SOV Structure – How to Create Sentences in Japanese

Have you ever wondered how to create sentences in Japanese? Do you know the structure of Japanese sentences SOV? Is the structure of Japanese sentences difficult?

The Japanese grammar, in practice, is simple. But it is completely different and opposite to Portuguese, and this confuses our learning a lot. The order of sentences, the conjugation of verbs, everything, despite being simple, is different.

If we search the internet about the structure and Japanese grammar, all will talk about particles and verbs, but no one will explain in detail the order of each of the sentences, especially large sentences. Our goal is to explain everything about the structure of sentences in Japanese.

Japanese SOV Structure (Subject + Object + Verb)

First, we need to understand how Japanese grammar works and the structure of its sentences. Unlike Portuguese, the verb will almost always end up at the end of the sentence. This structure is called SOV.

SOV is when most sentences in the language follow the order of: subject + object + verb. See the following example sentence below:

The example sentence is: The children ate the apple

子供はリンゴを食べた
kodomo wa ringo wo tabeta

• Subject: Child (kodomo);
• Object: Apple (ringo);
• Verb: Ate (tabeta);

In the sentence we just saw, the apple is the object and appears before the past verb ate. The image below shows a little more about the Japanese grammatical structure:

Sentences with Desu「です」

Now we will talk a little about the structure of some sentences without a verb, which only has “desu”. Some like to call “desu” a verb, but others do not, so I will remain neutral.

Kana	お名前は	ケビン	です	これは	本	です
Romaji	onamae wa	kebin	desu	kore wa	hon	desu
Literal	Name	Kevin	is	This	book	is
Structure	Noun	Description	verb	pronominal	noun/object	verb
Portuguese	My name	is	Kevin	This is	a	book

The structure can also be used with other verbs.

How do I identify the subject, verb, and object?

Sometimes you may feel lost, asking what do I define as subject, object, and verb? The table below will help you decide:

Category	Definition	Examples
Noun	person, place, thing, or idea	Kirigaya, mountain, stick, linguistics
Adjective	Describes a noun	red, happy, hot
Verb	An action or state of being	eat, contemplate, live, be afraid
Determiner	articles and similar terms	a / an, the, this, that, some, all

There are many other categories of words such as: pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and others. We will not delve into these words in this article.

The flexibility of Japanese sentences

Japanese is much more flexible. Anything to the left of the verb can be rearranged without changing the basic meaning of the sentence, although, logically, there is still a preferred order. How is this possible? Thanks to the particles that serve to identify each part of the sentence.

In Japanese, the order of Japanese words in a sentence is not as important as in some languages. This is thanks to the existence of particles that do not order the words but determine how each part of the sentence relates to the verb.

Perhaps you did not understand the image, but basically everything starts with the topic/subject and ends with the verb. In between these 2 happens all the information of the sentence, using adverbs, adjectives, nouns, objects, places, etc. There is no order in how the information of a certain sentence is placed. Only that in some words there is a natural order that makes more sense and gives more emphasis to the sentence.

What do you mean there is no order in sentences?

See the following example: On Monday, Yamada saw Yumi at the train station

For this, we have the following elements:

• Topic of the sentence: Yamada
• Object of the sentence: Yumi
• Time: Monday
• Place, means: Train station
• Verb: Saw (see)

This sentence can be written in various ways and different orders such as:

• Yamada wa getsuyoubi ni Yumi wo eki de mimashita.
  • 山田は月曜日に由美を駅で見ました。
• Yamada wa getsuyoubi ni eki de Yumi wo mimashita.
  • 山田は月曜日に駅で由美を見ました。
• Yamada wa Yumi wo getsuyoubi ni eki de mimashita.
  • 山田は由美を月曜日に駅で見ました。
• Getsuyoubi ni Yamada wa Yumi wo eki de mimashita.
  • 月曜日に山田は由美を駅で見ました。

It does not matter the order in which these sentences above were written, they all express the same meaning that it was Yamada who saw Yumi at the train station on Monday.

Of course, there are natural orders that are more commonly used. Time sentences usually appear near the beginning of the sentence, so generally the third option is the least preferable. It is worth remembering that time can also and usually appears before the topic or subject.

Making Japanese sentences more natural

A fundamental rule that applies to all Japanese sentences is that “new or important information should appear last in the sentence.” It may seem difficult for us to think of new and important information before speaking, this is a habit that must be acquired over time. Especially because the central action (verb) of the sentence comes at the end and everything that describes the sentence comes in the middle.

When we speak in Portuguese, most of the time the important information comes first and then the other less important details complete the sentence. For example: I had lunch in the park on Monday. While Japanese does the reverse saying: I + on Monday + in the park = had lunch!

• 私は月曜日に公園で昼ご飯を食べました。
• watashi wa getsuyoubi ni koen de hiru gohan wo tabemashita;
• I wa Monday ni park de lunch wo ate;

In other words, the person performing the action is mentioned first, but then the natural order is usually always the details such as date > environment > object > verb. That is, if you always speak your sentences expressing the details from the outside in until you reach the action, it will sound more natural. It may be easy for you to order these sentences remembering the particles, which follow wa > ni > de > wo.

In the image above we have an idea of the natural structure of Japanese sentences. We can think of examples like:

• Kevin + Yesterday + School + Bus + beach + Go
• Yesterday Kevin took the bus from school to go to the beach;
• ケビンは昨日に学校からバスで海に行きました。
• kebin wa kinou ni gakkou kara basu de umi ni ikimashita;

Going into details

Of course, these rules will only apply to sentences with:

• Actions that occur in a place;
• Actions that occur in a movement from one place to another;
• Actions that involve a movement of an object;

It is worth remembering that other information can be applied to these sentences such as:

• Participants (to);
• Origin (kara);
• Start time (kara);
• End time (made);
• Subject (ga);

Expressing sentences in Japanese with the words in their natural order takes time and requires practice! So, practice as much as possible! I hope this guide has helped you to have a basic understanding of this subject!

Sentences with 2 objects

Many verbs can take more than one object, and some none. When there is only one object, it is usually a direct object. And when there are two, the other is an indirect object (destination of the direct object).

先生は	授業の後で	生徒に	成績を	出した。
The teacher	after class	to the students	grades	delivered
subject	adjunct	indirect object	direct object	verb

Word order with the particle の

Now that we know a little about the order of sentences, how does the order of words look? How can I use an adjective and say that something belongs to me in the correct order?

You probably know the particle の (no). Have you ever wondered about the order of words when saying that something belongs to someone else?

The particle の is not complicated. You can keep in mind that possession is inverted: ケビンの車 (Kevin’s car). But what if the sentence is long? See the example below:

Kana	私の	赤い	日本の	車
Romaji	Watashi no	akai	nihon no	kuruma
Literally	My	Red	Japan	Car
Portuguese	My	car	Japanese	red

Advancing a little

We have already learned the basics of the structure of Japanese sentences, but how about we advance a little? See the sentence below:

Kana	ケビンさんは	金曜日に	お店で	本を	買いました
Romaji	kebinsan wa	Kin’yōbi ni	o mise de	hon wo	kaimashita
Literally	Kevin	Friday	store	book	bought
Structure	subject	time	place	object	verb
Portuguese	Kevin	bought	a book	at the store	on Friday

Pay close attention to the order of each object in the sentence, the subject always comes first in Japanese sentences, and this can confuse a lot during learning. Especially if we do not know the preferred order of time, place, object, etc.

As most of the time, the sentence started with the subject followed by the particle は that indicates the topic. When the sentence has a “time,” it comes after the theme followed by the particle に. When the time is something more open like afternoon and night, the particle is not necessary.

The place comes after the time. The place marker is で (de), but に (ni) is also used quite frequently. The particle で is used more when the object is stationary, and に when it is in motion. The object is placed before the verb, using the particle を to indicate the action of the verb.

Remembering that there is no order, since Japanese is very flexible. But there is a preference and recommendation on how to speak and write for your Japanese to be easier to understand and more beautiful.

In summary – Grammatical structures

Of course, there are many things we did not study in Japanese grammatical structure, such as the omission of words in the sentence and various other structures. To finish, I will leave some structures below for you to delve deeper and understand more about the order and structure of Japanese sentences:

1	subject	object	verb
2	object	subject	verb
3	topic	subject	object	verb
4	topic	time	companion	place	object	verb
5	topic	direction	location	verb
6	subject	time	place/tool	indirect object	direct object	verb
7	subject	time	place	existential verb
8	subject	time	origin	route	destination	motion verb
9	time	transport / companion	place	verb
10	time	person / place	noun	verb

Don’t forget the particles that accompany the objects in the sentences:

topic	は
time	に
companion / person	と
place	で
object, route	を
noun	を
possession	の
subject	は/が
origin	から
destination	に or へ
indirect object	に

I hope this article has helped you understand m