Reading longer Japanese sentences
Find the main predicate, modified noun and quotation scope before rebuilding the message.
Find the main predicate
Locate the sentence-final main predicate and identify an action, state or judgement, then its relevant participants. A plain-form sequence before a noun may modify that noun rather than act as the main statement. Mark where it ends before translating linearly.
Mark modifiers and quoted content
In 「友達が買った本を読みました」, 友達が買った modifies 本 and 本を読みました is the main statement. With と思う, locate a negative inside the reported content or outside in the thinking predicate. Mark conditions and reasons separately; an outer yesterday does not require every inner verb to be past.
Rebuild the relations
State the main event, noun description and any condition or reason, then compare actors and negatives with the original. Move to paragraph structure when sentences are understandable but the passage is not; reduce to one modifier construction when the main predicate remains unclear.
Example
Original scope contrast: 「来ないと思います。」has a negative in the content, whereas 「来るとは思いません。」negates the judgement. Consider context as well as form.
Check your understanding
Mark the main predicate and modified noun in 「昨日、友達が買った本を読みました。」
Explanation
読みました is the main predicate; 友達が買った modifies 本. The buyer and reader can be different people.
Find your question
- I know all the words in a Standard Japanese sentence but not who did what. Where should I start?
- A long plain-form phrase precedes a noun. How can I identify what it modifies?
- A sentence contains と思う and a negative. How can I tell whose action or belief is negated?
- An intermediate sentence combines if and because. How can I separate and rebuild the relations?