eki no kenbaiki de kippu o kau mae ni, unchin o kakuninshimashita.

Before buying a ticket at the station ticket machine, I checked the fare.

Breakdown of eki no kenbaiki de kippu o kau mae ni, unchin o kakuninshimashita.

• を: direct object particle
• の: possessive case particle
• で: location particle
• に: time particle

Questions & Answers about eki no kenbaiki de kippu o kau mae ni, unchin o kakuninshimashita.

Why is 駅の券売機 written with の? Does it mean the station's ticket machine?

Yes, の links nouns together.

• 駅 = station
• 券売機 = ticket machine / ticket vending machine

So 駅の券売機 literally means the station's ticket machine, but in natural English it usually means the ticket machine at the station.

In Japanese, AのB often means:

• B belonging to A
• B located at A
• B associated with A

So here it is not necessarily possession in the strict English sense.

What exactly does 券売機 mean?

券売機 is a compound noun:

• 券 = ticket
• 売 = sell
• 機 = machine

So it literally means ticket-selling machine, usually translated as ticket machine or ticket vending machine.

This is a very common type of Japanese compound noun, where several kanji combine into one word.

Why is the particle で used after 券売機?