| The basic order of the Subject, Verb and Object is different
from English. English is an SVO language, Japanese is an SOV language.
In other words where in English you would say "I am writing
a book" (Subject, Verb, Object), in Japanese you would be saying
"I a book am writing" (Subject, Object, Verb).
Word order
There are only 2 rules when constructing a sentence.
| 1. |
The main verb must be at the absolute end of the
sentence in the rentaikei (連体形), only followed by closing particles. |
| 2. |
All designators are placed before the designated. |
| |
There is a prefered order in the sentence, but you may alter it
to suit your own needs. As a general rule the closer a word is to
the main verb, the more important it is.
| subject |
time |
place |
adjective |
object |
indirect
object |
verb |
closing
particle |
| 誠君が |
今日、 |
パーティーで |
白い |
薔薇を |
彼女に |
上げる |
か。 |
| Makoto-kun ga |
kyou, |
paatii de |
shiroi |
bara wo |
kanojo ni |
ageru |
ka. |
| Makoto |
today |
at the party |
white |
roses |
to her |
give |
? |
Changing the word order is possible because each element's function
is determined by a particle. It is therefor very important to keep
the particles connected directly to their elements. The ...wa (…は)
element is placed at the beginning of the sentence in the standard
order.
None of these elements, apart from the main verb, are necessary
to construct a full sentence. You can leave out any element that
has already been mentioned in the conversation.
| Tanaka-san ga |
kyou |
machi de |
hon wo |
ni satsu |
kau |
yo. |
| |
kyou |
machi de |
hon wo |
ni satsu |
kau |
yo. |
| |
machi de |
hon wo |
ni satsu |
kau |
yo. |
| |
hon wo |
ni satsu |
kau |
yo. |
| |
ni satsu |
kau |
yo. |
| |
kau |
yo. |
| .kau. |
|
|
