Tenses
“When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors.” – William Shakespeare, Macbeth
Tenses with nominalization are just as you’d expect. The part after the の can be whatever. The part before the の just has to be dictionary form.
That being said, it’s also extremely rare to see. There is another very similar grammar point (のは ~ だ), that is very close to being the same as this one, though it’s slightly different.
Using the grammar you just learned, you can probably figure out the meanings of these sentences, even though it’s not technically the same thing.
a すし を たべた の は ようへい だ。
The one who ate the sushi is Yohei.
a フランス に 行った の は クリスさん です。
The one who went to France is Chris.
For now, though, I don’t want you to worry about tenses with nominalization. It’s not going to be very useful to you right now, and it’s not going to come up very often. The “Nominalization の” that you learned in this chapter is more about things you can see or think of right then and there. So, it’s rarely about things in the past tense, meaning you shouldn’t have to learn it right now. Just know it exists, and you’ll be okay.