does particle order matter

6 comments

1. I assume you know that いっしょに is being omitted after と in both cases, but with that being said in the first one you can also omit 私は
   and still have the sentence make sense in context. Not so much in the second case, I mean it grammatically makes sense and says “my friends watch movies with me” but it sounds a bit conceited if not flat out awkward

2. generally no, the individual phrases can be in any order, tho a topic は clause is usually near the front of the sentence or left out entirely (don’t use 私は repeatedly in sentences)

   but 友達と映画を見る and 映画を友達と見る are both valid, if that’s what you mean

3. Generally words in a sentence can be placed freely as long as they’re using the correct particles.

   With と as inclusion, there is some ambiguity:

   私は友だちと映画を見ます。- I watch movies with friends.

   友だちと私は映画を見ます。- My friends and I watch movies – but this, like the English, can imply that this isn’t a group activity. Using と一緒に helps make it less ambiguous.

   The other rules I know are:

   は, が and を can be replaced by も or sometimes other particles.

   にの isn’t a thing but への is.

   の, は and も usually follow the second particle if this are being used.

4. Where you put the は changes the emphasis

   私は友達と映画を見ます->I watch movies with my friends (emphasis on your actions)

   私と友達は映画を見ます
   First of all, this sentence doesn’t sound native. You rarely put words before the topic. The sentence makes more sense when rearranged:
   友達は私と映画を見ます->my friends watch movies with me. (Emphasis on your friends’ actions)

   Now if you really want to emphasize you _and_ your friends, you could say 私と私の友達は映画を見ます

   There are several other nuances and ambiguities.

5. Others have largely answered the question, but I just wanted to answer with a slightly different construal.

   In Japanese, the clause-initial position is textually significant. Placing something at the start of a clause emphasises that element. This is actually the same as English.

   Consider:

   > Together with my friends, I watched a movie.

   Compared to:

   > I watched a movie together with my friends.

   Compared to:

   > My friends and I watched a movie.

   The first sentence emphasises that the activity was done with friends, the second includes that additional information without foregrounding it, and the last describes the action as being done by multiple participants, emphasising it as a group activity rather than an activity that one person did with a group. You can convey these same nuances through choices in wording in Japanese. Translations for the three sentences are below:

   1. **友達と一緒に**私は映画を見た。
   2. 私は**友達と一緒に**映画を見た。
   3. **私と友達は**映画を見た。

6. I think it depends on the situation you want to tell.

   First, when I just want to tell someone about my plans on a specific day, I would say :

   その日(ひ)は友達(ともだち)と映画(えいが)を見(み)ます。

   I’m going to watch movies with my friends that day.

   Then, next.
   Let’s say I want to tell someone about what I was doing a specific day.
   I hung out with my friends and I ran into my sister who is also my friends’ friend that day, but only my friends and I watched movies and my sister didn’t join us even though we invited her.

   In this case, I would say :

   私(わたし)と友達(ともだち)は映画(えいが)を見(み)ましたが、妹(いもうと)は見(み)ませんでした。