こんにちは (Konnichiwa) Cloud Strife,
Thanks for your question!
Japanese sentence order can definitely be confusing! While the order of English senteneces is SVO (subject-verb-object), the order of Japanese sentences is SOV (subject-object-verb), so that's the most important place to start.
In general, the subject (i.e. the person or thing performing the action) will come at the start of the sentence. The object (i.e. the thing that is affected by the action) will come before the verb.
The verb (i.e. the action word) will come at the end of the sentence.
Verbs
Let's start with verbs. Verbs always come at the end of the sentence, so these are easy! Here are some examples. I have bolded the verb so you can easily spot them.
りんごを食べます。 (Ringo o tabemasu.) “(I) eat apples.”
ジュースを飲みます。 (Jūsu o nomimasu.) “(I) drink juice.”
日本語を勉強します。(Nihongo o benkyō shimasu.) “(I) study Japanese.”
It's important to note that the word です (desu) “is/am/are” is also considered a verb. It's what's called a “copula” and is a verb of being. This is why the word です (desu) always comes at the end of a sentence - it's actually a verb! For example:
私は学生です。 (Watashi wa gakusei desu.) “(I) am a student.”
これはペンです。(Kore wa pen desu.) “This is a pen.”
兄は医者です。 (Ani wa isha desu.) “(My) older brother is a doctor.”
Adjectives
Similar to in English, in Japanese, adjectives can appear in two places: either before the noun to modify it or after the noun to describe it. For example:
この家は大きいです。 (Kono ie wa ōkī desu.) “This house is big.”
これは大きい家です。 (Kore wa ōkī ie desu.) “This is a big house.”
この映画は映画が面白いです。(Kono eiga wa omoshiroi desu.) “This movie is interesting.”
これは面白い映画です。 (Kore wa omoshiroi eiga desu.) “This is an interesting movie.”
Adverbs
Adverbs are a bit of a wild card! They can appear in different places in a sentence, as long as they appear before the verb, adjective, or noun that they modifie (note that this doesn't have to be directly before). For example.
早く仕事に行った。 (Hayaku shigoto ni itta.) “(I) went to work early.”
仕事に早く行った。(Shigoto ni hayaku itta.) “(I) went early to work.”
彼はよく本を読みます。 (Kare wa yoku hon o yomimasu.) "He reads books often."
彼は本をよく読みます。 (Kare wa hon o yoku yomimasu.) "He often reads books."
I hope this helped!
勉強を頑張ってください！ (Benkyō o ganbatte kudasai!)
