[https://imgur.com/a/Q7y2Uja](https://imgur.com/a/Q7y2Uja)
So I’ve heard that Genki is a great source, but was wondering what else is there for grammar?
Like I don’t know why “Where” wouldn’t be the first word for the first image there – and things seem to get more confusing when numbers are involved.
5 comments
You need particles to connect the words in order to be and sound grammatical .
As written it comes off as caveman speak “Me Grug, toilet where?”
トイレはどこですか？(As for the toilet, where is it?) Is a more correct way of asking.
The は is the grammatical glue in this sentence.
As for resources I recommend using any and everything you find all together.
Wanikani, genki, Minna no nihongo, Anki, YouTube videos…etc
Don’t limit yourself.
I think of it as… As for the toilet, where is it?
This works most of the time for me.
There is a little text bubble icon on most questions that can help clarify what went wrong. But also at the start of each unit there is a button to get a bit more info before you start the quiz part.
As for actual grammar resources I’ve no clue it’s been a while. Check the side bar on this forums main page there is probably something there
Bunpro has been a great help to me, though I’m not sure how good it is for learning the very basics, since I was already a year into my studies when I started using it.
Your main problem seems to be that you more or less apply the word order from English to Japanese. But Japanese is a completely different language, so that doesn’t work. You correctly put the verb last, but the topic (which is sort of like the subject, but not really) almost always comes first in a sentence, even if it’s a question, and numbers usually come after the noun that they are specifying.
So you basically need to put the English sentence structure out of your mind, and try to get a feel for how Japanese works. Translating word for word is never a good approach.
Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Beginner textbooks are perfectly fine for beginners and give you enough context. All the other stuff should be supplementary , don’t major in the minor parts.
People are getting hung up on は but
In English, and a lot of European languages, you have one word order for statements, and another for wh-questions. English even changes the word order for yes-no questions. ‘The toilet is here.’ ‘Where is the toilet?’ ‘Is the toilet here?’
However, in Japanese, questions are indicated with か, or a rising intonation at the end. The word order never changes. 「トイレはここです」 「トイレはどこですか？」 「トイレはここですか？」
I think that’s the real crux of the matter here.