Practice my current text book material :)

[kentaku_sama]

Ok so since I have a text book and have worked in it now I'm going to put my own original sentences for correction to see if I'm getting the concepts I'm also using Tae kim's japanese guide as well. I'm only using material I definitely am sure about and have learned how to do. So no more trying to run before I can walk.

I can speak japanese: 僕は日本語が話せ。
Can you speak english:　英語が話せますか？
I came to japan by plane:　日本に飛行機で行った。　
The girl who ate her bento is in the park: お弁とを食べた女の子は公園にいます。
I don't understand the question:　　質問を分からない。/　質問を分かりません。
That dosen't look very good.　それはあんまりよくない。　　
He could die. 　　　　　　　　死ぬそうです。
The woman who drank juice, swam a kilometer.　ジュウスを飲むんだ女は一キロを泳いだ。　
I like japanese　for one because it's interesting:　日本語が好き　面白いし。　　　
It looks like it will snow:　　雪が降りそうです。
I'm heading toward the store: 　店へ行きます。

[furrykef]

As a disclaimer, I'm still learning myself. But I'm pretty confident about the answers I'm going to give here.

I can speak japanese: 僕は日本語が話せ。

Close. 話せ is just the stem form; you need 話せる or 話せます.

Can you speak english:　英語が話せますか？

Perfect.

I came to japan by plane:　日本に飛行機で行った。

This is fine, except 行った means "went" rather than "came". You probably want 来た (read きた). When the speaker and listener are in different places, though, I believe you do use 行く in place of 来る when you mean "come over there", since the verb is used relative to where the speaker is. In your sentence, the speaker is probably currently in Japan, so 来た makes more sense.

The girl who ate her bento is in the park: お弁とを食べた女の子は公園にいます。

Bento has a long vowel (so it's actually bentō) and is written 弁当. Otherwise, it looks fine to me.

I don't understand the question:　　質問を分からない。/　質問を分かりません。

You need to use が, not を, with 分かる. (But be warned that you do use を with 知る, which can be confusing since both verbs can mean "to know".)

The woman who drank juice, swam a kilometer.　ジュウスを飲むんだ女は一キロを泳いだ。

ジュース is much more common (remember the katakana long vowel mark), although I wouldn't go so far as to say that ジュウス is wrong.

You need to remove the を. When you have a number that takes a counter, you don't put a particle after the counter; the number acts sort of like an adverb.

It looks like it will snow:　　雪が降りそうです。

Perfect.

I'm heading toward the store: 　店へ行きます。

Perfect again.

The ones I didn't comment on I wasn't sure about, so I'll let somebody else handle them. ^^; Those are:

That dosen't look very good.　それはあんまりよくない。　　
He could die. 　　　　　　　　死ぬそうです。
I like japanese　for one because it's interesting:　日本語が好き　面白いし。

[Astral Abraxas]

分かる is intransitive that's why you have to use が
知る is transitive that's why you have to use を

日本語が好き　面白いし。　

面白いし、日本語が好きだ。

死ぬそうです。

I hear that (he) will die.

Maybe you want something like 死ぬかもしれません = he might die.

That dosen't look very good.　それはあんまりよくない。

それは良くなさそうです　= It seems that isn't good.

[furrykef]

分かる is intransitive that's why you have to use が
知る is transitive that's why you have to use を

That's doesn't really explain it, though. You sort of get into circular logic here: Why does 分かる take が? Because it's intransitive. Why is it intransitive? Because it takes が.

Either way you look at it, you pretty much have to shrug your shoulders and say "That's just the way it is."

- Kef

[NileCat]

Kentaku_sama,

I think your grasp about "getting rid of subject words" is very good.
( I read your past posts too. )
It seems to me that you are now walking with a light step.
Keep walking! Soon you'll notice that you are running without thinking!

[kentaku_sama]

That dosen't look very good.　それはあんまりよくない。



それは良くなさそうです　= It seems that isn't good.

I'm not exactly being literal, in English "It seems that isn't good." is basically "That doesn't look good." It's just what you say I wasn't being literal.

Maybe you want something like 死ぬかもしれません = he might die

I haven't studied that yet so I don't know it.

You need to remove the を. When you have a number that takes a counter, you don't put a particle after the counter; the number acts sort of like an adverb.

So "I ran twenty hectometers" is ２０ヘクトはした。

I thought leaving out the ます　or　る　In　話せます　Would be acceptable in speech with natives.　
Like　I imagine in a chatroom saying：　英語が話せ？　 "Do you speak english?"

[Astral Abraxas]

That's doesn't really explain it, though. You sort of get into circular logic here: Why does 分かる take が? Because it's intransitive. Why is it intransitive? Because it takes が.

It's not intransitive because it takes が... Transitive verbs can take が instead of を... However, an intransitive verb can't take を. There is no circular logic going on here

You never go "oh that verb must be intransitive because what seems like the object is using が!". Context can tell you whether it's intransitive but not the particle itself.

[Yudan Taiteki]

The general rule is that verbs that are based on volition or control take を, whereas those that don't take が for their objects. Note that while 知る is not completely control-based, it often has that connotation -- it's why 知らない is often a rude response to a question, because it often means something like "I don't know and I'm not going to find out".

Transitive vs. intransitive isn't really an accurate way to describe it because there are many transitive verbs that take が (the whole set of potential forms of verbs, for instance) -- that is, assuming you're using the usual definition of "transitive" and not just using the circular definition furrykef mentions.

(Note also that を分かる is frequently used by native Japanese speakers, so the confusion is not only among learners of Japanese.)

You are contradicting yourself:

Transitive verbs can take が instead of を

知る is transitive that's why you have to use を

[Astral Abraxas]

I can probably invent a context where 知る uses が. I shouldn't have said "have to".

[Yudan Taiteki]

知る using が for the *object*? I don't think such a context exists; that's a grammatical violation irrespective of context (of course 私が知る is fine but that's subject instead.)

[Astral Abraxas]

Honestly, I'm not too sure. Disregard what I said.

[NileCat]

Chris, ...恐れ入りました。 I found your explanation was great. Ok, I'll study Japanese again !

[Yudan Taiteki]

Of course I cannot take credit for that explanation -- like so many of my grammatical explanations, it comes from Japanese: The Spoken Language.

[NileCat]

I thought leaving out the ます　or　る　In　話せます　Would be acceptable in speech with natives.　
Like　I imagine in a chatroom saying：　英語が話せ？　 "Do you speak english?"

I can answer to this question!

No, it is not acceptable. Even in 2ch (a notorious website), you'd be crossfired (or ignored).

[kentaku_sama]

Next ones (using nara and temiru)

フランスに行った事がありますか？
　アメリカなら行ったことがありますが、フランスに行ったことがありません。　　

　　ピアノが弾けますか？　Do you play piano?
　ギターなら弾けますが、ピアノが弾けません。 If it's a guitar, yeah, but I can't play a piano.

僕はフランスにフランス語を習ってみます。　　　　I tried to learn french in france.