1.4 Japanese Writing Systems #2
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1.4 Japanese Writing Systems #2
Japanese Sentence Structure
The sentence structure used in Japanese is very different from what we are used to seeing in the English sentence structure.Let's look at two simple sentences in both languages.
English Sentence Structure
I eat an apple.
In English, sentences follow the structure of SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT.
"I" is the subject (the one who does the action).
"Eat" is the verb (the action of the sentence).
"Apple" is the object (the receiver of the action). To find the object, you must ask "What?" or "Whom?"
What do I eat? An apple. Therefore the apple is the object of the sentence.
In English, sentences follow the structure of SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT.
"I" is the subject (the one who does the action).
"Eat" is the verb (the action of the sentence).
"Apple" is the object (the receiver of the action). To find the object, you must ask "What?" or "Whom?"
What do I eat? An apple. Therefore the apple is the object of the sentence.
Japanese Sentence Structure
Watashi wa ringo wo tabemasu.
In Japanese, sentences follow the structure of SUBJECT + OBJECT + VERB.
"Watashi" is the subject. Watashi = I.
"Ringo" is the object. Ringo = apple.
"Tabemasu" is the verb. Tabemasu = eat.
In Japanese, sentences follow the structure of SUBJECT + OBJECT + VERB.
"Watashi" is the subject. Watashi = I.
"Ringo" is the object. Ringo = apple.
"Tabemasu" is the verb. Tabemasu = eat.
Grammatical Particles
Why are the "wa" and "wo" there?
Those are grammatical particles.
The "wa" marks the topic of the sentence. Whatever comes before "wa" is the topic.
The "wo" marks the object of the sentence. Whatever comes before "wo" is the object.
The "wa" particle has a special spelling and is written in Hiragana as γ― (ha) instead of γ (wa).
The Hiragana for "wo" is γ and is only ever used as a particle.γThe "wo" is written in Romaji as "WO" but is pronounced as "o." It has the same sound as the Hiragana "o" character (γ).
We don't use particles in English so there's no actual translation for WA and WO.
However, if you want, you can think of WA as meaning "As for ______" and the topic of the sentence would go in the blank.
Those are grammatical particles.
The "wa" marks the topic of the sentence. Whatever comes before "wa" is the topic.
The "wo" marks the object of the sentence. Whatever comes before "wo" is the object.
The "wa" particle has a special spelling and is written in Hiragana as γ― (ha) instead of γ (wa).
The Hiragana for "wo" is γ and is only ever used as a particle.γThe "wo" is written in Romaji as "WO" but is pronounced as "o." It has the same sound as the Hiragana "o" character (γ).
We don't use particles in English so there's no actual translation for WA and WO.
However, if you want, you can think of WA as meaning "As for ______" and the topic of the sentence would go in the blank.
What does it mean if English and Japanese have two totally different sentence structures?
This means that you may end up with some very strange translations if
you try to translate word for word from English into Japanese or
Japanese into English!
If we translated "Watashi wa ringo wo tabemasu" into English, we would end up with: "I apple eat."
Things may get even stranger if you use an online translator to translate anything more complicated than a simple sentence!
So remember: the subject order for Japanese sentences is SUBJECT + OBJECT + VERB.
If we translated "Watashi wa ringo wo tabemasu" into English, we would end up with: "I apple eat."
Things may get even stranger if you use an online translator to translate anything more complicated than a simple sentence!
So remember: the subject order for Japanese sentences is SUBJECT + OBJECT + VERB.