Saying "without"? Using の
Recently, I was translating some song lyrics and was surprised by this translation:
To all the youngsters without dreams.
夢のない全部の若者に.
Why would you use の here? It seems very unnatural to put の before ない and I am very confused as to what the の represents. I thought the translation would be something like 夢なし全部の若者に or 夢はない全部の若者に.
On that topic, I am confused by another usage of の:
This is my friend, Tanaka.
こちらは友達の田中さんです。
I thought the の particle was used to indicate possession? This was in my Japanese textbook.
It might just be incorrect translations but if you clear this up, it would be very much appreciated.
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 1
0
1.「夢のない全部の若者に」
Originally, the expression should be "夢はない / 夢がない".
However, when it is taken as a noun modifier (in this case to modify "全部の若者"), the "は/が" particle changes to "の" in order to avoid multiple occurrence, as well as to reserve the "は/が" particle for solely the subject in a particular sentence.
2.「こちらは友達の田中さんです。」
In this case, the の particle is used to explain the relation of "田中さん", which is the friend "友達" of the speaker.
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良い一日をお過ごし下さい。／I wish you a good day.
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