I self study Japanese and among the things I do is reading easy NHK news
articles.

[Here is one article I
read.](http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10010062131000/k10010062131000.html)
In the article appears the word 首都 _capital city_. Hovering over it would give
the following sentence:

> その国の議会や中心になる役所のある都市

If I am not mistaken this sentence should mean something along the lines of:

> City with a public office becomes the capital and the center of the country.

Now, whether the above translation is correct or not, I have not idea how this
sentence works, I can't wrap my head around it. I understand each part (word,
particle, verb, etc.) separately (to a certain degree for I can't understand
this sentence) but, I can't understand how those individual parts integrate
and form this sentence.

With that said I would like to receive your help with translating this
sentence and helping me understand it, the sentence structure, word order,
grammar and any other thing that would help me understand the sentence and how
it was created.

Unless you have to please refrain from using rōmaji in your answers.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-30T19:24:50.500
24045
2015-11-17T05:13:34.777
2015-11-17T05:13:34.777
542
question
grammar syntax relative-clauses parsing
Relative clauses with になる and のなる
You should read the sentence in this way:

```

    NP{ 
      NP(その国) POSS(の) NP[ NP(議会) 
                              AND(や) 
                              NP(中心になる役所) ] } 
    SUBJ(の) 
    V(ある) 
    NP(都市)
    
```

, where NP{} is the subject of the sentence modifying 'city'. It's not a full
parse, but I hope you understand the point here.

OP seems to have a problem reading NP[], which is a simple conjunction of two
noun phrases: 'parliament' and '中心になる役所'. You should note that (に)なる here does
not mean 'becoming', it's more like 'playing a role of'. So 中心になる役所 translates
into 'government offices playing central roles' or more naturally 'important
public offices'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-30T21:09:04.043
24049
2015-05-01T13:15:58.100
2015-05-01T13:15:58.100
9980
9980
24045
answer
役所のある都市  
A city that has government offices. Due to が -> の conversion, this is the
equivalent to 役所がある都市. Credit to @snailboat

議会や中心になる  
Becomes (things like) central and congress. In this case, this is not a one
time thing, or a future occurrence - it is in the present. This basically
means it is being/doing. Another example of なる meaning "to be/to do" is ご覧になる,
which is simply defined as "to look" despite literally meaning "to become
looking." The common definition "to become" is really closer to the future
tense of this verb, which is why it is much more flexible in Japanese than in
English.

その国の  
Of that country

その国の議会や中心になる役所のある都市  
A city with government offices that are currently the congress and center of
that country.

I tried to make it make sense in English while sticking as close to the
literal translation as possible. I read NHK Easy frequently, and I always read
those hover definitions as well. I hope this helps!
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-01T00:17:13.157
24052
2015-05-01T19:33:25.693
2015-05-01T19:33:25.693
9981
9981
24045
answer