Question 私が作ったの...something's missing?

Hello, friends:

I've been listening to a dialogue between two friends at a birthday party. A guest has just given the host (whose birthday it is) a present of a sweater. The host says it's a wonderful sweater, and the friend replies: "I made it myself;' 「私が作ったの」.

Now, I know that the 私が indicates that what follows is a dependent clause, and sure enough the 作ったの would seem to indicate that it's a nominal clause. I know from Toritoribe-sama that の when modified by a nominal clause (or adjective) can act as a pronoun, so の here is standing in for sweater. But this is the friend's whole statement, so the dependent clause isn't completed by a main clause. Or so I am thinking anyway.

The friends are speaking in direct style, so it's possible the copula だ has been dropped, in which case the main clause would simply be "it is." In other words: "[it is a sweater] that I've made myself"

Ok, how half-baked is my interpretation?

Thanks very much, as always!

I know from Toritoribe-sama that の when modified by a nominal clause (or adjective) can act as a pronoun, so の here is standing in for sweater.

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No, it's the explanatory mode. It's the same as this:

私が作ったんだ。

But just using の is a more feminine version.

The friends are speaking in direct style, so it's possible the copula だ has been dropped, in which case the main clause would simply be "it is." In other words: "[it is a sweater] that I've made myself"

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I don't think のだ is ever used that way.

If you were to say something like "this is the sweater I made", I'm pretty sure you'd probably go with something like this:

私が作ったセーター（だ｜なの｜なんだ）。

I don't think there are many contexts you would want to use that, though; the only thing I can think of off the top of my head is if you want to introduce it. Note, again, that なの or なんだ is to use the explanatory mode.

I think everything I've said here is accurate, but if I got anything wrong, hopefully someone will correct me.

Thank you very much, Julie-san; I really appreciate your helpful explanation.

The good folks on here have been trying to educate on explanatory の usage for some time now...I guess I'm a slow learner.

The dialogue I was referring to was from the Minna textbook...I have been going back to some (ancillary) material in earlier chapters that I hadn't reviewed yet. The chapter that this dialogue came from is earlier than the Minna chapter that discusses the explanatory の concept.

I know it's an artificial form of analysis but I thought to myself that the textbook authors were trying to express a construction that had already been studied rather than a concept from a future chapter.

Interestingly, later on in the dialogue, (and I was listening to this after I had posted my original question here), another speaker says (referring to a Mexican hat): 「お祭りの時、男の人が被る帽子だよ。」 I think this was the sentence pattern that I had in mind when I heard 「私が作ったの。」 The sentences seemed similar to me.

A few weeks ago, Toritoribe-sama was explaining to me an example of の as a pronoun using this sentence: 「 そこにあるのを貸してください。」 In this sentence, の was a pronoun that was replacing a noun understood in context, the sentence would otherwise have been 「 そこにある本を貸してください。」 So I thought this seemed applicable.

With the explanatory の explanation, I'm still not quite sure why が would be used. 私が作った looked like a nominal clause and not a main clause, to my uneducated eyes.

I apologize for my confusion, but I do thank you very kindly for all your wonderful help!

With the explanatory の explanation, I'm still not quite sure why が would be used.

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Particles are a tough thing to explain, but you should know that は and が can often be interchanged to put focus somewhere else, or to change the way it's being expressed, so to speak. In this case, she's using が to put the focus on the fact that she made it herself, as opposed to buying it at a store. I believe if は had been used, it would have instead put emphasis on the fact that she had made something, so it sounds more disconnected and less natural that way. It's kind of hard to explain and I probably still don't have it down perfectly.

I would suggest not thinking too much about the rules of when to use は and が, and instead just try to get practice at it.

As a starting point, Mike-san (haven't seen him around in a while...) once suggested to me a rule of thumb, though it's not perfect: think of が as putting focus on what comes before it, and think of は as putting focus on what comes after it. Like I said, it's not perfect, but it's probably a better starting point than to try to learn confusing rules about what particle to use in what situation.

Hi, Julie-san! This is very helpful!! Thanks for explaining the use of が here so clearly

In the sentence 私が作ったの, the topic そのセーターは is omitted since what she is talking about now(= topic) is obvious from the context. Because 私 is not the topic, が is attached to 私. This is another reason が is used there. Similarly, the topic これは(when the speaker has the hat) or それは(when the addressee has the hat) is omitted in お祭りの時、男の人が被る帽子だよ。.

As for the sentence structure, そのセーターは is the topicalized object in そのセーターは私が作ったの. Thus, it's a variation of a verb sentence(動詞文) 私がそのセーターを作った (subject - object - verb). On the other hand, これ/それは、お祭りの時、男の人が被る帽子だよ。 is a noun sentence(名詞文) since the core of the sentence is これ/それは帽子だ (Noun A は Noun B だ). The structures are different between the two sentences.

As for の in the initial sentence, you can think it's a sentence ending particle to soften the tone of determination rather than the explanatory の, which is indeed the etymology of it. This の is basically used by female, as already explained, but actually, it's less and less common in real conversations nowadays. Instead, 私が作ったんだ is used also by female in these days. It's still used mostly in fictions such like novels or mangas as an indicator to show that the speaker is female, though.

Note that the sentence ending particle の has many functions. This softening one is rare nowadays, as I said, but, for instance, the one as a question marker (e.g. 食べないの？) is quite commonly used by both male and female.

Hi, Toritoribe-sama....this explanation was nothing short of brilliant. I can understand it now.

I feel particularly stupid, because in a much earlier chapter of Minna the authors did a really good job, I thought, in explaining that the "proto-structure" (my description) of a 動詞文 sentence: <[subject (noun1)] + が + [object (noun2)] + を + [transitive verb]> could be transformed into a common structure: <[topic (noun2)] + は + [subject (noun1)] + が + [transitive verb]> .

I thought Minna's explanation was revelatory in that it made sense of a sentence where there was with no topic, but had a subject marked with ga, and a transitive verb with no direct object marked by wo. I was so impressed I made notes of it and studied it.

Unfortunately, this understanding was the furthest thing from my mind when I heard an example of it in the dialogue. How frustrating to be stupid.

As for の, thank you for the additional information. I have unwittingly caused everyone here much bother in the recent past with other examples of sentence-ending の that have befuddled me. The next time I encounter の in this context, the alarm bells in my mind will be going off!

Once again, please accept my grateful thanks, Toritoribe-sama, and many thanks also to Julie-san for her explanations and enthusiastic support.