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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"?

Questioner
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4 Answers4

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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」.

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
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    Isn't it already in the gerund just by having ている? – Louis Waweru Jun 19 '11 at 06:51
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    Ah, I misunderstood the gerund, nevermind. – Louis Waweru Jun 19 '11 at 07:10
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    I think that the notation “[be] seeing” is confusing because it suggests that it is a progressive form instead of a gerund. It is probably better to just write “seeing.” – Tsuyoshi Ito Jun 19 '11 at 15:17
  • While you are probably correct, I wanted to keep the auxiliary verb in there to distinguish 「見ているの」 from 「見るの」. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jun 19 '11 at 15:26
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    A "gerund" is a verb that has been changed it into a noun that identifies the action the verb represents. "swim" -> "swimming", "look" -> "looking", etc. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jun 20 '11 at 05:14
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    English lacks the granularity to translate the 「～ている」 conjugation properly; translating it as "to be Xing" is the closest equivalent in English, but it is not actually the gerund. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jun 20 '11 at 07:29
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    After some time, I think I get this now. The ~ている form is all about the tense (or "aspect") of what is taking place, and the の part turns it into a noun - the thing that is being commented on. – Questioner Jul 13 '11 at 03:13
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    in response to the 7th comment, i think 見ている is more of "am looking" instead of "looking" – Pacerier Aug 29 '11 at 10:35
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By putting "の", your are making a nominal group from the proposition that precedes it, and you put the focus on the action (there is a nuance with "こと", which takes practice to feel). Then, since you made a nominal group, you need your usual particles after, such as は、 に、 or whatever is required.

Examples:
ケーキを食べるのが好きです。
I like to be eating a cake. (The fun is in the eating.)

ケーキを食べることが好きです。
I like to eat cakes. (Generality. I like cakes.)

外で子供が遊んでいるのにじゃまされました。
I have been disturbed by children playing outside. (The playing is the reason of the disturbance)

Amanda S
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Axioplase
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  • One sounds like what you want to do now and the other like a description of your tastes. Is that right or that's just pure coincidence? – Pablo Sep 20 '18 at 21:47
5

we use の when we are talking about the verb. It is like "to" or "-ing" in English.

Hikari Iwasaki
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5

Actually both forms are correct. の is a recent development in Japanese, before it appeared, you'd use the 連体形(行く/熱い/綺麗な[る]/食べた[る]) directly before particles. An example can be seen here:

今宵は夜毎にこゝに集ひ來る骨牌（かるた）仲間も「ホテル」に宿りて、舟に殘れる*は*余一人のみなれば。

森鴎外　「舞姫」

You should still use の, though.

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    Nowadays, the omission of の is rather for verse i.e. writing stories, poems, etc. – syockit Jul 15 '11 at 15:02
  • @syockit, that's true, but I've noticed some contemporary people clearly omitting の when speaking(no ん no nothing). What I don't know is whether that's because of pedantry or because of their dialect. I'd say it's the former. –  Sep 01 '11 at 02:32
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    I don't know if it's called pedantry, but in speech, it's usually used in dramatic/empathic(emotional) sentences, like when complaining someone's behavior, or feeling sorry for a sad incident, etc. – syockit Sep 02 '11 at 06:46
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    (In modern Japanese) zero-nominalization is common in some particular constructs (see http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4489/zero-nominalisation-why-and-when), but not in others. Omitting の in the example sentence will definitely mark you as a non-native speaker. – dainichi Feb 28 '12 at 01:29