What’s the difference between こと and の?

I love read a book.

Is it correct?

As you already know, this sentence is wrong because we shouldn’t include two verbs in one sentence.

How about “Read a book is fun”?

This isn’t correct as well because a verb can’t be the subject.

Therefore, we should change “read” to “reading” or “to read”.

Similarly, we can’t say “本を　よむは　たのしい” because よむ is verb and it can’t be subject.

The verb should be changed to a noun.

But how?

There are two ways to do it.

Let’s take a closer look.

の

one way to change a verb to a noun is by adding ”の” to the plain form.

For example, 読むの, 食べるの, 見るの and so on.

When we only use の

Some verbs are gerunds (ing form).

For example, we can’t say “I enjoyed to swim”.

We should say “I enjoyed swimming”.

Similarly, we use only ”の” for some verb.

For example, 見る、見える、きこえる、まつ、てつだう、やめる and so on.

To remember them, I teach the phrase, ”みみ　きこえる？　まてや”.

み（見る）み（見える）きこえる。ま（まつ）て（てつだう）や（やめる）。

◎お母さんが　りょうりするのを　てつだう。

×お母さんが　りょうりすることを　てつだう。

In addition, ”の” usually replace ”こと”, but ”の” is more conversation style.

こと

another way to change a verb to a noun is by adding ”こと” to the plain form.

For example, 読むこと, 食べること, 見ること and so forth.

When we only use こと

We only say「ことです。」「ことができます。」「ことがあります。」「ことになりました。」「ことにします。」

For example,

◎わたしの　しゅみは　本を　読むことです。

×わたしの　しゅみは　本を　読むのです。

◎とりは　空を　とぶことが　できます。

×とりは　空を　とぶのが　できます。

Conclusion

There are tow ways to change a verb to a noun, ”の” and ”こと”.

We can use both of them, but there are some restrictions.

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