I have no idea what this is saying. Can you have two topics in a sentence?


白い箱はカウチの上に緑のランプは机の上にあります。

This sentence looks like it has two topics in it. But when I try to translate
it, it doesn't make sense (to me obviously). My direct translation is: `A
white box on top of the couch a green lamp is on top of the desk.` Obviously,
that's not gonna work. To me, it's like the first phrase is missing a verb.
What am I missing?




As ssb and fefe wrote, the sentence consists of two clauses which share the
main verb あります. In this particular case, it would be easier to read if the
author put a 読点 (“、”) in the sentence:

> 白い箱はカウチの上に、緑のランプは机の上にあります。

However, unlike commas in English, 読点 in Japanese is rarely ~~(if ever)~~
grammatically required. Authors are free to use 読点 wherever they feel that it
makes sense to make a pause when pronounced. (But see [this post by
snailplane](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/9764/%e3%80%8c%e3%81%93%e3%82%8f%e3%81%84%e3%81%a0%e3%81%8b%e3%82%89%e3%80%82%e3%80%8d-versus-%e3%80%8c%e3%81%93%e3%82%8f%e3%81%84%e3%80%81%e3%81%a0%e3%81%8b%e3%82%89-%e3%80%8d)
for an example where omitting 読点 would make a sentence ungrammatical.)




As ssb and fefe wrote, the sentence consists of two clauses which share the
main verb あります. In this particular case, it would be easier to read if the
author put a 読点 (“、”) in the sentence:

> 白い箱はカウチの上に、緑のランプは机の上にあります。

However, unlike commas in English, 読点 in Japanese is rarely ~~(if ever)~~
grammatically required. Authors are free to use 読点 wherever they feel that it
makes sense to make a pause when pronounced. (But see [this post by
snailplane](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/9764/%e3%80%8c%e3%81%93%e3%82%8f%e3%81%84%e3%81%a0%e3%81%8b%e3%82%89%e3%80%82%e3%80%8d-versus-%e3%80%8c%e3%81%93%e3%82%8f%e3%81%84%e3%80%81%e3%81%a0%e3%81%8b%e3%82%89-%e3%80%8d)
for an example where omitting 読点 would make a sentence ungrammatical.)

