

I think the reason that doesn't work here with 店【みせ】 and 人【ひと】の多【おお】いところ is
because a 店【みせ】 is inherently a "location", as noted by
@[A.Ellett](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/4875/) in the comment on
the question, so ところ in context must mean a place. Meanwhile, because neither
a person nor a person's current state is a "location", 忙しいところ cannot refer to
a "busy place" and still make sense in that context.




I've been working with and in Japanese off and on since about 1988, but I'm
not a native speaker, so take this with a grain of salt. :)

## How to parse 店は人の多いところがいいです

> 人の多いところ  
>  My understanding is that の marks the subject of the adjective 多い, which can
> be replaced が for emphasis...  
>  Overall, it means "A place with lots of people."

Your parsing so far is correct.

## Can 店は人の多いところがいいです be ambiguous?

I don't think so.

You point out:

> ところ means "place" but it can also be used to refer to a point in time.

The term ところ used to refer to a point in time is, I think, ~~always~~
_usually_ in the context of a verb phrase:

  * するところ → just about to do
  * しているところ → in the moment of doing
  * したところ → just finished doing

I don't think it refers to time with _most_ adjectives, where instead it
refers to an aspect of something (as in 「彼女【かのじょ】のいい[と]{●}[こ]{●}[ろ]{●}」 "the
good aspects of [my] girlfriend"), or to a location (as in
「蚊【か】のいない[と]{●}[こ]{●}[ろ]{●}」 "a place without mosquitoes", or
「カバの少【すく】ない[と]{●}[こ]{●}[ろ]{●}」 "a place with few hippos").

## Can the above sentence convey the meaning "It's good when the shop is
crowded"?

I don't think so. To convey the sense of _" the point or span in time when a
quality is present"_, I'm much more accustomed to seeing the word とき used
instead:

> 店【みせ】は人【ひと】の多【おお】い[と]{●}[き]{●}がいいです

(Albeit, this isn't "crowded" so much as just "there are a lot of people".)

### Addendum

As pointed out by @[Nameless](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/45630/)
in the comment to this post, there are sometimes cases where `[ADJ]+ところ`
refers to a moment or time, such as 「忙【いそが】しい[と]{●}[き]{●}」 "a busy moment".

I think the reason that doesn't work here with 店【みせ】 and 人【ひと】の多【おお】いところ is
because a 店【みせ】 is inherently a "location", as noted by
@[A.Ellett](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/4875/) in the comment on
the question, so ところ in context must mean a place. Meanwhile, because neither
a person nor a person's current state is a "location", 忙しいところ cannot refer to
a "busy place" and still make sense in that context.

