III. Normal order of noun phrases

When more than two noun phrases precede a verb, they are normally arranged in the following order.

SUBJECT + TlME { PLACE { OBJECT { VERB
noun GA + noun (NI) { noun (DE) { noun O { verb

Examples
1. Arisu san wa rokuji ni kissaten de koohii o nomimashita.
"Alice san drank a cup of coffee at the coffee shop at six o'clock."
2. Kaarin san wa kinoo daigaku de Hasegawa sensee ni aimashita.
"Karin san met Prof. Hasegawa at the university yesterday."

IV. Question words
You have already learned 17 question words which are summarized below here.
If you want to ask about :

A. things or events which you don't know, use nani or nan ;

Examples
1. Eki no tonari ni nani ga arimasu ka.
"What is there next to the station?"
2. Are wa nan desu ka.
"What is that?"

B. the hearer's choice between the two things, use dochira ;

Examples
1. Hon to kyookasho no dochira o yomimasu ka.
"Which will you read, a book or a textbook?"
2. Wada sensee wa dochira desu ka.
"Which is Prof. Wada?"
(This sentence also means "Where is Prof. Wada?" See
NOTES ON SENTENCE GRAMMAR IV - H of this lesson.)

C. the hearer's choice among more than two, use dore or dono berore a noun ;

Examples
1. A. Dore o kaimasu ka.
"Which one will you buy?"
B. Kono akai no o kaimasu.
"I'll buy this red one."
2. A. Dono hito ga sensee desu ka.
"Which person is the teacher?"
B. Ano shizuka na hito desu.
"That quiet person is."

D. condition of things, persons, etc., in reference to "what kind of," use donna before a noun ;

Examples
1. Donna eega o mimashita ka.
"What kind of movie did you see?"
2. Wada san wa donna hito desu ka.
"What kind of person is Mr. Wada?"
3. Taihen shizuka na hito desu.
"He is a very quiet man."