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difference between English and japanese

ok some quick few questions

1.when saying someone full name do they always say last name first?
2.how does this sentence structure looks like in Japanese? 'I would like to visit Tokyo'
3. are some Japanese words long?

February 10, 2013

7 Comments • Newest first

roxy123

1. Yes.
2. As long as you add the correct particle to each noun and put the verb at the end of the sentence, it is correct.
For example, 'Mary bought ice cream'. (Ignore the period in mashi.ta)
In Japanese, you could say 'Mari-ga aisukurimu-wo katte-mashi.ta' or 'Aisukurimu-wo Mari-ga katte-mashi.ta'. It remains perfectly grammatical.
(Katte-mashi.ta is the verb 'to buy' past tense)
-ga and -wo are some of the particles.
-ga is the subject marker and Mary would be the subject.
-wo is the object marker and Ice cream would be the object.
There's also -ni, -mo, -kara, etc., but I suggest you to refer to a Japanese grammar book for more information.
3. Well, yes.

Reply February 10, 2013
Billionz

1.when saying someone full name do they always say last name first?
2.how does this sentence structure looks like in Japanese? 'I would like to visit Tokyo'
3. are some Japanese words long?

1. Yes obviously. If they have a full JAPANESE name.
2. From what I heard, the noun comes before the verb. Don't take this for granted. I know nothing about the grammar.
3. Alphabets used in English are different from Japanese ones. Once you start learning it, you won't focus on how long the word is, but how difficult it is to pronounce (I'm mainly referring to on'yomi). In most cases, Japanese alphabets directly reflect how it should sound. In the English alphabet, one letter can have multiple sounds when used in different words (e.g. u = Use, bUck, lUte).

Reply February 10, 2013 - edited
bloodIsShed

ah, sometimes you might see ''long'' verbs because of conjugation, which can sometimes double the length of the verb in plain form

Reply February 10, 2013 - edited
koopa2488

1. Yea last name then first
2. Subject and verb is switched up
3.Depends on what long is lol

Reply February 10, 2013 - edited
CaptCandy

There are a lot of differences.

1.Yes
2. Many different varieties, but it is something like Subject then particle then (adverb) then (Place/time) then particle then (verb).
Sentences end have either noun or verb endings.
3. Yes and no. In terms of syllables yes, but for the most part, relatively few Kanji have to be used to make a word.
Since Japanese is a syllibrie (idk how to spell this), the Romaji would be long.

Reply February 10, 2013 - edited
fun2killu

i don't know why you couldn't google this?

Reply February 10, 2013 - edited
bloodIsShed

1. family name, then given name.
2. while in English, a typical sentence is subject - verb - object, in Japanese it's Subject object verb
'I would like to visit Tokyo'
in Japanese would look more or less like 'I Tokyo would like to visit'
3. not really...

Reply February 10, 2013 - edited