A little concerned

Konnichiwa I just started the audio course yesterday and I'm at 2.1 now and i just realized when asked by my little brother to say a phrase in Japanese i had no idea what to say i could only answer the question asked in the audio lessons so far and i just got kind of afraid that i might be doing it wrong. I mean i have learned a lot of words but as far as sentence structuring i can barely start at times so i was just wandering if i would improve as the lessons go on or if there was anything else that i needed to do to help with my sentence structuring. By the way he wanted me to say (i am more powerful than you) i think....

Konnichiwa! :D Learning a new language is always a challenge and we are excited that you have began to take this journey with us! Here are a few tips on the Japanese language... If you're an English speaker...you are already familiar with several Japanese words - English words have crossed to Japan - in huge numbers and by only pronouncing them with a heavy Japanese accent (that's pronouncing every syllable) - you get a Japanese word. For example: Bāsudē kēki Kōhō Pātī Jūsu Now, about sentence structuring - remember this - The basic word order in English is SUBJECT - VERB - OBJECT (I eat ice cream) but in Japanese the order switches to SUBJECT - OBJECT -VERB (I ice cream eat) - Memorize this pattern. The tricky bit about Japanese, are the little-tags called "particles" which you'll be learning throughout the course. These are tacked onto each noun phrase. Here are some: GA - subject-marking particle O - direct-object particle KARA - "from" specifies the starting point of the action Let me tell you how you can say "i am more powerful than you" - _I am_ - *Watashi wa * _more powerful _- *Motto tsuyoi * _than you_ - *Anata yori* Add those together and you get: *Watashi wa motto tsuyoi, anata yori* Now, this makes sense, but a more natural way of saying it is by switching the last bit of the sentence with the middle bit - *Watashi wa anata yori motto tsuyoi!* We are delighted to answer any questions about Japanese at anytime! So please don't give up and keep talking with your little brother! Gambatte! You can do it!

Arigato Gozaimashita I'm sorry for the late reply but I'm just getting to read your reply to my question i was out for a bit on business and didn't really get anytime to look on the forums. This information has been really helpful to me i was wandering how the sentence structuring worked i mean its usually something simple to find out but it kept feeling as if it changed depending on what was talked about and it only got worse the longer the sentences became but i just realized after reading your reply that i was having trouble mixing up the subject and object but hopefully with this knowledge that won't be much of a problem thanks a lot for your assistance it was much appreciated.

Konnichiwa! :lol: Japanese language can be quite a challenge when it comes to colloquial speech. Just as we (Japanese people) are fond of anything "minimal" things, this is seen in the language as well. It is always wise and best to learn the correct sentence-structuring if you're a beginner learner. Just like Japanese learn the correct grammar of English, or any other language. Also, remember that unlike English, Japanese has many levels of speech - that is, the casual, formal, ultra-formal, humble...to name a few. While the formal and other respectful speech commonly follow the correct sentence-structure - SUBJECT - OBJECT -VERB, the colloquial-casual way is a bit confusing. First, the pronouns may be dropped - then some particles may be dropped - in short, whatever is understood by both speaker and listener is cut off and you end up with short, one verb sentences like. *Iku!* (Which can mean "I go" "He/She goes""They go") May you keep enjoying Japanese! :D