sentence structure... i'm struggling to grasp

[alanX]

People think Japanese is so hard, but the reality of it is the fact that its actualy so simple and logical. Like MMM stated before, you don't really need to say "I'm" hungry, because there is no need. It's obvious who you're talking about. (yourself) so you'de just leave out the stuff that you don't need. This is where lots of newbies get confused.

you're probably even better off NEVER saying 私 or あなた.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by alanX

People think Japanese is so hard, but the reality of it is the fact that its actualy so simple and logical. Like MMM stated before, you don't really need to say "I'm" hungry, because there is no need. It's obvious who you're talking about. (yourself) so you'de just leave out the stuff that you don't need. This is where lots of newbies get confused.

you're probably even better off NEVER saying 私 or あなた.

That is why language study is such a great exercise. We assume so much from the language we already know, and when it doesn't apply to, in this case, Japanese there are freak-outs.

It is a mind-expanding experience to learn another language.

It's like learning that 2+2 does not always equal 4.

[ThirdSight]

Originally Posted by MMM

Japanese is all about context, and verbs certainly are conjugated, just not in the same ways they are in Spanish, French or Italian. To me, it us much simpler, as there is no difference in the way "I go" "You go" "They go" are conjugated, where all three are different in romance languages.

In Japanese unnecessary words are dropped. That's why "I" and especially "you" appear so rarely. "I am hungry" just becomes "am hungry" because it would be unlikely for you to be talking about anyone else's appetite. And if you are you would make it clear. "Are you hungry?" becomes "are hungry?" because who else would you be talking about?

This is why I love studying Japanese so much, but it's also the main reason behind major confusion at times. It's gotten better though; the more you study it, the more it comes to you naturally.

And thanks for the site Mono, I'll need to check that out as well.

[KyleGoetz]

To reiterate something CaptainThunder said above, Japanese basically has no required sentence structure. The particles tell you everything you need to know about the sentence, and the verb can go anywhere.

Now, technically, in "correct" writing, you'd likely put the verb at the end of the sentence. But it's definitely not a required thing in Japanese. For example,

食べたよ、そのさしみを！
Ate EXCLAM, that sashimi-OBJ!

This is a perfectly cromulent verbal phrase. The "correct" written form would be
そのさしみを食べたよ！
that sashimi-OBJ ate EXCLAM!