I'm trying to play around with words I know already to form simple sentences
and I thought of making short sentences using the verbs 行きます and 前記{ぜんき} (it
should mean "said"; I only use Google translate, because that's the only
translator I could use for Japanese. Suggestions on a better one will be
appreciated.)

So, here's my example sentence in English:

> And he said, 'Do I go to the store?'  
>  I said 'Yes.' He went.

Here's what I written in Japanese:

> と 彼は 前記 「私は みせ へ 行きます か。」  
>  私 前記「はい。」彼 行きました。

Is this correct?

If you type using Kanji in your answer, please show Hiragana next to it in
parenthesis, too. (I do not know a lot of Kanji yet.)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-02T21:42:59.260
29621
2021-08-01T15:56:16.060
2015-12-02T22:23:15.067
11104
11855
question
syntax
I need help with an example sentence
This is very close to a question on translation and may get closed. You should
try to ask more specific questions if possible, but I'll try to give you a few
pointers.

1) The verb 'to say' is 言{い}う. Past tense is 言{い}った.

2) When you want to quote something e.g I said "...." then you use the quote
marker と after the quote (note that this is very different from the と which
means 'and'.

> 「はい。行{い}きました」と言{い}った。  
>  I said, "Yes. He went".

Note that you do not need to say 'He' in the quote. The previous sentence asks
"Did **he** go" so we know that the topic of the conversation is 'he'. It is
unnatural in Japanese to repeat the topic when it is already clear.

3) Verbs go at the **end** of sentences.

4) と does mean 'and' but it is used for exhaustive lists. It cannot be used to
mean 'and then...'. そして or something similar should be used for that.

In summary, I think there are a quite a few basic concepts that you need to
learn before you can start constructing sentences like this. Japanese grammar
is **very** diffferent fom English grammar and just translating the individual
words and putting them in the same order as English will not work most of the
time. Finally, don't ever rely in Google translate it is rarely correct. Good
luck in your studies.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-02T22:28:50.320
29622
2015-12-02T22:28:50.320
7944
29621
answer
There are a few things I must point out that are probably the fault of Google
Translate:

“And” as in “and he said…” is a conjunction in English, which should be
translated to something like 後{あと}で or そして. The particle と is solely for
nouns, as in 犬{いぬ}と猫{ねこ} “dogs and cats.”

前記 means said as in aforementioned, not “did say”

> The said company has gone bankrupt. (The aforementioned company has gone
> bankrupt).

Now to the grammar point you need to know: verbs come at the end of the
clause, and when we say someone says or thinks something, we need the quoting
particle と (not the “and” と)

So, the correct sentence for you English would be as follows:

> そして、彼{かれ}は「(私{わたし}は)店{みせ}へ行{い}きますか」と言{い}った。

> 私{わたし}は「はい」と(言{い}った)。彼{かれ}が行{い}きました。

The parts in brackets are the parts that can be omitted in speech, but are
needed for complete and grammatical Japanese. Note that I used 言{い}った, which
is タメ語(non honorific) for 言{い}いました. If you are just beginning, you will learn
the latter first.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-31T23:26:45.477
88697
2021-08-01T15:56:16.060
2021-08-01T15:56:16.060
39855
39855
29621
answer