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I learned yesterday from Function of の particle in the title 「進撃の巨人」 about one usage of the の particle, an example being 友達のコジ. I understand this as "(my) friend Koji". I also know that if you want to say "teacher Koji", you use コジ先生. I have two connected questions:

  1. Can you say 先生のコジ? If yes, does it mean the same as コジ先生?
  2. Can you say コジ友達?
Kapol
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  • 友達のコジ doesn't so much mean "My friend Koji" as it means "Koji who is my friend". As they are not the same in English, they are not the same in Japanese. Depending on context, I think 先生のコジ is confusing unless there are two Koji's under consideration and you're indicating the Koji who is a teacher. – A.Ellett Oct 12 '23 at 22:10

1 Answers1

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先生 is a noun that also works as a name suffix. In English, there are name prefixes which you can add before someone's name (e.g., Mr. Smith, Professor Smith, Doctor Smith). In Japanese, there are various name suffixes you can add after someone's name, and 先生 is one of them. On the other hand, 友達 is just a noun.

  1. Yes 先生のコジ is correct but it's different from コジ先生. The former is like "Koji, the teacher", while the latter is like "Mr. Koji".
  2. No, you can't say コジ友達 because 友達 is not a name suffix.
naruto
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