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To beginners, it is often said that you only have to remember to put the verb in the end of the sentence. That is true to some extent, and you will get far using that rule. But there are some other "weaker" rules, and sentences can become a bit akward if you follow an unnatural sequence.

The main rule is that Japanese is a Subject-Object-Verb language as compared with English which is a Subject-Verb-Object language. Here are some examples to illustrate how to form sentences:

Word Sequence		Japanese Example
[subject] wa [object] desu.		トラコはねこです。 Torako wa neko desu. Torako is a cat. (Literally, "Torako as for cat is.") あれは東京タワーです。 Are wa toukyou tawaa desu. That (over there) is Tokyo Tower. (Literally: "That as for Tokyo Tower is.")
[subject] ga [object] o [verb].		トラコがねずみを見ました。 Torako ga nezumi o mimashita. Torako saw a mouse (Literally, "Torako [subject] mouse [object] saw.")
[adjective] [desu].		赤いです。 Akai desu. (It's) red.
[subject] wa [adjective] desu.		車は赤いです。 Kuruma wa akai desu. (The) car is red.

There are three particles used in the examples above; は (wa), が (ga) and を (o). Particles are important grammatical glue in Japanese, that forms words into a context with meaning. Read more about particles in the article particles.

Note that the particles は (wa) and を (o) are pronounced differently than the hiragana character it uses. The topic marker は is written using the hiragana letter pronounced "ha". But it is actually pronounced "wa" when it is used as a particle, therefore we write it in romaji as "wa". The same thing goes for the object marker を that is written using the hiragana letter "wo" but is pronounced "o".

The particles は (wa) and が (ga) are placed behind a subject as topic/subject markers, stating what we are talking about. The particle を (o) is placed behind a word to mark that it is an object.

Note that the use of the particles は (wa) and が (ga) and how to choose between them is a complex topic in itself. Absolute beginners can use は (wa) in most situations.

Credit

This page is based on a modified version of of "Some Notes on Japanese Grammar" published for your personal use, with the kind permission of Keith Smillie (http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~smillie/)

Comments (2)

Written by williams, on 18-11-2008 22:28
:sigh

Written by Arlix, on 11-11-2008 16:14
this is a great starter for particles and word order, it helped me get started with building my own sentences