Complete Guide To Japanese

Complete Guide to Japanese
Disclaimer: This is still a work in progress!

What is a complete guide to Japanese?
Despite what many are lead to believe, learning Japanese is not significantly more difficult than
learning any other language. The truth is mastering any foreign language is quite an endeavor. If
you think about it, you are essentially taking everything you've learned in life and re-learning it
in a completely different way. Obviously, no single book can really claim to teach you
everything about a language including all the vocabulary a fluent adult commonly obtains during
her life. So what do I mean by a complete guide to Japanese?
Most Japanese textbooks only go over a small subset of what you need to learn Japanese,
typically covering a certain amount of grammar and vocabulary with a smattering of dialogues
and readings. However, mastering a language requires much more than just learning grammar
and vocabulary. What most Japanese textbooks fail to recognize is that they can't possibly hope
to cover all the necessary vocabulary and kanji (Chinese characters) to obtain full fluency. This
guide fully recognizes that it cannot teach you everything word by word and character by
character. Instead, it will give you a solid understanding of the fundamentals with a wide
collection of dialogues and examples. In addition, it will go over various techniques and tools to
enable you to teach yourself. Essentially, this book is a guide on how you can learn Japanese to
complete fluency by actually using Japanese in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and
speaking.
Another important distinction in the complete guide is that it does not try to hide or avoid more
casual but perfectly acceptable aspects of the language. Many textbooks often avoid styles of
speech and vocabulary you would normally use regularly with close friends, family, and
acquaintances! In this guide, you will be introduced to all aspects of the language based on real-
world practicality and usefulness; not on an artificial, filtered version of what others consider to
be "proper" Japanese.
Resources and Tools
There are a large number of useful tools on the web for learning Japanese. Not only are there
excellent online dictionaries, which are often better than many print dictionaries, there are also
great tools and social networking sites for online collaboration and language study.
In order to fully utilize these online resources or if you're reading this book online, you'll need to
setup your computer to support Japanese.
You can see a full list of these resources and instructions on how to setup your computer at the
following link:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/resources
Corrections
I'm currently writing this as quickly as possible without a lot of proofreading so there WILL be
many typos and mistakes for the first few revisions. Please feel free to point out any mistakes in
the comments. I may delete your comment after making the correction to keep the comment
sections clean for more in-depth discussion but I do appreciate them very much!!
Credits & Copyright
The Complete Guide is currently NOT licensed under a creative commons or any other license.
Artwork for comic strips are provided by Martyn.
Table of Contents
Writing Systems and Pronunciation
The Scripts
The Japanese writing system is comprised of three main written scripts: Hiragana, Katakana,
and Kanji.
Hiragana is the main phonetic writing system used to represent every distinct sound in Japanese.
Because of its phonetic nature, we will first learn Hiragana to also learn how to pronounce all the
sounds in the Japanese language.
While Katakana represents the same sounds as Hiragana, it is mainly used to represent words
imported from other languages.
Kanji, which are Chinese characters adapted for Japanese, are heavily used in writing. There are
no spaces in Japanese so Kanji is necessary in order to separate the words within a sentence.
Kanji is also useful for distinguishing homophones, which occurs quite often given the limited
number of distinct sounds in Japanese.
Pronunciation
In the next section, we will learn all the characters in Hiragana and how to pronounce them. As
we will see, every character in Hiragana (and the Katakana equivalent) corresponds to a specific
sound. This makes pronunciation very easy as each letter has exactly one pronunciation.
However, because there are relatively few distinct sounds in the Japanese language, you must
pay extra attention to proper intonation.
Unlike English pronunciation which is based on accents, Japanese pronunciation is based on
alterations between a high and low pitch. For example, homophones can have different pitches of
low and high tones resulting in a slightly different sound despite sharing the same pronunciation.
The biggest obstacle for obtaining proper and natural sounding speech is incorrect intonation.
Therefore, as you listen to Japanese and begin to imitate the sounds, it is very important that you
pay attention to pitch in order to sound like a native speaker.
Hiragana
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The table below represents the entire Hiragana syllabary categorized by the consonant and vowel
sounds. With the exception of a few sounds (as shown by the pronunciation in parentheses), most
sounds in Japanese are easily represented by a vowel or consonant-vowel. There is also one
consonant-only sound: .
Hiragana - Click for stroke order and sound
n w r y m h n t s k

(n)
a

(chi)

(shi)
i

(fu)

(tsu)
u
e

(o)
o

To understand how this chart works, let's start by looking at the right-most column, which are all
the vowel-only sounds.
a
i
u
e
o
Here are some sample words for reading practice.
Example: - love (read as "ai")
1. - to meet
2. - house
3. - nephew
4. - above
5. - to say
Each additional column represents a consonant sound with each of the five vowel sounds. For
example, the "k" column has the following sounds.
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
is the only character with no vowel sound. It adds an "n" sound as shown in the
examples below.
- gold (read as "kin")
- woman; girl (read as "on-na")
- music (read as "on-ga-ku")
Here are my recommendations for learning how to read, write, hear, and say the characters and
sounds in Hiragana.
Reading: You'll be getting plenty of reading practice with the material in this book.
Writing: You'll need to develop muscle memory so use regular pen and paper. Below are
handy PDFs for Hiragana writing practice.
o Hiragana trace sheets
o japanese-lesson.com
o Hiroshi & Sakura
Hearing: You can listen to the pronunciation for each character by clicking on it in the
first chart. If your browser doesn't support audio, you can also download them at
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/audio/basic_sounds.zip. There are also other free
resources with audio samples.
Speaking: Practice repeating the sounds. I recommend recording yourself to get an
accurate idea of what you sound like. Pay careful attention to the "r" sounds!
While most of the sounds are pretty straightforward, the "r" sounds deserve careful attention for
English speakers because there is no equivalent sound in English. It is more similar to the "r"
sound in Spanish.
What works for some English speakers (even if it may not be technically correct)
is to shape the lips something like the sound that is made for the English "r," but
to make the sound with a single trill or flap of the tongue against the front of the
palate.
Katakana
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Katakana, as already mentioned, is mainly used to represent words imported from other
languages. We've already learned all the sounds when we learned Hiragana. All you need to
learn is a different way of writing them.
Katakana - Click for stroke order and sound
n w r y m h n t s k

(n)
a

(chi)

(shi)
i

(fu)

(tsu)
u
e

*
(o)
o
* = rarely used
Due to the straight lines and relatively few strokes, there are many characters in Katakana that
look very similar. In particular, and . You should pay careful
attention to the stroke order and direction. You may also notice that the Katakana is
virtually identical to its Hiragana counterpart . They are in fact, written pretty much the
same way. Below are handy PDFs for writing practice.
Katakana trace sheets
japanese-lesson.com
Hiroshi & Sakura
English words in Japanese
Many words from foreign languages, particularly English, have become part of the Japanese
language via Katakana throughout the years. However, there are relatively few distinct sounds in
Japanese and only five vowel sounds. As a result, these words usually don't bear much
resemblance to their original pronunciations. An important thing to remember is to stay true to
the Japanese pronunciation and completely forget how it's really supposed to be pronounced. To
give you an idea, here is a short list of foreign words and their Japanese equivalents.
Sample Katakana Words
English Japanese
America
Russia
bus
motorcycle
French fries (fried potato)
Additional Sounds
Though we have covered all the distinct characters in both Hiragana and Katakana, there are
additional variations and sounds that still remain to be learned.
Voiced Consonants
Voiced consonants are consonant sounds that require a voice, creating a vibration in your throat.
A number of consonant sounds in Hiragana and Katakana can be changed to their voiced
counterpart by adding two small dashes to the upper-right corner of the character; namely the
"k", "s", "t", and "h" consonant sounds. There is also a semi-voiced consonant sound "p", which
is created by putting a small circle in the upper-right corner of the "h" characters.
Voiced Hiragana - Click for Sound
p b d z g
a

(ji)

(ji)
i

(dzu)
u
e
o
Voiced Katakana - Click for Sound
p b d z g
a

(ji)

(ji)
i

(dzu)
u
e
o
Y-vowel sounds
A consonant can precede the three y-sounds: and . This is done by
attaching a small, half-size version of the y-sounds to the consonant+i sounds as you can see in
the table below.
All small and combinations in Hiragana - Click for Sound
p b j g r m h n c s k
ya
yu
yo
All small and combinations in Katakana - Click for Sound
p b j g r m h n c s k
ya
yu
yo
Hard Consonant Sounds
While no single letter ends in a consonant sound except , Japanese does have a way
to carry over the next consonant sound back with a small . This can be used with the
consonants "p, k, t, s" to create a hard stop.
For example, (meaning "person") would normally be read as "hi-to". However, by
adding a small : , the "t" consonant sound is carried back and is pronounced
"hit-to" (meaning "hit").
Here are some more examples.
1. (to-rak-ku) - truck
2. (zas-shi) - magazine
3. (kap-pu) - cup
The Long Vowel Sound
We will now go over the long vowel sound which is simply extending the duration of a vowel
sound. You can extend the vowel sound of a character by adding either or
depending on the vowel as shown in the following chart.
Extending Vowel Sounds
Vowel Sound Extended by
/ a /
/ i / e /
/ u / o /
For example, if you wanted to create an extended vowel sound from , you would add
to create . Other examples would include: , ,
, , and so on. The reason for this is quite simple.
Try saying and separately. Then say them in succession as fast as you can. You'll
notice that it's easier to drag out the vowel.
It's important to make sure you hold the vowel sound to the full length of both characters because
there are many similar words that are only different by the length of the vowel. For example,
means "here" while means "High school".
Here is a short list of example words with long vowel sounds. The long vowel sound is
highlighted.
1. (ga-ku-se) - student
2. (sen-se) - teacher
3. (kyo) - today
4. (o-ha-yo) - good morning
5. (o-ka-san) - mother
There are also a small number of exceptions where an "e" vowel sound is extended by adding
or an "o" vowel sound is extended with . We'll see example of these words in later
sections.
Long vowel sounds in Katakana are much easier. You simply need to use a dash: .
1. (tsu-a) - tour
2. (me-ru) - email
3. (ke-ki) - cake
Additional Katakana Sounds
is the only sound that is pronounced with a "f" sound, for example (futon)
or (Fuji). That's fine in Japanese because there are no words with other "f" sounds
such as "fa", "fi", or "fo". However, it's problem when converting foreign words such as "fork"
into Katakana.
This problem was solved by using small vowel sounds. For example, the small can be
attached to to create (fo). "Fork" then becomes . There are
other gaps that are filled with this technique. The "v" sounds are also expressed by putting two
dashes to the vowel sounds. However, "v" sounds are rarely used due to the difficulty native
Japanese speakers have in pronouncing them.
The following table shows the gaps that were filled using these techniques for Katakana.
Additional sounds
v w f ch d t j sh
a
i
u
e
o
1. (so-fa) - sofa
2. (win-do-u-zu) - Windows (as in MS Windows)
3. (wok-ka) - vodka
4. (chek-ku) - check
Kanji
The last and most notorious aspect of the Japanese written language is Kanji, which are Chinese
characters adapted for Japanese. Most words in Japanese are written in Kanji even though they
are still pronounced with the Japanese phonetic sounds represented by Hiragana and Katakana.
Stroke Order
When learning Kanji, it is very important to learn it with the proper stroke order and direction
from the beginning in order to avoid developing any bad habits. Japanese learners often think
that stroke order doesn't matter as long as the end product looks the same. However, what they
don't realize is that there are thousands of characters and they are not always meticulously
written the way they appear in print. Proper stroke order helps ensure the characters look
recognizable even when you write them quickly or use more cursive styles.
The simpler characters called radicals are often reused as components in larger characters. Once
you learn the radical stroke order and get used to the patterns, you'll find that it's not difficult to
figure out the correct stroke order for most Kanji.
One good general rule of thumb is that strokes usually start from the top-left corner toward the
bottom-right. This means that horizontal strokes are generally written from left to right and
vertical strokes are written from top to bottom. In any case, if you're not sure about the stroke
order, you should always verify by looking the character up in a Kanji dictionary.
Kanji in Vocabulary
There are roughly over 2,000 characters used in modern Japanese so you can imagine that
memorizing them one-by-one as you might for syllabaries such as Hiragana does not work very
well.
An effective strategy for mastering Kanji is learning them with new vocabulary within a larger
context. This way, we can associate various contextual information with the character in order to
reinforce memory. Remember that Kanji, ultimately, is used to represent actual words. So it is
important to focus not so much on the characters themselves but the words and vocabulary that
include those characters.
In this section, we will learn how Kanji works by learning a few common characters and
vocabulary.
Kanji Readings
The first Kanji we will learn is , the character for 'person.' It is a simple two-stroke
character where each stroke starts at the top. you may have noticed that the character as rendered
by the font is not always the same as the hand-written style below. This is another important
reason to check the stroke order.

Definition: person
Kun-yomi:
On-yomi:
Kanji in Japanese can have one or several readings. The reading for Kanji is split into two major
categories called kun-yomi and on-yomi. Kun-yomi is the Japanese reading of the character while
on-yomi is based on the original Chinese pronunciation.
Generally, Kun-yomi is used for words that only use one character. The actual word for "person"
is one example.
Example: - person
Kun-yomi is also used for native Japanese words including most adjectives and verbs.
On-yomi, on the other hand, is mostly used for words that originate from Chinese, which often
use 2 or more Kanji. For that reason, on-yomi is often written in Katakana. We'll see more
examples as we learn more characters. With , one very useful example of an on-yomi is
to attach it to names of countries to describe nationality.
Example
- American (person)
- French (person)
While most characters will not have multiple kun-yomi or on-yomi, the more common characters
such as will generally have a lot more readings. Here, I only list the ones that are
applicable to the vocabulary we learned. Learning a reading without a context within vocabulary
will only create unnecessary confusion so I do not recommend learning all the readings at once.
Now that you have the general idea, let's learn some more vocabulary and the Kanji used within
them. The stroke order diagrams with red highlights show you where each stroke starts.
1. - Japan
2. - book

Definition: sun; day
Stroke Order
On-yomi:

Definition: origin; book
Stroke Order
On-yomi:

1. - student
2. - teacher

Definition: academic
Stroke Order
On-yomi:

Definition: ahead; precedence
Stroke Order
On-yomi:

Definition: life
Stroke Order
On-yomi:

1. - tall; expensive
2. - school
3. - high school

Definition: tall; expensive
Stroke Order
Kun-yomi:
On-yomi:
Definition: school

Stroke Order
On-yomi:

1. - small
2. - big
3. - elementary school
4. - middle school
5. - college; university
6. - elementary school student
7. - middle school student
8. - college; university student

Definition: small
Stroke Order
Kun-yomi:
On-yomi:

Definition: middle; inside
Stroke Order
On-yomi:

Definition: large
Stroke Order
Kun-yomi:
On-yomi:

1. - country
2. - China
3. - Chinese (person)

Definition: country
Stroke Order
Kun-yomi:
On-yomi:

1. - Japanese language
2. - Chinese language
3. - English
4. - French
5. - Spanish

Definition: England
Stroke Order
On-yomi:

Definition: language
Stroke Order
On-yomi:
With only 14 characters, we've managed to learn over 25 words ranging from China to
elementary school student! Kanji is usually regarded as a major obstacle but as you can see, you
can easily turn it into a valuable tool if you learn it in the context of vocabulary.
Okurigana and changing readings
You may have noticed some words that end with Hiragana such as or .
Because those words are adjectives, the trailing Hiragana, called Okurigana are needed to
perform various conjugations without affecting the Kanji. The thing to watch out for is
remembering exactly where the Kanji ends and Hiragana begins. For example, you never want to
write as .
You may have also noticed that the Kanji readings don't always match the reading in a particular
word. For example, is read as and not . Readings often
go through these small transformations to make pronunciation easier.
Ultimately, you'll want to check the reading for any new words you encounter. Fortunately, it has
become much easier to look up new Kanji thanks to online tools and electronic dictionaries. You
can find a tutorial on how to use these tools at the following link
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/resources/findingkanji
Different Kanji for similar words
Kanji is often used to make subtle distinctions or give a different shade of meaning for a word. In
some cases, it is very important to remember to use the correct Kanji for the correct situation.
For example, while the adjective for hot is , when used to describe the climate, you
must write it as . When you are describing a hot object or person, you must write it as
instead.
Definition: hot (for climate only)
Stroke Order

Kun-yomi:

Definition: heat; fever
Stroke Order
Kun-yomi:
In other cases, while there is generic Kanji that can be used for all situations for a given word,
the writer may use a more specialized version for stylistic reasons. The examples in this book
will generally use the generic and usually simpler Kanji. If you want to learn more about
learning the different Kanji for a single word and new words in general, go to the tutorial at the
following link:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/resources/learning_words
Basic numbers and age
1 to 10
Learning the first ten numbers is a one good way to get started in learning any language. For
Japanese, it also allows us to get familiar with some basic and important Kanji. One thing to pay
attention to is the fact that 4 and 7 have two possible pronunciations. The more common is in
bold.
Numerals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Kanji
Reading
11 to 99
As an added bonus, we don't need to learn any more numbers to count up to 99. The tens digit is
simply the number and ten. For example, two-ten is twenty, three-ten is thirty, etc. We will learn
higher numbers past 99 in a later chapter.
Example
1. - 11
2. - 20
3. - 21
4. - 39
5. - 40
6. - 74
7. - 99
Counters and Age
Let's use the numbers we just learned to talk about our age. In Japanese, we must use counters to
count different types of things. The counter for counting age is . Because the
Kanji is rather difficult, it is also written as (though it's actually a completely different
character)
Counters are simply attached to the end of the number. However, as we saw in the last section,
Kanji readings can often go through small changes to aid pronunciation. The following digits are
read slightly differently when used with the age counter. The age 20 is also a completely
irregular reading.
Irregular readings
1. - 1 year old
2. - 8 years old
3. - 10 years old
4. - 20 years old
Example
1. - 20 years old
2. - 21 years old
3. - 48 years old
4. - 70 years old
We will learn many more counters in a later chapter.
Chapter summary and practice
We covered all the sounds in Japanese, how they are written in Hiragana and Katakana, and how
Kanji works. In addition, we also learned numbers up to 99 and how to count a person's age.
Let's apply what we learned to come up with a simple self-introduction. The best way to learn a
language is to regularly interact in that language and the only way to do that is to meet Japanese
speakers so a self-introduction is an ideal way to practice.
Learning the expressions
You only need a couple of fixed expressions for your simple self-introduction.
1.
Shortened form of an expression originally meaning "I meet you for the first time". it's a
standard greeting similar in intent to "Nice to meet" or "How do you do?"
2.
There is no easy direct translation but it means something along the lines of "please treat
me well" when used at the end of an introduction.
Telling people your name
If you haven't done so already, you'll need to decide on what to call yourself in Japanese. As
we've learned, Japanese has a relatively limited set of sounds so it's very likely that your name
will need to sound very different from its native pronunciation.
I would recommend asking your teacher or a Japanese speaker for help in converting your name
to the Katakana equivalent. You may even want to ask the first person you introduce yourself to.
If you want to give it a try on your own (like right now), you can try this tutorial on finding your
name in Japanese: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/resources/nameinjapanese
To say you are that name, you need only attach to the name. The pronunciation is
usually shortened to just "dess". We will learn more about in the next chapter.
Example
Toggle Translations
[name]
(I am) [name].
1.
(I am) Brown.
2.
(I am) Alice Smith.
In Japan, the last name is given more weight so it is common to just go by your last name
especially in a more formal environment such as the classroom or workplace. When using the
full name, the last name always comes first for Japanese names. However, it can go either way
for names from countries where the order is reversed.
Putting it all together

Using the fixed expressions and the vocabulary we learned in the last section, we now have
everything we need for our simple self-introduction.
Below is a short list of potentially useful nouns to describe yourself for your self-introduction.
Don't forget that you need to add to the country for nationality.
1. - self-introduction
2. - college student
3. - working adult
4. - China
5. - South Korea
6. - Canada
7. - England
8. - Australia
9. - France
10. - Spain
11. - Brazil
12. - Mexico
Here's an example of a simple self-introduction.
Toggle Translations

Nice to meet you. (I am) Alice Smith.
(I'm) American. (I'm a) college student.
(I'm) 18 years old.
Please treat me well.
Other expressions
In addition to practicing your self-introduction, a good way to practice pronunciation is to use
various expressions for different scenarios. It's ok if nobody around you speaks Japanese. They'll
understand you're hard at work practicing.
1. - thank you (polite)
2. - sorry (polite)
3. - good-bye (notice the long vowel sound!
4. - used before eating a meal (lit: I humbly receive)
5. - used after finishing a meal (lit: It was a feast)
6. - used when leaving home (lit: I'm going and coming back)
7. - used as farewell for someone leaving the house (lit: Go and come
back)
8. - used when returning home
9. - welcome home
Nouns and Adjectives
At the end of the last chapter, we used Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji to create a simple self-
introduction. In the process, we used to express state-of-being. In this chapter, we will
learn more about the state-of-being and how to use nouns and adjectives.
State-of-Being
In English, the verb "to be" is used to describe what something is or where it is, for example: "He
is a student" and "He is at school". In Japanese, the two are described very differently. The state-
of-being we will learn is used to describe only what something is and not where it exists.
The state-of-being is very easy to describe because it is implied within the noun or adjective.
There is no need to use a verb nor even a subject to make a complete sentence in Japanese. Take
for example, a casual conversation among friends asking, "How are you?"
How are you? (casual)
- healthy; lively
Used as a greeting to indicate whether one is well
Toggle Translations
A
A: (Are you) well?
B
B: (I'm) fine.
Polite State-of-being
While the previous dialogue may be fine among close friends, you should use the polite form
when speaking to a teacher, a superior such as your boss, or people you're not very familiar with.
For nouns and adjectives, all that is required for the polite form is to add to the end of
the sentence. We did this in our simple self-introduction in the last section and because it's
understood by context that you are talking about yourself, there is no need to add a subject.
We can ask questions in the polite form by further adding to . The is a
question marker so a question mark is not necessary. Below is a simple greeting in the polite
form.
How are you?
Toggle Translations
A
A: (Are you) well?
B
B: (I'm) well.
Practical Applications
Here's an example of a casual morning greeting between two classmates and a polite morning
greeting with the teacher.
Casual Morning Greeting
1. - Good Morning (casual)
Toggle Translations

Alice: Morning.
Lee: Morning.
Alice: (Are you) well?
Lee: (I'm) good.
Polite Morning Greeting
1. - teacher
2. - Good Morning (polite)
3. - a honorific prefix used for politeness and never used when referring to oneself
Toggle Translations

Teacher: Morning.
Smith: Good Morning!
Teacher: Are (you) well?
Smith: (I'm) well.
You can follow a similar model to practice greeting people in the morning. We'll learn the
expressions for afternoon and evening greetings in the next section.
Topic Particles
Context plays a powerful role in Japanese so one word sentences are perfectly fine for simple
question and answers. However, longer and more sophisticated sentences will consist of many
words that perform various grammatical roles. In Japanese, the grammatical role each word plays
in a sentence is defined by particles. Particles are one or more Hiragana characters that assign a
certain grammatical function to the word that comes before it. We'll see how this works by first
learning the topic particle.
Topic Particle
As mentioned previously, context is very important in Japanese and is often silently understood
by the situation. However, what you want to talk about may not always be obvious or you may
want to change the topic of the conversation. For that purpose, the topic particle is used
to indicate a new topic for the conversation.
Important note!
The topic particle while written as , is pronounced .
Example
1. - this
2. - what
3. - that
4. - pen
5. - now
6. - a little (casual)
7. - busy
8. - movie
9. - likable (unlike English "like" is an adjective not a verb)
Toggle Translations
1.
(As for) this, what is (it)?
2.
(As for) that, (it's) a pen.
1.
(As for) now, busy?
2.
(As for) now, (I'm) a little busy.
1.
(As for) movie(s), (do you) like? (lit: is likable?)
2.
(I) like (them). (lit: Is likable.)
Greetings
The topic particle is also used in the greetings for daytime and evening. The expressions were
originally full sentences with a topic meaning, "As for today/tonight, how is your mood?" but
they were eventually shortened to just "As for today" and "As for tonight".
1. - Good day (pronounced )
2. - Good evening (pronounced )
How are things lately?
1. - recent; lately
2. - how
3. - busy
Toggle Translations

Teacher: Good day.
Smith: Good day.
Teacher: (As for) lately, how (is it)?
Smith: Busy.
Inclusive Topic Particle
The particle used the same way as topic particle but adds the meaning of "as
well" or "also".
Suspiciously busy
1. - today
2. - tomorrow
3. - day after tomorrow
4. - yes (casual)
5. - truth; reality
Toggle Translations

Lee: As for today, (are you) busy?
Smith : Yeah, (I'm) busy.
Lee: What about tomorrow?
Smith: Tomorrow is also busy.
Lee: What about the day after tomorrow?
Smith: The day after tomorrow too.
Lee: Really? (lit: Is it true?)
Addressing People
Addressing other people directly
In Japanese, the word "you" is seldom used to refer to a person except in the case of very close
relationships. Most of the time, you will refer to people using their name (last name is more
polite than first) usually followed by a name-suffix. You have probably already heard
somewhere at some point. It is the polite name-suffix used to refer to your social superiors,
elders, or people you are unfamiliar with. The most common name-suffixes are listed below.
- Polite name-suffix (gender-neutral)
- Casual name-suffix (generally for males)
- Casual name-suffix (generally for females)
If you're not sure which to use to address someone, with the person's last name is
generally the safest option. You can also always ask the person what they prefer to be called by.
Always sleepy
1. - yes (polite)
2. - but
3. - sleepy
4. - that
5. - hardship; rough time; tough
6. - ok
7. - always
Toggle Translations

Teacher: Smith-san, (are you) well?
Smith: Yes, (I'm) fine.
Teacher: Lee-san, (are you) well?
Lee: Yes, (I'm) fine. But (I'm) sleepy.
Teacher: That's tough.
Smith: (It's) ok. Lee-san is always sleepy.
Talking about yourself
We already saw that it's usually understood implicitly by context when you're talking about
yourself. However, there are times you may still want to refer to yourself as a topic to say, "As
for me..." or "me too".
There are several options for referring to yourself depending on level of politeness and gender.
List of different words meaning me, myself, and I
1. - polite, gender-neutral
2. - same Kanji as but this reading is only used in very
formal situations
3. - polite, masculine
4. - casual, very feminine
5. - very casual and masculine
How's the pizza?
1. - pizza
2. - tasty
3. - no (casual)
Toggle Translations

John: As for pizza, tasty?
Lee: No.
Alice: As for me, tasty.
This short conversation highlights a very important point. The topic only brings up the general
topic of the conversation and does not necessarily indicate the subject of any one particular
sentence. The last sentence would be very strange if it meant "I am tasty".
However, because "I" is only a general topic, from the context of the entire conversation, we
know that Alice is saying that as for her, the pizza is tasty.
Addressing family members
We've already encountered the honorific prefix in . This prefix is used in all
sorts of words and comes from a Kanji which can be read as either or . However,
determining which reading to use is usually not an issue as this Kanji is usually written in
Hiragana.

Definition: honorable
Stroke Order
Kun-yomi:
On-yomi:
1. - money
2. - rice; meal
3. - tea
The reason we're looking at it here is because of how the honorific prefix is used to refer to
family members. The basic idea is to use the honorific prefix when referring to somebody else's
family. You would not use honorifics to refer to your own family unless you are speaking to
someone within your family. We will learn more about the concept of inner and outer circle for
honorifics in a much later chapter.
The list below is by no means complete and only covers the more common words for the primary
family members.
Family member chart
One's own family Someone else's family
Family
Parents
Mother
Father
Wife
Husband
Older Sister
Older Brother
Younger Sister
Younger Brother
Son
Daughter
Smith's parents
1. - Yamada (surname)
2. - Asian (person)
3. - no
4. - but
5. - (one's own) mother
6. - Japanese (person)
7. - so
8. - father
9. - (one's own) father
10. - American (person)
11. (exp) - I see
Toggle Translations

Yamada: Smith-san, are (you) Asian (person)?
Smith: No. But, (my) mother is Japanese.
Yamada: Is that so? As for (your) father?
Smith: (My) father is American.
Yamada: I see.
Sentence-Ending Particles
Let's add some life to our sentences by using sentence-ending particles. These particles are
attached at the very end of the sentence to add an emotion or tone.
and sentence endings
and are two of the most frequently used sentence ending particles.
1. is used when the speaker is seeking agreement and confirmation. It adds a tone
similar to saying, "right?" or "isn't it?".
2. is used when the speaker wants to point something out or make something aware
to the listener. It adds a tone similar to saying, "you know?".
3. The two can be used together as .
Example
1. - today
2. - hot (for climate/weather only)
3. - tomorrow
4. - busy
5. - ramen
6. - tasty, delicous
Toggle Translations
1.
As for today, (it's) hot, isn't it?
2.
As for tomorrow, (I'm) busy, you know.
3.
As for ramen, (it's) tasty you know, isn't it?!
You look young for a teacher
1. - Tanaka (surname)
2. - no
3. - very
4. - young
5. - how old
6. - that
7. - secret
Toggle Translations

Smith: Nice to meet you. (I'm) Smith.
Tanaka: Nice to meet you. (I'm) Tanaka.
Smith: Tanaka-san, (are you) a student?
Tanaka: No, (I'm) a teacher.
Smith: Really?
Tanaka: It's true, you know.
Smith: (You) are very young, right? How old (are you)?
Tanaka: That's a secret.
Adjectives
We've already used some adjectives as the state-of-being but we have yet to describe a noun
directly with adjectives. In order to do this, we first have to learn the two different types of
adjectives in Japanese.
There are two types of adjectives called i-adjectives and na-adjectives.
Examples of i-adjectives
All i-adjectives end in .
1. - good
2. - cool; handsome
3. - busy
4. - fun
5. - hot
6. - cold
Examples of na-adjectives
All adjectives that do not end in are na-adjectives.
1. - likable
2. - healthy; lively
3. - quiet
Examples of na-adjectives that end in
Though most adjectives that end in are i-adjectives, there are a small number of na-
adjectives that end in . The examples below are some of the most common na-adjectives
that end in .
1. - clean; pretty
2. - distasteful
3. - luckily, fortunately
Describing nouns directly
You can easily describe a noun by placing the adjective directly in front of the noun. For na-
adjectives, you first need to add before you can attach the adjective to the noun (hence
the name).
Example
1. - person
2. - when
3. - game
4. - object; thing
Toggle Translations
1.
good person
2.
lively; healthy person
3.
pretty person
4.
when busy
5.
fun game
6.
likable thing
You're so-so handsome
1. - Yamamoto (surname)
2. (i-adj) - new
3. (adv) - very
4. (adv) - so-so
5. - thank you (polite)
Toggle Translations

Smith: Is Tanaka-sensei a new teacher?
Yamamoto: That's right.
Smith: (She's) a very pretty person, isn't she?
Yamamoto: Is that so?
Smith: Ah, Yamamoto-sensei is so-so handsome too
Yamamoto: ...Thank you.
Male/Female Speech
As opposed to polite speech, which is mostly gender-neutral, casual speech has many
constructions that make it sound masculine or feminine to varying degrees. Of course, you do not
have to be a specific gender to use either masculine or feminine manners of speech but you do
need to be aware of the differences and the impression it gives to the listener. The first example
of this is how and are used in casual speech.
Declarative
The declarative is attached to nouns and na-adjectives to give it a more declarative tone
and make the state-of-being explicit. This is important in some grammatical forms we will cover
later. For now, we can use it in casual Japanese to give a more definitive, confident, and
somewhat masculine tone (though females often use it as well). For males, in particular, it is
important to use it before or to avoid sounding too feminine.
Note: Only attach to nouns and na-adjectives. Never to i-adjectives.
Example
2. (na-adj) - skillful, good at
3. (i-adj) - fun
1.
As for Japanese, (you're) good at it, aren't you? (feminine)
2.
As for Japanese, (you're) good at it, aren't you? (masculine)
3.
As for Japanese, (it's) fun, you know. (gender-neutral as cannot be used for i-
adjectives)

Comic 3
1. - Good Morning (casual)
2. (na-adj) - healthy; lively
3. (i-adj) - sleepy
4. - but
5. - already
6. - afternoon
7. - then abbr. of
8. - Good day
9. - Good night (expression for going to sleep)

John: Alice-chan, good morning.

Alice: Morning, how are (you)?

John: Sleepy.

Alice: But (it's) already afternoon, you know.

John: Is that so? Then, good afternoon.

Alice: Good afternoon.

John: Good night.
The homework is easy!
1. (n) - homework
2. (i-adj) - difficult
3. (na-adj) - easy
4. - umm
5. - probably; maybe
6. - which one; which way

Alice: As for homework, (is it) difficult?

John: It's easy!

Alice: Really?

John: Umm, (it's) probably difficult.

Alice: Which is it?
Because John is male, he decides to use with with the na-adjective .
However, regardless of gender, you cannot use with i-adjectives so he says
. is grammatically incorrect.
Noun properties
The particle has many different uses but one of the most basic usages is for describing
nouns with other nouns similar to how we described nouns with adjectives. This is usually used
to describe ownership, membership, property or any other description that involves another
noun.
It is important to remember the order the modification takes place. You don't want to
inadvertently say "name's me" when you meant to say "my name". If you're unsure of the order, I
recommend translating as "of" and reading it in reverse.
Examples
1. - me; myself; I
2. - name
3. - this
4. - car
5. - Japan
6. - pen
7. - desk
8. - up; above
9. - bag
10. - down; below
11. - teacher
1.
Name of me (my name) is Kim.
2.
This car is car of Japan (Japanese car).
3.
Pen is above of desk.
4.
Bag is below of desk.
5.
Tanaka-sensei is teacher of Japanese (Japanese teacher).
What's your first name again?
1. - first name (lit: bottom name)
2. - what
3. - why
4. - huh, eh

Lee: What is Smith-san's first name?

Smith: (It's) Alice.

Lee: Alice-chan, huh?

Smith: What is Lee-san's first name?

Lee: JaeYoon.

Smith: ...Lee-kun, huh?

Lee: Huh, why?
Noun replacement
The particle can also replace the noun entirely when it's understood by the context.
Examples
1. - red
2. - which
1.
Like the red one.
2.
Which one is Smith-san's?
Negative State-of-Being
Because the state-of-being is implied within nouns and adjectives, expressing the negative is a
bit different from English. The noun or adjective is conjugated directly to say that [X is not Y].
Conjugating nouns and adjectives into the negative is done through two simple rules.
There are only two exceptions to the rule for i-adjectives both involving the adjective meaning
"good". The words and (which is a combination of another word
with ) originally come from the adjective .
Though it is usually pronounced in modern Japanese, all conjugations still derive from
the original reading. You will see similar examples later as we learn different types of
conjugations.
Negative for nouns and adjectives
For nouns and na-adjectives: Attach to the end
Example
1.
2.
For i-adjectives: Drop the at the end and replace with
Example
1.
2.
Exceptions: conjugates from
1.
2.
Note: The negative form is very similar grammatically to i-adjectives. Similar to i-adjectives,
you must never use the declarative with the negative.
Example
1. - salad
2. - steak
3. - not very (when used with negative)
4. - this
5. - book
6. (i-adj) - interesting
7. - this year
8. - winter
9. (i-adj) - cold
1.
As for salad, don't like very much.
2.
As for steak salad, (it's) not salad, you know.
3.
As for this book, (it's) not interesting, you know.
4.
As for this year's winter, (it's) not cold, is it?
That's not a good thing!
1. (n) - class; lecture
3. (i-adj) - interesting; funny
4. - but
6. - that
7. (i-adj) - good
8. (n) - matter; event
9. (adv) - not at all (when used with negative)

John: Yamamoto-sensei's class is not very interesting.

Alice: As for me, (it's) interesting.

John: But isn't it very difficult?

Alice: That's a good thing.

John: It's not good at all!
Negative Nouns/Adjectives in Polite Form
As before, all that's required for the polite form is to add to the end of the sentence.
I'm not an otaku!
1. (n) - hobby; interest
2. - what read as when used with
3. - computer (abbreviation of or PC)
4. - game
5. (na-adj) - likable
6. - sports
7. - no (polite)
8. - otaku; geek; enthusiast

Yamamoto: What is your hobby, Lee-san?

Lee: Computers. (I) also like games.

Yamamoto: Do (you) like sports?

Lee: No, I don't like (it) that much.

Smith: Lee-san is an otaku.

Lee: I'm not an otaku
Identifying the unknown
identifier particle
With the topic particle, you have to know what you want to talk about ahead of time.
Obviously this will not always be the case. For example, if you wanted to know what kind of
food somebody liked, it would be impossible to ask if each kind was his/her favorite using the
topic particle saying "as for this" and "as for that". That is what the particle is for: to
identify or seek to identify an unknown.
1. - pizza
3. - what kind of

As for pizza, do (you) like it?

What kind of pizza do (like)? (Among all possibilities)
You can sometimes restructure your sentence to mean the same thing with and without the
particle.
2. - food
3. - what

As for food that (you) like, what is it?

As for food, what is it that you like? (Among all possibilities)
However, while the topic particle can only bring up a general topic of conversation, the identifier
particle plays a specific role in that it's identifying a particular thing among other possibilities.
1. (i-adj) - busy

As for Smith-san, busy.

Smith-san is the one that is busy.
Which teacher do you like the most?
1. - which
2. - number 1; the best; the most
3. (i-adj) - cute
4. - second year; sophomore
5. - next year
6. - something to look forward to
7. - why
8. - class
9. - interesting
10. - difficult

Lee: As for John-san, which teacher do (you) like the most?

John: (I) like Tanaka-sensei.

Lee: That's so, isn't it? She is cute. But (she's) second-year teacher.

John: Looking forward to next year!

Alice: As for me, I like Yamamoto-sensei, you know?

John: Huh? Why?

Alice: Isn't (his) class interesting?

John: It's not interesting! It's difficult!

Alice: Is that so?
The one or thing that...
Though it doesn't work all the time, a simple trick to easily distinguish is to translate it as
"the one or thing that...". This way, it clearly illustrates the particle as identifying a
particular thing or person.
1.
Tanaka-sensei is the one that (I) like.
2.
Isn't (his) class the thing that is interesting?
Conjunctions
There are really only two conjunctions in Japanese that can combine two sentences together into
a compound sentence: "but" and "because". However, there are several versions of each with a
slightly different level of politeness.
Combining two sentences with "but"
You may remember we already used to mean "but" or "however". While is
always used at the beginning of a new sentence, there are two conjunctions that also mean "but"
and can be used to combine two sentences together into one compound sentence, similar to
English. The two conjunctions are and . is fairly casual while
is slightly more formal and polite. (Note that this is completely different from the
identifier particle we learned in the last section.)
Example
1. - today
2. - busy
3. - tomorrow
4. (na-adj) - free (as in not busy)

(I'm) busy but (I'm) free tomorrow.

(I'm) busy but (I'm) free tomorrow.
Note: If the first clause ends with a noun or na-adjective without any tense and you're not using
, you must add .
Example
(I'm) free today but (I'm) busy tomorrow.
1.
2.
3.
4.
If the noun or na-adjective is already conjugated such as the negative , you
don't need to add .
(I'm) not free today but (I'm) free tomorrow.
1.
2.
Combining two sentences with "so"
You can combine two sentences with or to show a reason and result but it's
important to remember that the reason comes first. Therefore, it may be helpful to remember the
definition as "so" rather than "because" to match the order. is slightly more polite and
formal compared to .
Example
1. - here
2. - noisy

(It's) noisy here so (I) don't like it very much.

(It's) noisy here so (I) don't like it very much.
Note: Once again, If the first clause ends with a noun or na-adjective without anything else
such as or , you must add for and for
.
Example
1. - here
2. - quiet
(It's) quiet here so (I) like it.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Once again, this only applies to nouns and na-adjectives that are not conjugated to another tense.
(It's) not quiet here so (I) don't like it very much.
1.
2.
Combining two sentences with "despite"
Similarly, you can attach two sentences with to mean "despite" or "in spite of".
Similar to , you must attach when the first clause ends with a plain noun or na-
adjective.
Example
1. - teacher
2. - very
3. (i-adj) - young
4. - this year
5. - (economic) recession
6. - Christmas
7. - customer
8. (i-adj) - few, scarce
9. (i-adj) - cute
10. (na-adj) - serious; diligent
11. - man
12. - friend
1.
Despite the fact that Tanaka-san is (a) teacher, (she) is very young.
2.
This year is recession so despite it being Christmas, customers are few.
3.
Although Alice is cute, because (she's) serious, (she has) few male friends.
Leaving parts out
You can leave out either side of the conjunction if it's understood by context.
Example

Smith: I don't like (it) here.

Lee: Why?

Smith: Because it's noisy.
If you leave the first part out, you still need to add , , or just as if the
first sentence was there.
1. - library
2. - here
4. - likable

Lee: Despite the fact (it's) library, (It's) always noisy here, huh?

Smith: That's why I don't like (it) very much.
Other options would be the same as it would be with both sentences.
1.
2.
You can even leave out both parts of the conjunction as seen in the next dialogue.
So what?

Lee: I'm busy lately, you know?

Smith: So?

Lee: So (it's) tough, you know! But (I'm) finally free today so (I'm) happy!

Smith: Oh, is that so?
Listing multiple nouns
complete list particle
The particle is used to group multiple nouns together in a complete list.
The poor chicken family...
1. - rice dish with chicken and egg (parent and child bowl)
2. - ingredient
3. - rice; meal
4. - onion
5. - soy sauce
6. - and then
7. - of course
8. - chicken
9. - egg
10. (i-adj) - bad feeling, gross, unpleasant
11. (i-adj) - tasty
12. (na-adj) - poor, pitiful (as in to feel sorry for)
14. (na-adj) - ok
15. - truth; reality
16. - parent
17. - child

Smith: What are the ingredients for Oyako-don?

Tanaka: Rice, onions, and soy sauce. And then, because it's "parent and child bowl", chicken and
egg, of course.

Smith: That's unpleasant, isn't it?

Tanaka: Is that so? But it's tasty, you know?

Smith: Don't you feel sorry for them?

Tanaka: Smith-san, (you're) interesting. (It's) not real parent and child so (it's) ok, you know.

Smith: But...
and partial list
and are also used to list multiple nouns together. The major difference is that
they imply that the list is not complete and is a sample among a larger list. is merely a
more casual version of .
I hate natto
1. - what kind
2. (n) - food
3. - candy
4. - cheese cake
5. - strawberry
6. - short cake
7. (i-adj) - sweet
8. (n) - thing
9. (n) - natto (fermented soybeans)
10. (na-adj) - dislike; hate

Yamamoto: As for Smith-san, what kind of food do (you) like?

Smith: Let's see. (I) like things like Japanese candy, cheese cake, and strawberry short cake.

Yamamoto: (You) like sweet things, don't you?

Smith: (I) also like things that are not sweet, you know.

Yamamoto: How about natto?

Smith: As for natto, I hate it.
possible options
can be used with multiple nouns to list several possible options, essentially meaning
"or".
You're just like whatever, huh?
1. - exam
2. - when
3. - today
4. - tomorrow
5. - definitely, for sure
6. - then (casual)
7. - haphazard, whatever works
8. - next week
9. - as I thought

Alice: Exam is when?

John: Today or tomorrow.

Alice: It's not today for sure.

John: Then, (it's) tomorrow.

Alice: (You're) haphazard, huh?

Lee: Exam is next week, you know.

Alice: As I thought.
Explanations and expectations
In English, changing the order of words in the sentence can often change the tone as well. For
example, asking "Is he a student?" sounds very different from "He's a student?" While the former
is a very neutral question simply seeking a yes or no answer, the latter expresses surprise that the
person is in fact a student and is seeking confirmation of that fact.
In Japanese, we saw that sentence order is very flexible due to how particles clearly define the
grammatical role of each word. So in order to express this kind of biased question or answer, we
add to the end of the sentence to show that we are seeking or providing an explanation.
For nouns and na-adjectives, you also need to add before .
Example
1. - he
2. - student
1.
Is he (a) student?
2.
He's a student? (Seeking explanation why he's a student)
In the second sentence, because the person is implicitly seeking an explanation for why he's a
student, it gives the impression that the speaker is surprised or considers the fact that he may be a
student to be unexpected.
Health is important too
1. - by the way
2. - why
3. - busy
4. - me, myself (polite, masculine)
5. - swim club
6. - eh, huh
7. - so
8. - but
9. - hobby; interests
10. - computer; PC
11. - game
12. - health
13. (na-adj) - important
14. - I see

Smith: By the way, Lee-kun, why are you busy?

Lee: Because (I'm in) swim club.

Smith: Eh? Is that so?

Lee: That's so but?

Smith: But isn't (your) hobby computers and games?

Lee: That's so but health is also important so.

Smith: I see.
Explanation for and
When the sentence has additional things following the such as or , the
is replaced with to make pronunciation easier. While can still be used, it
is considered to be old-fashioned.
What's the problem?
1. - um, er, excuse me
2. (i-adj) - good; fine
3. - word; language

Smith: Yamamoto-sensei, Lee-san is not an otaku because (he's in) swim club.

Yamamoto: Um, Smith-san, Otaku is not a very good word, you know.

Smith: Is that so? But Lee-san is not an otaku so isn't it fine?

Yamamoto: Smith-san...

Smith: Yes?

Yamamoto: No, never mind (lit: (it's) fine).
The phrase shows a very important way setting expectations can
enhance your abilities to express certain things. By setting the expectation that it should be good
and asking the opposite allows you to ask questions like, "isn't it?". You can compare the
difference in meaning by looking at the different variations below. This is only to give you the
general idea as you'll naturally get the hang of it through the regular course of exposure to the
language.
1. - Is it good? (neutral yes/no question)
2. - Is it not good? (neutral yes/no question)
3. - It's good? (seeking explanation as to why it's good)
4. - It's not good? (seeking explanation as to why it's not good)
5. - It's good, isn't it?
6. - It's not good, isn't it?
In this chapter, we learned how to use nouns and adjectives to describe what something is or
isn't. Here is a simple list of examples using the various conjugations we learned in this chapter.
Nouns and Adjectives Conjugation Examples
Positive Negative Positive Polite Negative Polite
Noun
Na-adjective
I-adjective
Exception * *
* = exceptions
Questions using state-of-being
Now that we're familiar with the state-of-being, we can already ask and answer many different
types of questions that involve what something or someone is. This includes asking simple
yes/no questions or by using a question word.
Various ways to say yes or no
1. - yes (polite)
2. - yes (polite)
3. - no (polite)
4. - yes (casual)
5. - no (casual
Various question words
1. - what
2. - who
3. - when
4. - how
5. - what kind of
6. - why
7. - why (casual)
The word for "what" or is a bit tricky because it has two readings. When used by itself, it
is always pronounced . However, as we've already seen, when used with it is
read as . There are other cases when it is read as as we'll see later.
As you begin to practice speaking Japanese, you can apply what we've learned in this chapter to
ask various ice-breaker questions.
Sample ice-breaker questions
1. - hobby; interests
2. - number 1; the best; the most
4. - Japan
5. - food
6. - English
8. - class
9. (i-adj) - fun
10. music
1.
What is your hobby?
2.
What is your favorite food?
3.
Do you like Japanese food?
4.
Is English difficult?
5.
Is class fun?
6.
What kind of music do you like?
Try to come up with your own questions for your teacher, classmates, or conversation partner.

Comic 4
1. - always
2. - box lunch
3. - (things are) that way
4. - mother
5. - cooking; cuisine; dish
6. (na-adj) - likable; desirable
8. (i-adj) - desirable
9. (sentence-ending particle) - casual and masculine version of
10. - cafeteria
11. - food
13. - what kind of
14. - steak
15. - sushi
16. - crab
17. (i-adj) - high; tall; expensive
18. - by the way
19. - lunch
20. - why
21. - ramen
22. (i-adj) - cheap
23. - I see

John: Alice-chan, (are you) always lunch box?

Alice: That's so. (My) mother likes cooking so.

John: I also want box lunch. (I) don't much like the cafeteria food.

Alice: What kind of food (do you) like?

John: (Things like) steak, sushi, crab...

Alice: (You) like expensive food, don't you. By the way, why is (your) lunch always ramen?

John: Because (it's) cheap.

Alice: I see!
Writing Practice
For writing practice, try writing a brief description about yourself. As always, make sure to
correct your work early to avoid developing any bad habits. You can either ask a Japanese
speaker or use http://lang-8.com/.
Here's a short list of words that might be useful.
1. - name
2. - elementary school
3. - middle school
4. - high school
5. - college
6. - first year; freshman
7. - second year; sophomore
8. - third year; junior
9. - fourth year; senior
10. - major
11. - interests; hobbies
12. - reading
13. - sports
15. - desirable
16. - very
17. - a little
20. (na-adj) - easy
21. - food
Introducing Alice Smith
For example, here's a short self description by Alice Smith.
1. - economy
2. - economics
3. - soccer
4. - by the way
5. - tempura
6. - pizza

Greetings from the author

Verbs
Similar to nouns and adjectives, the verb always comes at the end of the sentence. In fact, if you
consider the implied state-of-being for nouns and adjectives as a verb, it could be said that all
complete sentences always end with a verb.
At the end of the last chapter, we learned how to set expectations by seeking or providing
explanations with . The same thing applies for verbs.
Example
1. - sushi is an optional honorific prefix
2. - to eat
1.
Do you eat sushi?
2.
You eat sushi?
(seeking explanation why he/she eats sushi as opposed to a neutral question "Do you eat
sushi?")
I love sushi!
1. (na-adj) - lovable; very likable
2. - raw
3. - fish
4. (i-adj) - amazing

Smith: As for sushi, (you) eat (it)?

John: Yes, I love (it)!

Smith: But (it's) raw fish, you know.

John: So?

Smith: (That's) amazing.
Particles used with verbs
Before we can do much with verbs, we first need to learn some particles that are used to describe
how various parts of a sentence interacts with the verb.
Object Particle
The particle is used to designate the direct object of a verb.
Note: While is technically a w-consonant sound, it is pronounced the same as .
Example
1. - movie
2. - to see; to watch
3. - rice; meal
4. - to eat
5. - book
6. - to read
7. - hand
8. - paper
9. - letter
10. - to write
1.
Watch movie.
2.
Eat rice/meal.
3.
Read book.
4.
Write letter.
And/With Particle
We learned that we can list multiple nouns in the last chapter with the particle, e.g., salt
and pepper. We can also use the same particle to describe an action that was done with someone
or something.
Example
1. - friend
2. - to play
3. - to talk
4. - relative
5. - to meet
1.
Play with friend.
2.
Talk with Lee-san.
3.
Meet with relative.
Target Particle
The target particle is used to designate the target of an action whether it's a time or location. It
serves the purpose of many English prepositions such as "at", "in", "to", and "on" as long as it
indicates a target of an action.
Example
1. - school
2. - to go
3. - tomorrow
4. - to come
5. - bus
6. - to ride
7. - to ask; to listen
8. - in front
9. - to stand
10. - friend
11. - to meet
1.
Go to school.
2.
As for relative(s), come tomorrow.
3.
Ride on bus.
4.
Ask/listen to teacher.
5.
Stand in front of people.
6.
Meet friend.
Context Particle
The context particle is used to describe the context or the means in which a verb takes place. For
example, if you're eating at a restaurant, since the restaurant is not a direct target for eating, you
wouldn't use the particle. Instead, you would use the particle to describe the
restaurant as the context in which eating is taking place.
Example
1. - restaurant
3. - to speak
4. - chopsticks
5. - movie theatre
6. - work
7. (i-adj) - busy
1.
Eat at restaurant.
2.
Speak in Japanese. (Speak by means of Japanese.)
3.
Eat with chopsticks. (Eat by means of chopsticks.)
4.
Watch movie at movie theatre.
5.
Busy with work. (Busy by means of work.)
Directional Particle
The particle is similar in some ways to the particle. However, while the
particle indicates a target for just about any verb, is more specifically used to indicate a
direction of motion verbs such as "to go" or "to send".
Because the particle does everything does and more, this particle is not used as
often as the other particles. However, it is still beneficial to be at least familiar with it.
Note: While is normally pronounced as "he", this particle is pronounced as
Example
1. - letter
2. - to send
1.
Go to school.
2.
Send letter to Japan.
Existence Verbs
With the state-of-being that we learned in the last chapter, we could only describe what someone
or something is. In this section, we'll learn to express whether someone or something exists and
where.
There are two verbs that show existence for animate and inanimate objects.
(u-verb) - to exist (inanimate)
(ru-verb) - to exist (animate)
Without getting caught up with the details, is generally used for things that can move
of their own volition such as humans or animals while is for inanimate objects and
abstract concepts such as time.
Example
1. - where
2. - time
1.
Where is Alice-chan? (lit: Alice-chan exists at where?)
2.
Do (you) have time? (lit: Is there time?)
Location
With some additional vocabulary, you can use these two verbs to describe the location of
anything or anyone.
1. - here
2. - there
3. - over there (farther away)
4. - above
5. - below
6. - right
7. - left
8. - front; before
9. - behind
10. - next to
Example
1. - key
2. - table
3. - bank
4. - post office
1.
Alice is behind (the) school. (lit: As for Alice, exists behind of school.)
2.
Key is above (the) table. (lit: As for key, exists above of table.)
3.
Bank is next to post office. (lit: As for bank, exist next of post office.)
Any cute girls there?
1. - tomorrow
2. - club
3. - to go
4. - to do
5. - conversation
6. - practice
7. - me; myself (masculine and very casual)
8. - homework
9. - a lot (amount)
10. - Japanese person
11. - cute
12. - woman
13. - child
14. - girl
15. - um; excuse me
16. - for the time being; just in case
17. - as expected (casual)
18. - to get irritated

Alice: There's Japanese club tomorrow, want to go? (lit: Tomorrow, Japanese club exists but
go?)

John: What do (you) do at Japanese club?

Alice: (You) do Japanese conversation practice.

John: I have a lot of homework so (I'm) good. (lit: As for me, a lot of homework exists so good.)

Alice: Japanese people are also there, you know.

John: Is there cute girl(s)?

Alice: Um, just in case, I'm going too but?

John: Is that so? As I thought, I'm good.

Alice: So irritating.
Negative Form
Verb Types
In this section, we'll learn how to conjugate verbs to the negative form. However, before we can
learn any verb conjugations, we first need to learn how verbs are categorized. With the exception
of only two verbs, all verbs fall into the category of ru-verb or u-verb.
All ru-verbs end in while u-verbs can end in a number of u-vowel sounds including
. Therefore, if a verb does not end in , it will always be an u-verb. For verbs ending in
, if the vowel sound preceding the is an /a/, /u/ or /o/ vowel sound, it will always
be an u-verb. Otherwise, if the preceding sound is an /i/ or /e/ vowel sound, it will be a ru-verb in
most cases.
Examples
1. - is an e-vowel sound so it is a ru-verb
2. - is an a-vowel sound so it is an u-verb
If you're unsure which category a verb falls in, you can verify which kind it is with most
dictionaries. There are only two exception verbs that are neither ru-verbs nor u-verbs as shown in
the table below.
Examples of different verb types
ru-verb u-verb exception
- to see - to speak - to do
- to eat
- to ask; to
listen
- to
come
- to sleep - to swim
- to wake; to
occur
- to play
- to think - to wait
- to teach; to
inform
- to drink
- to come out - to buy

- to change
- to go
home

- to exist (animate) - to exist (inanimate)
- to wear - to die
Negative Form
We can now learn the rules for conjugating the verb into the negative form based on the different
verb types. Be extra careful of which is one extra exception verb for this conjugation
only.
Negative form for verbs
1. For ru-verbs: Drop the and attach
Example: + =
2. For u-verbs that end in : Replace with and attach
Example: + + =
3. For all other u-verbs: Replace the u-vowel sound with the a-vowel equivalent and
attach
Example: + =
4. Exceptions:
1.
2.
3. (exception for this conjugation only, not an exception verb)
Negative form conjugation examples

You don't have a TV?
1. - hey
2. - recent; lately
3. - TV
4. - program (e.g. TV)
5. - how
6. (u-verb) - to think
7. - not at all (when used with negative)
9. (u-verb) - to understand; to know
10. (ru-verb) - to see
11. - why
12. - one's own home, family, or household
13. - lie; no way (casual)
14. - truth; reality

John: Hey, as for recent TV shows, how (do you) think? It's not interesting at all, huh?

Alice: (I) don't know. As for me, I don't watch TV so.

John: Huh? Why don't (you) watch it?

Alice: As for our house, there's no TV.

John: No way!

Alice: (It's) true.

John: ... No way!

Alice: (It's) true, you know.
Polite Verbs
Verb Stem
Before we can learn the conjugation rules for the polite verb form, we must first learn how to
create the verb stem. The verb stem is used in many different types of verb conjugations
including the polite form. Below are the rules for changing the verb to its stem.
Verb stem conjugation rules
For ru-verbs: Drop the
Example: =
For u-verbs: Replace the u-vowel sound with the i-vowel equivalent
Example: + =
Exceptions:
1.
2.
Verb stem examples

Polite Verb Form
Now that we know the rules to create the verb stem, it is very easy to conjugate the verb to the
polite form for both the positive and negative.
Polite and polite negative verb conjugation rules
1. Polite Positive: Attach to the verb stem
Example: + =
2. Polite Negative: Attach to the verb stem
Example: + =
Verb as a target
The verb stem can also be used to make it a target for another verb, typically a motion verb such
as "go" or "come". This is done by attaching the target particle to the verb stem.
Examples
1. - lunch
2. - to eat
3. - to go
4. - me, myself
5. - to meet
6. - to come
7. - friend
8. - movie
9. - see, watch
1.
Go to eat lunch.
2.
Coming to meet me.
3.
Go to watch movie with friend(s).
My family is in Korea
1. - everybody (polite)
2. - this year
3. - spring
4. - vacation
5. - what
6. - to do
7. - me, myself
8. - here
9. - part-time job
10. - family
11. (u-verb) - to meet
12. (u-verb) - to go
13. - South Korea
14. (ru-verb) - to exist (animate)
15. - airplane
16. - charge, cost, fare
17. - very
18. (i-adj) - tall; expensive
19. (u-verb) - to go home
20. - so
21. (na-adj) - tough, rough

Yamamoto: Everybody, what will (you) do at this year's spring vacation?

Lee: As for me, (I) will do part-time job here.

Yamamoto: (You) will not go to meet your family?

Lee: My family is in Korea so the plane ticket is very expensive. Therefore, (I) will not go back
home to Korea this year.

Yamamoto: Is that so? (It's) very tough, isn't it?
Desire and Volition
To want to do
In order to describe what someone or something wants to do, we must conjugate the verb into the
form. This is done by simply attaching to the verb stem. One important
thing to note is that this conjugation changes the verb into essentially an i-adjective. This is
because it's no longer an actual action but a description of what one wants to do. Therefore, you
can do all the same conjugations on the form as any other i-adjectives.
Example
1. - crab
2. (i-adj) - scary
1.
(I) want to eat crab.
2.
(I) want to go to Japan.
3.
(I) don't want to watch (a) scary movie.
Volitional Form
We'll learn more about different uses of the volitional form later on but for now, we can simply
consider the volitional form to mean "let's" or "shall we" e.g., "Let's go watch a movie." The
rules for changing a verb into the volitional form is below.
Volitional form conjugation rules
1. For ru-verbs: Drop the and add
Example: = =
2. For u-verbs: Replace the u-vowel sound with the o-vowel equivalent and
Example: + + =
3. Exceptions:
becomes
becomes
I'm bored
2. - library
3. - study
4. - to do
5. - boring, dull
6. - then (casual)
7. (na-adj) - ok
8. - definitely, for sure

John: I have nothing to do lately. (lit: Lately, I'm free.)

Alice: Shall we study Japanese at the library?

John: That's boring.

Alice: Then, what do you want to do?

John: Shall (I) go to watch a movie maybe?

Alice: Are (your) studies ok?

John: Yeah, (it's) ok.

Alice: (It's) definitely not ok, you know.
Polite Volitional Form
The conjugation rules for polite version of the volition form is simple and only requires adding
to the verb stem.
Polite volitional form conjugation rules
For all verbs: Attach to the verb stem
Examples
= (let's eat)
= (let's go)
= (let's do)
It's a good idea!
1. - lesson
2. (ru-verb) - to begin
3. - weather
4. - class
5. - outside
6. - idea
7. - well then
8. (u-verb) - to go

Yamamoto: Let's begin today's lesson.

Smith: Teacher, because the weather is good today, let's do the class outside!

Yamamoto: That's a good thought. Shall (we) go outside?

Everybody: Yes!
Telling Time
Time
In order to effectively describe when we want to do certain things and make plans, we'll need to
know how to describe time. Similar to the age counter we learned in the very first chapter, we
simply need to use the counters for hours and minutes.
- hour counter
- minute counter
Once again, there are a number of reading variations to pay careful attention to. These readings
are listed below.
Hour reading variations
Hour 4 o'clock 7 o'clock 9 o'clock
Kanji
Reading
Minute reading variations
Minutes
How many
minutes
1 min 3 min 4 min 6 min 8 min 10 min
Kanji
Reading

Examples
Though there are words for AM and PM, military time is used more often in Japan.
1. - what hour; what time
2. - AM
3. - PM
4. - half
1. - 1:01
2. - 4:44 PM
3. - 10:30 AM
4. - 18:25 (6:25 PM)
Example
1. - what hour; what time

What time is it now?

(It's) 2:30.
Days of the week
Below is a vocabulary list pertaining to days of the week. Combined with time, this should be
adequate for making plans in the near future. We will learn how to express complete calendar
dates in a later chapter.
1. - What day of week
2. - Monday
3. - Tuesday
4. - Wednesday
5. - Thursday
6. - Friday
7. - Saturday
8. - Sunday
9. - last week
10. - this week
11. - next week
12. - every week
13. - weekday
14. - weekend
Is it really late?
1. - everybody
2. - restaurant
3. - what time
4. - evening
6. (i-adj) - late
7. - everyday
8. - to sleep
9. (u-verb) - to be different
10. - ok

Lee: Everybody is going to eat at (a) Japanese restaurant next Friday, (do you) Alice-chan want
to also go?

Alice: What time are (you) going?

Lee: 8:30 night.

Alice: (It's) a little late, isn't it?

Lee: That's because Alice-chan (you) sleep at 10:00 every day.

Alice: That's not so!

Lee: Then it's fine as 8:30 right?

Alice: Fine! 8:30.
From and until
Two particles that often go together especially with time expressions are "from" and
"until" .
Example
1. (particle) - from
2. (particle) - until
3. - aerobics
4. - class
5. - class
6. (u-verb) - to begin
7. - this
8. - company
9. (u-verb) - to work
10. - parents
11. - contact
1.
Aerobic class is every Tuesday and Friday from 6:00 until 7:00pm.
2.
From what time is class start?
3.
Until when do (you) want to work at this company?
4.
(I) hear from (my) parents on every weekend. (lit: Contact comes from parents every
weekend.)
Question words and particles
Particles can be used with some question words to form other useful vocabulary. Let's first learn
or review all the various questions words.
1. - who
2. - what
3. - where
4. - how
5. - why
6. - which way
7. - which
8. - why (casual)
9. - why (formal)
10. - when
11. - how many
12. - how much
with question words
The following question words can be used with to include and/or exclude everything.
1. - everybody or nobody when used with negative
2. - nothing when used with negative
3. - everywhere or nowhere when used with negative
4. - no matter what
5. - both ways
6. - always
Things aren't as consistent as one would hope however. For example, is usually not
used to mean "everything". And always means "always" for both positive and
negative forms. Other words can be used instead to express similar concepts.
1. - everybody
2. - everybody (polite)
3. - everything
5. - absolutely, unconditionally or never when used with negative
with question words
The combination of two particles can be used with question words to indicate "any".
1. - anybody
2. - anything
3. - anywhere
4. - anyhow
5. - any way
6. - any time
7. - any number of things
8. - any amount
with question words
The question marker can also be used with some question words to indicate "some".
1. - somebody
2. - something
3. - somewhere
4. - somehow
5. - one way (of the two)
6. - for some reason
7. - for some reason (casual)
8. - for some reason (formal)
9. - sometime
10. - some number of things
11. - some amount

Comic 5
1. - finally
2. - weekend
3. - this weekend
5. - somewhere slang for
6. (u-verb) - to play
7. (u-verb) - to go
8. - next week
10. - test
11. (u-verb) - to exist (inanimate)
12. (na-adj) - ok
13. - yes (casual)
14. - probably; maybe
15. - then casual
16. - this
17. - word; vocabulary
18. - Kanji
19. - how
20. (u-verb) - to write
21. - depression
22. - dim, hazy
23. - hesitation
24. - that
25. (ru-verb) - to come out
26. - joke

John: (It's) finally (the) weekend. (Are you) free this weekend? Let's go somewhere to play.

Alice: There's (a) Japanese test next week but are (you) ok?

John: Yeah, probably ok.

Alice: Then how do (you) write this word in Kanji?

John: (I) don't know at all.

Alice: (It's) and and .

John: Is that coming out on (the) test?

Alice: (It's a) joke. (It) won't come out on the test.
Never mind, you guys are too weird
1. - hey (casual)
2. - today
3. - lunch
4. - somewhere slang for
6. - anything
7. - then (casual)
8. (i-adj) - tasty
9. - physical object
10. - obvious
11. - who
12. - everybody (casual)
13. - as usual, without change
14. (na-adj) - strange
15. - cafeteria

Alice: Hey, as for today's lunch, let's go somewhere to eat.

John: Right. What shall we eat?

Lee: I'm fine with anything.

Alice: Then, don't (you) want to eat something tasty?

John: That's obvious. Who wants to eat a thing not tasty?

Lee: I'm fine with anything.

John: Then, let's challenge (ourselves) today with something not tasty!

Alice: Everybody is strange as usual, huh? The cafeteria is fine for today as well.
Adverbs
We've already been using adverbs extensively without really paying much attention to them
because they are easy to use. They don't require any particles and they can appear almost
anywhere in the sentence. Below is a list of common and useful adverbs, some of which we've
already seen.
Useful adverbs
1. - always
2. - often
3. - usually
4. - sometimes
5. - rarely
7. - probably, maybe
8. - a lot (amount)
9. - a little (amount)
Creating adverbs from adjectives
There are many words that are not adverbs by themselves but are made into adverbs from other
adjectives. This is similar to how "ly" is added to many words in English to make them into
adverbs such as "quickly" or "slowly".
The rules for changing an adjective into an adverb is given below. As usual, is
conjugated from the original pronunciation. This is where the adverb we just learned
for "often" comes from.
Rules for changing adjectives into adverbs
For na-adjectives: Attach to the end
Examples
1.
2.
3.
For i-adjectives: Replace the with
Examples
1. + =
2. + =
Exceptions:
1. becomes
2. becomes
Examples
1. - room
2. (na-adj) - pretty; clean
3. - female
4. - voice actor/actress
5. (adv) - on purpose
6. - cute
7. (u-verb) - to speak
8. - tomorrow
9. - important
10. - exam
11. - tonight
12. (i-adj) - early
13. (ru-verb) - to sleep
1.
Make room clean (lit: Do room cleanly).
2.
Japanese female voice actresses often speak cutely on purpose.
3.
Tomorrow, because there's an important test, going to sleep early tonight
4.
(Are you) really going to Japan next year?
Verb clauses
Now that we are familiar with both state-of-being and verbs, we can begin to look at how to use
verb clauses to construct more complicated sentences. As we have learned, a complete sentence
must end either in a real verb or state-of-being. This sentence can also be used as a clause as a
part of a larger sentence.
Remember also that the polite form only goes at the end of a complete sentence so a verb clause
used within a sentence must be in the plain form.
Verb clauses as adjectives
A verb clause can be used to describe a noun just like an adjective by attaching the noun to the
end of the clause. The highlighted areas show the clause that is being used in a larger sentence.
Example
1. - rice; meal
2. - when
3. - television
4. - book
5. (u-verb) - read
6. - head; mind
7. - height
8. (na-adj) - lovely
9. (i-adj) - tall
10. - personality
11. - gentle
1.
When eating a meal, don't watch TV.
2.
People that do not read books are not smart.
3.
Tall people are lovely, huh?
4.
Don't like people whose personality is not gentle.
For clauses that end in a na-adjectives, once again, we need to use to attach it to a noun.
As for nouns, there is no need to use a clause to modify a noun with another noun as the
particle allows us to chain any number of nouns.
1. - shape, form
3. - fruit
4. - luck
1.
Fruit that has very pretty form is tasty.
2.
As for second year Japanese students, luck is good.
I'm going alone
1. - this year
2. - spring vacation
3. - plan(s)
4. - sightseeing
5. - Mexico
6. - one person; alone
7. - intention
8. - together
9. - explanation, reasoning

Yamamoto: Tanaka-san, do (you) have some (kind of) plan this spring vacation?

Tanaka: Yes, (I) plan to go sightseeing to Mexico.

Yamamoto: That's nice. I want to go to Mexico too.

Tanaka: I intend to by myself...

Yamamoto: No, it's not the case that I want to go together with you in particular!
Verb clauses as nouns
Verbs clauses are different from nouns and are limited in many ways because you cannot attach
any particles to them. However, we just learned that verb clauses can act as an adjectives. All we
need to treat verb clauses as a noun is by attaching a generic noun to the clause:

can also be used as a noun replacement. The difference is is a more general
statement while is specific to the context of the sentence.
Example
1. - event, matter, generic happening
2. - cooking
3. - chopsticks
4. - rice; meal
5. (i-adj) - difficult, hard
6. - morning
7. - early
8. - to occur; to awake
9. (na-adj) - poor/weak at
1.
(I) like cooking.
2.
It is difficult to eat rice by way of chopsticks.
3.
Not good at waking up early in the morning.

Comic 6:
1. - Japanese (language)
2. - teacher
3. - conversation
4. - practice
5. (exception) - to do
7. - when
8. - what kind
9. - matter; event
12. - movie
14. - tomorrow
15. - something
16. - plan(s)
18. - yes (polite)
19. - me; myself; I (polite, masculine)
20. - to go
21. - question
22. (u-verb) - to understand
23. - no (polite)
24. - meaning
25. - what

Teacher: Smith-san, what kind of thing(s) do (you) like to do when (you're) free?

Smith: Let's see. (I) like to watch movie(s).

Teacher: Brown-san, do you have any plans tomorrow?

Brown: Yes, I also want to go see (a) movie.

Teacher: ? Do (you) understand my (the teacher's) question?

Brown: No, (I) don't understand.

Teacher: Do (you) not understand the meaning of ""?

Brown: What is "meaning"?
What do you like to do when you're free?
1. - this weekend
2. - particular
3. - bookstore
4. (i-adj) - bothersome
5. - me, myself (masculine, casual
7. - as I thought, as expected

Smith: Do you have some kind of plan this weekend?

John: Not particularly but?
:
Smith: How about going to Japanese bookstore with everybody?

John: It's too bothersome so I'm fine.

Smith: What do you like to do when you're free?

John: I like not doing anything.

Smith: As I thought.
In this chapter, we learned how to use and describe common activities using verbs. We also
learned how to make or suggest plans by using the and volitional form. Finally, we
learned the concept of verb clauses and how to use them to create more complicated sentences.
Here is a short list of examples using the various conjugations we learned in this chapter.
Verb Conjugation Examples
Plain Negative Polite Negative Polite
Ru-verb
U-verb
Verbs ending in *
Exception *
Exception * * *
Exception * * *
* = exceptions
Future plans and routine activities
In this chapter, we learned how to use verbs to talk about things we do or do not do. The verbs,
by themselves, do not have a specific tense so they can be used to describe activities in the future
or an unspecified time.
With the grammar we learned in this chapter, we now know how to make plans with other people
and talk about what kind of things we do on a regular basis. Here is a long list of vocabulary
describing various times in addition to the ones we already learned for days of the week. Though
the vocabulary list is rather long, you'll notice that it's mostly different combinations of the same
Kanji such as for day.
1. - yesterday
2. - today
3. - tomorrow
4. - every day
5. - last month
6. - this month
7. - next month
8. - every month
9. - last year
10. - this year
11. - next year
12. - every year
13. - morning
14. - this morning
15. - every morning
16. - afternoon
17. - evening
18. - tonight
19. - tonight
20. - every night
21. - rice; meal
22. - breakfast
23. - lunch
24. - dinner
25. - spring
26. - summer
27. - autumn
28. - winter
29. - rest, vacation
1.
What shall (we) do today?
2.
What kind of food do (you) want to eat?
3.
What shall we eat for lunch?
4.
What do (you) usually do on weekends?
5.
Do (you) have some kind of plan this winter vacation?
6.
How (about) going to watch movie next weekend?
7.
What do (you) like to do when (you're) free?
Writing Practice
If you have friends who speak Japanese, great! Next time you're making plans either in an email
or face-to-face, surprise your friend by using Japanese.
Otherwise, for your diary on paper or on Lang-8, you can talk about the kinds of things you do
and activities you enjoy. For example, here is a short self-description of John Brown talking
about the things he likes to do (or not).
I like sleeping the most
1. - hobby
2. - particularly
4. - #1; the best; -est
5. - homework
6. - studies
8. - Kanji
9. - pronunciation
10. - future
11. - as much as possible
12. (na-adj) - with ease; comfortable
13. - work; job
14. - a lot
15. - to work
16. - what one should do (lit: how do)
17. - when

Nice to meet you. My name is John Brown. As for (my) hobbies, there aren't any particularly but
(I) like sleeping the best. (I) don't like doing things like homework and studying very much. But
(I) like speaking in Japanese, you know. Because things like Kanji and pronunciation are
interesting. (I) want to go to Japan sometime. As for in the future, (I) want to do a relaxing job as
much as possible but everybody in Japan works a lot so what should (I) do? As expected, (I)
want to go when (I'm) a student.
Verb tenses and clauses
At the end of the last chapter, we learned about the concept of the verb clause. In this chapter, we
will learn more ways to utilize the verb clause along with the progressive and past tense.
Progressive Tense
The progressive tense in most cases indicate an action that is ongoing. Some simple examples of
the progressive tense is "I am watching a movie" or "I am eating". The same tense is also used to
describe an ongoing state resulting from the action such as, "I am married". In order to learn the
conjugation rule for this construction, we must first learn the te-form, a very useful verb form
that we will use in many different types of grammar.
The te-form
The conjugation rule for ru-verbs and the exception verbs are fairly easy as you simply need to
append to the stem.
To change ru-verbs into the te-form
Drop the part of the ru-verb (same as the stem) and add
Examples
1.
2.
Conjugating a u-verb to the te-form is a bit more complex because we must break up u-verbs into
four additional categories. These four categories depend on the last character of the verb. The list
below has an example of a common verb with each different ending.
3. (u-verb) - to swim
4. (u-verb) - to drink
6. (u-verb) - to die
7. (u-verb) - to cut
8. (u-verb) - to buy
9. (u-verb) - to hold
The table below illustrated the four different categories and the conjugation rules for each using
the list above.
There is also one additional exception for this conjugation:
Te-form conjugations for u-verbs
Ending Non-Past changes to... Te-form

Exception Verbs
Non-Past Te-form

*

* exceptions particular to this conjugation
Progressive Tense
In order to change a verb to the progressive tense, we simply need to attach a verb we already
learned to the te-form. This is the ru-verb used to express existence of an animate
object. In this case, it is used simply as a grammatical construct to express the progressive tense
and has little to do with the original verb.
Using for progressive tense
To describe a continuing action, first conjugate the verb to the te-form and then attach the
ru-verb .
Examples
1.
2.
The beauty and simplicity of this construction is because it ends in the ru-verb , any
additional conjugations are the same as any other ru-verb, including the polite form. This also
applies to the past tense, which we will learn later.
Progressive Conjugation Examples
Positive Negative Positive Polite Negative Polite
Ru-verb
U-verb
Exception *
Exception *
Exception *
* = exceptions

Example
1. - that
2. - already
3. (u-verb) - to acquire knowledge
4. - pen
6. - marriage
7. - dog
8. - cat
9. (u-verb) - to keep; to raise (pets in particular)
10. (u-verb) - to get fat
11. (ru-verb) - to get skinny
1.
(I) know that already. (lit: In state of having acquired that knowledge already.)
2.
Do (you) have (a) pen? (lit: In state of holding (owning) pen?)
3.
Are (you) married? (lit: In state of being married?)
4.
Not doing anything.
5.
Raising a dog.
6.
Not raising a cat.
7.
(The) cat is fat. (lit: Cat is in state of having gotten fat.)
8.
(The) dog is skinny. (lit: Dog is in state of having gotten skinny.)
Where do you live?
1. (u-verb) - to reside at
2. - dormitory
3. (ru-verb) - to happen to see
4. - for a long time or distance
5. - east
6. - direction
7. - place
8. - that much
9. (i-adj) - far
10. - first year; freshman
11. (u-verb) - to choose
12. - #1; the best; -est
13. (i-adj) - late

Alice: Lee-kun, where are you residing at now?

Lee: (I'm) living in the dorm.

Alice: Is that so? (I) don't see (you) much, dorm of where?

Lee: The place that's at the far east direction.

Alice: Why are you living in such a far place?

Lee: (I'm) a freshman so (we're) the latest to select a place to live.
Shortened progressive form
The from can be dropped in more casual situations.
Example
1.
What are (you) doing?
2.
What are (you) reading?
3.
Don't own a dog.
4.
Do (you) have (a) pen?
Past Verb Tense
Plain past tense verbs
The conjugation rules for the plain past tense are quite simple now that we've already learn the
rules for the te-form. This is because the plain past tense conjugation rules are almost identical to
the rules for the te-form. The only difference is to use and in the place of
and respectively.
Remember that the progressive tense always end in the ru-verb: . This means you can
use the same rules as any other ru-verbs to easily change the progressive tense to the past
progressive or negative past progressive.
Plain past verb tense conjugation rules
Past tense: Conjugate to the te-form and replace with and with

Examples
1.
eat ate
2.
drink drank
3.
eating was eating
Negative past tense: Conjugate to the negative and replace the last with

Examples
1.
eat not eat did not eat
2.
drink not drink did not drink
3.
eating not eating was not eating
When you don't understand, you should say so
1. (u-verb) - to know
2. (i-adj) - odd, strange, funny
3. - together
4. - study
6. - expected to be
7. (sentence-ending particle, casual) - I wonder
8. (casual) - sorry
9. - errand
10. (ru-verb) - to be late
11. - (one's own) mother
12. - sudden
13. - phone
14. - to say
15. (ru-verb) - to teach; to inform
17. - properly
18. (ru-verb) - to convey
19. - should
20. - sigh

Alice: Where is Lee-kun?

John: Don't know.

Alice: That's odd. (We) are supposed to study here together but (I) wonder where (he) went?

Lee: Alice-chan, sorry. (I) was little late due to an errand.

Alice: What were you doing?

Lee: A phone call came suddenly from (my) mother. I told John, didn't (he) tell you?

John: Sorry, I didn't understand the thing (you) were saying so (I) didn't say anything to Alice-
chan.

Alice: (You) should properly convey when you didn't understand something, you know.

John: (I) understood.

Lee: Did (you) really understand?

John: Not really.

Alice: Sigh...
Polite past verbs
The rules for the polite past tense is similar to the other polite tenses and are all based on the verb
stem.
Polite past verb tense conjugation rules
Past tense: Attach to the verb stem
Examples
1.
2.
Negative past tense: Attach to the verb stem
Examples
1.
2.
Summary of conjugations
Positive Negative
Non-Past - go - don't go
Past - went - didn't go
Spring vacation is already over
1. - Yamamoto (surname)
2. - teacher
3. - Good day (pronounced )
4. - already
5. - completely, thoroughly
6. - Spring
7. - to become
8. - so
9. - spring vacation
10. - real
11. (i-adj) - early
12. (u-verb) - to end
13. - what
14. - to do
15. - carefree; at leisure
16. (u-verb) - to rest; to take a break
17. - particular
18. - that
19. (i-adj) - good
20. - properly
21. - vacation
22. (u-verb) - to take
24. - class; lecture
25. - preparation
26. (na-adj) - various

Smith: Yamamoto-sensei, good afternoon!

Yamamoto: Smith-san, good afternoon. It already became thoroughly spring, hasn't it?

Smith: That's so, isn't it. Spring vacation really ended quickly.

Yamamoto: Is that so? What did (you) do in spring vacation?

Smith: (I) rested taking it easy so (I) didn't do anything in particular.

Yamamoto: That is good as well. (It's) also important to properly take rest so.

Smith: Yamamoto-sensei, what did (you) do for vacation?

Yamamoto: (I) was doing various things with class preparation.

Smith: (It's) important to properly take rest, you know.

Yamomoto: That's right.
State-of-Being Past Tense
Plain past nouns and adjectives
The conjugation rules for nouns and na-adjectives are identical once again for the past tense. The
rule is also the same for i-adjectives and negative forms as they both end in .
As usual, and conjugations start from the original
pronunciation.
Plain past state-of-being conjugation rules
For nouns/na-adjectives: Attach to the end
Examples
1.
2.
For i-adjectives/negative: Replace the with
Examples
1. + =
2. + =
3. + =
4. + =
5. + =
6. + =
1. =
2. =
Summary of plain nouns/na-adjective tenses
Positive Negative
Non-Past - (is) student - is not student
Past - was student - was not student
Summary of plain i-adjective tense
Positive Negative
Non-Past - (is) tall - is not tall
Past - was tall - was not tall
Looking forward to next year
1. - spring
2. - school term
3. - already; more
4. - soon
5. - to end
6. - finally
7. - real
8. (na-adjective) - various
9. - summer
10. - vacation
11. - look forward to
12. - certain, sure
13. - second-year, sophomore
14. - to become
15. - pluralizing suffix
16. - to be pleased
17. - class
18. - more
21. - to listen

Alice: Spring term will also end soon, huh?

John: Finally. Cause it was really tough for various (things). Looking forward to summer
vacation!

Alice: It was rough sure but it was fun.

Lee: And then, we'll become second-year students, huh?

Jonn: That's right! And then, Tanaka-sensei will become our teacher.

Alice: What are you getting happy (about)? Tanaka-sensei's class is much more difficult, you
know.

Lee: Tanaka-sensei is cute, huh?

John: (She's) cute, huh!

Alice: Not listening at all...
Polite past nouns and adjectives
The polite form for past nouns and adjectives is similar to the plain past conjugation rules.
Past state-of-being conjugation rules
1. For nouns/na-adjectives: Attach to the end
Examples
1.
2.
2. For i-adjectives/negative: Add to the plain past tense
Examples
1. + =
2. + =
3. + =
4. + =
5. +
6. +
3. Exceptions: Add to the plain past tense
1. =
2. =
Summary of polite nouns/na-adjective tenses
Positive Negative
Non-Past - (is) student - is not student
Past - was student - was not student
Summary of polite i-adjective tense
Positive Negative
Non-Past - (is) tall - is not tall
Past - was tall - was not tall
Note that only applies to nouns and na-adjectives. Japanese learners have a
tendency to do the same for i-adjectives, for example but it is incorrect!
How was your vacation?
1. - Mexico
2. - trip
3. - family
4. - that much
5. (i-adj) - far
6. - place
7. - fairly
8. - little while

Yamamoto: Tanaka-sensei, how was the trip of Mexico?

Tanaka: It was very good. Various (things) were interesting. Yamamoto-sensei also wanted to
go, right?

Yamamoto: Yes. But because (I have) family, it's fairly difficult to go to such a far place.

Tanaka: I already went so (I) won't go for a while.

Yamamoto: That's why (for reasons I already said), (I) didn't have intention of going together
with (you) Tanaka-sensei at all.
Verb sequences
In this section, we'll learn how to describe verbs that happen after, before, and at the same time
as another verb. To describe clauses that happen sequentially, we must first learn all the te-form
conjugation rules.
Te-form conjugation rules
For the progressive tense, we only needed to learn the conjugation rules for plain verbs.
However, nouns, adjectives, and the negative form can also be conjugated to the te-form.
Te-form conjugation rules
1. Plain nouns and na-adjectives: Attach to the noun or na-adjective.
Examples
1. + =
2. + =
3. + =
2. I-adjectives and negative: Replace the last with .
Examples
1. + =
2. + =
3. + =
3. Exceptions: As usual conjugates from
1. + =
2. + =
Sequence of actions
The te-form we learned at the beginning of this chapter is very versatile and has many uses. In
fact, the te-form alone is used to express a sequence of actions that happen one after another.
This will make your conversations smoother as it allows you to connect multiple sentences
instead of having many smaller, separate sentences that are often too short.
1. - morning
2. (ru-verb) - to get up; to happen
3. - and then
4. - breakfast

Morning, (I) woke up. Then (I) ate breakfast. Then, (I) went to school.

Morning, (I) woke up, ate breakfast, and went to school.
Example
1. - she; girlfriend
2. (i-adj) - gentle
3. - head
4. - popularity
5. - what should one do (lit: how do)
6. - drinking party
1.
Because she is pretty, gentle, and smart, (she's) popular with everybody.
2.
(You) don't do homework and what are you going to do?
3.
Drinking party is not today, it's tomorrow.
Before and after
You can use and to describe an action as happening before or after another
action.
1. - front; before
2. - after
Example
2. - bath
3. (u-verb) - to enter
4. - here
5. (exception) - to come
6. - properly
7. - contact
9. - afternoon
10. - rice; meal
11. - lunch
12. (ru-verb) - to eat
13. - homework
15. (i-adj) - dangerous
1.
Take a bath before going to sleep.
2.
(I) properly contacted (you) before (I) came here.
3.
Did homework after eating lunch.
4.
Swim after eating is dangerous.
Note: Be careful of the tense of the verb that comes before and . is non-
past while is always past tense.
Another way to describe an action is to use the te-form with . While similar to ,
conveys a stronger and more immediate relation between the two events, often
used for situations where the previous action needs to be completed for the next action to start.
Example
1. - dinner
2. (u-verb) - to learn
3. (i-adj) - good
1.
(I'll) do homework after (I) eat dinner.
2.
As for Katakana, (it) is good to learn after learning Hiragana
Two simultaneous actions
You can express two actions that are taking place simultaneously by attaching to the
end of the stem of the first verb. The tense is determined by the main verb at the end.
Using for concurrent actions
Change the first verb to the stem and append
1. +
2. +
Example
1. - to speak
2. - manners
3. (i-adj) - bad
4. - dictionary
5. (u-verb) - to use
6. - sentence
8. (ru-verb) - to go through, to get across
1.
Do homework while watching TV.
2.
(It's) bad manners to speak while eating.
3.
Wrote Japanese text while using dictionary but (it) didn't get across at all.
Listing multiple verbs
Partial list of verbs
In the second chapter, we learned how to list multiple nouns using and
. Using the te-form, we now know how to list multiple verb clauses similar to .
However, in order to create a partial list of verbs similar to and , we must use
another construction described below.
Rule for creating partial list of verbs
Conjugate all the verbs to the past tense and attach to each verb. Finally, add
at the end.
1.
2.
3.
Do things like eating and drinking.
Example
2. - beer
3. - sports
4. - walk, stroll
1.
Like to do things like sleeping and reading book(s).
2.
(I) did things like drink beer and watch tv.
3.
Do (you) do things like sports and strolls?
Partial list of reasons
There may be more than one reason for something but and can only connect
two sentences. Once again, we can use the te-form to list multiple reasons in one sentence.
However, if we want to imply that the list is only several among a larger list of potential reasons,
we can add to the end of each verb clause.
Note: You must add for plain nouns and na-adjectives.

Because she is pretty, gentle, and smart, (she's) popular with everybody.

Because she is pretty, gentle, and smart (among other reasons), (she's) popular with
everybody.
Examples
1. (i-adj) - hot (for climate/weather only)
2. - class
3. - pool
4. (ru-verb) - to get tired
5. (i-adj) - sleepy
1.
Because today is hot (among other reasons) and there's also no class so let's go to the
pool.
2.
(I'm) tired and sleepy (among other reasons), (I) don't want to go anywhere today.
Just hanging out again
1. - music
2. - lie; no way
3. - same

Alice: What were you doing yesterday?

John: There was no homework and (I) was free (among other reasons) so (I) watched TV and
listened to music (among other things). What about (you) Alice-chan.

Alice: There was homework. (I) was doing that, you know.

John: No way!

Alice: What are you going to do?

John: (It's) ok. (I'll) do it while listening to class.

Alice: Same as always, huh?
Phrasing verb clauses
Quoting a phrase
The most straight-forward reason to phrase a verb clause is to quote somebody. A verb clause
can be phrased by adding to the end of the clause. For verb clauses that end in an plain
noun or na-adjective, we must add . A direct quote would use the Japanese version of
double-quotes: but you can also paraphrase.
Example
1. (u-verb) - to say
2. - he
1.
Smith-san said "he/she is not coming today".
2.
He always says (he/she) is busy.
3.
She said (he/she) is free next week.

This grammar is also very useful for defining things and asking how one would say something.
1. - class
2. - conversation
3. - practice
4. - toilet; bathroom
5. - of course
6. - bathroom
7. - inside
8. - meaning
9. - well then, in that case
10. - difference
12. - mostly
13. - context
14. - for example
15. - that kind of, such
16. (na-adj, noun) - stupid
17. - normal

Smith: Brown-san, where is the bathroom?

Brown: Of course, it's in the bathroom.

Yamamoto: Brown-san, in Japanese, toilet has the same meaning as bathroom.
toilet
Brown: Then, what do you say in Japanese for "toilet"?
toilet
Yamamoto: (You) also say for "toilet".

Brown: How do (you) understand the difference?

Yamamoto: In most cases, (you) understand by context.
sit on the bathroom
Brown: For example, how would (you) say "sit on the bathroom" in Japanese?

Smith: Normally, (you) don't say such a stupid thing.
Other verbs for phrasing thoughts
There are many other verbs that can be used with a phrased verb clause as you can see in the
following examples.

Example
1. - college, university
2. - cafeteria
3. (i-adj) - tasty
5. - school
7. - this
8. - train
9. (i-adj) - early, fast
11. - email
12. (u-verb) - to send
13. - cigarette
14. - to breathe in; to smoke
15. - promise
16. - study abroad
17. (ru-verb) - to decide
1.
Do (you) think the college cafeteria is tasty?
2.
(I) heard that this train is (the) fastest to school but (it's) not fast at all.
3. !
(I) sent by mail that I'm going to be late tomorrow!
4.
Promised not to smoke cigarettes.
5.
Decided to go do study abroad to Japan next year.

In addition, this grammar also gives us another way to do introductions.
1. - Mariko (female first name)
2. - bulletin board, online forum
3. - English
4. - practice
5. - partner; other party
6. (u-verb) - to look for
7. - a lot
8. - together

Mariko-san,
Nice to meet you. I'm Alice Smith. It was written in the forum that you are looking for a partner
to practice English so I'm sending you this email. I'm currently studying Japanese at an American
university and thinking that I want to practice Japanese a lot. How about studying together?
Smith Alice
Short, casual version of
The phrase is used so often and in so many ways that there is a shortened casual
version: .

2. (i-adj) - late
3. - to a greater degree
4. - to get studying done; to become informed (lit: become study)
5. - rarely
6. - properly
7. - textbook
8. - me, myself (slang, masculine)
9. - to differ, to be different

John: Alice-chan is late, huh?

Lee: (She's) busy with study so (she) said (she's) not coming today.

John: What are (you) going to do, studying all the time? Despite the fact that (It's) said that you'll
get a lot more studying by practicing Japanese while playing with everybody.

Lee: I guess so. But, I think it's good to use textbook and study properly once in a while.

John: By saying that, you want to say (I) don't study at all?

Lee: That's not it!
Experiences
"Have you ever done [X]?", you can ask a question of this nature quite literally by using the
noun for a generic event: and .
Examples
1.
Have you ever gone to Japan? (lit: Is there an event (where you) went to Japan?)
2.
(I) have never sung song at Karaoke. (lit: There is no event (where I) sang song at
Karaoke.)
3.

(I) had never eaten okonomiyaki but (I) finally ate (it) when (I) went to Japan.
(lit: There was no event (where I) ate okonomiyaki but finally ate when went to Japan.)

LA

Smith-san,
Thank you for the email. I wrote that I wanted to practice English but I don't have much self-
confidence yet so I will write the reply in Japanese. I live in a place called Kawaguchi-shi north
of Tokyo. Have you ever gone to Tokyo? There are a lot of people and it's a very busy place. And
then, there are lots of tasty restaurants. Have you ever eaten things like Okonomiyaki and
Monjayaki? Monjayaki is famous in Tokyo.
As for Smith-san, are you living in America? As for me, I have not yet been to America but I'm
thinking I want to go sight-seeing to places like New York and LA. That's why I'm studying
English but it's pretty difficult and there's still a lot of things I don't understand.
Let's work hard together and study!
Mariko
Transitive and Intransitive
A transitive verb is one that requires an agent to complete the verb while an intransitive verb is
complete in itself and doesn't require a direct object. In Japanese, it is important to distinguish
between these two types of verbs because intransitive verbs cannot take a direct object (the
particle). Below is a sample list of common transitive and intransitive verbs and examples of
how the particles change depending on which type of verb is used.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Transitive Intransitive

(ru-verb)
to start

(u-verb)
to begin
(ru-
verb)
to bring to an
end
(u-
verb)
to come to an end
(u-
verb)
to drop
(ru-
verb)
to fall
(u-verb) to take out
(ru-
verb)
to come out; to
leave
(ru-
verb)
to insert
(u-
verb)
to enter
(ru-
verb)
to open (u-verb) to be opened
to close
(u-
verb)
to be closed
(ru-verb) to attach (u-verb) to be attached
(u-verb) to erase
(ru-
verb)
to disappear
(u-verb) to extract
(ru-
verb)
to be extracted
Example
1.
Start conversation with a person (you) don't know.
2.
Movie begins soon.
3.
Finally finished homework.
4.
Homework finally ended.
What happened?

Tanaka: What happened? (lit: What is it that existed?)

Suzuki: This cup fell.

Tanaka: It isn't that Suzuki-san (you) dropped it?

Suzuki: No, I didn't do anything, you know.

Tanaka: Then, is it that this cup fell by itself?

Suzuki: It was already fallen before I came here so (I) don't know.

Tanaka: No, (I) saw Suzuki-san (you) dropping that cup, you know.
Polite Negative Forms
The conjugations we have learned so far for the negative and past tense are just one of several. In
this section, we are going to look at an alternate way to conjugate to the negative for the polite
form.
Negative Verbs with
For verbs, we learned the four conjugations for the polite form as shown by the
example below. For the two negative forms highlighted in the table, instead of using the
form, we can instead append to the plain negative forms similar to nouns.
Summary of conjugations
Positive Negative
Non-Past - go - don't go
Past - went - didn't go
Conjugation rules for verbs with
For negative: Conjugate to the negative and append .
Examples
1.
2.
3.
4.
For negative past: Conjugate to the negative past and append .
Examples
1.
2.
3.
4.
Example
1.
Have you not been to Tokyo?
2.
(I) ate lunch already so (I'm) not hungry.
3.
Did (you) not see a black dog around here?
Negative Noun/Adjectives with
Because is the negative of the verb , we can replace the and
part of noun and adjectives with and
respectively.
Conjugation rules for nouns/adjectives with form
For nouns and na-adjectives: Append and then for the
negative or for the negative past.
Examples
1.
2.
3.
4.
For i-adjectives: Replace the last with at the end and attach
for negative and for negative past.
Examples
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Example
1.
I don't want to hear your excuse(s).
2.
That's not a place to play, you know.
3.
(I) went to that restaurant last week but (it) wasn't very tasty.
Differences between and for negative
Using for the negative is primarily for spoken Japanese only and is used to soften the
negative aspect in conversations. On the other hand, the and
conjugations sound a bit stiff and formal and is more suitable for written Japanese. It also
sounds more assertive so it would appropriate for settings such a news report, an announcement,
or any formal occasion.
In this chapter, we learned the progressive and past tense for both positive and negative verbs.
We also learned the te-form for the progressive tense as well a number of other uses.
Here is a list of examples using the various conjugations we learned in this chapter.
Te-form Conjugation Examples
Plain Te-form Negative Te-form
Noun/na-adjective
I-adjective
Exception * *
Ru-verb
-ending
-ending
-ending
-ending
-ending
-ending

-ending (u-verb)
-ending
-ending
Exception *
Exception * *
Exception * *
* = exceptions
Past Conjugation Examples
Plain Past Negative Past Polite Past
Polite Negative
Past
Noun/na-
adjective

I-adjective

Exception
*
*
*
Ru-verb
-ending
-ending
-ending
-ending
-ending
-ending

-ending (u-
verb)

-ending
-ending
Exception *
Exception * * * *
Exception

* * * *
* = exceptions
Conjugation practice
We learned many conjugation rules in this chapter which you'll need to practice until they are
almost instinctive both for speaking and listening. I recommend using flash cards to practice
conjugation rules using a mix of every type of verb, adjective, and nouns.
Here are some suggestions and examples of how you might want to make your own cards. The
important thing is to focus your cards on areas you are weak at and to make sure you are
comfortable with conjugating any word in any tense at a moment's notice.
Front side
- to buy
past
negative
negative past
Back side
- to buy

Front side
- to buy
polite
polite past
polite negative
polite negative past
Back side
- to buy

Front side
- to buy
buying
was buying
not buying
wasn't buying
Back side
- to buy

Front side
- to buy
want to buy
wanted to buy
not want to buy
didn't want to buy
Back side
- to buy

To get a good representation, you should use at least these common verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
1. - student
2. - teacher
3. (na-adj) - healthy; lively
5. (na-adj) - distasteful
6. (na-adj) - clean; pretty
7. (i-adj) - big
8. (i-adj) - small
9. (i-adj) - good
10. (i-adj) - cool; handsome
13. (ru-verb) - to wear
14. (u-verb) - to cut
17. (u-verb) - to talk
23. (u-verb) - to die
Telling stories
Conversation is often made up of narratives whether it's about events happening around us or
what people think and feel. In this chapter, we've learned many grammatical structures that allow
us to talk about what's happening and what people are thinking and saying.
A good way to practice what you learned in this chapter is to talk or write about anything on
your mind whether it's something interesting that happened recently, somebody you've recently
met, or what your plans are for the future. Below is a very small list of things you can write and
talk about.
1. - matter; event
2. - oneself
4. (ru-verb) - to feel
5. - recent; lately
6. (ru-verb) - to occur; to awake
9. - study
10. - reason
11. - future
1.
Thing(s) oneself is thinking and feeling lately (among other things).
2.
Interesting thing(s) that happened recently.
3.
Reason why (you) thought (you) want to study Japanese.
4.
Thing(s) (you) want to do in the future.
Numbers, amounts, and directions
We've been using numbers here and there but we've yet to comprehensively cover how to count
or tell the date and time. We will do that here in addition to learning how to express different
amounts and make comparisons.
The Numeric System
Numbers starting from 100
We already learned all the numbers up to 99 in the first chapter. We will now learn the numbers
100 up to 10 quadrillion. If you need a quick review, here are the first 10 numbers.
Numerals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Kanji
Reading
Here are the additional units for numbers starting from 100.
Numerals 100 1,000 10,000 10^8 10^12
Kanji
Reading
Note: Units larger than require another preceding number and cannot be used by
themselves. For example, does not mean 10,000, you need to add a one: .
Because the Japanese numeral system is based on units of four not three, the same units get
repeated once you get past 10,000 until you get to 100,000,000. In other words, numbers are
organized as 1,0000, 1,0000,0000, 10^12, 10^16 and so on.
You'll need to pay careful attention to reading changes for some sound combinations. The chart
below outlines the numbers that are pronounced slightly differently.
Numerals Kanji Reading
300
600
800
3000
8000
10^12
Example
Large numbers are rarely written in all Kanji as you can imagine something like
would be difficult to read. You will usually see a combination of numbers
and Kanji or just numerals altogether.
1. 1,234 - 1,234
2. - 53,000
Other numbers
Several ways to say zero and other types of numbers are listed below. meaning
"circle" is similar to how we use "O" (the letter) in things like phone numbers, room numbers,
and addresses.
1. - zero
2. - zero
3. - circle; zero
4. - suffix for room numbers
5. X - negative X
6. - period; dot; decimal point
7. X.Y XY - X.Y
8. XY - Y/X (Y of X parts)
Example
1. - room 203
2. 23.5 - twenty three point five
3. - fourth (1/4)
4. - negative five
It's so confusing!

John: Oh already! (I) don't understand Japanese numbers at all!
1 million

Alice: It's certainly difficult, isn't it? Because in Japanese (you) count by units of four, I just add
four, divide by three, and change (it) into (the) English number. For example, is 2
plus 4 and (it's) six so it becomes 1 million.

John: No, (I) don't understand at all! Lee-kun, it isn't difficult?

Lee: Korean is the same as Japanese so (it's) easy, you know.

John: That's cheating, isn't it?
Counting and counters
Counters
Unfortunately, counting discrete items isn't as straight-forward as just using the numbers we just
learned in the last section. We must use various counters depending on the type of object we're
counting. We already learned the counter for age in the very first chapter. Below are a list of
more common counters and when to use them.
Counter When to Use
To count number of people
To count money in yen, the Japanese currency
To count long, cylindrical objects such as bottles or chopsticks
To count thin objects such as paper or shirts
To count bound objects usually books
To count small animals like cats or dogs
To count the age of a living creatures such as people or animals
To count small (often round) objects
To count number of times
To count number of locations
As usual, the reading may change depending on what makes pronunciation easier as well as a
couple of exceptions for . Fortunately, counters are always attached to the end of the
number, so we need only worry about the readings for the first 10 numbers. The higher digits are
read the same as any other number. Below, you can see a list of readings for the counters with
reading variations ( and have no variations). The reading variations are in bold.
Counting with variations

2
3

5
6

10

20

There is also a generic counter for when none of the more specific counter applies. This counter
goes up to ten
Generic Counter
Numeral
How
many
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Kanji
Reading

You will likely encounter many other types of counters in your studies. In fact, , which
we have already seen used as a superlative, is yet another counter meaning #1 where #2 is
, #3 is and so forth.
Other useful counting vocab
There are some additional vocabulary that are useful for counting in certain ways.
1. - attaches to a counter to indicate order
2. - attaches to a counter to indicate each
3. - attaches to a counter to indicate repeated intervals
Example
1.
Staple 2 sheets of paper each.
2.
Who is the 3rd person that entered the store?
3.
Exercising every other day (spaced 1 day in between).
Beer is fattening

Tanaka: Sorry I'm late.

Yamamoto: It's ok.

Tanaka: What are (you) drinking?

Yamamoto: Draft beer.

Tanaka: Didn't (you) say (you) would not drink beer anymore?

Yamamoto: (I) think one bottle every once in a while is fine.

Tanaka: As for beer, (you) get fat soon. Which number bottle is this?

Yamamoto: Isn't two bottles ok every once in a while as well?

Tanaka: (I) think it's not ok.
Dates and Time
Dates
Dates are similar to using counters, one each for year, month, and day.
- year counter
- month counter
- day counter
The year counter is pretty straight-forward, as there are no reading variations. However, there are
variations for months and a whole bunch of exceptions for days of the month. The two lists
below show all the months in a year and the days of the month. Special readings or variations are
appropriately marked.
Months of the year
Month Kanji Reading
What month
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days of the month
Day Kanji Reading
What day
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th
21st
22nd
23rd
24th
25th
26th
27th
28th
29th
30th
31st
For completeness, here are all the days in the week.
1. - What day of week
2. - Monday
3. - Tuesday
4. - Wednesday
5. - Thursday
6. - Friday
7. - Saturday
8. - Sunday
Date formats
The date format employed in Japan is the same international date format used in many other
parts of the word: year, month, day in that order. Once again, it is common to use numerals to
make it easier to read.
You may encounter another calendar native to Japan based on the reign of each emperor when
filling out public documents. Basically, the year starts over from 1 called
at the beginning of each new reign along with the name of the era. For example, the
era began in 1989, therefore, the year 2009 would be . If you live in Japan, it
would be beneficial to remember the current year and your birthday in the Japanese calendar.
Below are the eras going back about 100 years. You can also search online for convenient
converters or charts with each year.
1. - Heisei era (1989/1/8-)
2. - Showa era (1926/12/25-1989/1/7)
3. - Taishou era (1912/7/30 - 1926/12/25)
4. - The first year of an era until the end of that year (12/31)
Example
1.

2009/12/24
2.

Thursday, April 1st, 2010
3.

1981/11/30
4.
1989/9/9
Time
We already covered how to tell time in a previous chapter so here's a brief review.
1. - hour counter
2. - minute counter
3. - AM
4. - PM
5. - half
Hour reading variations
Hour 4 o'clock 7 o'clock 9 o'clock
Kanji
Reading
Minute reading variations
Minutes
How many
minutes
1 min 3 min 4 min 6 min 8 min 10 min
Kanji
Reading

Example
1. - 1:01
2. - 4:44 PM
3. - 10:30 AM
Time spans
We need to learn a couple more counters to express a span of time versus a fixed date or time.
This counter is attached to a date or time to express a length of that time.
- span of time
- a span of week(s)
- a span of month(s)
While these counters are pretty straight-forward, there are a number of reading variations. In
particular, while usually means the first of the month and read as , it
can also mean a span of one day when read as .
- 1st of the month
- span of one day
- span of one week
- span of one month
- span of ten months
Example
1. - span of two days
2. - span of three weeks
3. - span of two months
Various amounts
Now that we learned how to use numbers and express date and time, it would be a good time to
review how to express various amounts. Most amounts can be expressed with just vocabulary,
many of which we've already seen. Below is a list of just some of the vocabulary used to
describe various amounts.
1. - a little
3. - a lot
4. (i-adj) - few
5. (i-adj) - many
6. - not yet
7. - already; more
8. - a little more
9. - a lot more
10. - a long time
11. - this much
12. - that much
13. - that much (over there)
14. - about
Expectation of more
There are two particles that are used to express the word "only": and . Just
like every other particle, these particles attach to the end of the word that they apply to. The
primary difference with is that it must be used with the negative and emphasizes the
lack of something.
Example
1. - meat
2. - tonight
1.
Eat only meat.
2.
Not eat anything but meat.
3.
Let's go just the two of us tonight. (lit: As for tonight, let's go by way of only two
people.)
4.
(I) only have 500 yen.
Too much of something
An excess of something is expressed with the ru-verb which means,
"to pass" or "to exceed". There are several rules for attaching this verb to adjectives and other
verbs. As is a regular ru-verb, all subsequent conjugations are the same as any other
ru-verb.
Using to indicate it's too much
Verbs: Change the verb to the stem and attach
Examples
1.
2.
Na-adjectives: Attach
Examples
1.
2.
I-adjectives: Remove the last and attach
As always, conjugates from
Examples
1.
2.
3.
Negative verbs and adjectives: Replace the last from with
and then attach
Examples
1.
2.
Example
1. - yesterday
3. - hangover
4. - head
5. (i-adj) - painful
6. - amount
7. (i-adj) - many
8. - a lot more
9. (i-adj) - small
10. - size
11. (u-verb) - to request; to order
12. - diet
13. - to do
14. (i-adj) - good
1.
(I) drank too much yesterday and (my) head hurts with hangover.
2.
The amount is too much so (I) ordered a much smaller size.
3.
Doing (a) diet is fine but (you're) not eating too much (too much of not eating).

Comic 9:
1. - Japan
2. - women's clothing
3. also - place where things are sold
4. - say; well; errr
5. - this
6. - how much
7. - today
8. (na-adj) - special
9. - sale
10. - counter for yen (Japanese currency)
11. (u-verb) - to become
12. - already; further
13. - a little
14. (i-adj) - big
15. - size
17. - sorry (polite)
18. - me; myself; I
20. - counter for story/floor
21. - children's clothing
22. - for the time being; just in case
23. - adult

Teacher: Excuse me, how much is this?

Store Clerk: (It) is 4,800 yen by sale today only.

Teacher: Is there size that a little smaller?

Store Clerk: Sorry, there is no other size but this.

Teacher: (It's a) little too big, isn't it? As for my size, there isn't much, is there?

Store Clerk: There is (a) children's clothing section on the 4th floor but...

Teacher: Just so you know, (I AM an) adult so...
On a diet
1. - stomach
2. (u-verb) - to empty
3. - why
4. - yet; still
5. - hour counter
6. - today
7. - breakfast
9. - lunch
10. - yesterday
11. - evening
12. - dinner
13. - diet
14. - to do
15. - a lot
16. - normal
18. (ru-verb) - to begin
19. - when
21. - intention
22. - already
23. - tomorrow
24. (ru-verb) - to stop; to quit
25. - span of one day
26. - to ask; to listen
27. - event, matter, generic happening
28. (ru-verb) - to get skinny
29. - obvious

Alice: (I'm) hungry. (lit: stomach has emptied)

John: Why? It's still 2 o'clock, you know.

Alice: (I) didn't eat anything but breakfast today.

John: Why didn't (you) eat lunch?

Alice: Last night, (I) ate too much dinner so (I'm) on a diet.

John: Normally, (you) don't say you're on a diet after you ate a lot yesterday.

Alice: That's why I just started.

John: (You) intend to be on a diet until when?

Alice: (It's) no good already. (I) will quit from tomorrow.

John: (I've) never heard of a one day only diet.

Alice: (I) wonder if that's why (I) don't lose weight?

John: Obviously.
Comparisons
In order to make a comparison, you have to define either side of the comparison using
and/or . defines the direction the comparison is leaning toward while
defines the side it's leaning away from. The important thing to remember is that
is a noun while is a particle. Another particle often used in making comparisons is
, which describes the extent of something.
Example
1. - direction; side
2. (particle) - rather than
3. (particle) - extent of
4. - which way
5. - dog
6. - cat
7. - English (language)
1.
Which do (you) like more, dog or cat? (lit: Dog and cat, which side is (the) one (you
like)?)
2.
Like dog more than cat. (lit: Like the side of dog rather than cat.)
3.
Hate dog more than cat. (lit: Hate the side of dog rather than cat.)
4.
Don't like cat as much as dog. (lit: Don't like cat to extent of dog.)
5.
Which do (you) think is harder, English or Japanese? (lit: English and Japanese, which
side is harder (you) think?)
Cats or Dogs

Alice: Which do (you) like more, dog or cat

Lee: I like both. (lit: Like either way also.)

John: Isn't dog better. Because (they're) smarter than cats.

Alice: But dog(s) are tougher to take care of and don't (you) think cat(s) are cuter?

John: (I) think both are tough to take care of and as for me, I think dogs are much more cute.

Alice: Why do (you) hate cat(s) that much?

John: (I'm) not saying (I) hate (them)!

Alice: (I'm) sure, when (you) were a child, something bad occurred with a cat, huh?

John: No, not really...

Alice: Anyway, (I) have never met a person that hates cat(s) to the extent of John-san.

John: Like I said, (I) don't hate (them).
Directions
Using for directions
In the last section, we learned how to use to make comparison. We can also use
to describe how to do something. This is done by attaching to the verb stem. However, in
this usage, the reading is not . The result is used as a regular noun (it may
help to translate it as "way of doing...").
In addition, is also used to refer to a person politely.
Example
1. - person (honorific)
2. - way of doing ~
3. - hotel
5. - (train) station
7. - sushi
8. - Chinese food
9. (u-verb) - to be popular, to come into fashion;
10. - now
11. - chopsticks
13. - American (person)
14. (i-adj) - few (in numbers)
1.
(Are you) not going to teach (tell) that person the way to go to the hotel?
2.
Do (you) know the way to the train station?
3.

Given now where things like sushi and Chinese food is common, Americans who know
how to use chopsticks is not few (in number).
Using for instructions
Another way to describe how to do something is by using the phrase .
is a more casual version of the verb ("to do") so the phrase literally means "how do
and". It's used just like the regular te-form to express a sequence of actions as we learned in the
last chapter. Because also means "why", is more common.
Example
1.
How do (you) go about making curry?
(lit: You do curry how and then make?)
2.
How do (you) write (a) Japanese address?
3.
How do (you) go from Tokyo station to Shinjuku station?

Comic 10:
1. - sorry; pardon me
2. - here
3. - the best; no. 1
4. (i-adj) - close
5. - train station
6. (u-verb) - to go
7. - way of doing ~
9. - Japanese (person)
11. (na-adj) - ok
12. - this abbr. of
13. - map
14. - counter for number of places
16. - which way
17. - direction
18. - pronunciation
19. (i-adj) - bad

John: Excuse me, do you know the way to go to (the) station closest from here?

Japanese person: Sorry, no English

John: Japanese is ok so there's two train stations on this map, right? Which is closer?

Japanese person: I'm sorry.

John: (I) wonder, is my pronunciation bad?

Alice: Teacher, (I) heard that in Japan street(s) don't have street names attached but is (it) true?

Teacher: Yes. In Japan, only large roads have names attached (to them).

Alice: With that, how do (you) find (an) address?

Teacher: Most people use (places like) train station(s) and convenience store(s), make places that
become landmark(s) into clue(s) and find (it).

Alice: With that way of doing (things), don't (you) get lost a lot?

Teacher: (You'll) soon get used to (it), so (it's) ok.

Alice: (By) saying "get used to", (you mean) to what?

Teacher: To getting lost.

Alice: Huh?
In this chapter, we learned how to work with numbers and amounts. Numbers, dates, and
counting is a fairly tricky thing to master with all the various readings and exceptions so it's
something that will require quite a bit of practice to master.
Here is a list of simple questions you can ask or answer to practice various dates and numbers.
1. - date
2. - what month
3. - what date
4. - birthday
5. - how many; how old (often used with honorific prefix)
6. - what time
7. - store
8. (particle) - from
10. (u-verb) - to open
11. - family
12. - how many people
1.
What is today's date?
2.
What month, what day is tomorrow?
3.
When is (your) birthday?
4.
How old (are you)?
5.
What time is it now?
6.
From what time to what time is (the) store open?
7.
As for (your) family, how many people?
Shopping and other activities involving amounts
All the work we did in this chapter to learn how to use numbers, count, and compare amounts
will come in handy when dealing with money in Japan. If you are planning to visit Japan, you'll
be able to get a lot of practice for this chapter by shopping, dining, and generally getting around.
Yen, the Japanese currency, is roughly equivalent to a penny so 100 yen is around one US dollar.
Shopping
1. - electronic
2. - dictionary
3. - how much?
4. - Japanese currency counter
6. (i-adj) - high; expensive
7. (i-adj) - cheap
8. - this way
9. - model
10. - how
12. - Chinese (language)
13. - study
14. (u-verb) - to enter

Alice: How much is this electronic dictionary?
3
Store clerk: (It's) 30,000 yen.

Alice: (It's a) little too expensive, isn't it? Is there (one) that is a little more cheap?
25
Store clerk: This model is 25,000 yen.

Alice: How is (it) different with this?

Store clerk: (Are you) studying Chinese? That also has Chinese (in it) so (it's a) little more
expensive.

Alice: For the purpose of studying Japanese, which (do you) think is better?

Store clerk: Let's see. This model has only English but (there's) more example sentences and
words so (I) think this model is better.

Alice: Is that so? Then (I) will go with this one.
Traveling
1. - Narita (city name)
2. - airport
3. - ticket
4. - how much
5. - station
6. - person
7. - express
8. - Japanese currency counter
9. - already; more
10. - a little
11. (i-adj) - cheap
13. - normal
14. - train
15. - which way
16. - direction
17. - early; fast
18. - of course
19. - about how much
20. - approximately, around
21. - student
22. - discount
23. - unfortunate
24. (exp) - to decide on something (lit: to do toward)

Lee: How much is (a) ticket until Narita airport.

Station person: Narita Express is 3,000 yen.

Lee: Is there none that is a little more cheap?

Station person: Regular train ticket is 1,500 yen.

Lee: Which is faster?

Station person: Of course, (the) express is faster.

Lee: By about how much faster?

Station person: About 30 minutes.

Lee: ...Is there (a) student discount?

Station person: It's unfortunate, but there isn't.

Lee: Then, (I) will do regular train.
Potential and uncertainty
Culturally, Japanese people tend to only be assertive when they're absolutely sure of something.
For less certain situations, Japanese has many ways to express exactly how certain or uncertain
something is. In this chapter, we will learn how to express various degrees of certainty about
things that are possible, probable, and conditional.
Expressing potential
Potential Form
The potential form describes the feasibility of an action. The rules for changing a verb into the
potential form is given below. All verbs in the potential form become ru-verbs.
Rules for conjugating to potential form
For ru-verbs: Replace the with
Example
1. =
2. =
For u-verbs: Replace the u-vowel sound with the e-vowel equivalent and attach .
Example
1. =
2. =
Exceptions:
1.
2.
3.
Example
1. - Kanji
2. (u-verb) - to read
3. - tomorrow
4. - work
5. - today
7. - event
8. - preparation
10. (ru-verb) - to be able to do
1.
Can (you) read Kanji?
2.
Tomorrow is work so can't drink very much today.
3.
Can (you) do preparations for (the) event by tomorrow?
For ru-verbs, you can drop the from . For example, the potential form
can also be expressed as instead of . However, you
should practice with the full conjugation as the shorter form is more casual.
Example
1. - bus
2. - hour counter
4. (ru-verb) - to occur; to awake
5. - feeling
6. (i-adj) - bad
1. 75
Bus is leaving at 7 so (are you) able to wake up at 5?
2.
Don't feel good (lit:feeling is bad) so can't eat very much today.
Events that are possible
Another way to express potential is to use the noun for a generic event: and
. This is used to describe an event that is possible and is more generic than conjugating
the verb directly to the potential form.
Example
1. - here
2. - cigarette
4. - to breathe in; to smoke
5. - matter; event
6. - this
7. - TV
8. - program (e.g. TV)
9. - not yet
10. - internet
1.
Able to smoke cigarette here?
2.
Not able to watch this TV show on the internet yet.
As you can see from the examples, this pattern is used to describe what is possible (or not) in
general rather than for a specific person or thing.
Other potential verbs
1. - to be visible
2. - to be audible
3. - able to exist
The potential form of and and respectively
are only used to describe the ability to see and hear, not whether something is visible or
audible. Japanese has two separate verbs to describe the latter: and .
The examples below show the difference between the ability or capability to see/hear versus
what is visible/audible.
Example
1. - behind
2. - screen; image; picture
3. - PC, computer
4. (i-adj) - old
5. (i-adj) - late; slow
6. - video
7. - me; myself; I
8. - voice
9. - radio
10. - net, network, internet
1.
Can (you) see the screen from the back? (lit: Is the screen visible from the back?)
2.
Computer is old and slow so not able to see video. (lit: Because computer is old and slow,
not capable of seeing video.
3.
Can (you) hear my voice? (lit: Is my voice audible?)
4.
(You) can listen to radio on (the) net as well? (lit: Able to hear radio on (the) net as
well?)
Another verb to pay attention to is , which cannot be conjugated to the potential form.
Instead, to express that something can exist, you must use the verb . This verb is
very curious in that can either be read as or but if conjugated, it must
always be read as . You may wonder how often one talks about the ability to exist. In
practice, this word is primarily used to describe whether a situation or event can occur.
Example
1.
That could happen. (lit: That can exist.)
2.
That could happen. (lit: That can exist.)
3.
That can never happen. (lit: That can't exist.)

2. - Kanji
3. - homework
6. (u-verb) - read
7. (i-adj) - skilled; delicious
9. - as much as possible
10. - practice
11. - me, myself (slang, masculine)
12. (u-verb) - to copy
14. - a lot (amount)
15. - besides, moreover
16. - in the first place, originally
17. - you (slang)
18. (ru-verb) - to show
19. - oneself
20. - when
21. - secretly
22. - intention
23. - already; expression of exasperation
24. (ru-verb) - to believe

John: Alice-chan, what (are you) doing?

Alice: Homework.

John: What is this? (Are you) using Kanji? (I) can't read (it) at all.

Alice: (I) can't write Kanji well yet so (I'm) using Kanji as much as possible and practicing.

John: I don't use Kanji at all so (I) can't copy Alice-chan's homework, you know.

Alice: Japanese uses a lot of Kanji so (it's) good to practice as much as possible. Besides, (I)
won't show you (my) homework to you in the first place. (You) can't do (your) homework by
yourself?

John: (My) intention was to secretly copy (it) when Alice-chan is not there.

Alice: (I) can't believe it.
Various degrees of certainty
There are various vocabulary words that can express various degrees of certainty, some of which
is listed below. But beyond memorizing additional vocabulary, we also need to learn a number of
sentence endings that also indicate various degrees of certainty.
1. - absolutely, without a doubt
2. - surely
3. - probably, perhaps, more likely than not
Indicating a fair amount of certainty
You will often hear at the very end of the sentence during, for instance, a weather
forecast. It is used to express a fair amount of certainty when used with a flat intonation.
Example
1. - evening
2. - rain
3. (u-verb) - to precipitate
4. - tomorrow
5. (ru-verb) - to be sunny
1.
At night, (it will) likely rain.
2.
Tomorrow (will) likely be sunny.
In casual situations, when expressed with a rising intonation, it is used to seek agreement similar
to . However, while is used for what the speaker believes to be generally
agreeable, can be more assertive and opinionated. is another more
masculine version of the casual usage of .
Example
1. (u-verb, exp) - to be in time for
3. - time
4. (u-verb) - to exist
5. - yet; still
6. - ok
1.
(I) said won't make it in time, didn't I?
2.
There's time so (it's) probably still ok.
Indicating a possibility
is another sentence ending that expresses a neutral possibility with about
50% level of confidence. It is simply the and particles combined with the
potential negative form of (literally meaning "can't know even if..."). This means that
it conjugates just like any other negative ru-verb.
Example
1. - tomorrow
2. (i-adj) - late
4. - other
5. - store
6. - direction
7. (i-adj) - cheap
1.
Might be late tomorrow.
2.
Another store may be cheaper.
For casual situations, this grammar can be shortened to just .
1. - door
2. - key
3. (ru-verb) - to hang; to lock
4. (ru-verb) - to forget
5. - cake
6. - yet; still
7. (u-verb) - to remain; to be left
1.
Oh, (I) might have forgot to lock the door!
2.
There might be some cake left still, you know.
Expressing wonder/doubt
We can use or with the question marker to question whether
something is actually true. This is often used to express doubt or reflection.
Example
1.
2. (i-adj) - good
3. - as was expected; really? (in questions)
4. - puzzle; riddle
5. (ru-verb) - to be solved; to come untied
6. - person
1.
Was it ok like this (I wonder)?
2.
Will there be someone who can solve this riddle?
For casual situations, we can attach to the end of a sentence.
Example
2. - why
3. - that sort of; that extent
4. - soon
5. - to lose temper slang from
1.
Was ok like this (I wonder)?
2.
Why does she lose (her) temper that soon (I wonder)?
Recalling a memory
The sentence-ending particle is used to describe something you're trying to recall such
as a vague memory or something you recently forgot.
Example
1. - that (over there); huh?
2. - key
3. - where
4. (u-verb) - to put, to place
5. - he; boyfriend
6. - name
7. - what
1.
Huh? Where did (I) place (the) key(s)?
2.
What was his name again?

1. - cooking
2. (na-adj) - unskilled, bad at
3. - expression for coming back home (I'm home)
4. - mother (polite)
5. - shopping
6. (ru-verb) - to go out
7. - when
10. - just now
11. - house
13. - counter for hours; o'clock
14. - approximately, around
16. - stomach
17. (u-verb) - to become empty
18. - father (polite)
19. - something
20. (u-verb) - to make
21. (na-adj) - simple
22. - object

Alice: I'm home. What about Mom?

Dad: (She) went out for shopping.

Alice: When is (she) coming back home?

Dad: (She) just left (the) house so (she'll) probably come back home around 9:00.

Alice: Is that so? Ah, (I'm) hungry!

Dad: Then shall dad make something?

Alice: Dad, (you're) bad at cooking, right?

Dad: (I) might be able to make something simple, you know?

Alice: Is that so (you think)?
Appearances and hearsay
We often make deductions based on appearances and observations. In this section, we will learn
how to describe what things appear to be based on our own and other people's observations.
Appearance or manner
The noun is the most generic word used to describe an appearance or manner
of a state or action.
Example
2. - student
3. - movie
6. - friend
7. - already
1.
She appears to be (a) student.
2.
(It) appears (you) like to watch movie(s).
3.
Looks like friend went home already.
Outward appearance (casual)
may, at times, sound somewhat formal and stiff. For casual situations, you can
substitute for to describe what something/someone looks like or appears
to be.
at first glance, looks identical to meaning "want to see". You could
even say it has a similar meaning as an outward appearance is how one wants to see something.
However, the key difference is that while all verbs in the form such as
conjugate as an i-adjective, this acts like a noun same as .
Example
1. - tomorrow
2. - rain
3. - this
4. - stuffed toy
5. - dog
6. - this morning
7. - head
8. - yet; still
9. - cold (illness)
10. (u-verb) - to pull
11. - he; boyfriend
12. - wife (polite)
13. (i-adj) - to a great extent
14. (i-adj) - cute
1.
Tomorrow looks like rain, you know.
2.
Doesn't this stuffed toy look like (a) dog?
3.
(My) head hurt this morning as well so it looks like (I) still have a cold.
4.
His wife is apparently amazingly cute, you know.
Guessing from observation
In English, "seems like" or "looks like" is also used to made an educated guess. In Japanese, this
is expressed by appending to the verb or adjective with the following rules. The
resulting word becomes a na-adjective.
1. (ru-verb) - to fall
2. - cup
3. (u-verb) - to precipitate
4. - rain
6. (na-adj) - tough, hard time
7. (i-adj) - tasty
8. (i-adj) - fun
Rules for guessing outcome using
Verbs: Conjugate to the stem and append
Example
1.
- Looks like cup is about to fall
2.
- Seems like it's going to rain
Na-adjectives: Append
Example
1.
Seems free (not busy)
2.
Seems tough/rough
I-adjectives: Drop the last and append
Exception: For (seems good)
Example
1.
(Based on guessing) looks tasty.
2.
Seems fun.
Negative forms: Replace the last with and append
Example
1.
Seems like (he/she) will not come.
2.
(Based on guessing) looks not tasty.
Example
1. - this
2. - very
3. - rainy season
4. (na-adj) disagreeable; unpleasant
6. - today
8. - child
10. - job
12. - homework
13. (na-adj) - simple
14. - tomorrow
15. - exam
16. - problem
1.
This looks very tasty!
2.
(I) dislike rainy season. (It) looks like it's going to rain today too, you know.
3.
Doesn't (she) seem to be very free because she has no kids and doesn't do (a) job?
4.
All (the) homework was easy so (there) doesn't seem to be any problems for tomorrow's
test.
Expressing hearsay
In order to express what something appears to be based on what one heard from other people, we
append (or ) to the verb clause. At first glance, this grammar looks
very similar to the previous grammar, however, the grammar rules are different. Also, this
grammar must end in or (for polite speech).
1. - tomorrow
3. (i-adj) - busy
4. (u-verb) - to go
Rules for expressing hearsay using
Nouns and Na-adjectives: Add the declarative to the clause then attach
or .
Example
1.
(I) hear (it's) tomorrow.
2.
(I) hear (she) is pretty.
All other cases: Attach or to the clause.
Example
1.
(I) hear (he's) busy.
2.
(I) hear (she) doesn't want to go.
Example
1. - he; boyfriend
3. - fluent
4. - snow
6. - next week
7. - end of term
8. - exam
9. - everybody
1.
(I) hear he is fluent in Japanese.
2.
(I) hear that his wife is very pretty.
3.
(I) hear that (it will) snow tomorrow.
4.
(I) hear that (he) doesn't want to come out because (it's) raining.
5.
(I) hear that everybody is busy with the final exam(s) next week.
Appearance from hearsay or behavior
is another grammatical expression that expresses either hearsay or behavior. When
used to express hearsay, unlike from the previous section, it can be used to express
impressions from non-specific hearsay rather than something specific that was said. Simply
attach to the end of the clause to express hearsay or behavior. It conjugates just like
a regular i-adjective.
Examples of hearsay
1. - this year
2. (i-adj) - new
4. - amusement park
5. (i-adj) - big
6. - very
7. (i-adj) - fun
8. - baby
9. - post-natal
10. - several months
11. - mother's milk
12. (ru-verb) - to raise, to rear
13. - #1; best; first
14. (i-adj) - good
1.
It seems (based on hearsay) that (the) new amusement park that was built this year is very
big and fun.
2.
(I) heard that it's best to raise baby by breast milk for few months after birth.
Examples of behavior
1. - promise, arrangement, appointment/li>
2. - time
4. - he; boyfriend
5. - that (over there) abbr. of
6. - child
7. - very
8. - firmly; reliable; steady;
10. - child
11. - man
13. - person
14. (u-verb) - depending on
15. - meaning
1.
(It's) not like him to be late to the promised time.
2.
That child is very reliable and doesn't act like a child.
3.
"Acting like a man" will probably have different meanings depending on the person.
Slang expression for similarity
A casual way to express similarity is to attach to the word that reflects the
resemblance. Because this is a very casual expression, you can use it as a casual version for the
different types of expression for similarity covered above . It
conjugates just like a regular i-adjective.
Example
1. - today
2. - rain
3. - umbrella
5. - recent; lately
6. (i-adj) - cold
7. - a little
8. - common cold
9. - man
1.
Today seems like (it's going to) rain so (I) brought (an) umbrella.
2.
Lately, (it's) cold and seems like (I have a) cold.
3.
Isn't Alice a little manly?

1. - exchange student
2. (u-verb) - to ask; to listen
3. (i-adj) - new
5. - Japanese person
6. - woman; girl
7. - child
8. - serious (slang)
9. (i-adj) - cute
10. - real
11. - that
12. - what kind
13. - person
14. - yet
15. (u-verb) - to meet
16. - lunch break
17. - a little
18. - hey
19. - what
20. - story
22. - (not) particularly; nothing (slang)
23. - relation
25. - Kaori (first name)
26. - yesterday
28. - very
29. - soon
30. - getting along well with
32. - besides; moreover
33. - me; myself; I
34. - how
36. - meaning
37. - no (casual)
39. - man
41. - that kind of, such
42. - matter; event
43. - first meeting
45. - but
48. - feeling
49. (i-adj) - light; non-serious
50. (na-adj) - absolutely, unconditionally
51. - type
52. - me; myself; I (casual masculine)
53. - misunderstanding
54. - dummy
55. - no (polite)
56. - genuine, authentic

John: (Did you) hear? (It) seems like there's (a) new exchange student. (She's apparently a)
Japanese girl! (I hear she's) really cute, you know.

Lee: Really? That's big news, isn't it? I wonder what kind of person (she) is?

John: (I) haven't met (her) yet but let's talk (to her) a little bit at lunch break.

Alice: Hey, what are (you) talking about?

John: Nothing in particular. Nothing that concerns Alice-chan.

Lee: Did Alice-chan meet (the) new exchange student?

Alice: What? (You're) talking about Kaori-san? (I) talked (to her) a little bit yesterday. She's
girly and very cute girl. (Someone you) can quickly become friendly with kind of feeling?
Moreover, what (do you) mean it has nothing to do with me?

John: No, it's nothing. Kaori-san, was it? What kind of boy does it seem she'll like?

Alice: Huh? (You) wouldn't know that kind of think on (a) first meeting, right? Let's see. By the
look of things, boy(s) that don't take anything seriously like John will definitely not be (her)
type, most likely.

John: Hey, aren't (you) misunderstanding the kind of person I am?

Lee: That's right, Alice-chan. John is like a dummy, that's all.

Alice: No, (he's a) genuine idiot.
Trying
There are several different ways to try something in Japanese including making an effort toward
something, making an attempt at something, and trying something out to see what happens.
Striving for a goal
In order to express "try" as striving toward a goal, we use the same we learned in the
last section to describe the manner or appearance of the way we want to act. In this case, we use
the verb (meaning "to do") and the target particle to do toward the manner or
appearance of the verb clause.
Example
1.
Try not to smoke cigarettes.
(lit: Do toward manner of not smoking.)
2.
Trying not to eat sweet things.
(lit: Doing toward manner of not eating sweet things).
3.
Was trying to exercise a lot more but soon gave up.
(lit: Was doing toward manner of doing more exercise but soon gave up.)
Achieving an action
If you use the same grammar as before but with the verb (meaning "to become")
instead of , we can describe reaching the state of the verb.
Example
1.
(It) became so that (I) don't smoke.
(lit: Become manner of not smoking.)
2.
(I) exercised every day so (it) became so that (I) won't get fat easily.
3.
(I) lived in Japan for two years so (I) became able to speak Japanese.
Making an attempt
The volitional form can also be used to describe an attempt or effort to do a single action. In this
case, we use the volitional form followed by and the verb ("to do").
Example
1.
Dog always tries (attempts) to eat people's food.
2.
Even though (it's a) holiday, (my) parents don't try (make an effort) to go anywhere so
(it's) boring.

Comic 11 -
1. (u-verb) - to know
3. - job
5. - school
6. (u-verb) - to go
7. - people
8. - NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
10. (ru-verb) - to believe
12. - why; how
13. (u-verb) - to look for
14. (i-adj) - envious, jealous
15. - lifestyle
17. - money
18. (u-verb) - to need
19. - no (casual)
22. - object

Alice: Did (you) know. (I) hear (that you) call people (who) don't do things like go to work or go
to school NEET.

John: (I) can't believe it!

Alice: That's right. I wonder why (they) don't try to look for (a) job?

John: (I'm) jealous! Why are (they) able to do that kind of lifestyle? Don't (you) need things like
money?

Alice: No, I don't think NEET is something (you) become because (you) like it.
Experimenting
A third way to express trying (not as a goal or effort) is to do something as an experiment. For
example, trying out something for the first time. This grammar is expressed by changing the verb
to the te-form and attaching the verb ("to see").
Example
1.
Try asking teacher question.
2.
Tried eating Japanese food.

Alice: Tanaka-sensei, (I) have something I'd like advice on (lit: there is a consulation).

Tanaka: Yes, what is it?

Alice: Lately, (I) feel like (my) Japanese isn't improving very much but what should I do?

Tanaka: Alice-san's Japanese is improving, you know. But, let's see. How about trying to do
much more conversation practice? (I) think (you) can become so that (you) can speak much more
skillfully by doing (a) lot of conversation practice.

Alice: That's so, isn't it. But (my) classmates don't try to speak Japanese outside of class at all.

Tanaka: That's bad, isn't it? How about making Japanese friends online?

Alice: That is a good idea, isn't it? I will try making friends online and try to do much more
conversation in Japanese.

Tanaka: By the way, who is slacking off on (their) studies?

Alice: What? That is umm...
Unintended Actions
Sometimes we do things that we didn't mean to and there are a couple ways we can express
actions that we did not intend to take.
We can use the noun for intention to express what was or wasn't intended.
Example
1. - intention; plan
2. - afterwards
3. - shopping
5. (u-verb) - to go
6. - evening
9. - worry; concern
10. (u-verb) - to need
11. - teacher
1.
(I) intend on going to do shopping later.
2.
(I) don't intend on going out at night so (you) don't need (to) worry.
3.
(I) didn't intend on telling the teacher, you know.
You can have no intention using and as the last example sentence shows.
However, in order to describe something unintended (accidental), we need to use verb:
.
Using for unintended actions
The verb has two main definitions: 1) to finish; to do something completely and 2)
for something unintended to happen. The latter definition is used for situations when you did
something you didn't mean to do. To use this with other verbs, attach to the te-form
of the verb.
Example
1.
Oh no! (I) forgot to bring (my) homework!
2.
There's nothing you can do about something that already happened (unintentionally).
3.
(I) can't resist so (I) unintentionally end up buying (it).
Casual version of
In casual speech, the can be substituted by while
is substituted by . Both and conjugate just like
regular u-verbs.
Example
1.
(I) already ordered (oops) so what should (we) do?
2.
(I) called my girlfriend by my ex-girlfriend's name (by accident)!
3.
(I) can't forget something that I already learned (unintentionally) right?
There is also a much less common casual version of and that
sounds much more rough and coarse and is usually only used by older males. This version
replaces and with and
respectively. The result is conjugated the same as any u-verb.
Example
1.
Did (you) forget to contact (me) again?
2.
Sorry, (I) read your email (by accident).

Kaori: Nice to meet you! (You're a) student of Japanese, right? (I'm) called Kaori.

John: Ni, nice to meet. I'm John. Why did (you know) I'm (a) Japanese student?

Kaori: (I) happened to (unintentionally) see you taking Japanese class. How many years have
(you) been studying Japanese?

John: Um, about 2 years?

Kaori: (That's) amazing. (You) can talk this much even though (you've) only been studying 2
years?

John: No, (I) think I'm not that good yet...

(It's) not like that. (You) are really good. Things turned out so that I will help (the) Japanese
teacher from time to time while (I'm) here so let's get along (lit: please treat me well). Oh, class
is going to start soon (unintended). See you later.

Lee and Alice are walking in the hallway.

Lee: (I) hear Kaori-san is going to help our class's teacher?

Alice: That's right. (It) seems she wants to be helpful to everybody.

Lee: (She's) very kind, isn't she?

Alice: That's right. She's very kind to everybody so seems like boys will (unintentionally)
misinterpret (it) so (I'm) worried.

Lee: (It's) ok. That kind of type isn't in our class, right? Huh? John, what are (you) doing spacing
out in the hallway?

John: (I) may have met (an) angel.

Alice: Huh? What was that?
Conditional
There are four ways to express conditional in Japanese, each with a slightly different meaning
and used in different situations.
General Conditional
The most generic conditional without any assumptions or embedded meanings is the
conditional. The conjugation rules for the conditional is below.
Conjugation rules for
For verbs: change the last /u/ vowel sound to the /e/ vowel sound and append
Example
1. =
2. =
3. =
For i-adjectives and negatives ending in : drop the last and append

Example
1. =
2. =
3. =
For nouns and na-adjectives: append
Example
1.
2.
Example
1.
If (you) call early, (you) can make (a) reservation easily.
2.
If tomorrow is not busy, won't (you) to go to watch movie?
3.
If (he/she) is (a) nice person, (I) think (we) can become friends.
Past Conditional
The past conditional is created by adding to the past tense form of a verb, noun, or
adjective. The full form is but the is usually omitted.
This form can also used in the past tense to describe something that was unexpected instead of a
condition.
Past conditional conjugation rule
Change the noun, adjective, or verb to its past tense and append
Example
1. =
2. =
3. =
4. =
5. =
Example
1.
If (you) are busy today, let's meet tomorrow.
2.
If (you) didn't want to go, why did (you) say (you) wanted to go?
3.
When (I) returned home, (the) dog was scattering around (the) garbage.
Contextual conditional
The contextual conditional is used by appending to a noun, verb, or adjective.
The full form is but the is usually omitted.
This conditional is used to describe something in a given context. Often, there is no actual
conditional, ie "Well, if that's the case, then..." or "Given that..."
Contextual conditional usage rule
Append to the noun, verb, or adjective
Example
1. =
2. =
3. =
4. =
Example
1.
If everybody is saying (they) don't want to go, I won't go as well.
2.
If (you're) referring to Alice-chan, (she) went home already, you know.
3.
If (you're) referring to (the) story of (what) happened yesterday, (I) already heard from
Tanaka-san.
4.
If (you're) not busy, why can't you meet (me)?
Natural consequence
The natural conditional is used by appending for verbs and i-adjectives or for
nouns and na-adjectives.
This conditional is used to describe things that happen as a natural consequence with very high
certainty ie, "If you do X, Y will certainly happen." It can also be translated as "when" in
addition to "if".
Natural conditional usage rule
Append to the noun, verb, or adjective
Example
For nouns/na-adjectives: Append
Example
1. =
2. =
For verbs/i-adjectives and negatives ending in : Append
Example
1. =
2. =
3. =
Example
1.
If (we) don't go now starting now, (we) won't make the train.
2.
If he's free, (he) always plays game(s).
3.
If (you) eat that much, (you'll) get fat for sure.
Examples of different scenarios
It's not often obvious nor easy to explain when you would use one type of conditional over
another. The best way to master conditionals is by learning from many examples over time. To
help you get started, below are a few examples to illustrate some scenarios where some
conditionals are more appropriate then others. However, keep in mind, that no version is
necessarily incorrect as it can depend on the context and the message the speaker is trying to
convey.
- student
1.
If (you) are (a) student, (you) can use student discount.
(Generic conditional, no assumption whether you a student)
2.
If only (he/she) was (a) student of here, (I) would be able to meet again soon.
(Same as generic conditional but used for the past tense)
3.
If (he/she) is a student, (I) thought (he/she) would study more but (he/she) doesn't at all.
(He/she is a student, ie "since he is a student...")
4.
If (you) are (a) student, ramen here is 400 yen.
(Stating a fact)
- busy
1.
If (you're) not busy, let's go see (a) movie.
(Generic conditional with no assumption of whether you're busy or not)
2.
If (you're) that busy, why (did you) take a nap?
(Same as generic conditional but used for the past tense)
3.
If (you're) that busy, let's talk tomorrow.
(It's known that the person is busy ie "given that you're busy...")
4.
If (I) become busy with work, (I) always want to eat junk food.
(Predetermined outcome, ie "when busy...")
- understand
1.
If (you) understand (the) formula, (the) test is simple.
(Generic conditional that can be applied to anybody)
2.
If (I) know the time and place, (I'll) send email to everybody.
(Used to express what happens after, ie "once (I) know...")
3.
If (you) don't understand my feeling(s), there is no need to talk anymore.
(The person doesn't seem to understand, ie "since you don't understand...")
4.
If (you) don't know (the) phone number, (you) can't contact (him/her/them), right?
(Expressing almost 100% certainty)
Phrasing questions
When we want to talk about a question in a larger sentence, we can treat the sentence as a phrase
by using the question marker.
Example
1.
Do (you) know when Tanaka-san is coming?
2.
(I'm) agonizing whether I should go to Japan next year for study abroad.
When it's a yes/no question, you can append an optional to represent the other
choice.
Example
1. - to be troubled over something, to agonize over a decision
2. - study abroad
1.
Do (you) know whether Tanaka-san is coming tomorrow or not?
2.
(I'm) agonizing whether I should go to Japan next year for study abroad or not.
3.
Whether (I) want to go to Japan or not, (I) don't know.

Comic 12 -
2. - girlfriend
3. - both sides
4. - meaning
6. (na-adj) - too much, unnecessary, excess
7. (i-adj) confusing, misleading
8. - context
9. - general; substantially
11. - besides; moreover
12. - which (way)
13. - other party
15. - confirmation
18. - that sort of
19. - question
20. - short for (informal)
21. - eventually; in the end
she

John: holds both meaning of "she" and "girlfriend" so (it's) unnecessarily confusing.

Alice: Wouldn't (you) mostly understand by context? Moreover, if (you) don't understand, (you)
can confirm by asking the other (person) which (it is), right?

John: That's so, isn't it? If (I) ask is she/girlfriend she/girlfriend, (I) will understand, won't (I)?

Alice: By that kind of question, (you) won't know which is which in the end, right?
In this chapter, we learned how to deal with uncertainty in various ways. I'm sure we can all
think of many situations where things are not 100% certain. Common scenarios include talking
about the weather, news, and the future.
Below is a list of sample topics you can write about or discuss with your conversation partner
(either in casual or polite form as appropriate).
1.
How many languages can (you) speak?
2.
Is there something (you) would like to try doing before (you) die.
3.
Something very embarrassing (you) did inadvertently.
4.
What would (you) do if (you) were a millionaire?
5.
If (you) could grant any one wish, what (would you) wish for?
Distinguishing similar grammar
In this chapter, we learned many different ways to say similar things. In teaching, it's convenient
to group similar concepts and cover them together. However, when it comes time to use them in
practice, it can create confusion as learners try to decide which grammar to use and get caught up
in trying to find the difference between similar concepts.
Let's take a look at some examples and why one grammar is more appropriate over others in
various situations. It's important to keep in mind that there is often no one right answer as it
really depends on what you want to say exactly.
Like, it's not like I like it like that
"Like" is a word in English that has many usages and can even be overused. With words like
this, it's natural that other languages have many different types of grammar that all translate to
the same word in English. Therefore, we need to learn to make distinctions that we usually don't
think about.
Is it an impression of the future or guess (with some uncertainty)? Use .
1.
This looks tasty! (haven't tasted yet)
2.
It doesn't seem to be here but (I'll) look one more time. (guessing)
3.
Seems like fun (impression). I wonder if I should go too?
Is it based on hearsay? Use or . Use the former if it's an
impression based on general hearsay and the latter if heard from a specific person.
1.
(I) heard (in general) that that store is pretty cheap.
2.
(I) heard (from someone) that yesterday was very rough.
Is it resembling behavior ie "acting like a..." or trigger an emotion? Use .
1.
What's the matter? (It's) not like you. (behavior).
2.
That dress is very cute! (triggers feeling of cuteness)
Is it a resemblance in appearance or manner? Use , (polite/formal),
or (slang). This is also more generic and can be in other situations without
the connotations of other grammar.
1.
Looks like tomorrow is rain.
2.
It appears our team is having a hard fight so what should (we) do?
3.
Don't those clothes look a bit manly?
Are you trying hard enough?
We learned several grammar that all mean "try" but with difference nuances such as "try" vs
"attempt". While they are often interchangeable, the difference is mostly due to how much effort
is exerted.
Is it a light effort, experimentation, or just trying something new? Use te-form
.
1.
I'll give it a shot.
2.
Try eating this. It's tasty!
3.
Try opening the door.
Is it an attempt with concerted effort or setting about to do something (just before
actually starting)? Use volitional +
1.
Attempted to open the door (such as forcing it open).
2.
When (I) set out to talk to him/her, (the) phone suddenly rang.
Is it a goal or an attempt to reach a certain state such as behavior? Use

1.
Try not to make a big sound, ok?
2.

Lately, (I've) been trying to be more social but (I'm) bad at conversation and (it's)
pretty hard.
In that case, when and/or if then...
The conditionals are extremely tricky because of the 4 different types and all the various
conjugations. We already looked at some examples using various scenarios. To further simplify
things, let's start by looking at the conditionals that are most distinctive and easy to separate.
Is it a supposition ie, "if that's the case..."? Use . is very
formal so usually just .
1.
Well in that case, (I) guess (it) can't be helped.
Is it a natural consequence ie, "when not if"? Use . Also, casual speech often uses
just because it's the shortest.
1.
If you mean (the) supermarket, if (you) turn right at that corner, (it's) right there.
2.
With no glasses, (you) can't see anything, right?
Did it already happen? Use . is very formal so usually just
.
1.
When (I) woke up this morning, (a) pimple was attached to (my) face.
Is it a generic "if" statement? Use . These are usually pretty
interchangeable though there are some very slight differences.
1.
If (I) have more money, (I) could buy various things I want.
2.
If (I) had more money, (I) could buy various things I want.
Optional and required
In this chapter, we will learn how to talk about things that one may or may not have to do. This
includes asking for favors, making requests and suggestions, and the various command forms.
Consequences
Things of no consequence
The expressions "even if", "regardless", or "no matter" are used when something is of no
consequence to something else. In Japanese, the same notion is expressed by combining the te-
form with the inclusive particle.
Example
1. - Tokyo
2. - where
3. (u-verb) - to go
4. - very
5. (u-verb) - to become crowded
6. - mood; intent
8. - how many number of times
10. - answer
11. - same
12. - college
13. (i-adj) - good
14. - job
15. (u-verb) - to be found
16. - this abbr. of
17. - part-time job
18. - student
1.
As for Tokyo, (it) feels like it's crowded wherever (you) go.
2.
Answer is the same no matter how many times (you) ask.
3.
Will (I) find (a) good job even if (I) don't go to college?
4.
Can (I) do this part-time job even if (I'm a) student?
Asking for permission
We can also ask for or grant permission by saying it's ok or fine even if we do a certain action
using the same grammar.
Example
1.
Is it fine even if (I) go to the toilet?
2.
Older sister said it's fine to eat (it).
3.
Even if it's late, it's fine until next week.
4.
As for identification, it is ok even if it's (a) student id?
Things we don't have to do
If we say it's ok or fine even if we don't do something by using the negative form, it means we
don't have to do it.
Example
1.
Don't have to do anything.
lit: (It's) good even if (you) do nothing.
2.
Tomorrow is (a) holiday, so (you) don't have to come, you know.
lit: Because tomorrow is (a) holiday, (it's) ok even if (you) don't come.
Required actions
We learned how to say we don't have to do something in the last section but we did not cover
how to talk about things that have to be done. Because of the way it's phrased in Japanese, the
grammar for saying something has to be done is completely different than the grammar for
saying something doesn't have to be done.
First, let's look at how to express something that one must not do.
Things that one must not do
Things that one must not do are expressed by using one of the three words:
and . These are all negative expressions (the first two is actually using
the negative form) meaning that something won't do or is no good. Conjugating these
expressions are simple if we know where they originate from.
1. (ru-verb) - can work; can make it; lit: can go potential form of
3. (na-adj) - no good
While we can use and by themselves as shown in the examples below
cannot be used by itself.
Example
1.
Is using cell phone here bad?
2.
That's wrong/bad/no good.
3.
Telling (your) parents is what was no good.
We can use either of the three words with verbs to say that action is no good or in essence, "one
must not do the action" by using the following rule.
How to say: Must not [verb]
Take the te-form of the verb, add the (wa) particle and then attach either
or .
Example
1.
=
2.
=
3.
=
Example
1.
Men must not enter here, you know.
2.
People who drank alcohol must not drive cars.
3.
(You) must not teach students bad words, you know.
Things that must be done
In order to say that something must be done, we say not doing something is bad by using the
previous grammar we just learned but with negative verbs. You can also use two of the
conditionals we learned in the last chapter. This grammar may be a bit confusing at first because
we need to use double negatives to say one must do something.
How to say: Must [verb]
1. Negative te-form + (wa) particle +
2. Negative verb + (conditional) +
3. Negative verb + conditional +

art by Josh Khoo
Comic 13
1. - teacher
2. - toilet; bathroom
3. - to go
4. (i-adj) - good
5. - again
6. (na-adj) - no good
7. (na-adj) - futile
8. (i-adj) - short
9. - interval (between)
10. (n) - homework

John: Teacher, can (I) go to the bathroom?

Teacher: (You) have to go again?

Alice: (It's) useless, you know. (You) can't do something like homework in (the) short interval of
going to the bathroom.
Example
1.
(You) have to take this medicine 3 times a day.
2.
(I) have to do homework by tomorrow.
3.
Even though (it's) still early, do (you) have to go home?
Casual variatons
There are a couple of casual variations of the grammar we just learned listed below.
Casual shortcuts for required actions
1. Replace with
2. Replace with
Example
1.
Men must not enter here, you know.
2.
Even though (it's) still early, do (you) have to go home?
Things can get quite lengthy with the double negative required to describe an action that must be
done. When using the casual variations with the negative, you can also omit the
part of the grammar. This also applies to the conditional.
Example
1.
(I) have to study more.
2.
(I) have to do homework by tomorrow.
3. .
(I) have to go home already.
Giving and receiving
Giving and receiving whether it's objects or favors is a bit more complicated in Japanese because
you need to be aware of the social status between the giver and the receiver. Basically, there are
two words for giving and one word for receiving listed below.
Vocabulary
1. (ru-verb) - to give; to raise
2. (ru-verb) - to give
3. (u-verb) - to receive
In this section, we'll look at examples of when to use which words for giving and receiving.
Using to give "upwards"
The word , which also means to "raise" is used when giving upwards to a person of a
higher social status. The important thing to remember is that the speaker is always below
everybody else. As a result, when the speaker is giving something to somebody else, he/she must
always use . In other words, when you, yourself, is giving something, you must
always use .
Example
1.
(I'll) give this to (you).
2.
I gave (my) younger brother (the) present yesterday, you know.
3.
I bought (the) drink so (I'm) not going to give it (to you).
Using to give "downwards"
The word is used to give downwards to a person of a lower social status. Once
again, because the speaker is at the bottom, everything given to the speaker will always use
. In other words, everything given to you must be expressed with .
Example
1.
(Are you) giving that to (me)?
2.
(My) boyfriend didn't give my anything on my birthday!
3.
Can (you) give (me) a little more time?
Using to receive
There is only one word for receiving something so you don't have to worry about which one to
use.
Example
1.
(I) received (a) ticket from friend.
2.
Because (I'm) already (a) high school student, (I) couldn't receive (the) New Year's gift.
Comic 13 -
White Day is a holiday a month after Valentine's day where men who received chocolate are
expected to return the favor by giving gifts.

art by Josh Khoo
1. - tomorrow
2. - Valentine's (Day)
3. - what
4. - chocolate
5. (ru-verb) - to give; to raise
6. - duty; obligation
7. (ru-verb) - to give
8. (u-verb) - to receive
9. (i-adj) - happy
10. - no (casual)
11. (adv) - 1) not at all (negative), 2) entirely, completely
12. - so
13. - White Day
14. (i-adj) - lovely; splendid
15. - return gift; return favor
16. - enjoyment, pleasure
17. (exp) - to look forward to
18. - a little
19. (u-verb) - to wait

John: Tomorrow is Valentine, isn't it?

Alice: So? (I'm) won't give (you) chocolate.

John: Not even obligatory chocolate?

Alice: (You) won't be happy to get (an) obligatory chocolate, right?

John: No, (I'll) be totally happy, you know?

Alice: Is that so? Ok, (I) will be looking forward to (a) splendid return gift on White Day, then.

John: Huh? Wait a moment. What's White Day?
Choosing the right words for giving and receiving
Choosing the right words for giving and receiving can be a bit confusing at first so lets look at a
few ways to help you decide which word to use for giving and receiving.
Deciding between giving and receiving
In English, giving and receiving is simply a difference of viewpoint. For example, "I received a
present from John" means practically the same thing as "John gave me a present" The same
applies for Japanese as shown in the examples below.
1.
(I) received (favor) of buying present from John.
2.
John gave (me) favor of buying present.
Translated to English, both sentences essentially mean "John bought present for me". While the
viewpoint is reversed, essentially they are saying the same thing.
We don't have to worry about which word to use for receiving because there is only one. So let's
look at how to decide which word to use for giving.
Giving from the speaker's point of view
The easiest and most common scenario is when you, yourself is the one giving or receiving. As
previously mentioned, because the speaker is always at the bottom, he/she will always use
to give to others and when others give to the speaker.
1.
Are (you) giving (it) to me?
2.
I'm giving (it) to you?
Using the same logic, it's safe to say the following will always be incorrect regardless of the
social status of the other person.
1.
2.
Giving from 3rd person's point of view
The only scenario left is when both the giver and receiver is different from the speaker. This is
the only ambiguous scenario where either or can be used. Basically,
the speaker must choose which viewpoint he/she wants to look at the situation from.
For example, let's say you wanted to know if gave a present. If you were asking
, you would use because you are looking at it from 's perspective as
the giver.
Asking
If you were asking , you would use because you are looking at it from
's perspective as the receiver.
Asking
In summary, deciding which word to use in this scenario can be described in two steps.
1. Pick a perspective either as the giver or receiver
2. Use if from giver's perspective or if from receiver's perspective
(same as if you were the giver)
Doing favors for others
We can use the three words in we just learned for giving and receiving with other verbs to
express giving and receiving the favor of doing an action. This construction is used to make
requests and do things for others.
Giving and receiving favors
In order to use one of the three words we learned for giving and receiving with another verb, first
change the verb to the te-form and then by attach the word for giving or receiving to the end of
the verb.
Example
1.
(I'm) not smart so (the) teacher explained (it) specially for me.
2.
(I) don't have money so will (you) treat me to lunch for me?
3.
If (you) want this, (I will) buy (it) for you, you know.
4.
(I'm) in the middle of something now so can you call (me) later?
Requesting to not do something
In order to express the negative, ie to give the favor of not doing the action, change the verb to
the negative, attach , then the word for giving or receiving.
Example
1.
Can you not say strange thing(s) all of a sudden?
2.
(I'm) studying so can you not do noisily for me?
3.
This month's family finance is tight so can (I) receive favor of not using money for a
while?
Making firm requests
While we learned how to ask for favors in the last section, in this section we'll learn various ways
to make firmer requests in the form of a statement.
Using to request something
is a polite way to make a firm request for something. It can also be
used with the te-form of a verb to request an action. It can be written in either Kanji or Hiragana
though it's more common to use Hiragana when combined with a verb.
Example
1.
Please give me that pen.
2.
Please use that pen.
Negative verb with
In order to ask to not do something, take the negative of the word, attach , then attach
similar to the rule we learned in the last section.
Example
1.
Please don't use (a) pen.
2.
(I'm) changing so please don't come in.
Casual version of
is a polite expression so in order to say the same thing for casual situation, we
can simply drop entirely.
1.
Please use that pen.
2.
Please don't use (a) pen.
Using for casual requests
can be used instead of for casual speech. While
can be used by anyone, it does have a slight feminine and childish nuance.
Example
1.
Give me that pen.
2.
Use that pen.
Making suggestions
We just learned various ways to make a request. Now, we are going to look at some ways to
make suggestions or recommendations.
How about it?
The simplest way to make a suggestion is by using the word "how": . We already
learned the grammar we need to do this with the particle.
Example
1.
How about meeting at 5:00?
2.
How about trying to confer with (the) teacher?
Another very similar pattern is to use the conditional to ask, "how about if".
Example
1.
How about if (we) meet at 5:00?
2.
How about if (you) try to confer with (the) teacher.
It's better to do this
Another option is to use a comparison to say it's better to do one thing versus the
alternative. Using the past tense of the verb in this pattern makes the suggestion more particular
to the situation at hand and hence makes it sound a bit stronger.
Example
1.
It's better (for you) to go to hospital. (You should go to the hospital.)
2.
It's better to go to hospital.
3.
(My) knee hurts but is (it) better to go to the hospital?
Asking for suggestions
We just learned how to ask if it's better to do one thing by using a comparison with .
We can also ask for suggestions on what to do by using the conditional and as shown
in the examples below.
Example
1.
I should go at 9 o'clock?
lit: If (I) go at 9 o'clock, is (it) good?
2.
What should (I) do?
lit: If (I) do how, will (it) be good?
3.
What should (I) start listening from for Jazz?
lit: As for Jazz, if (I) start listening from what, is (it) good?
Causative and passive verbs
Causative Verb Form
The causative form gets its name because it causes something to happen either by making or
letting somebody do the action. While it may seem odd to have the exact same verb form for two
very different uses, we'll find that it's not hard to tell which is intended when given the proper
context. Below are the rules for conjugation a verb to the causative form. All verbs in the
causative form are ru-verbs.
Rules for causative form conjugation
For ru-verbs: Replace the last with .
Example
1. =
2. =
For u-verbs: Change the last character as you would for negative verbs but attach
instead of .
Example
1. =
2. =
3. =
Exceptions:
1.
2.
Example
1.
Let me do it too.
2.
Don't make me surprised. (Don't scare me.)
3.
(It's) not good to forcibly make (someone) drink alcohol, huh?
4.
(You're) were already here? Sorry (I) made (you) wait.
Passive Verb Form
The passive form is used to change the verb into a passive voice. A verb in the passive form is
always a ru-verb. The conjugation rule for ru-verbs is the same as the rule for potential form.
However, it's not really hard to tell them apart given enough context.
Rules for passive form conjugation
For ru-verbs: Replace the last with .
Example
1. =
2. =
For u-verbs: Change the last character as you would for negative verbs but attach
instead of .
Example
1. =
2. =
3. =
Exceptions:
1.
2.
Example
1.
If (my) older sister finds out, (I) don't know what will be done (to me).
2.
(I) don't want to be thought of as (a) strange person.
3.
Doesn't it feel like (we're) being watch by someone from just a while ago?
4.
Even if I'm told, "Don't go", (it's a) promise so (I) have to go, you know.
Making commands
In this section, we will learn the command form, which as the name suggests, is used to issue
commands to others.
Using for polite command
is the "polite" way to tell others what to do. It's used by attaching to
the verb stem.
It's polite grammatically but it doesn't change the fact that you're ordering others around, which
is not very polite generally. It's most commonly used by parents or other authority figures toward
children.
Example
1.
Hurry up and prepare to go out.
2.
Please properly keep the promised time.
In casual speech, the can also be shortened to just
Example
1.
Hurry up and prepare to go out.
2.
Please properly keep the promised time.
Wanting others to do something
We can use the i-adjective , which means "desired" or "wanted" with verbs to say
you want somebody to do something. This is done by first conjugating the verb to the te-form,
then attaching or to the end of the verb. The result remains an i-
adjective.
Examples
1.
(I) want (you) to go to (the) post office but (is it) ok?
2.

(I) don't really understand what (you are) saying so please tell me what (you) want (me)
to do clearly.
Command Form
This command form is quite rude so you should use it with caution (if at all). As we learned just
in this chapter, there are many other more polite ways to make a request.
Command form conjugation rules
1. For ru-verbs: Replace the last with
Example: + =
2. For u-verbs: Replace the last u-vowel sound with the e-vowel equivalent
Example: + =
3. Exceptions:
1.
2.
3. (exception for this conjugation only, not an exception verb)
Negative Command
In order to command others to not do an action, simply attach to the end of the verb.
Examples
1.
(It's a) secret so don't tell anybody.
2.
Don't do something unnecessary.
Do NOT confuse this negative command with the shortened form of we just
learned. The latter is using the stem of the verb while the negative command uses just the
dictionary form.
1.
Eat this.
2.
Don't eat this.
1.
Sit here.
2.
Don't sit here.
In this chapter, we covered may different ways to express various levels of necessity in our
actions. We can now talk about required and optional activities, ask for permission, make
requests, and more. This is useful for navigating through the rules and manners of society,
especially one with a very different culture like Japan. Another common application of what we
learned in this chapter is to talk about your duties and responsibilities either at work, home, or
school.
We also learned how to give and receive things or favors. This is particularly useful for talking
about gift-giving and getting assistance on various things. In particular, the section on making
suggestions will allow you to ask for advice on how to best way to do things such as studying
Japanese.
Below are a list of sample topics you can write about or discuss with your conversation partner
(either in casual or polite form as appropriate).
1.
What kind of things do you have to do at work or school?
2.
How (do you) think (I) should study Japanese?
3.
At what kind of times do (you) receive or give presents in one's own country?
Other useful expressions
In this chapter, we're going to learn explore other useful expressions and grammar for various
situations. In addition, we are also going to get a lot more reading and writing practice to expand
our power of expression.
Common patterns in slang
Casual speech patterns and slang in any language is rich, diverse, and constantly evolving so it's
difficult to really pin down "rules" on how to learn it. It's best to pick it up by ear as you gain
experience with conversation practice. For the beginner however, it can be quite confusing to
read or hear slang that can't be found in the dictionary.
In this section, we'll take a look at some patterns in order to understand many common types of
slang.
Using vs for questions
One common area of confusion is whether to use or to ask questions in casual
speech. Previously, we learned that is used to ask for or give additional explanation. This
is the same for both polite and casual speech.
Example
1.
Do (you) have time from now?
2.
Do (you) have time from now?
1.
(Why do) you have time from now?
2.
(Why do) you have time from now?
on the other hand, is very different when used in casual speech from what we're used to
in polite speech. It's often used to either confirm something, make a rhetorical question, or show
disbelief or doubt. In order words, it's rarely a real question at all. It's also more masculine in
tone.
Example
1.
Like I would know that kind of thing!
2.
Is it really ok with this?
3.
Ah well, whatever, (it's) fine.
4.
It's already late so shall (we) go home soon?
In conclusion, if you're actually trying to ask a question in casual speech, you'll want to either
use or just a rising intonation.
Shortening /r/ sounds to
Many sounds get shortened or slurred together in slang just like any other language. For
Japanese, the /r/ sounds in particular often get slurred into . This is definitely a useful
pattern to be aware of as it will make sense of a lot of words you wouldn't normally find in a
dictionary.
Other states using te-form
We learned how to express the progressive form by using the verb with the te-form of
the verb. In this section, we'll learn some other verbs we can use with the te-form to describe a
different kind of state.
Using to express an action already set
Using to prepare for the future
Using motion verbs with the te-from
Easy or difficult actions
We already know how to describe things as easy or difficult regular adjectives such as
or but in this section, we'll learn another way to describe an action as easy or
difficult.
Easy actions
To describe an action as easy, attach to the verb stem. The result is treated just like
an i-adjective.
Example
1.
This wine is easy to drink.
2.
Is this computer easy to use?
3.
Please explain in a easy to understand way.
Difficult actions
Similarly, to describe a difficult action, we can attach to the verb stem.
Example
1.
This textbook is (a) little hard to understand.
2.
(It's) ok even if (it's a) little expensive so (it's) better that (it's) hard to break.
3.
If (you) don't have (a) sharp steak knife, steak is hard to eat.
We can also use either or to express difficulty, which have the
following differences in nuance and usages.
1. is the most generic version.
2. , which comes from (painful), is more subjective.
3. is mostly limited to emotions and thoughts.
All three are attached to the verb stem and the result becomes just like an i-adjective.
Example
1.
(The) cellphone's screen is dark and hard to read.
2.
These shoes are cute but (it's) hard to walk so (I) don't wear (them) much.
3.
(It) may be hard to believe but (it's a story) that's true.
More amount expressions
We already learned some grammar dealing with amounts in chapter 5. In this section, we'll learn
some other useful expressions dealing with various amounts.
Expressing nothing but with
has many different usages some of which we'll cover later. For example, it can have
the same meaning as or . However, in conversational Japanese, it's often
used to describe an abundance ie, "it's nothing but...". It comes after a noun or adjective just like
a particle and the result becomes a noun.
Example
1.
Workplace is nothing but good people.
2.
If (you) do nothing but work, (you) will lose sight of important things.
3.
(I've) been eating nothing but meat lately so (I'm) trying to eat more vegetables.
In casual Japanese, it can also be shortened to just or .
Example
1.
Nothing but lies!
2.
Why is (your) address book nothing but girls?
Expressing degree with
is used to convert an adjective into a scale or degree. For example, changing the
adjective for "tall" to "height".
Rules for using with adjectives
The result becomes a regular noun.
I-adjectives: Replace the last with
Examples
1.
2.
Na-adjectives: Append to the end
Examples
1.
2.
Example
1.
What's the height of (the) tallest building in the world?
2.
If you compare the level of sensitivity of hearing of dogs to humans, it is far above.
3.
As for shoe(s), don't (you) think ease of walking is more important than looks?
Expressing an excess with
The particle can be used with an amount to describe something that's excessive.
Example
1.
(I) called you even three times yesterday!
2.
Once (I) went to America, (I) gained even 5 kilograms.
3.
(I) was made to wait even 30 minutes by that guy!
Using and together
The conditional and can be used together to express, "the more something, the
more something else." This is essential a fixed sentence pattern.
Using and to express "the more it is the more..."
Conjugate to the conditional, then repeat the phrase with
Examples
1.
The more fun it is the more...
2.
The easier it is the more...
3.
The more you look the more...
Example
1.
The more fun (it) is, the more it feels like time is passing quickly.
(lit: If (it's) fun, to the extent that (it's) fun, feels like time is passing quickly.)
2.
As for recipe(s), the easier (it) is, the better it is, isn't it?
(lit: If recipe is simple, to (the) extent that (it's) simple, (it's) better, isn't it?)
3.
The more (I) look, the more beautiful (she is).
(lit: if (I) look, to the extend that (I) look, beautiful.)
Recent actions
In this section, we are going to learn some ways to express actions that just happened. While one
option is to use various adverbs such as , we will learn grammar that can be
applied to the verb.
Example
1. - just now
1.
(I) just arrived at the airport.
Expressing what just happened with
In the previous section, we learned one usage of with nouns and adjectives to
describe an abundance. We can also attach it to the end of the past tense of verbs to an action just
completed.
Using for actions just completed
Append to the past tense form of the verb. The result becomes a regular
noun.
Examples
1.
2.
3.
Example
1.
(I) just ate lunch so (I'm) full.
2.
Using words (I) just learned and practice conversation.
3.
(I) just bought it, despite that (it's) already broken, how unbelievable.
4.
(I) just moved so (I) don't know what's where at all.
Same as the previous section, can be shortened to or
for casual conversations here as well.
Example
1.
(You) just started going out and (you) already split up?
2.
I just got back home now.
Inaction
In this section, we'll learn ways to describe situations where things don't happen.
Express "without doing" with
We learned how to chain sequences of events using the te-form of the verb a few chapters back
so we already know how to say, "I didn't do this and that." However, it is not the same as saying,
"I did this without doing that." For the latter, we need to use a different grammar.
Using to express "without doing"
Append to the negative form of the verb
Examples
1.
2.
3.
Example
1.
Are (you) going to sleep without brushing (your) teeth?
2.
Is there (a) method where (it) can be done without paying (the) handling charge?
3.
(I) wonder what that person is doing every day, without even working?
You may have noticed we already used this form when we learned how to ask other to not do
something. This is the more generic usage of the same conjugation.
1.
Can you not eat that?
lit: Can you give (me the favor) without eating that?
2.
Please don't eat that.
lit: Please give (me the favor) without eating that.
3.
Went out without eating anything.
Express "without doing" with
is another type of negative form of the verbs used mostly for more formal contexts and
some expressions. It's also often used with the target particle to express the same thing as
we just learned. The conjugation rule is mostly the same as the regular negative
form except is attached at the end instead of . However, unlike the regular
negative form, there is no exception for as it follows the same rule as all other u-verbs
and becomes .
Rules for conjugating to negative
1. For ru-verbs: Replace the last with
Example: + =
2. For u-verbs that end in : Replace with and attach
Example: + + =
3. For all other u-verbs: Replace the u-vowel sound with the a-vowel equivalent and
attach
Example: + =
4. Exceptions:
1.
2.
Example
1.
To think (he) went home without saying anything, (it's) rude, isn't it?
2.
Is there (a) way to get by without paying (the) processing fee?
3.
(I) can't help but check (my) email again and again in (a) day.
lit: (I) can't exist without checking email numerous times in (a) day.
Expressing a lack of change
is a noun used to express leaving something as is without making any changes.
Example
1.
Is it fine just like this?
2.
What happens if (you) sleep with contacts left on?
3.
Yumiko-chan, (you're) fine like that (just the way you are).
Making your case
Using to reach a conclusion
Expressing a hypothetical

Expressing "supposed to"
Using to describe an expectation
Using to describe actions one should do
Trends and signs

Formal language
In this chapter, we will learn how to use formal language including honorific and humble
language.
Honorific and Humble Forms
Formal expressions
Expressing feasibility
Formal Volitional

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