83731
I have encountered many grammatical structures used when describing things
made of many parts, each one corresponding to a single grammatical structure
in English: [numeral] [thing counted] [thing described]

  1. 3階建て 3 storey building
  2. 3ページ **の** 本 3 page book
  3. 3本 **足** の椅子 3 legged chair
  4. 3人 **の** 女性会社 3 woman company
  5. 3匹の犬 **の** 囲い 3 dog enclosure

I would like to know if there are rules to know which pattern to use.
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2021-01-18T05:19:10.213
83729
2023-02-02T10:29:08.967
38654
question
grammar
Describing things made of many parts
The basic pattern is fairly simple also in Japanese: `number + counter + の +
noun`. 3ページの本 follows this pattern pretty straightforwardly.

  * You can think -階建て and -本足 are basically counters on their own (although I don't know if they are true counters; some dictionaries may classify them as suffixes). Note that you have to say 3階建ての建物 to say "3-story _building_ ". There are a few long and specific "counters" like these, which you have to remember along with the meanings. Other examples include -人組, [-人乗り](https://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E4%BA%BA%E4%B9%97%E3%82%8A), [-人前](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/27625/5010), [-本撮り](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%E6%9C%AC%E6%92%AE%E3%82%8A) and [-枚落ち](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_\(shogi\)). These types of expressions are small in number and are rarely coined.
  * 3人の女性会社 literally means "three-person woman-company", but I'm not sure what 女性会社 refers to. 女性会社 sounds like this is a [compound word with some special meaning](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/27487/5010). If you want to say "a company consisting of three women", use 女性3人の会社.
  * As for 3匹の犬の囲い, 3匹の犬 perfectly follows the pattern above. ～の囲い means something like "the fence for ～", but this part has nothing to do with counting things.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NQbDH.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NQbDH.png)
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-18T06:14:31.237
83731
2023-02-02T10:29:08.967
2023-02-02T10:29:08.967
9831
5010
83729
answer