Question. What is the diff between
A. 国で日本語を2カ月勉強しました。
B. 国で2カ月日本語を勉強しました。
On minna no nihongo B. is used but why not A? Why is the 2カ月 not before verb? What are the rules?
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3Possible duplicate of japanese.stackexchange.com/q/35916/9831– Chocolate ♦Oct 7, 2018 at 5:37
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Both are same, you can choose as you like. - Yuuichi Tam– user29959Oct 7, 2018 at 5:59
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1 Answer
According to "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar", page16:
The word order principle for Japanese is the modifier precedes what is modified.
The principle holds whether the modified word is dependent or fully independent.
The function of the modifier is to specify the meaning of the specified word.
So what does ２ヶ月 modify?
２ヶ月勉強する means "to study for 2 months".
But what does ２ヶ月日本語 mean?
In this case ２ヶ月 modifies the verb, not the object, so it is better to put it before the verb, not before the object.
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5へええ？ じゃ、あーた「ゆうべ寿司を食べた」とか「今朝山田さんに会った」って言われたら、"What does ゆうべ寿司 / 今朝山田さん mean? ゆうべ / 今朝 modifies the verb, not the object, so it's better to say 寿司をゆうべ食べた, 山田さんに今朝会った." ってなるわけ？– Chocolate ♦Oct 7, 2018 at 15:10