Learn Hardcore Japanese: musume ha zibun no sukina sara to koppu wo erande, fooku mo kirei ni narabemasita. - My daughter chose her favorite plate and cup and neatly arranged the forks as well.

自分の好きな皿 feels a bit more from her point of view (“her own favorite plate”),
娘の好きな皿 sounds a bit more like an objective description (“the plate the daughter likes”).

Both are grammatical; the nuance is slightly different.

Why is it 好きな皿 and not 好き皿 or 好きの皿?

好き (to like / liked / favorite) behaves like a na-adjective when it modifies a noun:

Predicate:
- その皿が好きです。 – I like that plate.
Before a noun:
- 好きな皿 – the plate (that [someone] likes) / favorite plate

So the pattern is:

好きな + noun → 好きな皿, 好きな色, 好きな本

好き皿 and 好きの皿 are ungrammatical in standard Japanese.

What exactly does 好きな皿 mean here? Is it “favorite plate” or “a plate she likes right now”?

好きな皿 is flexible; it can mean:

“her favorite plate” (long-term preference), or
“a plate she likes / the plate she prefers” in that situation.

Without extra context, it’s usually understood as “her favorite plate(s)” or “a plate she likes”. The English translation can choose whichever sounds more natural in context.

Why is 娘 marked with は and not が?

は marks the topic, while が usually marks the grammatical subject (and often introduces new, focused information).

Here, the sentence is telling us what the daughter did, and she’s probably already known in the context. So:

娘は… means “As for the daughter, …”, setting her as the topic.
If you said 娘が…, it would sound more like you’re identifying who did it, e.g., answering “Who did that?” – “娘が皿とコップを選んで…”.

In narrative, は is very common when introducing the main character’s actions.

Does を apply to both 皿 and コップ? How do we know?

Yes. The structure is:

自分の好きな皿とコップを選んで…

The object marker を comes after コップ, but it governs the whole phrase:

(自分の好きな皿とコップ) を選んで

So she chose both:

her favorite plate and (her favorite) cup/glass.

What exactly is the role of 選んで here? Does it mean “while choosing” or “and then chose”?

選んで is the て-form of 選ぶ (to choose), and it links this action to the next verb:

選んで、フォークもきれいに並べました。

Here, the natural interpretation is sequential:

She chose her favorite plate and cup, *and then (also) arranged the forks neatly.*

The て-form often means:

“and / and then” (sequential actions)
sometimes “while” (simultaneous actions), but that doesn’t fit well here.

Why is the sentence in past tense only at the end (並べました) and not also 選びました?

In Japanese, when verbs are linked with the て-form, only the final verb in the chain shows the tense/politeness:

皿とコップを選んで、フォークもきれいに並べました。

Both actions are understood as:

She chose the plate and cup, and
She arranged the forks neatly,

all in the past and in polite form, because the last verb is 並べました. You don’t say 選びました並べました in natural Japanese.

What does フォークも mean? Is も just “also”?

も usually means “also / too / as well”, and sometimes “even”.

Here, フォークも contrasts with what came before:

First action: choosing favorite plate and cup
Second action: arranging forks also

The nuance:

She chose her favorite plate and cup, and she *also neatly arranged the forks.*

It can imply something like, “Not only did she choose the dishes, she even/also arranged the forks.”
So も adds a sense of “in addition to that”.

Why is there no を after フォーク? Isn’t フォーク the object of 並べました?

Yes, フォーク is the direct object of 並べました, but in this sentence the を is omitted. That’s acceptable in casual or semi-casual Japanese, especially in spoken style.

The fully explicit version would be:

フォークもきれいに並べました。
→ implied フォークも(を)きれいに並べました。

Omitting を is quite common when the meaning is clear and the sentence is not extremely formal.
In very careful written Japanese, you’d usually include を: フォークもきれいに並べました。 (with an understood を or explicitly フォークもをきれいに並べました if you really wanted to stress it, though that sounds a bit heavy).

Why is it きれいに and not きれいな before 並べました?

きれい is a na-adjective:

Before a noun: きれいな部屋 – a clean / beautiful room
Before a verb: change な → に to make an adverb:
- きれいに並べました – arranged (them) neatly / nicely

So the pattern is:

きれいな + noun → きれいな皿 (a beautiful plate)
きれいに + verb → きれいに並べる (to arrange neatly)

Using きれいな並べました would be ungrammatical.

Does きれいに並べました mean “arranged them beautifully” or “arranged them neatly / properly”?

Both are possible meanings of きれい, but in this kind of everyday context (dishes, forks on a table), it almost always means:

“arranged them neatly / tidily / nicely”

So:

フォークもきれいに並べました。
→ She also arranged the forks neatly (in order).

You would usually understand clean, tidy, orderly rather than “artistically beautiful” here.

What’s the difference between 並べる and 並ぶ? Why is it 並べました here?

並べる (ならべる) – transitive verb: “to line (things) up, to arrange (things) in order”
- フォークを並べる – to arrange the forks
並ぶ (ならぶ) – intransitive verb: “to line up, to be in a row” (no direct object)
- フォークが並ぶ – the forks line up / are in a row

Since the daughter is actively arranging the forks, we need the transitive verb:

フォークもきれいに並べました。 – She (herself) lined them up neatly.

Why does the sentence use コップ instead of カップ or グラス?

All three are loanwords but have typical uses:

コップ – a general cup / glass, especially for water, juice, etc.; often without a handle
グラス – more specifically a glass (often for alcohol, but not only)
カップ – usually a cup with a handle, like a coffee or tea cup (マグカップ, ティーカップ, etc.)

Here, コップ just means an ordinary drinking cup/glass.
Depending on context, English might translate it as cup or glass.

Could you say お皿 instead of 皿 here? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, you could say お皿:

自分の好きなお皿とコップを選んで…

お皿 uses the polite honorific prefix お-, which often makes an everyday object sound:

a bit more polite,
or a bit more cute / affectionate (especially in family settings).

Meaning-wise it’s still just “plate/dish,” but お皿 can feel slightly softer / more polite than bare 皿. Both are correct; the choice is stylistic.

Can 自分 here ever mean “my own” (the speaker’s), or does it always refer to 娘?

In this sentence, because 娘は is the topic and we’re describing her actions, 自分 is naturally understood as “her own”.

General rule of thumb:

自分 usually refers to the subject/topic currently in focus.
In first-person narratives or conversation about oneself, it often means “myself / my own”.
In third-person contexts like this, it refers to that person’s own.

So here, 自分の好きな皿 = “the plate that the daughter herself likes (her own favorite plate)”, not the speaker’s.