Does subject marker が always have to be before the conjugated verb?


> むかし、 むかし、 ある ところ に おじいさん と おばあさん が いました。

Here's what I got so far:

(adv. time), (adv. time), (to be - infinitive) (somewhere) (ni particle), (old
man) (to - conjunction) (old woman) (ga subject marker) (iru - polite past)

Does the subject marker が always have to be there before a conjugated verb?




I think your confusion may be arising from thinking that が is a prepositional
particle. It is not preposed(placed before a word) to the verb. It is a post-
positional subject marker, it is postposed(placed after a word) after the
subject.

By extension, there is no requirement for が to immediately precede the verb.
The element of Xが may be freely moved around the sentence.

