と in 急だとは思わなかった


It's translated as "I didn't think it was so steep". It looks to me that と
here is used a a nominalizer, but I didn't find any dictionary to confirm
this. Also, can it be replaced by other nominalizer, like の, 事 or 物?




The と here is sometimes called a "quotative" particle, as if it marks the end
of a statement, which the rest of the sentence describes: 「急だ」​ **と**
[は]思わなかった。 The は here is used a bit like emphasis, and isn't strictly
necessary from a grammatical perspective.

Another way of looking at it is like the "that" coordinating conjunction in
English: _"I didn't think **that** it was so steep."_ While this coordinating
"that" is often omissible in English, this と is not omissible in Japanese.




The と here is sometimes called a "quotative" particle, as if it marks the end
of a statement, which the rest of the sentence describes: 「急だ」​ **と**
[は]思わなかった。 The は here is used a bit like emphasis, and isn't strictly
necessary from a grammatical perspective.

Another way of looking at it is like the "that" coordinating conjunction in
English: _"I didn't think **that** it was so steep."_ While this coordinating
"that" is often omissible in English, this と is not omissible in Japanese.

