から
から can be used grammatically in certain ways to show reasons for something, basically acting as ‘because’ or ‘so’:
人とロボットが一緒に働く時代だからこそあらためて考えたい安全のこと
Because it is the era where humans and robots work together, we need to rethink safety
https://monoist.atmarkit.co.jp/mn/articles/2012/11/news046.html
オフィスチェアメーカーだから伝えたい。
Because we’re an office chair maker, we want to inform you.
https://www.bauhutte.jp/bauhutte-life/chair-mat/
This is one of the more useful constructions in Japanese and should be learnt as soon as possible after getting the basics down and is aimed at about N5/N4 level.
の
This grammar point, variously referred to as the ‘explanatory の’ or similar, is a slightly more advanced grammar point that would be learnt around the N4+ level.
あざとくて何が悪いの？
What’s wrong with being pushy?
https://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/azatokute/#/?category=variety
「彼女いないの？意外!」
You don’t have a girlfriend? Shocking!
This is not the easiest grammar point to get your head around. One major reason is that we don’t particularly speak like this in English. Generally when I’m introducing this grammar point to my students, I start with the idea that adding の to sentences adds an implication. What that implication is will depend heavily on the sentence.
This grammar is also often used to seek further information or a proper explanation rather than just getting a Yes or No answer. There is way more to this grammar than I want to discuss here, importantly for the point of this blog post it can be simplified to ん.
の + だから and んだから
What happens when the two are combined? It is not so straightforward as just saying meaning 1 + meaning 2. This is a very common pattern in Japanese and so it is worth digging down into what it is used for.
Both forms are rather different. With から you explain the reason of something and it’s similar to the English word “because”.
の is much wider and it refers to some previous occurrence to make a conclusion or fill the gap in knowledge. It can be seen not only referring to reasons, but also used to mark paraphrasing, references and different things. Basically, it’s a nominaliser and its operation is similar to English. In English if we want to use nouns instead of verbs, we are probably dealing with の in Japanese. ‘It’s a thing’, ‘That’s a thing’, ‘Such things as …’, ‘The thing you did …’, ‘Oh, so it’s a ….’. For example, we can hear something hitting the roof and wonder, ‘rain?’ instead of, ‘it’s raining?’.
んだから has a very specific role. It’s used in a situation when both the speaker and listener knows about something, but in the opinion of the speaker, the listener doesn’t understand the importance of it. Thus the speaker tries to highlight that point using の as a reference and から as a reason for the preceding phrase.
阪神 大金あるんだから優勝しないと！
Hanshin [baseball team] We’re super rich and so we must win!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfZD_wigMf8
Hanshin Tigers are one of the biggest baseball clubs in Japan, based in the 関西 region of Japan representing Osaka/Kobe. They are well funded and we can see んだから attaching to 大金ある, showing that there is some implication being made about being rich. In pro sports, generally the more money you have, the better team you can buy including coaching staff etc. So then you are expected to win.
北の富士氏「走ってくるんだから、あの人は」琴桜の立ち合いは恐怖／初場所
Kitanofuji: “He’ll come running at you, that guy”. Fighting Kotozakura was scary (first tournament)
https://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20210119/sum21011908000001-n1.html
Kitanofuji is a retired sumo wrestler who made the top rank of Yokozuna and does commentary on sumo matches. He is being asked about 琴櫻 傑將(ことざくら まさかつ), a now deceased former sumo wrestler who also made Yokuzana. Kitanofuji was being asked about Kotozakura, nicknamed the Raging Bull and how he used to be a very aggressive wrestler.
走ってくるんだから shows how んだから is attached to はしってくる, which is to ‘run at’ someone. んだから adds nuance of, ‘because he’s going to come running at you (and attack and not let up etc)’, emphasising that you cannot just sit back and hope to beat him or think that he will just be defensive as he WILL be attacking you.
旅館じゃないんだから
This is not a hotel, you know
https://ameblo.jp/sunnyblue99/entry-12651080842.html
This is a blog from someone who had issues with their marriage and ending up divorcing, and goes through the warning signs that they were not a good match. She recalls a specific argument where they went to the ex’s parents’ house for New Year’s. Seeing as they were staying in the house, she didn’t bother to bring any towels. When she asked for one, she got the above response from her ex-husband.
旅館じゃない means “not a ryokan” but the similar expression in English would be “not a hotel”. The addition of ん to this sentence really emphasises a few things: 1) it’s not a hotel 2) it’s my parent’s house 3) there will be no ‘service’ of the type you get at paid accommodation. Of course the point being that she shouldn’t expect to be given things like towels, meals, daily cleaning etc. The use of んだから here is used to tell the woman that her expectation of towels is ridiculous (apparently 1 towel was produced which was shared between the two of them for 4(!) days).
