Basic Japanese

Japanese sentence order is very different from English.
In English we use Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
I -eat- bread
but in Japanese it is usually Subject -Object-Verb (SOV) :
Watashi wa- pan o- tabemasu.


Japanese uses postpositions instead of prepositions.
prepositions like "in," "on," and "behind" come after the nouns they are linked to.
In English We would say "in the station"
In Japanese would say, "station in" (eki ni)


Japanese uses very few pronouns, preferring instead to simply eliminate references to people or other nouns that are already established.
A related property is the tendency to treat actions indirectly--
it is far more common to say "it was decided that..."
than to say "I decided to..."


I noticed that as my Japanese improved, the native speaker I was communicating with didn't say, "How nice that you can express more complex ideas now," or "Gosh, your usage is becoming more and more natural." Oh, no.
He said, "Gee, Kim, I am really starting to be able to understand you now!"

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BASIC

• Japanese grammar