Introduction to Japanese Grammar
Introduction to Japanese Grammar and Learning new vocabulary
Introduction to Japanese Grammar
Japanese sentences are very different from familiar languages like English and Spanish. Incidentally, Spanish is very similar to English grammar-wise. Japanese, on the other hand, uses small words called "particles" that mark what a word is supposed to "be" to the sentence. More on particles later.
On the upside though, once you learn Japanese grammar (it doesn't take as long as you might think) you can sit back and relax, because Japanese grammar is very logical and has almost no exceptions.
Japanese Sentence Structure
Here's a typical Japanese sentence:
Kore wa mizu desu.
This (subject marker) water is.
If you've seen Star Wars (and who hasn't), think back to the way Yoda spoke. That's what Japanese would sound like if you translated it literally.
"Your father is."
"An abode of evil it is."
"In you must go."
Japanese is also a bit vague, or can seem that way. Things are often left out if they can be assumed. Japanese is definitely not redundant! In particular, pronouns (I, you, he) aren't used much.
In English - "I go to the store"
In Japanese - "mise e iku"
"mise e iku" literally translates, "to the store, [I] go"
mise - store
e - particle meaning "toward" or "to"
iku - to go
Particles
wa - subject marker - think "as for" when translating.
ga - subject marker /emphasis
no - possessive - works like 's
na - use with adjectives
o - The preceding word answers WHAT or WHO (direct object)
e - towards, to
ka - basically, a spoken question mark.
ne - used at the end of sentences, kind of like "huh?" or "right?"
yo - A spoken exclamation point.
To put it simply, after every word in the sentence, you have a particle telling what the word "was" to the sentence.
Matt wa sensei desu.
Matt (as for) teacher is.
After the word "Matt", the "wa" tells us that Matt is the subject of the sentence - the sentence will be about Matt.
Let's add something to the sentence. Let's modify what kind of teacher he is:
Matt wa anata no sensei desu.
Matt (as for) you ('s) teacher is.
Cleaned up, it would be translated "Matt is your teacher".
You could make the sentence a bit more...