Missing nominaliser in this sentence?

Question

Just read this question and it reminded me of something I'd been meaning to ask.

私、そんなに悪いことしてるおぼえないんだけど...

I don't remember doing such bad things but...

Is the lack of a nominaliser on してる an error in my book or is there a reason this grammar is allowed? The book seems to be written in a very colloquial style so I was wondering if it's just natural but lazy Japanese.

And how do you parse おぼえない? – macraf Nov 21 '15 at 13:18 — macraf, Nov 21 '15 at 13:18

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 21 '15 at 14:09

You're probably confused because it looks like two verbs together, してる and 覚えない (neg. of 覚える)

But it's actually a relative clause ending in してる, modifying the noun 覚え, with a particle (は or が) colloquially being dropped between 覚え and ない.

覚え as a noun here is definition 2 in this dictionary:

記憶に残っている事柄。また、思い当たること。心覚え。「この顔には覚えがある」「身に覚えがない」

So memory, recollection, etc.

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 21 '15 at 14:13

7

私、そんなに悪いことしてるおぼえ(は)ないんだけど.. I think you parse it now.

answered Nov 21 '15 at 14:13

xeta217

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5

Oops!!Late by 1~2 minutes. – xeta217 Nov 21 '15 at 14:14
2

Don't worry! More answers are good, and the same thing being explained in different ways by different people can be helpful :) – Robin Nov 21 '15 at 14:17

Missing nominaliser in this sentence?

2 Answers2