Japanese Grammar : Lesson 1 ( Sentence Structure )

🔻READ DESCRIPTION FOR LESSON NOTES AND TIMELINE🔻

Today's lesson:
----------------------------------------------------------------

In today's lesson we will learn about the very first grammar point you should know about the Japanese language.

That point being that the Japanese language word order differs from the word order of the English language.

---------------------------------------------------------
Lesson 1 notes:

Let's look at the word order of a basic sentence for both languages:

English word order: S.V.O (subject / verb / object)
Japanese word order: S.O.V (subject / object / verb)

Example sentences showing the differences in word order:

English --------- I eat apples (Subject / Verb/ Object)
Vs.
Japanese ----- I apples eat (Subject / Object / Verb)

As you can see, the word order in Japanese is peculiar to a native English speaker's ears. This is one of the first things you will learn about the Japanese language.

*The best way to familiarize yourself with the Japanese sentence word order is to study an infinite amount of sentence examples until this word order becomes familiar to your ears.

So, here some extra sentence examples with their literal translation to help you familiarize yourself with the Japanese sentence structure.

►Example 1: yuki ga daisuki desu.

-Literal translation word for word:
yuki = snow
ga= subject marker
(The topic "I" is implied but omitted in the Japanese sentence)
daisuki = like

-English meaning: I like snow.

►Example 2: kanojo wa kawaii onnanoko desu.

-Literal translation word for word:
kanojo = she
wa = topic marking particle
kawaii = cute
onnanoko = girl
desu = linking verb "to be" which can mean [is, am, are]

-English meaning: She is a cute girl.

►Example 3: anata no gakkou wa doko desu ka?

-Literal translation word for word:
anata = you
no = [particle added to a noun that indicates possession (Your)]
gakkou = school
wa = [topic marking particle]
doko = where
desu = linking verb that means (is, am,are etc)
ka = [particle that acts like the English question mark (?)

-English meaning: Where is your school?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
►Official Website (Lesson Notes, extras):
------------------------------------------------------------------------

😺 SUPPORT MY PROJECTS:

If you would like to help me continue bringing free quality lessons for all, you can do so by donating to the channel via Paypal or Patreon:

★ PayPal
Link to donate:

★ Patreon
Link to donate:
(Patreon allows creators to get support(donations) from their viewers.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Social Media

-------------------------------------------------

NipponCat's pick for best beginner's Japanese Language book:

GENKI I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese

(This book is a must have for beginner's of the Japanese language)

------------------------------------------------

Please keep this channel alive and growing, remember to subscribe, like, comment, & share.
(You can also hit the notifications button to be notified when NipponCat uploads a new video.)
Arigatou ! ≧◠‿◠≦ ❤ 😊

[NipponCat]

Mina-san,
You can help NipponCat sensei in bringing to you more quality video lessons like this one.

Donate via Paypal or Patreon:

*Also, please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed the lessons as there will be more lessons coming soon with your support.

A most sincere 'thank you' for contributing, whether that be through donating, subscribing, messaging or simply viewing! : )

[khangphuong]

This is the most useful video about Japanese word order that I've been seeing since the last two months. ありがとうございます。

[asura]

So that means yoda speaks normal in japanese dubs?

Im confused

[operative]

hard to believe that 2016 was five years ago, yet this video is extremely helpful to me now for my classes.

[skullotonin]

fun fact: my first sentence in japanese was self taught, and put together with vocab words. i worked very hard on putting this together, and it took me years to perfect, but here it is...

わたしはあなたをたりべます。
watashi wa anata (w)o tabemasu.

this sentence means...

"i will eat you."

[kenkho]

So basically we just have to yodalize everything and we’re good...🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Raze_]

Not knowing a thing about Japanese grammar, I found this very educational and well made. when will the next part come out? (I really want to learn about those particles!)

[abigaillep]

I was right about Yoda. I always knew he was special

[bomkaiplow]

this literally cleared up to much to me and is extremely helpful. thank you so much!

[firud]

the thumbnail is a perfect interpretation of the difference between english and japanese grammar

[anitaramani]

I started learning Japanese four months ago and have been watching countless videos to help me understand. This video is by far one of the best ones I have seen! I subscribed immediately, thank you so much. Your content is extremely clear with no extra fluff. Looking forward to more videos :)

[NipponCat]

To the user "Leaf in Still Water" gomen ne (sorry)
I accidentally deleted your comment. In case you read this message, below is my response to your comment:

Aww, thank you Leaf in the Still Water. Cats sure are precious and cute <3

I am happy you enjoyed the lesson and thank you very much for subscribing!
Ganbatte ne. : )

[fury]

Thank goodness I wasn’t the only one one who thought Japanese grammar sounded like Yoda

[JishinimaTidehoshi]

I immediately hit that subscribe button after the Napoleon Dynamite clip! Anyway, this is a great grammar video :)

[McMeowalot]

I'm so glad this takes you back to basic English grammar. As someone who hasn't been in school for a while, it was a good refresher in order to help connect english with a different language.

[zcmation]

It is similar to hindi my god i can learn Japanese with same sentence sequence...❤

[papyrusm]

Perfect introduction to basic structures for beginners, thank you!

[neillogan]

先生, ありがとう。Your teaching method for this video was excellent. Clear, concise, and easy to understand. 😁

[SnakeEater]

This was a very helpful lesson!! Thanks for making it you explained it really well and helped me a lot with my Japanese studies.

[learnurduwithsara]

Japanese sentence structure is very similar to Urdu/Hindi. I love your explainations very straightforward.