Page 15 - Basic Japanese

The basic word order in English is subject-verb-object,

whereas in Japanese it is subject-object-verb. The word
order is rigid in English in most cases but can be very
flexible in Japanese, so long as the verb is placed at the end

of the sentence. For example, the English sentence Ken

called Yumi can be either Ken-ga Yumi-o yonda or Yumi-o Ken-ga yonda
in Japanese.

Postpositions

English prepositions such as from, in, on, at, and with
correspond to postpositions in Japanese. Instead of saying

from New York, they say something like New York from, or
Nyū Yōku kara. Japanese and English are mirror images in this

respect.

Dropping pronouns

The Japanese are not lazy people, but they like to drop
personal pronouns such as ‘I,’ ‘you,’ and ‘he.’ The use of the

second person pronoun anata ‘you’ is almost forbidden in
conversations. To ask, ‘Is it yours?’ in speaking to Ms.

Yamada, the Japanese will say, Sore wa Yamada-san no desu ka
‘Ms. Yamada, is it Ms. Yamada’s?’

Verb morphology

Japanese verbs and adjectives can be followed by numerous

suffixes, one after another, just as if you are creating a
necklace by putting beads together. For example, tabe is the

shortest pronounceable form of the verb ‘to eat.’ However,
tabe-ru means ‘will eat,’ tabe-sase-ru means ‘will make