Understanding 「性格悪いのお前」


In

> そんなことしたら **性格悪いのお前** だけになるぞ」

  1. What is 性格悪い? I assume it's an i-adj formed from 性格+悪い that means "personality-is-bad"?
  2. But if 性格悪い is an i-adj, how is 性格悪いのお前 grammatical? I assume it means "bad personality's you", but in order for (性格悪い)の(お前) to make sense, don't both 性格悪い and お前 need to be nouns?
  3. On the other hand, if の is being used to nominalize 性格悪い, then 性格悪いのお前 still doesn't seem grammatical? Shouldn't it be (性格悪いの)の(お前) or (性格悪いこと)の(お前)?




  1. There are two possible ways to understand 性格悪い: one is the compound i-adjective 性格+悪い and the other is omission of the particle が or の from 性格が悪い/性格の悪い. Anyway, this means "having bad personality" as you guessed.

  2. & 3. In order to interpret this sentence, you can think the particle が or は is omitted:

> 性格悪いの(が or は)お前だけになるぞ

In this sentence, の is employed to nominalize the adjective but 性格悪いの "those
who have bad personality" does not directly modify お前. So, this roughly means
"those who have bad personality would become only you."

p.s. when you just want to modify お前 with 性格悪い, 「性格悪いお前」 is enough.




  1. There are two possible ways to understand 性格悪い: one is the compound i-adjective 性格+悪い and the other is omission of the particle が or の from 性格が悪い/性格の悪い. Anyway, this means "having bad personality" as you guessed.

  2. & 3. In order to interpret this sentence, you can think the particle が or は is omitted:

> 性格悪いの(が or は)お前だけになるぞ

In this sentence, の is employed to nominalize the adjective but 性格悪いの "those
who have bad personality" does not directly modify お前. So, this roughly means
"those who have bad personality would become only you."

p.s. when you just want to modify お前 with 性格悪い, 「性格悪いお前」 is enough.

