Lesson 1

How Japanese sentences work

The most important thing to understand first: Japanese sentences are built in a completely different order from English. Where English says Subject → Verb → Object (“I eat an apple”), Japanese says Subject → Object → Verb (“I apple eat”). The verb always comes at the very end.

This isn’t just a quirk — it’s the foundation of everything. Every sentence you’ll ever say in Japanese ends with a verb (or desu). Get used to holding the verb until the end.

watashi wa ringo o tabemasu

I (topic) apple (object) eat → I eat an apple.

The two small words wa and o are particles — they tag what role each noun plays. Wa says “this is what the sentence is about”, o says “this is what the action is done to”. You’ll see more particles below, but these two are the most essential.

Saying “is” — desu

Before verbs, let’s cover the simplest sentence type: identifying things. Japanese uses desu where English uses “is / am / are”. It sits at the end of the sentence.

watashi wa Frido desu — I am Frido.

kore wa ringo desu — This is an apple. (kore = this)

kore wa Aya desu ka? — Is this Aya?

That last example introduces ka — stick it at the end of any sentence to turn it into a yes/no question. No word order change, no “do” construction. Just ka.

Verbs — the three groups

Japanese verbs come in three groups. Every verb belongs to exactly one group, and the group determines how you conjugate it. You need to know the group before you can do anything with a verb.

Group 2 — RU verbs

These verbs end in -eru or -iru. To conjugate them, simply drop the -ru and add your ending. The stem never changes.

Group 1 — U verbs

These verbs end in a consonant + u (like -ku, -mu, -su, -u). Change the last vowel sound to match what you need:

• u → i for polite (add masu / mashita)
• u → a for negative (nai)
• u → e for can (ru)

Note: hanasu → hanashimasu (not “hanshimasu”) — the su shifts to shi in polite form.

Irregular — only two

Suru’s “can” form is dekiru — a completely different word. You’ll use it a lot.

Particles

Ni vs de: use ni for where you’re going, de for where something happens.

Nihon ni ikimasu — I go to Japan.

Tokyo de tabemashita — I ate in Tokyo.

Questions

Add a question word + ka at the end. No word order change.

nani o tabemashita ka — What did you eat?

doko ni ikitai desu ka — Where do you want to go?

Time words

These sit at the start of the sentence. No particle needed.

kinou — yesterday  ·  kyou — today  ·  ashita — tomorrow

kyou anime o mimashita — I watched anime today.

Quick reference