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Learn Hardcore Japanese: suzume ga ki no mawari wo tobimawaru. - A sparrow flies around the tree.

Hardcore Japanese
/Watching birds by the river
/suzume ga ki no mawari o tobimawaru.

suzume ga ki no mawari o tobimawaru.

Word

雀すずめ　が　木き　の　周まわり　を　飛とび回まわる。suzume ga ki no mawari o tobimawaru.

Meaning

A sparrow flies around the tree.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Japanese

Lesson

Watching birds by the river

Breakdown of suzume ga ki no mawari o tobimawaru.

direct object particle

subject particle

possessive case particle

Questions & Answers about suzume ga ki no mawari o tobimawaru.

How is this sentence read aloud?

雀が木の周りを飛び回る is read:

すずめがきのまわりをとびまわる

Word by word:

雀 = すずめ
木 = き
周り = まわり
飛び回る = とびまわる

In normal Japanese writing, you usually would not put spaces between the words.

Why is が used after 雀?

が marks 雀 as the grammatical subject of the sentence.

So 雀が means the sparrow(s) as the thing doing the action.

A learner often compares が and は here:

雀が木の周りを飛び回る = a sparrow / sparrows fly around the tree
雀は木の周りを飛び回る = as for sparrows, they fly around the tree / sparrows fly around the tree

The version with が is a straightforward subject-marking sentence.
The version with は would sound more like you are talking about sparrows as a topic, or contrasting them with something else.

What exactly does 木の周り mean?

Nihon-shiki romanizationwatasi ha tyuugoku kara kimasita

Hepburn romanizationwatashi wa chuugoku kara kimashita

周まわり　にmawari ni

雀すずめsuzume

飛とび回まわるtobimawaru

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木の周り means the area around the tree or around the tree.

Breakdown:

木 = tree
の = links one noun to another
周り = surroundings, area around, vicinity

So 木の周り literally means the tree’s surrounding area, which is a natural Japanese way to say around the tree.

Here, の is not really showing ownership in the English sense. It is just connecting the nouns:

木の周り = the area around the tree
not necessarily the tree’s around

Why is を used after 周り? Isn’t を for direct objects?

This is a very common question.

Yes, を often marks a direct object, but it also has another important use: it can mark the route, space, or area through which movement happens.

In this sentence:

木の周りを飛び回る

the sparrow is moving through / around that area.

So を here marks the path or area of motion, not a direct object.

Similar examples:

道を歩く = walk along the road
空を飛ぶ = fly through the sky
公園を走る = run through the park

So 木の周りを飛び回る is very natural Japanese.

What is the role of の here? Is it the same as of?

Yes, の often works a lot like of or an apostrophe-s in English, but it is broader and more flexible.

Here:

木の周り = the area around the tree

So の connects 木 and 周り into one noun phrase.

You can think of it as:

the tree’s surroundings
the surroundings of the tree
around the tree

All of those point to the same basic function here.

What does 飛び回る mean grammatically?

飛び回る is a compound verb made from:

飛ぶ = to fly
回る = to go around, move around

When combined, 飛び回る means:

to fly around
to fly about
to flutter around here and there

The nuance is not just one simple flight from point A to point B. It suggests active movement around an area.

So compared with plain 飛ぶ, 飛び回る feels more lively and more repetitive.

Why is it 飛び回る and not 飛ぶ回る?

When Japanese verbs combine like this, the first verb often changes to its verb stem form.

So:

飛ぶ → 飛び
回る stays as the main verb

That gives:

飛び回る

This pattern is very common in compound verbs:

走り回る = run around
探し回る = search all around
歩き回る = walk around

So 飛び回る is the normal compound form.

Is 雀 singular or plural here?

It can be either, depending on context.

Japanese nouns usually do not have separate singular and plural forms the way English does. So 雀 can mean:

a sparrow
sparrows

If the broader context makes it clear that there is one sparrow, you understand it as singular. If it is clearly more than one, you understand it as plural.

So this sentence by itself is number-neutral.

Why is the verb at the end?

Japanese basic sentence structure is usually Subject – Object/Other information – Verb.

So:

雀が = subject
木の周りを = place/path of movement
飛び回る = verb

That is why the verb comes last.

This is one of the biggest word-order differences from English.

Could the particles or word order be changed?

Some parts can move, but the particles must still show each word’s role.

For example, these are possible:

雀が木の周りを飛び回る
木の周りを雀が飛び回る

Both are grammatical. The second version puts more focus on 木の周りを.

But you cannot freely remove or swap particles:

が still marks the subject
を still marks the path/area of movement
の still links 木 and 周り

So Japanese word order is somewhat flexible, but particles are what keep the sentence clear.

Does this sentence describe something happening now, or a general fact?

Because the verb is in the plain dictionary form 飛び回る, it can be understood in several ways depending on context:

a general statement
a habitual action
a vivid narrative description

For an action clearly happening right now, Japanese often uses ～ている:

雀が木の周りを飛び回っている

That sounds more explicitly like:

a sparrow is flying around the tree right now

So the original sentence is not wrong at all, but it is a little less specifically tied to the present moment than 飛び回っている.

Is 周り the same as まわり in hiragana?

Yes. 周り and まわり are the same word.

Japanese can write many words in:

kanji
hiragana
a mixture

Here, 周り is the kanji form of まわり.

Learners should also notice that this word appears in many useful expressions:

家の周り = around the house
身の回り / 身の周り = one’s surroundings, personal things
周りの人 = the people around someone

Why are there spaces in the sentence here?

They are just there to help learners see the parts more clearly.

Natural Japanese writing would normally be:

雀が木の周りを飛び回る。

Japanese does not usually put spaces between words the way English does. Textbooks and learning materials often add spaces temporarily to make parsing easier.

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