Help with basic sentence structure

[ben]

Hey!

Will someone help me out with some basic sentence stucture. Lets start out with an introduction and move on from there.

Do this if your only in a teaching kind of mood.
I just want to know some simple conversation. Tell me what your saying though

I start...

Konnichiwa, genki desu ka? Is that even right. Its been a long long time since i studied japanese. i forgot it all. help me out or make fun of me...but im trying

[hihlordjp]

It's correct. Just attach o- to genki for politeness.

Basic sentence structure is S-O-V. Like in Clay's example:

私は　パンを　食べます。
Watashi wa PAN wo tabemasu.

Literally translated into English, it would be "I bread eat."

[ben]

thanks because right know i really need help with my sentences

in a couple of weeks im going to go to japanese class with some other japanese kids. That should be interesting.

[ben]

are there some other basic rules about writing sentences that i should know?

[clay]

*Usually* WA comes first then GA or O depending on what you want to say. And usually the verb is last. But one nice thing about Japanese is you can play with the order without being 'incorrect'. One common trick comedians use is pausing before negating a verb.

Ikimas.....en You can't do that with English unless you watch a lot of Waynes World movies!

[ben]

thanks

[GMK-kaijuu]

Waynes world stinks!

[GMK-kaijuu]

NOT!
CHYAA RIGHT!

[ben]

well...

does anyone else have anything to suggest? I think im really starting to understand...i guess... but i will keep trying and right know i am really motivated...

well if someone could just put down some different but basic sentences i could kinda figure it out...

ーベン。

[Mukade]

You'll find that most Japanese sentences will have an ordering that is the complete opposite of English. Just leave the subject where it is, and reverse everything else.

For example, the sentence:

"I go to school by bus at seven o'clock everyday."

when placed in "Japanese" order would be:

"I everyday o'clock seven at bus by school to go."

In Japanese:

私は毎日午前七時にバスで学校へ行きます。
Watashi wa mainichi gozen shichiji ni basu de gakkou e ikimasu.

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*Not all sentences will fit this pattern quite so nicely, but you'll find that in many, many instances this basic rule of thumb holds true.

[ben]

That is weird, but it is easier than in some other languages sentence structure.

Thanks