kaeri no densha de tomodachi kara no messeeji o yomimashita.

direct object particle

Breakdown of kaeri no densha de tomodachi kara no messeeji o yomimashita.

• 読よむ: to read
• 友とも達だち: friend
• の: possessive case particle

Questions & Answers about kaeri no densha de tomodachi kara no messeeji o yomimashita.

What part of speech is 帰り here? Is it the verb 帰る?

帰り here is a noun, not a plain verb form.

It comes from 帰る (to return / to go home), but 帰り means something like:

• the return
• the way back
• the trip home

So in this sentence, 帰りの電車 means the train on the way back / the train home.

A common learner mistake is to think this is just the -masu stem of 帰る, but in many cases that stem also functions as a noun.

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Why is の used in 帰りの電車?

The の connects 帰り and 電車 so that 帰り describes what kind of train it is.

So:

• 帰り = the return / the way home
• 電車 = train
• 帰りの電車 = the train home / the train on the way back

This is a very common use of の: one noun modifies another noun.

Other similar patterns:

• 日本の車 = a Japanese car / a car from Japan
• 学校の先生 = a school teacher / the teacher at school
• 朝の電車 = the morning train

So here, 帰りの電車 is a noun phrase built with noun + の + noun.

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