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WORD ORDER
Subject-Object-Verb
Whereas English uses Subject-Verb-Object order, Japanese normally uses Subject-Object-Verb pattern.
Other information such as time, topic, subject, location / direction, indirect object / agent, and adverbs come before the verb or adjective, albeit not necessarily in that order.
Role of Particles
These are the approximate Japanese counterparts of English prepositions, except that they come after the word or phrase in question and they are used on a wider range, including subjects and direct objects which, in English, are determined solely by their position in the sentence.
These particles help one to determine the function of words and phrases in the sentence.
They also enable one to switch the order of phrases to a certain point within the Subject-Object-Verb structure.
Inverted Order and Dependent Clauses
Japanese also uses inverted word order to a certain extent.
This inversion of word order, however is not to be confused with dependent clauses, which at first glance, may seem like inverted-order sentences because of the presence of verbs early on.
Dependent clauses contain verbs or adjectives complete with details that can make up any other sentence.
To be able to analyze Japanese sentences properly, one needs to first cut the sentence into its clauses, then cut these up into phrases using the particles as guides.
Topic and Subject
- These are normally omitted except for emphasis or clarification.
- Time Expression
- Time expressions are often found first thing in the sentence or before the verb.
- Location and Direction
- These take more-or-less the same position in the sentence.
- Indirect Object and Agent
- These take more-or-less the same position in the sentence.
- Direct Object
- The direct object ordinarily comes just before the adverbs, if any.
- Adverb
- Adverbs are normally found right before the verb or adjective.
- Dependent Clause
- Dependent clauses may contain any of the above-mentioned phrases and may precede any noun, whether it be in the subject or in the predicate, or other unclassifiable words like "kara", "tame", etc. in the sentence. Japanese texts use these so heavily that if translated sentence-by-sentence, run-on sentences would often result.
Let's start by analyzing some examples.
2. 3-nen-go no 5-gatsu 12-nichi gozen 10-ji goro Minami no Miyako no nansei 9-kiro chiten ni aru shima da.
That's an island on a point 9 kms southwest of South City around 10:00 a.m. of May 12 of three years later. --Piccolo #28-156-4
- [3-nen-go no 5-gatsu 12-nichi gozen 10-ji goro // Minami no Miyako no nansei 9-kiro chiten ni // aru ] shima da.
- time expression = "3-nen-go no 5-gatsu 12-nichi gozen 10-ji goro" = "around 10:00 a.m. of May 12 three years from now"
- subject = hidden
- modifying clause = "Minami no Miyako no nansei 9-kiro chiten ni aru" = "that is located on a point 9 kms southwest of South City"
- location = "Minami no Miyako no nansei 9-kiro chiten ni" = "on a point 9 kms southwest of South City"
- predicate = noun = "shima" = "island"
- verb = "da" = "is"
Context:
Piccolo and company are set to meet again in a certain island after three years. Before they go their separate ways, Piccolo restates the details, such as the exact time and location, of their meeting.
Comments:
Here, the basic sentence pattern "A is B" is lengthened by adding information such as time and location. The location is inserted as a clause modifying "island".
Japanese modifying clauses invariably come right before what they describe, without the "that", "which", "who", "when", or "where" that proceeds English modifying clauses that come after what they describe.
This is quite an extreme example of the use of particle "no" in joining two or more nouns wherein the first modifies the latter. "No", however, does not appear everytime, especially with time and quantity expressions. The time expression and location connect up to four items each:
time expression: 10:00 (a.m. or p.m.?) - a.m. (morning of what day) - May 12 (May 12 of what year?) - three years from now
location: point (a point where?) - 9kms southwest (southwest of what?) - City (which City?) - South
Whereas in English, the order goes from specific to general, in Japanese, the order goes from general to specific. The way addresses and dates are written must be a proof of this. Japanese addresses are normally written with the zip code and city name first, then the district, area, block, then finally the house number. Dates are written year first, followed by the month and the day.
Posted: 2001-04-01 (Sun)