An Introduction to Japanese Sentence Structure

So you’ve picked up some Japanese words.

How do you now combine them into proper sentences?

You’ll need to understand Japanese word order, how to use particles correctly, and the ever-present です (“desu”).

This brief guide will show you the basics of Japanese sentence structure.

The Japanese Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) Structure

Japanese sentences typically follow an SOV order.

SOV stands for “subject-object-verb.” The subject comes first, followed by the object or objects, and the sentence ends with the verb. You will see many examples of this pattern in this article.

Consider this example:

ジンボはリンゴを食べる。 じんぼはりんごをたべる。 Jimbo — an apple — eats (Jimbo eats an apple.)

“Jimbo” is the subject, “eats” is the verb and “an apple” is the object. This sentence uses the SOV structure.

The Japanese Copula, です

If you have ever listened to someone speak Japanese, whether in person or in media, you have likely encountered the word です.

です is a fundamental term in Japanese, meaning “to be” or “is.” Many consider it a politeness marker, but it has various functions.

です is a copula, connecting the subject of a sentence with the predicate to form a complete thought. The simplest Japanese sentence structure is “A は B です” (A is B).

My name is Amanda. 私はアマンダ です 。 わたしはあまんだ です 。

He is American. 彼はアメリカ人 です 。 かれはあめりかじん です 。

です also marks the end of a sentence, taking the place of a verb. However, です never follows verbs that end in ます.

Tom likes tea. トムさんはお茶が好き です 。 とむさんはおちゃがすき です 。

Tom drinks tea. トムさんはお茶を飲み ますです 。(Incorrect) トムさんはお茶を飲み ます 。(Correct) とむさんはおちゃをのみ ます

Past Tense with でした

When talking about the past, です changes to でした.

The exam was easy. 試験は簡単 でした 。 しけんはかんたん でした。

Yesterday was my birthday. 昨日は私の誕生日 でした 。 きのうはわたしのたんじょうび でした。

Levels of Formality of です

Like many Japanese words, です has different formality levels: だ, です, である and でございます:

• です is the standard polite form and is most useful for everyday conversations.
• だ is used in casual speech among friends or family.
• である appears in formal written Japanese, such as in newspapers.
• でございます is the most formal, used when addressing a superior or someone important.

If you are unsure which form to use, just go with です. The person you are speaking to will understand you are being polite!

Japanese Verb Placement

As mentioned, Japanese verbs have only two tenses: past and non-past.

Similar to English, you form the past tense by altering the verb ending.

I ran to the store. 私は店に走り ました 。 わたしはみせにはしり ました 。

Mayu studied last night. 昨日の夜、まゆさんは勉強 した 。 きのうのよる、まゆさんはべんきょう した 。

Alice made cookies. アリスはクッキーを作 った 。 ありすはくっきーをつく った 。

Unlike English, Japanese verbs are mostly regular.

Japanese Verb Categories

Many verbs fall into two groups: う verbs and る verbs. It is important to distinguish them, as they conjugate differently.

Each verb also has a dictionary form and a polite form. The dictionary form is for casual speech or for looking up the word in a dictionary.

う verbs end in the sound う, ある, うる or おる in their dictionary forms. To make them polite, you drop the う and add います.

• 話す/話します (はなす/はなします, to talk)
• 行く/行きます (いく/いきます, to go)
• 飲む/飲みます (のむ/のみます, to drink)
• 作る/作ります (つくる/つくります, to make)

Verbs ending in the sound いる and える are almost always る verbs. To make る verbs polite, drop the る and add ます。

• 食べる/食べます (たべる/たべます, to eat)
• 見る/見ます (みる/みます, to see)
• 起きる/起きます (おきる/おきます, to get up)

There are only two highly irregular verbs, する (to do) and くる (to come). Their polite forms are します and きます, respectively.

Japanese Verb Negations

Negative forms are also created by changing the verb ending, which depends on the verb type. For example:

• For う verbs, replace the う sound with あない.
• For る verbs, drop る and add ない. する becomes しない, and くる becomes こない.

You can find more details on negating Japanese verbs here.

Using Verbs to Express Nuances

Although there are only two tenses, Japanese verbs change to express subtle meanings. Japanese sentence structure is agglutinative.

This linguistic term means that you add various elements to the end of verbs. Each verb has a root form ending with て or で.

You can add to these root endings to provide more meaning. However, this is not essential for forming simple Japanese sentences, so we will skip it for now.

Japanese Post-positions

While English uses prepositions, Japanese uses post-positions.

Prepositions are words that show relationships between sentence parts, like “to,” “at,” “in,” “between,” “from,” and so on.

They come before nouns in English. But in Japanese, they follow nouns. へ means “to,” so the next sentence is literally, “Spain to went.”

I went to Spain. スペイン へ 行きました。 すぺいん へ いきました。

In the next example, 彼女 means “her,” so you are saying “her from” instead of “from her.”

Did you hear from her? 彼女 から 聞きましたか？ かのじょ から ききましたか？

Japanese Particles

Similar to post-positions, Japanese uses small grammatical elements called particles.

Japanese particles come right after the noun, adjective, or sentence they modify and are essential for understanding the meaning.

There are many particles in Japanese, but we will cover nine common ones: は, が, を, の, に, へ, で, も and と.

は (topic marker)

は marks the topic of the sentence and can translate as “am,” “is,” “are,” or “as for.” Note that although it uses the character for ha, it is pronounced wa.

I am a student. 私 は 学生です。 わたし は がくせいです。

The pen is black. ペン は 黒いです。 ぺん は くろいです。

In these sentences, 私 (わたし, I) and ペン (pen) are marked by は, meaning all the following information relates to 私 and ペン, respectively.

が (subject marker)

が indicates and emphasizes the subject of the sentence, the one doing the action. It can also join sentences as “but,” and is the default particle for questions.

That bird is singing. あの鳥 が 鳴いています。 あのとり が ないています。

Who will be coming? 誰 が 来ますか？ だれ が きますか？

Yuta studied abroad in China (emphasis on Yuta) ゆうたさん が 中国に留学しました。 ゆうたさん が ちゅうごくにりゅうがくしました。

は and が are two particles that can be confusing, so here are some tips to tell them apart:

は is a general subject, while が is more specific. は is also used as a contrast marker in sentences with が, to show a difference between two subjects:

My little sister doesn’t like cats, but she likes dogs. 妹は猫 が 嫌いだけど、犬 は 好きです。 いもうとはねこ が きらいだけど、いぬ は すきです。

を (object marker)

を shows the direct object of a sentence, indicating that the verb is acting upon the object. It follows nouns and noun phrases.

I eat vegetables. 私は野菜 を 食べます。 わたしはやさい を たべます。

Tonight, he will make dinner. 今夜、彼は夕食 を 作ります。 こんや、かれはゆうしょく を つくります。

In the first sentence, “vegetables” are the object, and “eat” is the action done to them. The same applies to “dinner” and “make” in the second sentence.

の (possession marker)

の acts as a possessive particle, showing that something belongs to something else. It also serves as a generic noun, meaning “this one.”

That is the teacher ’s bag. それは先生 の かばんです。 それはせんせい の かばんです。

I want to buy the yellow one . 黄色い の を買いたいです。 きいろい の をかいたいです。

に (time and movement marker)

は is the movement and time particle, showing the place something moves towards when used with a motion verb.

It also indicates destinations and places where something exists when paired with いる/ある. It can mean “to,” “in/at,” or “for.”

Yukako came to the movie theater. ゆかこさんは映画館 に 来ました。 ゆかこさんはえいがかん に きました。

There is a bench in the park. 公園 に ベンチがあります。 こうえんにべんちがあります。

へ (direction and destination marker)

へ is a directional particle similar to に, but used only for marking destinations. へ emphasizes the direction something is moving. It is read as e even though it is spelled he.

I went to the restaurant. 私はレストラン へ 行きました。 わたしはれすとらん へ いきました。

When showing direction, に and へ are often interchangeable, but へ is never used for “for/at.”

で (location and means marker)

で can have several meanings based on context. It can specify the location of an action, show the method used to perform an action, or connect clauses in a sentence.

Shigeo went shopping at the department store. しげおさんはデパート で 買い物しました。 しげおさんはでぱーと で かいものしました。

I came to Canada by plane. 私は飛行機 で カナダに来ました。 ひこうき で かなだにきました。

That person is famous and kind. その人は有名 で 、優しいです。 そのひとはゆうめい で 、やさしいです。

も (similarity marker)

も, meaning “also/too,” states similarities between facts. It comes after a noun, replacing the particles は and が.

Both rice and bread are tasty. パン も ごはん も おいしいです。 ぱん も ごはん も おいしいです。

Erika’s hobby is hiking. My hobby is also hiking. エリカさんの趣味はハイキングです。私の趣味 も ハイキングです。 えりかさんのしゅみははいきんぐです。わたしのしゅみ も はいきんぐです。

Similarly, saying 私もです (わたしもです, me too) is enough to show agreement with someone.

と (noun connector)

と is used to list nouns completely. It corresponds to “and.”

That store sells sandwiches and coffee. あの店はサンドイッチ と コーヒーを売っています。 あのみせはさんどいっち と こーひーをうっています。

She went to the movies with Brad and Connor. 彼女はブラッドさん と コナーさん と 映画を見に行きました。 かのじょはぶらっどさん と こなーさん と えいがをみにいきました。

Japanese Adjective Placement

As in English, adjectives come before nouns in Japanese. A blue car in English is still a blue car in Japanese, but you would say 青い車 (あおいくるま).

There are two kinds of Japanese adjectives: い adjectives and な adjectives. The difference lies in their conjugation.

い adjectives end in the character い, like 面白い (おもしろい, interesting) and 難しい (むずかしい, difficult). The exception is words ending in えい, such as きれい (beautiful), which are な adjectives.

い Adjectives

い adjectives come directly before the noun they describe.

Cute cat かわい い 猫 かわい い ねこ

Slow bus 遅 い バス おそ い ばす

“Expensive shirt” 高 い シャツ たか い しゃつ

な Adjectives

な adjectives, with a few exceptions like the mentioned えい ending, do not end in い. They go before nouns like い adjectives, but the character な is placed between the adjective and the noun.

Kind teacher 親切 な 先生 しんせつ な せんせい

Rude child 失礼 な 子供 しつれい な こども

Safe town 安全 な 町 あんぜん な まち

Modifying Japanese Adjectives

One slightly tricky aspect is that い adjectives change for negative or past tense. This is done by dropping the final い and adding modifiers. For example:

The word for cold is 寒い (さむい) but if talking about yesterday being cold, you would say 寒かった (さむかった). If it is not cold, you would say 寒くない (さむくない).

な adjectives are modified just like nouns. For instance:

The word 静か (しずか) means quiet. To say something was quiet, you would say 静かだった (しずかだった), and to say it is not quiet, you would say 静かではない (しずかではない) or 静かじゃない (しずかじゃない).

Like verbs, these changeable adjectives are also agglutinating, meaning you can add elements to them.

Japanese Question Structure

Finally, forming questions in Japanese is much simpler than in English. To ask a yes or no question, you simply add か at the sentence end.

Is he a nice person? 彼は優しい人です か ？ かれはやさしいひとです か ？

For English “Wh- questions,” you usually just substitute the question word:

What did you eat? 何を食べましたか？ なにをたべましたか？

I ate octopus. タコを食べました。 たこをたべました。

Where is he? 彼はどこにいますか？ かれはどこにいますか？

He is at the house. 彼は家にいます。 かれはいえにいます。

Inferred Subjects in Japanese

By now, you have likely noticed that the subject often disappears from sentences. This is a unique feature of Japanese where the subject is inferred when possible.

But there are clues indicating what or whom you are discussing. It works similarly to pronouns in English. For example:

My father is a teacher. He teaches at the university. On weekends, he barbecues and drinks beer. He likes football but he doesn’t like baseball.

In my view, Japanese does the same thing but goes a step further—the subject is omitted entirely. In this next example, it is inferred that the speaker is referring to himself:

私は先生です。英語を教えています。 わたしは せんせいです。えいごをおしえています。 I am a teacher. Teach English.

Breaking Japanese Sentence Structure Rules

Although the verb technically always comes at the end of a Japanese sentence, this is not always true. Unlike English, sentence structure is quite flexible.

In writing, you follow the grammatical rules; in speaking, people often break the rules and place sentence parts where they see fit.

For example, to say “I ate fried chicken,” the grammatically correct Japanese sentence is:

私はフライドチキンを食べた。 わたしは ふらいどちきんをたべた。 I — fried chicken — ate

But in casual, everyday conversation, you can rearrange the parts without issue:

食べた、フライドチキン。 たべた、ふらいどちきん。 Ate — fried chicken

フライドチキン食べた、私。 ふらいどちきんたべた、わたし。 Fried chicken — ate — I

Each of these utterances means the same thing. In English, saying this would sound very strange.

For learning basic Japanese sentence structure, however, stick to Subject-Object-Verb. That is proper Japanese, and you can learn more casual speech forms later.

A good way to remember the sentence structure is by immersing yourself in the language as much as possible.

For example, you can use an immersive program like Lingflix to watch authentic Japanese videos.

With some patience and practice, you will soon be on your way to speaking natural Japanese!