hello! I’ve started to learn japanese 3 (+/-) weeks ago, and I already know the hiragana, katakana, and a bunch of words…what I need is for someone to explain me the order of a phrase, if that makes any sense…
for example: the subject comes first, then words refering to time and place, then the verb…I can’t figure it out, and I don’t have any kind of book that can help me.
arigatou gozaimasu for reading!
Moonlight,
Trust in your ability to start to recognize patterns. Stay with easy content like The Power of the Linguist in Japanese, where the English is also available. Listen over and over, and the patterns will start to become clearer to you. There are lots and lots of patterns and lot and lots of words to learn.
Through enough exposure you will get used to them. Everything seems strange at first. Just keep going. Your brain is better at recognizing patterns and repeating them, than at applying logic and theoretical explanations when you need to use the language.
The order the subject, time and place, and the verb is basically correct.
For example,
Watashi wa Kyo Gakko e Iki masu. (Today I will go to school.)
In this sentence, “wa” and “e” are particles. In Japanese particles are important.