Momoko, Japanese learner and wife of Khatzumoto, discusses the philosophy of Japanese verbs.

Only verb

The first thing you need to know about Japanese sentences is that you only need the verb for the thought to be complete, as Tae Kim stresses in his excellent website. That’s it. You can drop any other information that is already understood through context. For instance, if you want to know if someone has eaten, you don’t have to ask, “Have you eaten yet?” All you have to say is:

食べましたか。 Eaten?

Likewise, that person can simply answer:

食べました。　Eaten.

The rest of a sentence in Japanese merely introduces, clarifies or emphasizes information. If something has already been mentioned, or is obvious, you can drop it. Try to be as minimalist as you can when you compose sentences and don’t put forth any unnecessary effort. For instance, a lot of English speakers make the mistake of repeating the ‘sentence subject’ (I, you, he, she…) again and again in each sentence. While technically each sentence is correct, the overall effect is wordy (and in the case of referring to oneself sounds egotistical):

私は日本語を勉強しています。私は日本語が好きです。

I am studying Japanese.　I like Japanese.

As long as you haven’t been speaking about another person, it will be obvious you are talking about yourself when you make statements. You can also try mentioning ‘Japanese’ only once. Simply say:

日本語を勉強しています。好きです。

Am studying Japanese. Like (it).

The force … save you it can

You probably have noticed by now, that although the verb is the core of the sentence, it always comes last in order. That can be challenging when you are reading, listening or trying to compose a sentence since you won’t be able to tie it together until the end. You have to think of making meaning in a whole new way.

We are used to the idea that first is the best or most important, but in Japanese you could say the reverse is true. Although the other parts of the sentence offer clues along the way, the key that makes sense of them all is saved until the end. It’s similar to the way Yoda speaks in Star Wars, as when he tells Luke Skywalker, “Impatient you are.” Notice how Yoda could just as well say something like, “Patient…you are not,” and Luke wouldn’t be able guess what was meant until he heard the end.

In fact, as Khatzumoto pointed out to me, kabuki theatre often exploits this built-in suspense. Elaborately long sentences can tease the audience as they wait for the final pay-off. For example, an actor could say something like this:

Speaking of Katsumoto…the one who so recently…and to our great shock…and the humiliation of the whole town…and the dishonor of his family…on this very day…on the eve of his mother’s birthday…with disregard for public sanctions…and with reckless abandon…so that all could hear within a twenty ri radius…so that the farmers in the neighboring town stopped planting rice to listen…and producing an unmentionable smell…which made even the dogs hide their faces…loudly farted.

You can think of the sentence as setting the stage with all the necessary elements (characters, scenery, mood) before the action brings them to life, like a hand animates puppets. It’s not like in English where someone or something always takes the spotlight and exists or acts independently.

In Japanese, then, it is always the verb force which acts—people and things manifest that action. Just as Yoda taught Luke Sky-walker, English speakers learning Japanese need to let go of the idea of personal control and let ‘the force’ take over and do the work.

Baby steps

Let’s see how this difference plays out in a simple sentence about our favorite Jedi master:

ヨーダさんは五時に起きます。

Though we can translate it as “Yoda-san wakes up at five o’clock,” that is not exactly what the original is saying. Though it sounds awkward in English, the meaning is more like: “As for Yoda, at five o’clock, wakes up.”

With a slightly different nuance, we can also re-arrange the sentence as:

五時にヨーダさんは起きます。

Or, “At five o’clock, as for Yoda-san, wakes up.”

As important as Yoda seems to the sentence, ultimately even he is a prop attached to the main thought, just like five o’clock. In Japanese, the focus is waking up. Yoda and five o’clock are both elements dependent on that action. Their tags (はand に) mark their different roles in showing how the getting up is done, but do not necessarily mean one element is more important than the other.

All this, of course, indicates a different way of looking at the world, where action and being happen through and despite us. Thought-provoking, it is. Welcome to Japanese!

by Momoko