How would you structure a sentence to say "someday I will go to Japan"?


I am trying to figure out the particle and order of words in a sentence to
that says "Someday I will go to Japan". Would you say:

> 私は日本がいつかに行きます。

or would I say:

> 日本は私がいつかに行きます。

I really want to learn the grammar and structure. if you could help me that
would be great!




「いつか日本に行きます。」 sounds the most natural. You could insert a comma if you like to
put in a pause:「いつか、日本に行きます。」 and it will be equally correct grammar.

Japanese does not usually need or use a pronoun; rather, the pronoun is, in
most cases, implied. If you do not include 「私は」, it is clear to the listener
that you must be talking about yourself since you did not refer the sentence
to any other subject (if you were talking about someone else, you would
clearly indicate that either by gesturing toward the person in question or by
inserting their name or a pronoun to refer to him/her. Without such a context,
the listener will easily understand you are talking about yourself). If you
include 「私は」, it is not grammatically incorrect, but it sounds unnatural and
the listener will know at once that you are a beginner language learner of
Japanese.

「いつか」 should come first in the sentence because it is not the main point
(which is 「行きます」); like in your English sentence, you are tacking it on to the
front of the sentence, which would be a complete sentence without it.「日本に」
comes next to 「行きます」 because it is directly modifying the verb 「行きます」. In
casual speech, it is possible to switch the sentence order and say
「日本に、いつか、行きます。」or 「いつか行きます、日本に。」, but this shows that you did not completely
form the sentence in your mind before speaking (off-the-top-of-your-head, on-
the-fly style of talking). Japanese can be grammatically correct in a fair
number of sentence orders, but there is the most standard and formal structure
versus ones which are only for talking with your peers.

「に」 is the correct particle because you are going _to_ Japan, and _to/toward_
is a major meaning of 「に」.「が」 is not the correct particle because that would
mean that Japan is doing something (in this case, going).

Basically, 「日本は」 and 「日本が」 would tell the listener than Japan is doing
something or that something about Japan itself is going to be said. Your
sentence intends to be about what you are going to do, not about what Japan is
going to do, so 「が」 is not applicable.「日本は私がいつかに行きます。」 is not grammatical. If
it instead said, 「日本が行きます。」or 「日本は、いつか、行きます。」, this would mean, "Japan is
going" or "Someday Japan will go", respectively, because the 「が」 or 「は」would
show that Japan is doing something. If it said,「日本は私にいつか行きます。」, this would
mean "Japan is someday going (coming) to me" --- which makes no sense, but
grammatically it would be conveying something, since the 「に」 would indicate
going toward.




「いつか日本に行きます。」 sounds the most natural. You could insert a comma if you like to
put in a pause:「いつか、日本に行きます。」 and it will be equally correct grammar.

Japanese does not usually need or use a pronoun; rather, the pronoun is, in
most cases, implied. If you do not include 「私は」, it is clear to the listener
that you must be talking about yourself since you did not refer the sentence
to any other subject (if you were talking about someone else, you would
clearly indicate that either by gesturing toward the person in question or by
inserting their name or a pronoun to refer to him/her. Without such a context,
the listener will easily understand you are talking about yourself). If you
include 「私は」, it is not grammatically incorrect, but it sounds unnatural and
the listener will know at once that you are a beginner language learner of
Japanese.

「いつか」 should come first in the sentence because it is not the main point
(which is 「行きます」); like in your English sentence, you are tacking it on to the
front of the sentence, which would be a complete sentence without it.「日本に」
comes next to 「行きます」 because it is directly modifying the verb 「行きます」. In
casual speech, it is possible to switch the sentence order and say
「日本に、いつか、行きます。」or 「いつか行きます、日本に。」, but this shows that you did not completely
form the sentence in your mind before speaking (off-the-top-of-your-head, on-
the-fly style of talking). Japanese can be grammatically correct in a fair
number of sentence orders, but there is the most standard and formal structure
versus ones which are only for talking with your peers.

「に」 is the correct particle because you are going _to_ Japan, and _to/toward_
is a major meaning of 「に」.「が」 is not the correct particle because that would
mean that Japan is doing something (in this case, going).

Basically, 「日本は」 and 「日本が」 would tell the listener than Japan is doing
something or that something about Japan itself is going to be said. Your
sentence intends to be about what you are going to do, not about what Japan is
going to do, so 「が」 is not applicable.「日本は私がいつかに行きます。」 is not grammatical. If
it instead said, 「日本が行きます。」or 「日本は、いつか、行きます。」, this would mean, "Japan is
going" or "Someday Japan will go", respectively, because the 「が」 or 「は」would
show that Japan is doing something. If it said,「日本は私にいつか行きます。」, this would
mean "Japan is someday going (coming) to me" --- which makes no sense, but
grammatically it would be conveying something, since the 「に」 would indicate
going toward.

