Is this correct?

[NeoUmbra]

I am just starting to learn japanese and i wanted to see if i was taking in what i was learning correctly.

Does this little paragraph make any sence?

私はボーです。
オーストラリア人です。
二人かぞくです。　父と母がいます。
私もいぬいます。

[richvh]

Most of it is OK. There's a couple of places you slipped up.

二人かぞくです。

The order is wrong, and you need to include yourself in the count.
かぞくは三人です。

私もいぬいます。

That も comes out of nowhere. Who's the other person you've mentioned that has a dog (the only context in which that sentence would make sense... assuming the null particle can be used between いぬ and います)?
私はいぬがいます。

[saraLynne]

I can see where he got the も from. "I also have a dog."

It's hard when you're starting out to realize that you can't use the particle that way, because it -appears- to make perfect sense.

@NeoUmbra: if you think of 私も as "me too", then you'll see why it doesn't fit.

[NeoUmbra]

Ah ok, i was wondering if i used the も correctly or not, obviously not.

@richvh

The order of the words was something i thought i was correct on . In the book i have, in the examples section, it states ５人かぞくです。 when 2 people were talking about family.

I cant believe i forgot to count myself :p , that one lame mistake

Ill just have to keep in mind when i am reading it that it is incorrect

[richvh]

Okay, that's a sentence pattern I don't see that often, and when I do it's with something like たくさん rather than a specific number like ５人, so it's not so much wrong as unusual. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in and further shoot me down.

[NeoUmbra]

Well maybe my book is wrong in that aspect. Hmm, maybe someone else knows the answer.

[richvh]

Examples of proper も usage:
私は犬を飼っています。
友達も犬を飼っています。

私は犬を飼っています。
私は猫も飼っています。 (Wrong: 私も猫を飼っています。)

私は学校に行きます。
私は店で働くこともします。 (Wrong: 私も店で働きます。)

In all of the above, in English, you can just add a ", too" at the end of the sentence, but in Japanese, where the も is placed depends on context.

[Oyaji]

I certainly don't want to shoot anyone down , but yes, that pattern is very common in self introductions.

Here is a common way to include your dog:

３人かぞくです。父と母がいます。
いぬもいます。

(A more technical pattern is: いぬをかっています, but I believe the above pattern would be more common, especially in fairly informal situations.)

edit: I didn't see Rich's last post before posting this. Those are very useful examples.

[NeoUmbra]

Ah cool.

I see how the も particle can be used now. That would state that there is also a dog in your family correct?