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I read a sentence in Naruto that challenged some of my ideas about how
Japanese works, and I'd like to try and clear this up. I can only assume that
アナタがピンチの時 means "when you're in a pinch". ![naruto
#52](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FqSN6.jpg)

First of all, it looks like a relative clause modifying 時, but why isn't there
a verb? Usually, when something is marked with が, that thing is the subject
(or something) of a particular verb. Here, there's a verbless subject. Is the
copula implied?

Secondly, could you say アナタがピンチな時 instead? How is な used in relative clauses?
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2012-03-02T07:58:04.870
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question
relative-clauses
relative clauses without verbs
> ピンチ

A pinch/crisis, noun.

> ピンチの時

_At the time of_ a pinch crisi. If ピンチ was a な-adjective, then you would say
な時 instead, but since it's a noun, you must say の時.

> アナタがピンチの時

Subject introduced, _At the time of_ **your** pinch/crisis, or to make a
smoother (slightly off) translation; When you are in a crisis. The whole
clause before the は is still a noun phrase though, so that there's no verb or
copula is ok.

Sorry for the dumb answer at first, I think I got it right after this edit. ;)
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2012-03-02T08:20:41.937
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2012-03-02T08:42:30.240
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The most straightforward way to analyze this is to regard の as a 連体形{れんたいけい}
form of copula, which only comes after nouns (and の-adjectives).

> あなたがピンチだ you're in a pinch  
>  あなたがピンチの時 when you're in a pinch
>
> 明日は雨だ tomorrow it will rain  
>  明日が雨の場合 if it rains tomorrow
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2012-03-05T01:01:08.923
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Easy one:

It does not look like a relative clause, because **it is not a relative
clause** (in Japanese nor in English). If you really must give it a
grammatical label, it is a _[subordinate
clause](http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/subordinateclause.htm)_ linked to the
main clause by the [subordinate
conjunction](http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/subordinateconjunction.htm)
"when".

As long as you don't try to make this a construct that it is not, I think it
is fairly straightforward to understand:

> あなたがピンチ の時は...
>
> [When/In times where] you are in a pinch, [main clause]
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