Basic Sentence Structure in Japanese

The term "subject" often confuses Japanese learners. One of the most important component of Japanese sentence structure is the topic. You mention the topic, then make a comment about it. But the problem is, the subject sometimes is the topic, but not always. In Japanese, people don't construct a sentence like in English, "subject+verb+object". It is very important to know that in Japanese the subject and the topic is different, you should erase the concept "subject" when you study Japanese. In the video, I will introduce to you the basic Japanese sentence structure so that you will know how to form natural Japanese sentences. They are VERY easy once you get the hang of it, there's nothing complicated about it.

「主語」という概念が日本語習得を妨害となっています。日本語の文の構造において、一番重要な要素は「トピック」であり、「主語」とは違います。日本語では「主語」と「トピック」は必ずしも同じではなく、目的語がトピックになったり、動作の主体とトピックが別々になったりもします。この動画ではまず日本語における一番基本的な文の構造を紹介します。

[kanamenaito]

All the examples with a kanji version (where applicable) and a translation:

このコーヒー、おいしいね。

This coffee is tasty.

このコーヒー、きのう スターバックスで かった。
このコーヒー、昨日スターバックスで買った。
I bought this coffee at the Starbucks yesterday.

わたしはきのうスターバックスでこのコーヒーをかいました。
私は昨日スターバックスでこのコーヒーを買いました。
I bought this coffee at the Starbucks yesterday.

このコーヒー、きのうスターバックスでかいました。
このコーヒー、昨日スターバックスで買いました。
I bought this coffee at the Starbucks yesterday.

たなかさん、さいきんちょうしどうですか？
田中さん、最近調子どうですか？
Tanaka-san, how are you doing these days?

たなかさん、ごはんたべました？
田中さん、ご飯食べました？
Tanaka-san, have you eaten yet?

たなかさん、かみのびましたね？
田中さん、髪伸びましたね？
Tanaka-san, you grew your hair long didn't you?

たなかさん、かおいろわるいですよ。
田中さん、顔色悪いですよ。
Tanaka-san, your face looks pale.

たなかさん、いまからごはんたべにいきませんか？
田中さん、今からご飯食べに行きませんか？
Tanaka-san, do you want to go eat together now?

このほんおもしろいですか？
この本、面白いですか？
Is this book interesting?

このほん、あんまりわたしは すきじゃありませんね。
この本、あんまり私は好きじゃありませんね。
I don't like this book much.


この本、私の友達はとても面白いと言っていましたよ。
My friend said that this book was very interesting.

でもわたしはあんまりおもしろいとおもいません。
でも私はあんまり面白いと思いません。
But I don't think it's interesting.

このラーメンおいしいですね。
This ramen is tasty isn't it?

このラーメン、ちょっとあじがうすいですね。
このラーメン、ちょっと味が薄いですね。
This ramen tastes a bit too light.

このラーメン、ちょっとからすぎです。
このラーメン、ちょっと辛すぎです。
This ramen is a bit too spicy.

そのめがね、どこでかいました？
その眼鏡、どこで買いました？
Where did you buy that glasses?

このめがね、きのうパルコでかいました。
この眼鏡、昨日パルコで買いました。
I bought this glasses at Parco.

このネール、どう？
How is my manicure?

そのネール、かわいいね。
Your manicure is cute.

このネール、きのうともだちがやってくれたんだ。
このネール、昨日友達がやってくれたんだ。
My friend made this manicure for me yesterday.


このワイン、フランスの〜〜産のとても高いワインなんですよ。
This wine is a very expensive wine from Something-something place in France.

このワイン、クソですね。
This wine is shit.

[as]

you are so good at teaching japanese, and i noticed you've done a really good job of addressing some of the biggest problems english speakers face when learning the language. please keep making videos!

[xchemicalXladybugx]

Bro, I’ve been watching Japanese language learning videos for about 10 years on and off.

This is the first time I’ve heard someone mention dropping は and how to structure sentence so clearly 🙇🏻‍♀️

[alyslim]

this was so easy to understand 🥺🥺 thank you!!!

[_komiichan]

I struggled with Japanese sentence structure in college. My Japanese teacher refused to explain how sentence structure worked, she just expected us to know 😭 This made it so much easier, so I’m just going to self teach now.

[itsazure.]

I would 100% recommend this channel to everyone who has started learning Japanese. Your videos are easily understandable and straightforward!

[EinChris]

Recently I was talking to a IT guy about the sentence structure in Japanese.
First, it reminded us of object oriented programming. You start with an object and add call to a method of that object. Like circle.draw().
And then we realized that it's kind of revers polish notation for expressions. Instead of 3 * (1 + 2) one would write in UPN: 1 2 + 3 * (or even 3 1 2 + *).

[hudsonbakke]

In English you can also *sometimes* change word order to emphasize the topic. "This coffee I bought at starbucks today." "This book I don't like very much." It sounds a bit awkward and isn't nearly as common as it is in Japanese, but it's understandable and demonstrates basically what's going on in Japanese.

[cloud_lost_in_thought]

Depending on your native language (or if you know several languages) this is either super easy or very difficult to understand 😅. My native language is Romanian and we can use a verb to ask, answer or say what other people are doing. No subject needed, the verb will tell you all you need to know👌. Thank you for the lesson! ✨

[YamatoTre]

I'm liking for the algorithm and subscribing for myself. I don't know how this man doesn't have more views. Absolute gem of a channel

[farrelfoster-lynam]

Your videos are so clear and straightforward! This is rapidly becoming my favourite channel for learning conversational Japanese.

[Tamère]

I want to point out something providing a literal translation of one of the aforementioned Japanese phrases so that you get the concept of the so called topic better:
このコーヒー（は）スターバックスでかった if literally translated it's like : this coffee, I bought it at Starbucks/as for this coffee... So the topic + comment is also a thing in English (but it's not as frequently used as it is in Japanese tho). The phrases like well: as for me, I bought a new car today or well Tom, ...he got fired.( So the as for me and Tom are topics and the rest (I bought a new car today & he got fired) are comments like something that adds information to the topics) that is to say topic ≠ grammatical subject. Many falsely assume that wa always marks the subject of the sentence but topic is not the same as subject it's a bit different.

[xllYllx]

I think you may have just made me had an epiphany on how Japanese sentence structure works!! I've struggled with forming sentences for so long, this may be a breakthrough for me. Thank you!

[meapobr]

Thank you, I am From Brazil, but your explanation is so great, far from the standard one the most people don't understand. Finally I can adjust some explanation even for Brazilian Portuguese. Thank you, Sensei. Please, keep making more videos.

[lecturer.hisashi]

The "Topic-Comment structure" is indeed, ingenious.. I am hearing it for the first time and it makes so much more sense, Japanese language approaches Subject in a slightly different manner. I really liked your explanation especially with the example sentences that you used.

[kusarihime]

This is the most direct and clear explanation I've heard on Japanese sentence pattern.

[kiatudom]

one of the best Japanese Language structure explanation.

[lulolean]

I love the videos. Concise and precise. It doesn’t take you long to explain concepts that have a big impact, and you explain them well and with humor. They are interesting to watch. There are other YouTubers out there making Japanese videos but they often waste time. Your face is fun to watch! Keep making videos!

[karlacastillo]

My first language is Spanish so i find this kind of similar to our way to structure sentences. Very helpful thank you!

[jaap]

Very glad to discover your awesome YouTube channel. I have been learning Japanese for quite some time. I like the way you explain, it is so particular that much easier to understand. どうもありがとう先生。