Japanese sentences usually place the main predicate near the end. Read enough of the whole sentence to identify the action or description, then return to the chunks that explain it. Translating each word from left to right can leave you with a list of meanings and no relationship between them.
Start with a complete example
アマラさんは、毎朝、駅で新聞を買います。
Amara buys a newspaper at the station every morning.
| Chunk | Job | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| アマラさんは | Topic | As for Amara |
| 毎朝（まいあさ） | Time expression | Every morning |
| 駅で（えきで） | Place of the action | At the station |
| 新聞を（しんぶんを） | Object | A newspaper |
| 買います（かいます） | Predicate | Buys |
Keep each particle with the phrase before it. 駅で answers where buying happens; 新聞を answers what is bought. The sentence does not say Amara works at the station or buys a train ticket. Separate what is written from what seems plausible.
Check the ending before deciding the meaning
昨日は新聞を買いませんでした means “Yesterday, I did not buy a newspaper.” The ending changes both polarity and time. Seeing 買い and guessing “buys” would miss the main point. Similarly, 安くなかったです means “was not inexpensive”, not “was inexpensive”.
Attach descriptions to the correct noun
駅の近くの店 means “the shop near the station”. The final noun 店 is the thing being described. 赤いかばん is a red bag. 昨日買った本 is the book that someone bought yesterday. In each case, read the description with its noun before deciding what the larger sentence says.
Subjects are often omitted when the context supplies them. In a message to a friend, ７時に行きます may mean “I will go at seven.” Do not automatically insert a new person into every sentence, but also do not assume a missing subject when the surrounding text points elsewhere.
Read a practical note
明日は休みです。月曜日に来てください。入口は建物の右側です。
Vocabulary: 明日（あした）tomorrow; 休み（やすみ）closed / a day off; 月曜日（げつようび）Monday; 入口（いりぐち）entrance; 建物（たてもの）building; 右側（みぎがわ）right side.
Before looking at the answers, identify the closure, requested visit day and entrance location. These are three separate pieces of information. A location word cannot answer the day question.
1. Can you visit tomorrow according to the note?
The note says tomorrow is a closure/day off. It instead asks you to come on Monday; it does not provide opening hours.
2. Where is the entrance?
On the right side of the building: 建物の右側. Keep the の phrase together.
3. Which expression makes the second sentence a request?
来てください, “please come”. The て-form plus ください requests an action.
4. In 昨日買った本を読みます, what is being read?
The book bought yesterday. 昨日買った describes 本; 読みます is the main predicate, “read / will read”.