Japanese puts the verb last. That's the biggest shift from English — and once it clicks, everything else starts to make sense.
Word order: English vs Japanese
Tap to flip between English and Japanese order.
Common Particles
Tiny words that attach to nouns and mark their role. Tap one to see examples.
Anatomy of a sentence
Tap any part to see what it does.
"I read a book at the library."
Typical sentence order
Not every sentence has all these parts — but when they appear, this is the usual order. Tap a slot to see an example.
Full example with all slots:
毎日、私は図書館で本を読みます。
Mainichi, watashi wa toshokan de hon wo yomimasu.
Every day, I read a book at the library.
Quick check
Three questions. No pressure.
In Japanese, the verb tends to go…
Which particle marks the direct object (the thing being acted on)?
Does Japanese use spaces between words like English?
The two rules that cover 90% of Japanese grammar: verb goes last, particles tell you each word's role. Everything else builds from these.