Basic Japanese Sentence Structure (How-to Form a Simple Sentence in Japanese)
Basic Japanese Sentence Structure (How-to Form a Simple Sentence in Japanese)
English:
S-V-O
SUBJECT - VERB - OBJECT
“I drink juice.”
Japanese:
S-O-V
SUBJECT - OBJECT - VERB
“I juice drink."
私はジュースを飲む。
(”Watashi wa juice o nomu.”)
The English language doesn’t have as many particles as the Japanese language when it comes to simple sentences, but it does have some. We much more commonly refer to them as prepositions, because they denote something about the word they are right before and that something they denote is a relation to another part of the sentence. For example, when we hear the English particle "from,” we automatically have an idea of what the word right after it is going to be. Maybe a place, a time, or a noun. We also know that it definitely isn’t going to be a verb, because that would be grammatically incorrect.
Particles in the Japanese language work in the same way, except they’re indicative of the word right before it instead of right after it. They also have a wider range of word types they apply to, e.g. the word could be a subject, an object, a location, etc. We also have multiple options for particles to choose from for certain word types.
は (wa) - the topic marker (can also be used to mark the subject)
が (ga) - the subject marker
を (o) - the direct object marker
に (ni) and へ (e) - the destination/location (either can be used but not both at the same time)
The word type that most apparently doesn’t have a particle-or particles, associated with it are the verb actions of the sentence; this is probably because the verb action almost always appears at the end of the sentence or clause so there’s not as much a need to distinguish it with a particle.
So, sentences having a topic as well as a subject is something that is 100% unique to the Japanese language, at least if we’re just comparing Japanese to the English language. And what it is is pretty much just that, the topic of the sentence. If we were to literally translate it, it would be something like “Speaking of X,” or “As for X,” and then whatever the rest of the sentence is would come right after that.
The topic doesn’t necessarily replace the subject of the sentence. There can be a sentence with a topic, a subject, and an object.
But in some cases it can replace the subject.
“I juice drink."
TOPIC/SUBJECT - OBJECT - VERB
私はジュースを飲む。
(”Watashi wa juice o nomu.”)
*The topic marker は is used to mark "I,” which makes it not only the subject but also the topic.
The topic can even replace the object of the sentence.
テレビは子供が見る。
(”Terebi wa kodomo ga miru.”)
“Speaking of television, children watch (it).”
TOPIC/OBJECT - SUBJECT - VERB
More Example(s):
彼女は家に帰りました。
Kanojo wa uchi ni kaerimashita.
“She went home.”
[SUBJECT-LOCATION-VERB]
幽霊を見た。
Yuurei o mita.
“(I) saw a ghost.”
[(SUBJECT)-OBJECT-VERB]
壁が壊れた。
Kabe g kowareta.
“The wall broke./The wall gave in.”
[SUBJECT-VERB]
コンピューターを買う。
Computer o kau.
“(I) will buy a computer”
[(SUBJECT)-OBJECT-VERB]
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