Attention: Be sure to study the Basic Grammar lesson before moving on to this one.

Japanese sentence construction will generally follow the pattern below (elements not applicable to a
particular sentence can be left out):

[time] に (ni) [topic] は (wa) [subject] が (ga) [direct object] を (o/wo) [indirect object or direction] に (ni)
[verb].

The verb is the most important part of a Japanese sentence. Be sure to study the lessons on verb
conjugation and verb bases in great detail.

Note: For times such as "today" (今日 - きょう - kyou), "tomorrow" (明日 - あした - ashita), "yesterday" (昨
日 - きのう - kinou), "the day after tomorrow" (明後日 - あさって - asatte), and "the day before yesterday"
(一昨日 - おととい - ototoi), a time marker is not necessary.

Here are some example sentences (all in plain form):

Japanese
English Meaning
(In Kanji, Hiragana, and Romaji)
明日、子供たちは学校に戻る。 The children are returning to school
あした、こどもたちはがっこうにもどる。 tomorrow.
Ashita, kodomotachi wa gakkou ni modoru.
三時半に彼は彼女の家に行く。 He is going to her house at 3:30.
さんじはんにかれはかのじょのいえにいく。
Sanjihan ni kare wa kanojo no ie ni iku.
五時十五分に彼女は麦茶を飲んだ。 She drank wheat tea at 5:15.
ごじじゅうごふんにかのじょはむぎちゃをのんだ。
Gojijuugofun ni kanojo wa mugicha o nonda.
二時に彼女は彼が車を運転していることを見た。 She saw him driving a car at 2:00.
にじにかのじょはかれがくるまをうんてんしていることをみた。
Niji ni kanojo wa kare ga kuruma o unten shite iru koto o mita.

Vocab Breakdown
明日 (あした - ashita - tomorrow) 家 (いえ - ie - house)
子供たち (こどもたち - kodomotachi - children) 行く (いく - iku - to go)
学校 (がっこう - gakkou - school) 麦茶 (むぎちゃ - mugicha - wheat tea)
戻る (もどる - modoru - to return to) 飲む (のむ - nomu - to drink)
三時半 (さんじはん - sanjihan - 3:30) 車 (くるま - kuruma - car)
彼 (かれ - kare - he/him) 運転する (うんてんする - unten suru - to drive)
彼女 (かのじょ - kanojo - she/her) 見る (みる - miru - to see)

To, Ya, and No

"To" ( と ) is a particle that is used in many ways in the Japanese language. "To" can mean "and". For
instance, "Ringo to orenji" (apples and oranges). "Ya" can also mean "and" but implies that there are items
not being mentioned. For instance, "Ringo ya orenji" (apples and oranges and...). "To" can also be used as
"with". For instance, "Kare to iku" (I'm going with him). "To" can also act as "quotes" for something heard,
said, or thought. "Kanojo ga byouki da to kiita" (I heard she is sick), "Kare wa ikitakunai to itta" (He said he
doesn't want to go), "Kanojo wa boku no koto ga suki ka na to omotte ita" (I was thinking, "I wonder if she
likes me").

The main function for the particle "no" is to join nouns together. For instance, in an example sentence above
we used "kanojo no ie". The "no" connects "she/her" to "house" making it "her house". "Boku/watashi no ie"
would be "my house" and "kare no ie" would be "his house". "No" can also be used at the end of a plain
form sentence to turn the sentence into a question (in the same way that "ka" would be used in the polite
form).

To Be
The verb "de aru"　(である) ("desu" (です) in the polite form) is generally considered to be the "to be" verb
(am, is, be, etc.). "De aru" is typically "da" ( だ) in the plain form 　and is generally only found as "de aru"
when it is being used to modify a noun (which is something Japanese verbs can do). For instance, "Kanojo
ga kirei de aru koto ga suki desu." (I like that she is pretty). The negative form of "de aru" is "dewa nai" ( では
ない) or "ja nai" (じゃない) (more commonly spoken). The base "ta" form (past tense by itself) is "datta" ( だ
った) and the past tense negative is "dewa nakatta" (ではなかった) or "ja nakatta" (じゃなかった) which, as
you might notice, follows the conjugation rules for "dv"/true adjectives (see Descriptive Words). Other uses
will generally follow the conjugation rules for godan verbs - see Verb Conjugation (Godan). For "desu"
(polite form), the negative is "dewa arimasen" (ではありません), the past tense is "deshita" (でした), and
the past tense negative is "dewa arimasen deshita" ( ではありませんでした). "De aru" is not the only thing
that can convey "to be", however. The verbs "iru" (to exist, animate) and "aru" (to exit, inanimate) are also
used in ways where "to be" would be used in English. For instance, "Kare wa soto ni iru." which is literally
"He exists outside" is how the Japanese would say "He is outside". Also, the last "i" in every "dv"/true
adjective (see Descriptive Words) acts as "to be" and can end the sentence by itself. A "desu" can be
added to make the sentence more polite but it is not needed (in plain form).