36298
> 向こうに大きなビルが見えます。

I translate it to

> The big building is visible over there.

# Question

Can I also translate it to the following?

> The big building over there is visible.

In other words, can I assume that 向こうに is a relative clause for 大きなビル?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-29T22:51:49.993
36293
2016-06-30T03:52:57.727
2016-06-29T23:30:50.087
11192
11192
question
grammar relative-clauses
Can 向こうに in 向こうに大きなビルが見える also be interpreted as a relative clause?
向こう is grammatically a noun, so the sentence you have can really only be
parsed as ＡにＢがする → （向こう）に（大きなビル）が（見える）. If you want it to be parsed as in your
second translation, I think you have no choice but to choose something like
向こうにある（あの）大きなビルが見える.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-30T01:10:45.180
36296
2016-06-30T01:10:45.180
6841
36293
answer
It's impossible to parse it as a relative _clause_ because there is only one
verb/adjective (ie, 見えます) in the whole sentence. As a rule, each sub- _clause_
must have a verb/adjective.

So the real question is: "Which word this 向こうに modifies?"

向こう **に** can only modify a verb, and 向こう **の** modifies a noun. Both can be
translated as "over there" in English, but you need to distinguish them in
Japanese.

Since 向こうに can only modify a verb, it modifies nothing but 見える at the end of
the sentence. So your first translation is the correct one.

If you say 向こう **の** 大きなビルが見えます, that is grammatically correct and this 向こうの
modifies ビル ("the building over there"). But semantically, saying "a big
building over there" already means the speaker and the listener can see it, so
"A big building over there is visible" sounds awkward to me.

For example, 「向こうにある大きなビルは赤いです。」 is a semantically valid sentence which uses a
relative clause (向こうにある modifies ビル and ある is a verb).
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-30T01:57:38.143
36298
2016-06-30T01:57:38.143
5010
36293
answer
> 向こうに大きなビルが見えます。

  * "The big building is visible over there."
  * "The big building over there is visible."

From my experience, there is no problem with either of these translations.
Although 「向こう **にある** 大きなビルが見えます」is probably better. Here are a couple others
which might be natural in context...

  * "(You) can see a big building on the other side." 
  * "(There is) a big building (you) can see on the other side." 
  * "(If you go to) the other side, (you'll be) able to see a big building"

As long as you keep the information the same, i.e.

```

    at other side / big building / becomes visible
    
```

you're pretty free to translate it in a lot of different ways, as long as you
don't contradict any information in the context.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-30T02:10:39.803
36299
2016-06-30T03:52:57.727
2016-06-30T03:52:57.727
7055
7055
36293
answer