Learn Hardcore Japanese: sensei ga kaesita touan wo mitara, bunpou no matigai ga ikutuka atta. - When I looked at the test paper the teacher returned, there were several grammar mistakes.

Word

先生せんせい　が　返かえした　答案とうあん　を　見みたら、　文法ぶんぽう　の　間違まちがい　が　いくつか　あった。sensei ga kaeshita touan o mitara, bunpou no machigai ga ikutsuka atta.

Meaning

When I looked at the test paper the teacher returned, there were several grammar mistakes.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of sensei ga kaeshita touan o mitara, bunpou no machigai ga ikutsuka atta.

Why does 返した come before 答案?

Because Japanese uses a relative clause before the noun it modifies.

So 先生が返した答案 means:

In English, the noun usually comes first and the description comes after it:

In Japanese, it is the other way around:

This is a very common pattern:

Why is が used after 先生?

Here, 先生 is the subject of 返した.

Inside that mini-clause, the teacher is the one doing the action of returning, so が marks the subject.

This が only belongs to the relative clause:

It does not mark the subject of the whole sentence.

Why is there no particle between 返した and 答案?