84667
> 最近、忙しくて。昨日だって帰ったの１２時すぎだったよ。

Please explain the use of の in the above sentence.
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2021-03-18T19:12:23.333
84663
2021-03-19T06:01:45.783
2021-03-19T06:01:45.783
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41362
question
grammar particle-の nominalization
What does の in this sentence do/mean?
This の is a special noun used to form [cleft
sentences](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/19208/5010). English speakers
use [preparatory _it_](https://www.englishpractice.com/grammar/preparatory-
subject/) for this type of sentence. Japanese speakers use の.

From this:

> 12時過ぎに帰った。  
>  I got home past midnight.

We can form the following cleft sentence:

> 帰ったのは12時過ぎだった。  
>  It was past midnight that I got home.

And we can drop は in casual speech:

> 帰ったの12時過ぎだった(よ)。  
>  It was past midnight that I got home.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-18T23:36:00.073
84667
2021-03-18T23:42:32.967
2021-03-18T23:42:32.967
5010
5010
84663
answer