kanyousyokubutu wo erabu.

It is read:

かんようしょくぶつ を えらぶ

• 観葉植物 = かんようしょくぶつ
• を = pronounced o
• 選ぶ = えらぶ

In normal Japanese writing, it would usually be written without spaces:

観葉植物を選ぶ。

The spaces are often added only for learners.

を marks the direct object of the verb.

So in 観葉植物を選ぶ:

• 観葉植物 is the thing being chosen
• 選ぶ is the action, to choose

A very literal breakdown is:

• 観葉植物 = houseplant / foliage plant
• を = object marker
• 選ぶ = choose

So the structure is basically [thing] + を + [verb].

Because Japanese normally puts the verb at the end.

A very common basic order is:

subject/topic + object + verb

So here, the object comes first and the verb comes last:

観葉植物を選ぶ

This is different from English, which usually uses subject + verb + object.

English: I choose a houseplant.

Japanese: I / a houseplant / choose → 私は観葉植物を選ぶ。

選ぶ is the plain form (also called the dictionary form).

This form is used in things like:

• casual speech
• simple statements
• titles or headings
• instructions in a neutral style
• dictionary entries

The more polite version is:

観葉植物を選びます。

So:

• 選ぶ = plain
• 選びます = polite

If this sentence appears as a step in a guide, menu option, or heading, the plain form is very natural.

The subject is omitted.

Japanese often leaves out the subject when it is clear from context. So 観葉植物を選ぶ。 could mean:

• I choose a houseplant
• You choose a houseplant
• We choose houseplants
• Choose a houseplant

The exact subject depends on the situation.

If you want to state it explicitly, you can add one:

• 私は観葉植物を選ぶ。 = I choose a houseplant.
• 彼が観葉植物を選ぶ。 = He chooses a houseplant.

Yes, it can be.

Japanese often allows short sentences like this, especially when the context is already known. It can sound natural as:

• a simple statement
• a step in instructions
• a heading or label
• a casual note

For example, in a guide, it might be one step among others:

1. 店に行く。
2. 観葉植物を選ぶ。
3. 買う。

So even without a written subject, it can still be a perfectly natural sentence.

Japanese nouns usually do not show singular vs. plural the way English does, and they also do not use articles like a or the.

So 観葉植物 can mean:

• a houseplant
• the houseplant
• houseplants

The context tells you which meaning is intended.

That means 観葉植物を選ぶ could be understood as:

• choose a houseplant
• choose the houseplant
• choose houseplants

English forces you to choose more specific wording than Japanese does.

Yes. The easiest polite version is:

観葉植物を選びます。

That changes 選ぶ to the polite form 選びます.

Some other useful versions are:

• 観葉植物を選んでください。 = Please choose a houseplant.
• 観葉植物を選びたいです。 = I want to choose a houseplant.
• 観葉植物を選んでいます。 = I am choosing a houseplant.

So the basic sentence is easy to build on.

Not directly, because they do different jobs.

• を marks the object
• は marks the topic
• が marks the subject

So in this sentence, を is the correct particle for 観葉植物, because it is the thing being chosen.

For example:

• 私は観葉植物を選ぶ。
  As for me, I choose a houseplant.

Here:

• 私 is the topic, marked by は
• 観葉植物 is the object, marked by を

If you changed 観葉植物を to 観葉植物は, the meaning would change a lot and would usually sound contrastive, like:

As for houseplants, I choose them...

That is possible only in special contexts, not as a neutral replacement.

Because 選ぶ is a Godan verb, not an Ichidan verb.

Its dictionary form ends in -ぶ, and its stem changes in different forms:

• 選ぶ = dictionary form
• 選びます = polite form
• 選んだ = past
• 選ばない = negative
• 選んで = -te form

This is a common verb pattern in Japanese.

A learner may expect something more regular-looking at first, but 選ぶ follows a normal Godan conjugation pattern.

Yes. 観葉植物 is a single compound noun.

It is made from smaller kanji elements, but as a vocabulary item it functions as one noun meaning houseplant or ornamental foliage plant.

So in this sentence, you should think of the structure as:

観葉植物 + を + 選ぶ

not as several separate nouns.

This kind of long compound noun is very common in Japanese.