"jikuu o koete haruka tabi suru bokura" why this phrase is written this way?

Question

I've read that this phrase "jikuu o koete haruka tabi suru bokura" is translated to something like "we traveled across space time on a distant journey" or may be for something more literal translation I like to think it is "we crossed space time on a distant journey".

A couple of things I dont understand is , why bokura is placed at the end of the phrase? shouldnt it be at the start? if not, can you always do that?

isnt tabisuru supposed to be a verb? is it here used as a noun? if so, can you always use a verb as a noun if you put it in a place of the phrase were it would work as a noun?

Answer 1

You are misled by the phrase.

The phrase is not a complete sentence but a noun phrase.

The part "jikuu o koete haruka tabi suru" ([時空]{じくう}を[越]{こ}えて[遥]{はる}か[旅]{たび}する) modifies the noun "bokura" ([僕]{ぼく}ら). In Japanese, relative clauses modify a noun from before the target.

So the meaning of the phrase is like "we, who travel across time and space."

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To mean what you said, you have to rearrange the phrase:

[僕]{ぼく}らは[時空]{じくう}を[越]{こ}えて[遥]{はる}か[旅]{たび}する。

bokura wa jikū o koete haruka tabisuru

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By the way, you used the past tense "traveled" / "crossed" but it is not in past tense but present tense. To make it past tense you have to say "tabi shita"([旅]{たび}した).

In this case [旅]{たび}する can even mean "traveling" ([旅]{たび}をしている = tabi o shite iru).

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UPDATE

From comment:

so koete is not the verb there, but an adverb? and tabisuru does work as a verb in the phrase, but how does haruka fits in there? haruka is an adjetive that means distant right? I thought "haruka tabisuru" translated as "distant journey" but if tabisuru is a verb it can't translate like that. Can you apply an adjetive to a verb in japanese?

Well, koeru ([越]{こ}える) is a verb and koete ([越]{こ}えて) is its te-form. te-form can be used like an adverb. Here, "jikuu o koete" ([時空]{じくう}を[越]{こ}えて) modifies the verb "tabi suru" ([旅]{たび}する = to travel). "jikuu o koeru" means "cross time and space" so "jikuu o koete" is "crossing time and space" or "across time and space."

"haruka," too, modifies the verb "tabi suru" ([旅]{たび}する). This word is not only an adjective but also an adverb. Here it is used as an adverb, meaning "far away" or "in the distance."

So "jikuu o koete haruka tabi suru" is "travel in the distance across time and space"