You've already learned that the particle の can be used to express possession and that we can place it next to a pronoun to make the words my, yours, his, and hers.
This is not the only use of the particle の however. It can be used in many situations where we don't use a possessive construction in English. The function of の is often to describe the noun that follows it in terms of the noun that precedes it.
| I saw a Japanese car. | 日本 の 車 を 見ました。nihon no kuruma o mimashita. |
| I am a Japanese (language) student. | 私 は 日本語 の 学生 です。watashi wa nihongo no gakusei desu. |
| You are a Japanese studenthaving the Japanese nationality. | あなた は 日本人 の 学生 です。anata wa nihonjin no gakusei desu. |
As you can see in the sentences above, when we put の after a noun, it basically makes the noun behave as an adjective.
Until now, we have used counters after the words they count. A counter can however also be used in front of the word it counts if we put の after the counter.
| There are four plates. | 四枚 の 皿 が あります。yonmai no sara ga arimasu. |
| I want three photos. | 三枚 の 写真 が ほしい です。sanmai no shashin ga hoshii desu. |
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