Verb Goes Last! — The Basic Logic of Japanese Word Order

In English, "I drank coffee at the cafe yesterday" puts the verb in the middle. Japanese is different — the verb always goes at the very end of the sentence. Once you build the habit of "find the verb, put it last," Japanese sentence construction becomes much smoother.

Core Rule: Verb at the End

No matter how long the sentence is, the Japanese verb (ます-form) always comes last:

私は 毎日 コーヒーを 飲みます。 → I drink coffee every day.

Breaking it down:

Adding ました to a verb makes it past tense. 起きます (wake up) → 起きました (woke up). When you see ました, you know the action already happened.

Time Ordering: Largest to Smallest

When a sentence has multiple time expressions, Japanese lines them up: the broadest time span comes first, the most specific comes last. This is actually the same logic as English addresses (country → city → street).

For example, "woke up at 7 a.m. every morning during summer vacation":

• Summer vacation (broadest span)
• Every morning (medium span)
• 7 o'clock (most specific)

In Japanese:

夏休みには 毎朝 七時に 起きました。 → During summer vacation, I woke up at 7 every morning.

The Particle に: Marking a Point in Time

To indicate "at a specific time," use the particle に:

• 七時に起きます → Wake up at 7
• 二時に休みます → Rest at 2

However, cyclical time words do NOT take に:

The pattern: 毎〜 (every day, every morning, etc.) and words like 今日, 明日, 昨日 — time words that cycle endlessly — don't need に.

には: に + は for Emphasis

Japanese lets you combine に and は into には. Placed at the beginning of a sentence, it emphasizes "especially during this time/at this place":

夏休みには 毎朝七時に起きました。 → During summer vacation, I woke up at 7 every morning.

Why には instead of just に? Because は is the topic marker — it highlights "summer vacation" as the focus of what you're about to say.

Compare:

Remember: we learned that 私は uses は as a topic marker. には is the same idea — stacking the topic marker は onto the time/place particle に to promote that element to the sentence's topic.

Practice Sentences

With the three rules — "verb last + time large-to-small + に for time points" — let's try translating:

Example 1. I rest from 1 PM to 3 PM every day.

私は毎日、午後一時から三時まで休みます。

Breakdown: 私は (I) + 毎日 (every day) + 午後一時から (from 1 PM) + 三時まで (until 3 PM) + 休みます (rest).

Example 2. I worked until 10 PM yesterday.

私は昨日、夜十時まで働きました。

Note: "yesterday" means past tense — 働きました (not 働きます).

Example 3. I go to sleep around 12 every day.

私は毎日十二時ごろ寝ます。

ごろ means "around/approximately" and goes right after the time. 毎日 doesn't take に (cyclical word).

Summary

• Japanese verbs always go at the end. ます = present/future, ました = past
• Multiple time expressions are ordered largest to smallest: summer vacation → every morning → 7 o'clock
• に marks specific time points (七時に, 夏休みに), but cyclical words like 毎日/今日/明日 skip に
• には = に + は, promoting a time/place to the sentence topic for emphasis
• ごろ after a time means "approximately"

Self-Check

Q1. Translate into Japanese: "My younger brother rested from 2 to 5." (younger brother = 弟, rest = 休む)

Q2. Which of these time words need に? A. 毎朝　B. 七時　C. 明日　D. 夏休み

Q3. Say in Japanese: "During summer vacation, I slept around 12 every day."