A site ([Suki Desu](https://skdesu.com/en/order-structures-phrases-japanese/))
claims one way to think about the natural order of particles is wa > ni > de >
wo (though the full article is more in-depth).

Is this correct, or a good general rule to follow? So, is

> Watashi wa Sakura ni Koen de Booru wo Nageru

is more natural than

> Sakura ni Watashi wa Booru wo Koen de Nageru

?

Is there any definitive natural order rules I can follow?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-01T21:52:29.647
91410
2021-12-03T03:40:26.403
2021-12-01T22:16:00.393
30454
48639
question
particles
Natural Particle Order
There are no definite rules for which particles should come before others, it
is always dependent on context for which order the particles should come,
either to emphasize a point, express emotion, or to make the sentence
unambiguous. This does not mean you can just move around parts of the sentence
however you want, some sentence orders may sound more natural in different
contexts.

More important than particles, IMO, is the order of the Subject, Object and
verb. Template sentences in Japanese are most likely to be written in this
order.

Another point to consider is the fact that for the most part, clauses that
modify something else usually come before that something else. Let's try your
example from the most basic sentence. Following the Subject Object Verb order,
we begin with

> 私【わたし】はボールを投【な】げる。  
>  (Watashi wa booru wo nageru)  
>  I throw the ball.

Okay, now we want to add that we threw it to Sakura. Either of the following
sound natural.

> 私【わたし】は桜【さくら】にボールを投【な】げる。  
>  (Watashi wa Sakura ni booru wo nageru)  
>  I throw Sakura the ball.

> 私【わたし】はボールを桜【さくら】に投【な】げる。  
>  (Watashi wa booru wo Sakura ni nageru)  
>  I throw the ball to Sakura.

Comparing English to Japanese is not always a good idea, but I think it
illustrates a good point here. Changing up the order emphasizes different
things. The first sentences emphasizes _who_ you threw the ball to. The second
emphasizes what you _what_ you threw (the ball).

Finally, we want to tell the reader where we were performing the action.

> 公園【こうえん】で、私【わたし】はボールを桜に投【な】げる  
>  (kouen de, watashi wa booru wo nageru)  
>  In the park, I threw a ball to Sakura.

> 私【わたし】は公園【こうえん】でボールを桜に投【な】げる  
>  (Watashi wa kouen de booru wo nageru)  
>  I threw a ball, in the park, to Sakura.

I think both of these are fine, but the first one sounds more natural to me.
Maybe a native speaker can comment on this. However, if we go with your first
sentence:

> 私【わたし】は桜【さくら】に公園【こうえん】でボールを投げる。  
>  (Watashi wa sakura ni kouen de booru wo nageru)  
>  I threw Sakura, in the park, the ball.

公園で comes really close to the verb 投【な】げる, which makes it easy to mistake 公園で
for "throw the ball using the park". With a bit of common sense, we can figure
out that this is not the case, but putting it further away makes it less
ambiguous. What's more, it comes between 桜に and 投げる, interrupting the flow of
the sentence.

Okay, so what does this all mean? Well for me it means that the only way to
learn word order is to get used to it. Subject Object Verb is a good template
for creating sentences, but it is not the only one. Word order is used to
portray emotion, emphasis, and disambiguate sentence structure. To understand
it, I really recommend that you just let it go for now and learn it slowly
through both articles and reading books.

**Related:**  
[Sentence Structure/ Element
Order](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/6095/sentence-structure-
element-order?rq=1)  
[Does Word Order affect
meaning](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/19433/does-word-order-
change-the-meaning-of-a-sentence?rq=1)
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-02T01:15:54.533
91413
2021-12-02T01:34:49.090
2021-12-02T01:34:49.090
21657
21657
91410
answer
I would say the most neutral-sounding order is the following.

> [私]{わたし}は [公園]{こうえん}で さくらに ボールを [投]{な}げる。  
>  _Watashi wa kōen de Sakura ni bōru o nageru._

When a に-clause indicates a destination of a motion or a target of an action,
it tends to be placed later in a sentence than a で-clause. This is probably
because such information is considered more closely associated with the action
and therefore tends to be kept closer to the verb, which comes at the end. For
example, when you throw something to someone, to whom you throw it is
considered more directly associated with the action of throwing than where or
by what means you do it.

Since an を-clause typically indicates a direct object of an action, it tends
be placed immediately before the verb.

If you change this default order, the portion that is moved back is somewhat
put in focus.

> 私は さくらに ボールを **公園で** 投げる。  
>  _Watashi wa Sakura ni bōru o **kōen de** nageru._

You might choose this order if your interlocutor already knows you are going
to throw a ball to Sakura and you want to stress that you are going to do so
in the park.

If a に-clause indicates a time, it tends to be placed early in a sentence.

> 私は **[日曜日]{にちようび}に** 公園で さくらに ボールを 投げる。  
>  _Watashi wa **nichiyōbi ni** kōen de Sakura ni bōru o nageru._
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-03T03:40:26.403
91435
2021-12-03T03:40:26.403
43676
91410
answer