OK when it comes to grammar and I want to say "I'm learning Japanese" in Japanese… - Feed Post by RaveNeal
OK when it comes to grammar and I want to say
"I'm learning Japanese" in Japanese which of these is the correct way to say it?
わたしがくしゅうじゃぱねせ
じゃぱねせがくしゅうわたし
or neither of them? Having trouble with how the grammar thing works, is it like yoda talk? lol
"I'm learning Japanese" in Japanese which of these is the correct way to say it?
わたしがくしゅうじゃぱねせ
じゃぱねせがくしゅうわたし
or neither of them? Having trouble with how the grammar thing works, is it like yoda talk? lol
posted by RaveNeal
Comments 7
I'm more intriqued by your vocabulary usage! It took me a while to figure out じゃぱねせ was supposed to mean... :P
Normally 'Japanese language' is written にほんご. And beginners usually use べんきょう as the word for 'study, learn'. I'll continue with the words you chose though. ^^
English sentence order = Subject Verb Object (SVO). Japanese sentence order = Subject Object Verb (SOV), so you need to swap the order of the verb and the object:
I | am learning | Japanese → I | Japanese | am learning
watashi wa JAPANIIZU o gakushuu shite imasu.
わたし は じゃぱにーず を がくしゅう して います 。
I は Japanese を am learning
は and を are particles--things placed after the parts of the sentence to specifify their function. は marks the topic/subject; を marks the object.
Obviously there shouldn't be any spaces when you write it (I've added spaces to make it easier to understand). Also, わたし and がくしゅう would both normally be written in kanji. じゃぱにーず should be written in katakana, but I've left this in hiragana in case you haven't learnt katakana yet.
Here's what it looks like in hiragana without spaces:
わたしはじゃばにーずをがくしゅうしています。
And here it is written properly, with katakana and kanji used where they should be:
私はジャパニーズを学習しています。- * intrigued (it makes me sound bad talking about your Japanese vocabulary, if I myself, as an Englishman, cannot spell properly in English...) >.>
Also, I should probably mention that がくしゅう on its own is just a noun. This is why しています has to be added onto the end of がくしゅう 'study, learning' to turn it into a verb 'be studying, be learning (something)'. :) 
LOL now I feel stupid XD but thanks mate for clearing things out, but still kinda confusing- どういたしまして。I feel that Japanese grammar is extremely confusing for people who speak English as their only language (like me), as the differences are insane. It's not just the order of object and verb but also most of the rest of the sentence will feel like the order is backwards too. And things like Japanese particles don't really exist in English and can cause a major headache to get to grips with. Verbs and adjectives are dealt with very differently in Japanese too, and many other things.
Lots of people on here are struggling with and desperately want to understand basic Japanese grammar. So it's also good for them that you're actually asking questions -- and it also helps me by refreshing my memory answering them! :P
I made a typo in my first post, where I wrote ば instead of ぱ. So that line should be:
わたしはじゃぱにーずをがくしゅうしています。
But anyway, here's the better, more usual version learnt by beginners:
watashi wa nihongo o benkyou shite imasu.
わたしはにほんごをべんきょうしています。
私は日本語を勉強しています。 
Ai amu ra-ningu japani-zu! xD- Anyone who can understand that romaji should be given an N1 pass instantly! Took me ages to figure out what 'ra-ningu' was supposed to be... I just kept thinking in my head the following:
ai amu ta-ningu japani-zu
ai shinku ai amu ta-ningu japani-zu
ai riari- shinku sou ♪ :D - haha I didn't get it at first!
