Can the place that the direct object occupies change the meaning of the sentence?


I have these two sentences:

  * 私は映画を仕事のあと見た。
  * 仕事のあと映画を見た。

To me, they seem equivalent in meaning. However, for the Google Translator the
first one means 'I watched **the** movie after work.' while the second one
means 'I watched **a** movie after work.'

Is this translation accurate? If so, changing the position of the direct
object (the movie) has changed the meaning of the sentence, hasn't it? What
are the grammatical rules to know where to put the direct object?




Whether to translate 映画 as “a movie”, “movies”, “the movie”, or “the movies”
depends on the context and cannot be determined by its position in a sentence
alone. However, word order does affect the focus of a sentence.

When there is no additional context, 私は映画を仕事のあと見た looks like a (bit redundant)
response to a question about when the speaker watched 映画. In other words, the
sentence somewhat puts 仕事のあと into focus. If it is indeed a response to such a
question, 映画 must be old information to the listener. Google Translate might
take that into consideration when it translates it as “the movie”.

仕事のあと映画を見た, on the other hand, looks more like a response to a question about
what the speaker did after work. 映画を見た is put into focus. Then, 映画 is new
information to the listener and “a movie” may be more appropriate.

But that’s when these are written as independent sentences. How they are
interpreted in real life highly depends on the context and also on which part
is given prominence when pronounced.




Whether to translate 映画 as “a movie”, “movies”, “the movie”, or “the movies”
depends on the context and cannot be determined by its position in a sentence
alone. However, word order does affect the focus of a sentence.

When there is no additional context, 私は映画を仕事のあと見た looks like a (bit redundant)
response to a question about when the speaker watched 映画. In other words, the
sentence somewhat puts 仕事のあと into focus. If it is indeed a response to such a
question, 映画 must be old information to the listener. Google Translate might
take that into consideration when it translates it as “the movie”.

仕事のあと映画を見た, on the other hand, looks more like a response to a question about
what the speaker did after work. 映画を見た is put into focus. Then, 映画 is new
information to the listener and “a movie” may be more appropriate.

But that’s when these are written as independent sentences. How they are
interpreted in real life highly depends on the context and also on which part
is given prominence when pronounced.

