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Now, for the Actual Language...

Before jumping right into lesson one, there are still a few things to explain about how grammar works in Japanese, and that's what this page is all about.

Word Order
Putting it simply, English is an S-V-O language, in which the sentence starts with a subject, which is followed by a verb, and finally an object. Japanese, on the other hand, is S-O-V. So, for example:

English: I am an American.
Japanese: I an American am.

です
It seems that most languages' strangest verb is also the most common: the verb 'to be'. Japanese is no exception, and the copula です is the way of saying such. (Pronunication tip: 'desu' is generally pronounced 'dess'.) To say a simple sentence like the example above, where 'X is Y', the sentence is simply ended in です. Thus, the example above would be written:

わたしはアメリカじんです。

わたし is 'I', は is the subject marker 'wa' (anytime you see a 'ha' that isn't part of another word, it is pronounced 'wa', and just shows that what comes before it is the subject), and じん is the suffix for 'person' (such that Amerika-jin is an American, Supein-jin is a Spaniard, etc.).

Name Suffixes
In Japanese, suffixes are almost always added to names. While often translated as 'Mr.' or 'Ms.', this isn't really correct, because only the closest of friends tend to drop these formalities; otherwise it is seen as rude.

• The most common of these (which you've probably heard) is さん, which is used most of the time when you address someone.
• ちゃん is common for girls, and when referring to relatives as Auntie, Granny, etc.
• くん is common for boys.
• さま is used only in the most formal of situations, for someone of very high status.
• Other nouns are used as title suffixes, such as せんせい (teacher).

However, one very important thing to mention is that unless it would be unclear to the listener, subjects are very often dropped entirely. In fact, using a first-person pronoun too much may make one sound arrogant, and using a second-person pronoun too much may make the listener feel intimidated. Second-person pronouns are usually replaced by using a person's name, if you know it. However, doing so can be confusing at first. Let's take a look:

やまださんはにほんじんですか。

(Note: The particle か is used at the end of any sentence to turn it into a question. Pretty easy, huh? Also, question marks are generally not used in Japanese.)

Now, the above sentence could be used in two ways. Either way, we're asking if Mr. (or Ms., or Mrs.) Yamada is Japanese. Depending on the listener, however, this would be translated in one of two ways.

1. Talking to someone other than Mr. Yamada: "Is Mr. Yamada Japanese?"
2. Talking to Mr. Yamada himself: "Are you Japanese, Mr. Yamada?"

Thus, we can use suffixes in third person, as well as direct address.

That should give you a little introduction to how Japanese grammar works. If there's a part that you don't fully understand yet, don't worry, it'll be gone over in more detail later.