wakaranai tokoro wa sensei ni kikimasu.

I ask the teacher about the parts I don't understand.

Breakdown of wakaranai tokoro wa sensei ni kikimasu.

• は: topic particle
• 先せん生せい: teacher
• に: indirect object particle

Questions & Answers about wakaranai tokoro wa sensei ni kikimasu.

Why is 分からない placed before ところ?

Because 分からないところ is a noun-modifying clause in Japanese.

It works like:

• 分からない = I don’t understand
• ところ = part / place / point

So together:

• 分からないところ = the part(s) I don’t understand

Japanese often puts descriptive information before the noun, unlike English.

Examples:

• 買った本 = the book I bought
• 行きたい店 = the shop I want to go to
• 分からないところ = the part I don’t understand

What does ところ mean here? Does it literally mean place?

Not exactly. ところ can literally mean place, but in this sentence it means something like:

• part
• point
• section
• bit

So 分からないところ does not mean a physical place. It means the part(s) that are unclear to me, such as in a lesson, book, homework assignment, or explanation.

A very natural English gloss would be:

• the parts I don’t understand
• anything I don’t understand