Saturday 6 June 2015

grammar - What is the difference between は and のは?


The following sentence means "seeing all the different foreign people was interesting."


This, according to my Japanese friends is incorrect:



色々な外国人を見ているは面白かった。



... and this is correct:




色々な外国人を見ているのは面白かった。



To me, the difference is so subtle that I can't really get a feel for how the presence of の really changes it.


Can someone provide an explanation that clarifies what makes の important in this situation?


Update: I'm actually still confused by this. Couldn't the first example mean "Looking at the various foreigners was interesting", and the second example mean "That I was looking at the various foreigners was interesting"?



Answer



In this case, 「の」 changes the verb "to [be] see" into the gerund form "[be] seeing", which is what you found interesting. After that, 「は」 is just 「は」.


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