Breakdown of bangohan no mae ni, sara to koppu to fooku wo tukue no ue ni narabemasita.
Questions & Answers about bangohan no mae ni, sara to koppu to fooku wo tukue no ue ni narabemasita.
晩ご飯の前に literally means “at the time before dinner” or just “before dinner.”
Structure:
- 晩ご飯 – dinner
- 前 – front/before (here, “the time before”)
- 晩ご飯の前 – “the time before dinner” (noun phrase)
- 晩ご飯の前に – “at the time before dinner” (に marks a point in time)
The の links 晩ご飯 (dinner) and 前 (before) like “the front of the house.”
So: 晩ご飯の前 = “the before of dinner” → “the time before dinner.”
You cannot use を here; を marks a direct object, not a time expression.
You also can’t just say 晩ご飯前に in standard written Japanese; that’s a more clipped, casual style seen in speech or headlines. The basic, clear form is 晩ご飯の前に.
There are two に’s, doing two different jobs:
- 晩ご飯の前に – に marks a point in time (“at/before dinner time”).
- 机の上に – に marks a location where something ends up (“on top of the table”).
Japanese often uses に both for time and for destination/location of a result.
Having に twice in the same sentence is completely normal because each に belongs to a different phrase:
- Time phrase: 晩ご飯の前に
- Place phrase: 机の上に
Japanese often omits the subject when it’s obvious from context.
並べました is polite past (-ました) and, in a neutral context, is usually understood as “I arranged / I set (them)”.
If you needed to be explicit, you could say:
- 私は晩ご飯の前に、皿とコップとフォークを机の上に並べました。
→ “I arranged the plates, cups, and forks on the table before dinner.”
Leaving out 私 sounds more natural in Japanese when the subject is clear or unimportant.
皿 means “plate” (or “dish”).
お皿 adds a polite/honorific お, and is very common in everyday speech:
- お皿を取ってください。 – “Please pass me a plate.”
In a neutral narration like this, 皿 without お is also perfectly correct.
Using お皿 would make it sound a bit more polite or “homey,” but the meaning is the same. Both:
- 皿を並べました。
- お皿を並べました。
can mean “(I) set out the plates.”
コップ is a general word for a cup or drinking glass, often everyday cups/mugs/glasses.
グラス is more often used for:
- Wine glasses
- Cocktail glasses
- Fancier drinking glasses
In this sentence, コップ just means “cups” in the sense of items to drink from.
Either コップ or グラス could be used depending on what exactly you’re picturing and the register, but コップ is very common and neutral.
Here, と is the “and” that lists items exhaustively:
- 皿とコップとフォーク – “plates and cups and forks” → “plates, cups, and forks.”
Key points:
- When you list several specific items and mean all of them, と is standard.
- You usually put と between every item, especially in careful speech/writing.
You could use や:
- 皿やコップやフォーク – “plates, cups, forks, and things like that.”
but や implies “and ~, etc.”, a non-exhaustive list.
In this sentence, と is better because you really mean those concrete three items you set on the table.
In Japanese, one particle can apply to a whole list that comes before it.
So:
- 皿とコップとフォークを並べました。
means:
- “(I) arranged plates and cups and forks.”
You don’t repeat を after every noun.
The structure is:
[Noun1 と Noun2 と Noun3] を [Verb]
Exactly like English “I bought apples, oranges, and bananas.” (only one “bought” for the whole list).
机の上に is more specific:
- 机 – desk / table (often more “desk-like”)
- 上 – top, upper side
- 机の上 – the top surface of the desk/table
- 机の上に並べました – “lined (them) up on top of the table/desk.”
If you said 机に並べました, it’s grammatical, but it sounds a bit vague or off; we usually put plates on the surface, so 机の上に is natural.
For a dining table, テーブルの上に or 食卓の上に is also very common and may sound more “dining-related” than 机の上に (which can feel more like a “desk”).
Again, の links two nouns:
- 机 – table/desk
- 上 – top/upper part
机の上 literally: “the top of the table/desk.”
This structure is very common:
- 本の中 – inside the book
- 家の前 – in front of the house
- 部屋の中 – inside the room
Then に attaches to this whole phrase: 机の上に (“on the top of the table”).
並べました is the polite past of 並べる, a transitive verb meaning:
- to line up, to arrange in a row/order, to lay out neatly.
So 皿とコップとフォークを机の上に並べました。 suggests you arranged them nicely, in order, like “setting the table.”
置きました is the past of 置く, which means:
- to put/place/leave something somewhere.
If you say:
- 机の上に皿を置きました。 – “I put a plate on the table.” (just placed it)
- 机の上に皿を並べました。 – “I lined up the plates on the table.” (arranged them)
In this context, 並べました fits well as “set out / laid out (in an orderly way).”
並べました is:
- 並べる (dictionary form) – to arrange / line up
- 並べました – polite past (or completed action)
So it means “arranged / lined up (did arrange)”, in a polite way.
Even though the sentence includes 晩ご飯の前に (“before dinner”), that only tells us when in relation to dinner the action happened. Relative to the time of speaking, the action is already done, so the verb is past: 並べました.
If you were narrating as you do it, you could use:
- 並べています。 – “(I) am arranging (them).”
Yes, that’s a very natural interpretation.
Literally, it’s “(I) arranged the plates, cups, and forks on top of the table before dinner,” which in normal English would be phrased as “I set the table before dinner.”
If you wanted to highlight “preparing in advance,” you might also hear:
- 晩ご飯の前に、皿とコップとフォークを机の上に並べておきました。
– “Before dinner, I went ahead and set out the plates, cups, and forks.”
(〜ておく adds the nuance “do in advance / for future convenience.”)
机 literally means desk (like a work/study desk), but it can sometimes be used more broadly.
For a dining context, these are often more natural:
- テーブル – table (especially Western-style tables)
- 食卓 – dining table / the family dining area
So many speakers would naturally say:
- 晩ご飯の前に、皿とコップとフォークをテーブルの上に並べました。
- 晩ご飯の前に、皿とコップとフォークを食卓に並べました。 (often omitting の上 with 食卓)
Your sentence with 机の上に is still grammatical; it just might make some people picture more of a desk unless context clearly says it’s for eating.