I don't seem to understand Japanese sentence structure; I've heard proper nouns at the end of sentences and everything else in the beginning. Is it alike English? ( Subject - Predicate )

And grammar, I don't know what suffixes and prefixes stand for.

Ehh I don't know how to go about answering your questions. 8D"" *didn't learn what exactly suffixes and prefixes are, just the sentences straight away*

Well, first an important part of Japanese is the particles: wa, o, de, no etc. (can't type Japanese sorry T-T) If you look at the thread Japanese lesson, dear Chessi posted up a few good basic ones about them. (:

These particles have different usage and different placings so I can't say it's the same for them all. A couple of phrases...

For example: kaisha no bengoshi
Literally it's: company 's lawyer

But for another example: kocha o nomimasu
Literally: tea drink
Right there's no real meaning I can think of in English for o...

You just gotta know which particle is for which purpose first. Stringing the phrases up into bigger sentences should come later because I don't wanna confuse things. ^^" (but all particles may not always be placed as above! they're just the only examples I can think of right now >_>" *rusted mind*)

Hope it clarified a little because I didn't really understand what you meant by "proper nouns at the end of sentences and everything else in the beginning". @_@ *doesn't really bother with these terms in language aka lazy*

By the way I trust that you've learned your hiragana, katakana already? O:

Well is like any language... first you start with "subject-predicate" and there you mix it up when you know more...
But yeah is the same as in english, you have a Subject and a Predicate but you can have many proper nouns ^^'
The way a "basic" way to do a sentece in Japanese is:
Subject - Time - Place - Indirect Object - Direct Object - Verb

But you can mix it up when you learn a little more of the uses of a verb or an ajective/adverb ^^'

Ohh thanks for the help guys

In my technical Japanese class our instructor gave the class a useful way to read quickly and succinctly for long sentences, which is to find the subject and predicate at beginning and also scan through in order to make the simplest sentence possible to grasp the basics of the sentence (Before going back to look at detail). I found that it was a useful tool when trying to teach Japanese so I would say that getting a firm grasp of basic sentence structure from the start is very important for reading.

i learnt all my hiragana xD and learning still katanaka xD...is easy....but gleiver hates kanjis =D...and i don't know too create sentences too....-_-" i was reading this post....i need classes xD

there is no real order, except for the fact that the verb has to come at the end... (most of the time)

usually it will be "subject, object, verb" but it doesn't have to be.


when i'm translating, I usually read over right to left, write down a brief summary of the sentence, then fill in the details. It makes everything go faster, and avoids me getting a headache.

edit:




yeah, that's most common, from what I see.

I often find that when you are referring to someone whether it is you, or I, that word normally comes first like:
Anata or Kimi (you) or Watashi (I) e.g Kimi no Suki na uta. or "Anata ni okuru bassudei songu yo". (here's a birthday song for you)
Oh and the good thing about Japanese is that it doesn't have as many particles as english.
Like 'Hon' can mean a book, the book, or the books.

I've always been in love with Niponggo, maybe because I keep on watching Anime. It's great that I know some phrases and words, but I really want to be an expert on the language. Hm...maybe i'll take up Linguistics, majoring in Asian Languages.

^ Or you can just study it separately .. :'D You can take Japanese Language Lessons in the Japanese Embassy.. I already checked it, they offer it... but it's expensive though. LOL

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At first, I thought that the sentence structure for Japanese was confuzzling... but I enjoyed it anyway. DD'

Random Question
Does any one think that learning japanese at a college is better than learning it by watch japanese animes with subs?? I really want to learn someday but i'm kind of stuck on how to get started.

^ learning it in college or in class is, I believe, way much better than trying to learn it by yourself through subbed anime series'. Although the series could help a lot too.

learning from classes or in college is better... (^^)

learning from anime..will confuse u alittle bit, cause they do have alot of slang in it...and i think its better to learn proper japanese first...then furtherup to japanese slangs... XD

@sparkles: hihi. oh yeah. I forgot about that (the slang). XD' My professor told me that we should, no matter what, start learning formals first. =.=' .....so as not to be rude as well. (If you ever get the chance to talk with Japanese people.)

thank you so for your input. I've become very impatient lately because I really want to learn. I want to go to a college that offers Japanese classes but I don't want to go to that college only for that sole reason. I guess I'll just have to do more research.

thank you again

hey UVERfan!!..
anyone know the web 4 learning japanese??
hurmm...for free hopefully~hehehek^-^

i have a few scanned books for learning japanese so i can mail it to you, try to avoid pages or book with romanji

....COOL! you're really full of Japanese! you're on your way to continue study in Japan

i know,right?lets read some old lit.how about Cupid and Psyche?:D