Lesson 05: Possession and attributes with の

の is a particle. It’s a possessive marker and an attributive marker. “Attributive” here means that something is an attribute of something else, like an attribute in a video game, like the “flame” in “flame sword”. The relationship is always straightforward.

私のネコ
My cat
君のX
Your X.
ネコの先
Ahead of the cat
男の子
Boy (metaphorically, male child)

If you get lost, the easiest way to remember の is: It’s like “of”, but it applies backwards.

夜の人
Person of the night

Sometimes “of” gets confusing, and you have to remember the idea of “attribute”.

夜の海
The night sea
海の夜
Night on the sea (NOT “night of the sea”)

の is literally the single most common word in all of japanese, so make sure you remember it well!

彼女の子供の名前だ。
It is her child’s name.