Is there only one way to say this sentence?

Kinh

On p249 Ive come upon:

Ima tsukatte iru baiorin wa furui node, atarashii no ga hoshii desu

The violin I am using now is old, so I want a new one.

If I were asked to say this, that isn't the order I would use.

I can think of 1 other way that would be more obvious for example putting the 'subject' (violin) first.

Ima baiorin ni tsukatte iru wa furui da node, atarashii no ga hoshii desu

So I'm wondering is there other possible ways to say something like this? I just dont seem to get why it's this way. Why the verb comes before the noun and why there's no desu after 'old'....is it normal when you have a conjunction like 'so' to not say something 'is' before?

Sakura

This sentence involves a relative clause. Examples of relative clause in English are, "the book that I wrote", "the person whom I met", "the teacher who taught me". Using relative clauses, you can describe a noun in detail.

In English relative clause, the order is such that the noun comes first, and the relative clause follows it. For example, "the book (<--- this is a noun) that I wrote (<---- this is a relative clause).

In Japanese, on the other hand, the order is reversed. You have to say the relative clause first, and the noun follows it. For example, "the book that I wrote" in Japanese is "watashi-ga kaita hon". As you can see, the order is, 1. relative clause (watahi-ga kaita) 2. noun (hon)

As you know, in English you cannot alter the order of noun and relative clause. You cannot say, "who helped me the teacher" to mean "the teacher who helped me".

Likewise, the Japanese relative clause order cannot be altered. If you do, it would sound as bad as the English "who helped me the teacher", for example.

Going back to the sentence you were asking about, I am sure you understand that "the violin I am using" is a relative clause. And you wouldn't reverse the order. What do you think about the sentence "I am using the violin is old, so I want a new one". This is bad English, right? So if you are using the relative clause, you cannot change the order in Japanese either. If you do, it would sound as bad as "I am using the violin is old".

Having said that, it is possible to paraphrase the sentence without using a relative clause. Try paraphrasing the English, then translate it back to Japanese.

How about, "I have a violin. The violin is old. I want a new one."? These statements don't use a relative clause. "baiorin ga arimasu. baiorin wa furuidesu. atarashii no ga hoshiidesu."

Kinh

Thanks.