Learn Hardcore Japanese: watasi ha tikaku de sizukana kafe wo mitukemasita.

私は…: Neutral; just sets 私 as the topic.
- Used when who did it is not being contrasted with anyone.
私が…: Emphasizes I (and not someone else) did it.
- Sounds like you’re answering “Who found it?”, or contrasting with others.

In many normal, neutral statements about yourself, 私は… (or often just dropping 私 completely) is more natural than 私が….

What does the particle で in 近くで mean here?

で is a location-of-action marker. It tells you where the action happens.

近くで = “in/at the nearby area”, “nearby (as the place where the action happened)”
静かなカフェを見つけました = “found a quiet café”

So 近くで静かなカフェを見つけました = “(I) found a quiet café nearby (in this area).”
The café itself is not “doing” anything; で attaches to 近く to show the place where you were when you found it.

What’s the difference between 近くで and 近くに?

Both relate to “nearby”, but the typical usage is different:

近くで + action verb
- Focus on where the action takes place.
- 近くで静かなカフェを見つけました。
  - “I found a quiet café (while I was) nearby / in the nearby area.”
近くに + existence / location
- Often used with ある / いる to talk about what exists nearby.
- 近くに静かなカフェがあります。
  - “There is a quiet café nearby.”

You can say 近くに静かなカフェを見つけました, but で sounds more natural when you want to emphasize “I did this action in that area”. For learners, a safe guideline:

Action happens there → で
Something/someone exists/ends up there → に

What exactly is 近く? How is it different from 近い?

近い is an い-adjective: “near / close”.
- このカフェは駅に近い。 = “This café is close to the station.”
近く is a noun/adverb meaning “vicinity / nearby area”.

In your sentence:

近くで = “in the vicinity / in a nearby area” (noun 近く
- particle で)

Some useful patterns:

近い + noun
- 家から近いカフェ = “a café that is close to (my) house”
近くの + noun
- 近くのカフェ = “a café nearby / the nearby café”
近くで + verb
- 近くで食べました。 = “I ate nearby.”

So here 近く is not an adjective modifying カフェ; it’s a place word (“vicinity”) that で attaches to.

Why is it 静かなカフェ and not 静かいカフェ?

Because 静か is a な-adjective, not an い-adjective.

い-adjectives: usually end in い in dictionary form.
- e.g. 大きい (big), 小さい (small), 新しい (new)
- Before a noun: 大きいカフェ, 新しいカフェ
な-adjectives: don’t end in い (usually) and need な before a noun.
- e.g. 静か (quiet), 有名 (famous), きれい (pretty/clean)
- Before a noun: 静かなカフェ, 有名な店, きれいな部屋

So:

静かいカフェ ❌ (ungrammatical)
静かなカフェ ✅ (correct: “a quiet café”)

Why do we need な in 静かなカフェ? Can I just say 静かカフェ?

You must use な with な-adjectives when they directly modify a noun:

静か + な + カフェ → 静かなカフェ ✅
静かカフェ ❌ (sounds wrong)

Think of な as the “glue” that connects a な-adjective to the noun it describes.

However, if 静か comes after the noun as a predicate, you don’t use な:

このカフェは静かです。 = “This café is quiet.”
このカフェは静かだ。 (plain form)

Where is the English word “a” in this Japanese sentence?

Japanese usually doesn’t have separate words for “a/an/the”.
Nouns are typically bare, and whether it means “a” or “the” is decided by context.

静かなカフェを見つけました。
- Could be “I found a quiet café” or “I found the quiet café”.

If you really want to show it’s a specific one (like English “the”), you often add a demonstrative:

その静かなカフェを見つけました。
- “I found that quiet café.”
あの静かなカフェを見つけました。
- “I found that (over there / previously mentioned) quiet café.”

What does the particle を after カフェ do?

を marks the direct object of the verb — the thing that the action is done to.

静かなカフェを見つけました。
- 静かなカフェ = object (“a quiet café”)
- を = object marker
- 見つけました = verb (“found”)

So it’s literally “(I) quiet café を found”, which in English word order becomes “I found a quiet café.”

What exactly does 見つけました mean, and what’s its dictionary form?

Dictionary form: 見つける = “to find” (transitive verb)
見つけました = polite past form:
- 見つける → 見つけます (polite) → 見つけました (polite past)

So 見つけました means:

“(I) found (something).”

It usually implies that the thing became found by you, whether by effort or by chance, depending on context.

Can I say 見つけた instead of 見つけました? What’s the difference?

Yes, grammatically you can:

見つけました = polite past
- Used in most neutral situations, with people you’re not very close to, in writing, etc.
見つけた = plain past
- Used with friends, family, casual texting, diaries, etc.

So:

近くで静かなカフェを見つけました。
- Polite: what you’d say to a teacher, coworker, stranger.
近くで静かなカフェを見つけた。
- Casual: what you’d say to a close friend.

Can I omit 私 and just say 近くで静かなカフェを見つけました?

Yes — and in natural Japanese, you often would omit 私 here.

Japanese frequently drops pronouns when they are clear from context:

(私は) 近くで静かなカフェを見つけました。
- Still understood as “I found a quiet café nearby.”

You’d explicitly say 私 if:

You need to contrast with someone else, or
The subject isn’t obvious from context.

Can I change the word order, like 静かなカフェを近くで見つけました? Is that okay?

Yes, that’s also grammatical:

近くで静かなカフェを見つけました。
静かなカフェを近くで見つけました。

Both mean “I found a quiet café nearby.”

Japanese word order is relatively flexible as long as:

The verb comes at the end, and
The particles (は, が, を, に, で, etc.) stay attached to the right words.

The original order (近くで静かなカフェを見つけました) is very natural, but your variant is fine too. The nuance difference is minimal; sometimes putting 静かなカフェを earlier puts a tiny bit more focus on “a quiet café”, but in everyday conversation both are acceptable.