Questions about Noun+が+Adjective


Here is a phrase:

> ねだんが たかいレストランは あまり すきじゃない
>
> I don't like high price restaurant very much

Now, the questions.

  1. If I used **たかいねだん レストラン** , would it be wrong? Or would mean something different?
  2. The が particle indicates what is high/tall in the restaurant, right? This will always be indicated with a が particle?
  3. If I take away the **ねだんが** will the phrase then become something like: "I don't like tall restaurant very much"?

Disclaimer: I'm still learning Kanji, so if possible, please add kana.




Your sentence:

> 値段{ねだん}が高{たか}いレストランはあまり好{す}きじゃない。

Have you come across the concept of a **relative clause** yet? Look this up.
In English nouns are modified by adjectives. In Japanese nouns can also be
modified by entire clauses. In this case 値段が高い is a sentence/clause in its own
right with the meaning "the price is high". This is the relative clause here
and it is used to modify the noun レストラン. So 値段が高いレストラン means "a restaurant
**where** the price is high".

> If I used たかいねだん レストラン, would it be wrong?

Yes it would be wrong because たかいねだん is a noun phrase and レストラン is a noun. You
cannot put two nouns/noun phrases next to each other. But you know that you
can modify a noun with another noun using の, right? So たかいねだん **の** レストラン
would be grammatical. I'm not a native speaker so I'm not sure how natural
that would be though.

> The が particle indicates what is high/tall in the restaurant, right? This
> will always be indicated with a が particle?

There is a rule that (most of the time) in a relative clause you can only mark
the subject by が (or の) and not by は. In relative clauses が can be replaced by
の.

> If I take away the ねだんが will the phrase then become something like: "I don't
> like tall restaurant very much"?

It could do but that would be an unusual thing to say. 高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない
without any further context is ambiguous. It could mean that you don't like
restaurants where the food is expensive, you don't like restaurants that you
can't afford to buy, or, as you said, you don't like restaurants which are
tall. Context is key in Japanese.




Your sentence:

> 値段{ねだん}が高{たか}いレストランはあまり好{す}きじゃない。

Have you come across the concept of a **relative clause** yet? Look this up.
In English nouns are modified by adjectives. In Japanese nouns can also be
modified by entire clauses. In this case 値段が高い is a sentence/clause in its own
right with the meaning "the price is high". This is the relative clause here
and it is used to modify the noun レストラン. So 値段が高いレストラン means "a restaurant
**where** the price is high".

> If I used たかいねだん レストラン, would it be wrong?

Yes it would be wrong because たかいねだん is a noun phrase and レストラン is a noun. You
cannot put two nouns/noun phrases next to each other. But you know that you
can modify a noun with another noun using の, right? So たかいねだん **の** レストラン
would be grammatical. I'm not a native speaker so I'm not sure how natural
that would be though.

> The が particle indicates what is high/tall in the restaurant, right? This
> will always be indicated with a が particle?

There is a rule that (most of the time) in a relative clause you can only mark
the subject by が (or の) and not by は. In relative clauses が can be replaced by
の.

> If I take away the ねだんが will the phrase then become something like: "I don't
> like tall restaurant very much"?

It could do but that would be an unusual thing to say. 高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない
without any further context is ambiguous. It could mean that you don't like
restaurants where the food is expensive, you don't like restaurants that you
can't afford to buy, or, as you said, you don't like restaurants which are
tall. Context is key in Japanese.

