Mastering Japanese Sentence Structure: A Guide for Complete Beginners #1
Hello everyone, I’m LunaPiena Sensei.
I usually run a One Piece channel, but I also provide support for Japanese translation and marketing in Japanese. Because of this, I often have the opportunity to teach Japanese, so I would be thrilled if I could provide you all with a chance to learn Japanese through this article.
Today, I would like to do a Japanese lesson for complete beginners. Usually, the standard theory is to start with general greetings like “Good morning,” “Hello,” or “Thank you,” but I am going to start with what I personally consider to be the most important concept.
That is Japanese sentence structure.
Word Order: Is Japanese really SOV?
You might have heard this before:
- English, Italian: SVO (Subject-Verb-Object)
- Classical Arabic, Irish: VSO (Verb-Subject-Object)
- Latin, Japanese: SOV (Subject-Object-Verb)
While this might be true for other languages, at the very least, the basic syntax of Japanese is not strictly SOV.
The biggest difference from most European languages is that a sentence can be perfectly complete without a verb. Instead, there is an important concept called a predicate. Verbs, adjectives, and nouns are included in this predicate. They create verb sentences, adjective sentences, and noun sentences, respectively.
In a basic Japanese sentence, the predicate comes at the very end. The subject, object, time, and place act more like components that describe or explain the predicate. In other words, in Japanese, the subject and the verb are not considered to be deeply tied to each other. Because of this, the subject is omitted in many cases.
The Verb Sentence
First, let’s look at a verb sentence.
私はスコーンを売る。
わたしはスコーンをうる。(Hiragana)
Watashi wa sukōn wo uru. (Romaji)
I sell scones. (English)
売る (sell) is a verb. This means this specific part becomes the predicate. Now let’s look at the remaining elements.
- 私（わたし）: Noun meaning “I”
- スコーン: Proper noun meaning “scone” (Loanwords and foreign names are written in katakana)
So, what exactly are these は and を attached to the end of these nouns?
This is a concept in Japanese grammar called particles. Particles attach to the end of nouns to create segments. Depending on which particle is placed after a noun, it is used to clarify how that segment functions in relation to the predicate.
In other words, if we divide this sentence into segments, it looks like this:
私は スコーンを 売る
In this case, 私は is the subject. By placing the particle は after the noun, that segment represents the topic. Japanese has a concept of a “topic,” which establishes what the speaker is talking about. Because of this, the difference between は and が becomes a very important theme. は represents the topic, while が indicates the subject. I would like to talk about this difference in detail in another lesson.
In contrast, スコーンを is the object. By placing the particle を after the noun, that segment represents the object. In other words, this sentence means that 私 is the agent doing the selling, and スコーンを is the thing receiving the action of being sold.
In this way, in Japanese, things called particles attach to nouns to create segments. You can determine what role that segment plays toward the predicate based on the type of particle used.
マルコはりんごを家でたべる。
マルコはりんごをいえでたべる。(Hiragana)
Maruko wa ringo wo ie de taberu. (Romaji)
Marco eats an apple at home. (English)
- マルコ: Subject
- は: Case particle
- パイナップル: Object
- を: Case particle
- 食べる（たべる）: Verb
By the way, this particle で indicates the location where an action takes place. Because of this, we can recognize that this place, 家 (home), is the location where Marco eats the pineapple.
Case 1: Noun Sentences
彼女は医者です。
かのじょはいしゃです。(Hiragana)
Kanojo wa isha desu. (Romaji)
She is a doctor. (English)
Next, let’s look at a noun sentence.
- 彼女（かのじょ）: Topic
- は: Case particle
- 医者（いしゃ）: Noun
- です: Copula
です works somewhat like the verb “to be”. However, strictly speaking, this です is different from a “be” verb.
In Japanese, the entire 医者（いしゃ）です part is recognized as the predicate. The core of this sentence is the predicate section, which is “Noun + copula (です)“. Therefore, there is no verb in this sentence.
Case 2: Adjective Sentences
あなたはいつも優しい。
あなたはいつもやさしい。(Hiragana)
Anata wa itsumo yasashii. (Romaji)
You are always kind. (English)
- あなた: Subject
- は: Case particle
- いつも: Adverb meaning “always”
- 優しい（やさしい）: Adjective
This time, やさしい is recognized as the predicate, and an adjective is used.
There is no verb like “to be” in this sentence either.
These are the verb sentences, adjective sentences, and noun sentences that form the foundation of Japanese. I plan to explain each of these cases in separate lessons.
Also, if you have any questions, I am always waiting for them in the comments!