I’m puzzled on the 学ぶの part. I would have thought it would be 学び, so what is the purpose of the の (is it the same の in phrases like 私の犬) and why ぶ instead of び? Thank you!
~~I’m not sure why they chose 学ぶ over 学び – probably just a different way of saying the same thing.~~ **See** u/psycotica0’s **reply for the reason (I misread the sentence – oops).**
The の is nominalizing the verb 学ぶ so that it can be used as a noun like entity (so it can be marked with が).
Edit: One way to think of this の is to imagine an unstated noun following it – e.g. 物 (thing). Then you can read it in the same way as you would if it were connecting two nouns – i.e. whereas 私の犬 means “the dog that is mine” (my dog), 学ぶの[物] would mean “the thing that is *to study*”.
A bit different than 私の犬
私の犬 is using の as a possessive particle…saying “my dog”
学ぶの is using the particle as a normalizer. Turns a verb that is in dictionary form into a noun. The reason for that is because verbs cant be the subject of a sentence….and so a particle like が cant be attached to them. By using の and turning it into a noun, it can now become what the sentence is about. Its like saying “studying languages is something I like”
If I may ask a question based on this question, it’s my guess that the reason they went with 学ぶの rather than 学び is because it’s not just 学ぶ that’s being nominalized here, but the entire 言語を学ぶ phrase, right? Or is that wrong and 言語を学び would have also been fine?
[https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/](https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/) the web pages of the complete guide and the grmmar guide do open but says “page not…
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https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/nominalizers-koto-and-no/
~~I’m not sure why they chose 学ぶ over 学び – probably just a different way of saying the same thing.~~ **See** u/psycotica0’s **reply for the reason (I misread the sentence – oops).**
The の is nominalizing the verb 学ぶ so that it can be used as a noun like entity (so it can be marked with が).
Edit: One way to think of this の is to imagine an unstated noun following it – e.g. 物 (thing). Then you can read it in the same way as you would if it were connecting two nouns – i.e. whereas 私の犬 means “the dog that is mine” (my dog), 学ぶの[物] would mean “the thing that is *to study*”.
A bit different than 私の犬
私の犬 is using の as a possessive particle…saying “my dog”
学ぶの is using the particle as a normalizer. Turns a verb that is in dictionary form into a noun. The reason for that is because verbs cant be the subject of a sentence….and so a particle like が cant be attached to them. By using の and turning it into a noun, it can now become what the sentence is about. Its like saying “studying languages is something I like”
If you want to read more about の as a normalizer, I find [Tofugu](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/particle-no-nominalizer/) an invaluable resource
If I may ask a question based on this question, it’s my guess that the reason they went with 学ぶの rather than 学び is because it’s not just 学ぶ that’s being nominalized here, but the entire 言語を学ぶ phrase, right? Or is that wrong and 言語を学び would have also been fine?