kanritou de suiziba no kisoku wo kiku.

Here, で marks the place where the action happens.

So 管理棟で means at the administration building or in the administration building.

A common learner mistake is to think で always means by or with, but in this sentence it is the location-of-action particle.

• 管理棟に行く = go to the administration building
• 管理棟で聞く = ask/listen at the administration building

So に would mark destination, while で marks where the asking or listening takes place.

の connects two nouns. It often works like of, or turns one noun into something that describes another noun.

So:

• 炊事場 = kitchen / cooking area
• 規則 = rules
• 炊事場の規則 = the kitchen’s rules / the rules of the cooking area

In natural English, we usually say the kitchen rules or the rules for the kitchen, but in Japanese the structure is simply noun + の + noun.

を marks the direct object of the verb.

The verb is 聞く, so the thing being heard/asked about is 炊事場の規則.

So the structure is:

• 炊事場の規則 = the kitchen rules
• を = object marker
• 聞く = ask / hear / listen to

Together, 炊事場の規則を聞く means something like ask about the kitchen rules or hear the kitchen rules.

This is a very common question because 聞く can cover several related meanings:

• to hear
• to listen
• to ask

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, because the object is 炊事場の規則 rather than a person, it most naturally suggests:

• hear the rules
• ask about the rules
• be told the rules

If a person were explicitly marked, the meaning ask would be clearer, for example:

• 係の人に規則を聞く = ask the staff member about the rules

So here 聞く is slightly broad in meaning, and context decides the best English translation.

Japanese very often leaves out the subject when it is obvious from context.

So 管理棟で炊事場の規則を聞く。 does not explicitly say:

• I ask...
• you ask...
• we ask...

Japanese allows that omission much more freely than English does.

Depending on the situation, the hidden subject could be:

• I
• you
• we
• someone being described in a list of actions

This is completely normal Japanese.

The dictionary form 聞く is the plain, basic form of the verb. It can be used in several ways:

1. General statement / non-past

   • (I/you/they) ask / will ask

2. Caption or note style

   • common in instructions, schedules, or short written descriptions

3. Casual plain style

   • especially in simple example sentences

So the sentence is not necessarily extremely casual; it may just be using the standard dictionary form as the neutral citation form.

A learner might read the sentence as:

• 管理棟 → かんりとう
• 炊事場 → すいじば
• 規則 → きそく
• 聞く → きく

So the full reading is:

かんりとう で すいじば の きそく を きく。

That person is simply omitted.

With 聞く, you can ask someone something:

• 受付の人に規則を聞く
  = ask the receptionist about the rules

Here, the sentence only mentions what is being asked about, not whom it is asked to.

So Japanese is focusing on the main information and leaving out the rest because it is either unknown, unimportant, or understood from context.

Not completely. Japanese word order is more flexible than English word order, as long as the particles make the roles clear.

This sentence is:

管理棟で 炊事場の規則を 聞く。

But you could also see:

炊事場の規則を 管理棟で 聞く。

Both are grammatical. The particles で and を show what each phrase is doing, so the meaning stays basically the same.

That said, some orders may sound more natural than others depending on emphasis and context.

Not exactly.

• 台所（だいどころ） usually means a kitchen in a home
• 炊事場（すいじば） often means a communal cooking area, camp kitchen, or place for cooking/washing up

So 炊事場 sounds more like a shared or designated cooking facility, which fits places like campsites, dorms, or public facilities.

That is why 炊事場の規則 sounds like the rules for using the communal cooking area rather than just the rules of someone’s home kitchen.

It is understandable, but by itself it sounds a little like a note, instruction, or simple example sentence rather than full conversational speech.

In conversation, people might say something a little fuller, such as:

• 管理棟で炊事場の規則を聞きます。
• 管理棟で炊事場の規則を聞いてください。
• 管理棟で炊事場の規則を聞きました。

The original sentence in dictionary form is still perfectly useful for study, labels, schedules, or describing an action in a simple way.