yatyou wo mita.

It is read やちょう.

• 野 = field, wild
• 鳥 = bird

So 野鳥 means wild bird or wild birds.

を marks the direct object of the verb. In this sentence, 野鳥 is the thing that was seen.

So the structure is:

• 野鳥 = wild bird(s)
• を = object marker
• 見た = saw

This is a very common beginner question. The particle を is usually pronounced お / o in modern Japanese, even though it is written with the kana を.

Historically, it was pronounced more like wo, and the spelling stayed the same. So when you read this sentence aloud, 野鳥を見た is pronounced roughly yachō o mita.

The dictionary form is 見る meaning to see / to look at / to watch.

見た is the plain past form of 見る.

Because 見る is an ichidan verb, you form the past like this:

• 見る
• remove る
• add た
• result: 見た

見た is the plain past form, which is less formal. It is very common in casual speech, diary-style writing, stories, and basic example sentences.

Compare:

• 見た = saw, casual/plain
• 見ました = saw, polite

So this sentence is in a casual or neutral plain style, not a polite one.

Japanese often leaves out the subject when it is obvious from context.

So 野鳥を見た。 does not explicitly say who saw it. Depending on context, it could mean:

• I saw a wild bird
• He saw a wild bird
• She saw wild birds
• and so on

If you wanted to include the subject, you could say something like:

• 私は野鳥を見た。 = I saw a wild bird / wild birds

But in natural Japanese, leaving it out is very common.

It can mean either. Japanese nouns usually do not show singular vs. plural the way English does.

So 野鳥 could mean:

• a wild bird
• wild birds

The exact number is understood from context.

It can mean either, depending on context. 見る is a broad verb that can cover:

• see
• look at
• watch

In a short sentence like 野鳥を見た。, English often translates it as saw a wild bird or saw wild birds, because that sounds natural. But the Japanese verb itself is not limited to only one English verb.

鳥 just means bird in general.

野鳥 specifically means wild bird or wild birds, so it has a more specific nuance. It is often used in nature or birdwatching contexts.

For example:

• 鳥 = bird(s) in general
• 野鳥 = wild bird(s)

So 野鳥を見た。 gives a more specific image than 鳥を見た。

No. Japanese is normally written without spaces between words.

So this sentence would usually be written as:

野鳥を見た。

Spaces are often added in beginner materials to make the sentence easier to read.