Basic Japanese word order — Subject-Object-Verb structure
Can construct basic SOV sentences
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
私はりんごを食べます。
I eat an apple.
田中さんは毎日日本語を勉強します。
Mr. Tanaka studies Japanese every day.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Japanese is an SOV language: Subject-Object-Verb. The verb always comes at the end of the sentence.
| English (SVO) | Japanese (SOV) | Literal |
|---|---|---|
| I eat sushi. | 私は すしを 食べます。 | I [topic] sushi [object] eat. |
| She reads a book. | 彼女は 本を 読みます。 | She [topic] book [object] reads. |
| He goes to school. | 彼は 学校に 行きます。 | He [topic] school [to] goes. |
Flexibility: Because particles (は, を, に, で, etc.) mark each word's grammatical role, word order is more flexible than English. The only strict rule: the verb must be last.
Acceptable: 本を私は読みます。(book-[obj] I-[topic] read) = same meaning, just emphasizes 本.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice Exercises私はりんごを食べます。
I eat an apple.
私(I) + は(topic) + りんご(apple) + を(object) + 食べます(eat) — verb at the end
田中さんは毎日日本語を勉強します。
Mr. Tanaka studies Japanese every day.
Time words (毎日) come after the topic or before the object — still verb last
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises