Making a noun the object of a verb.

Hi all, long time no see.

I have two similar phrases in my textbook, one which is apparently supposed to emphasise making the noun the object of the verb. Here are the phrases:

わたしはにほんごのべんきょうをしました
わたしはにほんごをべんきょうしました。

I'm guessing that the first phrase (with underlined を) emphasises making the noun the object of the verb, is this correct? Also, in what context would I use one of these phrases and not the other?

Thanks fam.

Those are the same in meaning. Indeed it can be said that the former one is used in a situation where comparing what was done (e.g. かれはすいえいをしました。そしてわたしはにほんごのべんきょうをしました。 He did swimming, and I did learning of Japanese.), and the latter is for a situation where comparing what was studied (e.g. かのじょはすうがくをべんきょうしました。そしてわたしはにほんごをべんきょうしました。 She learned math, and I learned Japanese.), but there is no problem to use にほんごをべんきょうしました in the former situation, and vise versa.
The point you need to pay more attention is not the difference in meaning but the difference in the choice of the particle. As you can see, を is also used in the latter sentence. べんきょう is a noun in べんきょうをしました, so you need to use の after にほんご (learning of Japanese), but べんきょうする is a transitive verb "to learn", so を is used for the object にほんご (to learn Japanese). The same goes to へやのそうじをしました "I did cleaning of my room" vs. へやをそうじしました "I cleaned my room".

I'm pretty sure I understand what you're saying. Just to clarify though, with what you said here:

Toritoribe said:

べんきょう is a noun in べんきょうをしました, so you need to use の after にほんご (learning of Japanese), but べんきょうする is a transitive verb "to learn", so を is used for the object にほんご (to learn Japanese). The same goes to へやのそうじをしました "I did cleaning of my room" vs. へやをそうじしました "I cleaned my room".

Click to expand...

phrases such as べんきょう or そうじ can only be proceeded by the particle を if the phrases have been modified with the particle の. So when you said べんきょう is a noun, did you mean to say that にほんごのべんきょう is treated as a collective noun, and hence followed by を? I'm pretty sure that's what you meant but I just want to make sure before I lock it in my brain and move on.

Thanks tori.

の is the particle for possession, so にほんごのべんきょう means "learning of Japanese/Japanese learning". That's quite the same as わたしのかばん my bag or テレビのリモコン remote controller of TV .
e.g.
かばんをかった
I bought a bag.
わたしのかばんをかった
I bought my bag.

リモコンをおいた
I put the remote controller (on a place).
テレビのリモコンをおいた
I put the remote controller of TV (on a place).