In Japanese, when a noun describes another noun, the first noun typically acts as a modifier for the second noun. This relationship is established by placing the descriptive noun before the noun it modifies, without the use of additional prepositions.
For example:
- 日本 (Nihon) means "Japan."
- 語 (go) means "language."
When you combine them, you get 日本語 (Nihongo), which means "Japanese language."
In this case, 日本 describes the kind of language, and the construction follows the order of the modifier first (日本) and the noun being modified second (語).
Additionally, in Japanese, this structure does not require any linking words (like "of" in English). The modifying noun directly precedes the noun it modifies.
Another example is:
- 車 (kuruma) means "car."
- 会社 (kaisha) means "company."
Putting these together results in 車会社 (kuruma kaisha), which means "car company."
This structure is a common way to create compound nouns in Japanese.