Japanese Basic Grammar

Now that I have the kana charts up, I thought I should quickly cover some important grammar points next. Note: you should have already (at least) looked at the kana charts, and you should be pretty good with pronounciation. Also, try to read this entire document, it's not really very good for just reference.

NOTE: This page uses Japanese text as well as romaji. If you haven't learned Hiragana or Katakana, I recommend learning them first, but if you haven't, you can read the romaji. I don't recommend learning Japanese using romaji, though, it makes it strange to learn Japanese vocab later once you've learned kana. If you don't plan on learning kana... why bother learning Japanese? Anyway, another reason I included the romaji is in case your Browser doesn't support Japanese text. If it doesn't, then stuff like this: ���� will look like this: �*�Eam;%#. If you're using Microsoft Internet Explorer, click on View, then select Encoding, then on More, then on Japanese Auto-Select. Don't do EUC or Shift-JIS, it'll make it look all funky. If you're using a different browser, try what you can to change the text encoding, or try downloading a free trial of NJ Star CJK Viewer.

- Basic Sentance Structure and Particles -

The subject of a Japanese sentance is marked by the character �� (wa). Sometimes, it is also marked by the character �� (ga) instead. Also note that though the symbol is for hiragana "ha," it is pronounced like "wa," and is written as "wa" in romaji.

The verb of a Japanese sentance always comes last, unless it is followed by a question / agreement particle. One of the most basic verbs is ��� (desu) which basically means "is." Note that this is pronounced like "dess" in normal speech. Another useful word that you should definitely know is ���� (watashi). If you take my name (Nesan) and throw that all together, you can make the following sentance: �����@�l�[�T���@���B (Watashi wa Nesan desu). This sentance is translated as "I am Nathan." You can replace "Nesan" with any other name or adjective to describe yourself, and you can replace "watashi" with anyone else's name or another pronoun to describe something else: ������@�����@���B (sensei wa tensai desu) which means "The teacher is a genius."

To make a question, all you have to do is add �� (ka) to the end of the sentance: ������@�l�[�T���@����B(anata wa Nesan desu ka). "Anata" is the pronoun for "you," though it isn't used as much as it is in English. This sentance means "Are you Nathan?" If you simply remove the �� (ka), it becomes "You are Nathan." Another ending particle that you should know is �� (ne). It is used to look for agreement from the listener, like "isn't it?" or "don't you think?" or "right?" depending on the situation:

������@�l�T���@����B(anata wa Nesan desu ne) - You're Nathan, right?
�����@����B(kawaii desu ne) - It's cute, isn't it?

Another useful particle is the �� (no) particle. It is used to show possession: ����@�����@�Q�[���@�{�C�@����I (kore wa watashi no Geemu Boi desu yo!) FYI, "kore" means "this," but only as a pronoun. Also notice the �� (yo) at the end. This is similar to an exclaimation mark: "This is my Game Boy!" You can also remove �Q�[���@�{�C (Geemu Boi) and the sentance becomes "This is mine!" You can also use �� (no) to state your name: �����@������@�l�[�T���@���B(watashi no o-namae wa Nesan desu). The Japanese word for name is ���� (namae), and the �� (o) can be added to make it more polite and formal. �� (o) can also be added to many other things such as the weather (�����, o-tenki) money (����, o-kane) and Sumo (����, o-sumo). For Sumo, the �� (o) makes it more like "Great Sumo" instead of just Sumo in formal Japanese. I won't go into formal Japanese a whole lot, since informal Japanese tends to be used much more in Video Games, but it's a good idea to know it.

- Adjectives -

There are two and a half types of adjectives in Japanese: i-adjectives, na-adjectives, and irregular adjectives. I-adjectives (pronounced like "ee") are slightly more common, and suprisingly all end with the hiragana character i. Some examples are: ����� (kawaii, cute) ����� (oishii, yummy) ����� (ookii, big) ����� (chiisai, small) ����� (atsui, hot) ������ (abunai, dangerous) etc. The way they are conjugated is as follows:

  POSITIVE NEGATIVE
PRESENT -�� / -i -���� / -kunai
PAST -���� / -katta -������ / -kunakatta

As you can see, the negative form is also classified as an ��/i-adjective, since it ends with �� / i. Therefore, to make it past tense, you drop the final i and replace it with ���� / katta. Some examples:

������� / kawaikunai - not cute (notice it drops only the final �� / i)
������� / oishikunai - not yummy (notice it drops only one �� / i, not the i in shi)
������� / atsukatta - was hot
���������� / abunakunakatta - wasn't dangerous

Notice that in Japanese, the adjectives are conjugated instead of the verbs. In English we would say "It was yummy," while in Japanese it's more like "It is yummywas." The verb (desu) doesn't normally change, so in Japanese, it would be ������@�������@��� / "Tabemono wa oishikunai desu," which means "The food isn't yummy." Another thing to note is that to say "Looks yummy" or whatever, you drop the �� / i and add ��� / sou: ����I����I�@������@������@����I "Waa! Sugoi! Tabemono wa oishisou desu yo!" which means "Woah! Great! The food looks yummy!" And also, do not make the same mistake that my Japanese teacher made: ������ (kawaisou) does not mean "looks cute," it means "pitiful, pathetic." Instead, just use ����� / kawaii to describe cute things, since "Looks cute" and "Is cute" basically mean the same thing in English, and the same goes for Japanese. Also, to turn an i-adjective into a noun, like if you wanted to say "cuteness," drop the i and replace it with sa:

����� / kawaisa (cuteness)
����� / oishisa (yummyness)
����� / atsusa (hotness)
����� / ookisa (bigness).

By the way: don't be like Jason, the guy in my Japanese class who likes to make up the STRANGEST Japanese sentances: �������@�g�C����@������� / "Boku no oto de toire o kowashimashta" - I broke the toilet with my sound. ����@������@����� / "Boku wa ookisa o tabemasu." - I eat bigness. No sense at all. Don't be like Jason. P>Na-adjectives are a bit stranger. They are used for adjectives that do not end in i, so a na is added after them. Na is considered to be a particle, as far as I know. Some examples: ���� / iya na (horrible), ���� / hen na (strange), ���� / baka na (foolish), ����� kirei na (pretty), etc. Notice the "���� / kirei" in there. What?!? Doesn't that end with i? Yes, but technically (don't ask why), it's classified as a na adjective. Also, if a foreign adjective is translated into Japanese, it's always a na adjective: ����@�Q�b�g��@���@��� / kore wa getto na isu desu - This chair is ghetto (note: I'm using ghetto there as an adjective, most High Schoolers do :-) FYI, I've actually used that sentance to describe a wobbly chair.... Also, if a na-adjective comes directly in front of ��� desu, it typically drops the na, especially in informal speech: ������@���@��� / "Kono hon wa iya desu" - this book is terrible. In fact, in really informal speech, desu is often dropped as well - ����@��� / "Hon wa iya!" - The book is horrible! There's not really any conjugation of na adjectives. The verb (desu) is conjugated instead: ����@���@�����@��� / "Kore wa hen ja nai desu." - This isn't strange. ������@����@�����@���� / "Anata wa baka na ja nai deshita." - You weren't foolish.

There are only one or two common irregular adjectives, and the only one that I can think of off the top of my head is ��� / "ii" which means "good, nice." It's classified as an i-adjective, but what's strange about it is that it also has an alternate form used in conjugation: ��� / yoi. Normally, without conjugating it, it's ��� / ii, like ������@���@��� / "Kono hon wa ii desu." - This book is good. But whenever it's conjugated, it's always ��� / yoi before conjugation: ������@�����@��� / "Kono hon wa yokunai desu." - This book is not good.

- Verbs -

As far as I know, every verb in Japanese ends with a character from the �� / u column: ��,��,��,��,��,��,��,��,��,��,��,�� and �� / u, ku, su, tsu, nu, fu, mu, yu, ru, gu, zu, bu, or pu. Verbs in this form are referred to as being in "dictionary form" or in "Base 3" form: ���� / taberu (eat) ��� / nomu (drink) ��� / iku (go) ��� / suru (do) ��� / miru (look, see, watch) ���� / aru (exist, inanimate) ��� / iru (exist, animate). Whenever you look up a verb in a dictionary, it will be listed in dictionary form. This is the lowest and simplest form of a verb in Japanese. It's also used in informal Japanese: "Watashi wa taberu" - I will eat. Notice that this can be translated literally as "I eat," but there's no distiction between present and future in Japanese (well, technically there's a present form, but we'll get there). To add a direct object to the sentance, put the object after the subject and add an �� / o (that strange hiragana wo character) after it: �����@�����P�[�L ��@���� / "Watashi wa oishii keeki o taberu." - I eat yummy cake.

The next base (base 2) is a bit difficult. If the character directly before the �� / u character is from the �� / i or �� / e column, the �� / u character is dropped: ��� / tabe (eat) �� / mi (look, see, watch) �� / i (exist, animate). If not, then the final character (the �� / u character) is switched to the �� / i column: ��� / nomi (drink) ��� / iki (go) ���� / ari (exist, inanimate). Base 2 is generally not used on its own, but is used to form other bases. Also, verbs with an �� / i or �� / e character before the �� / u character are called "strong verbs." Other verbs are called "weak verbs." There are also two common verbs that are irregular: ��� / suru (do) is �� / shi in base 2, and ��� / kuru (come) is �� / ki in base 2.

The next base (��� / masu) is now easily formed using the base 2 form. This is also known as the ��� / masu base, since all verbs in ��� / masu form end with ��� / masu. Basically, all you have to do is add ��� / masu to the base 2 form. The ��� / masu form is quite important, especially in formal speech: ����� / tabemasu (eat) ����� / nomimasu (drink) ����� / ikimasu (go) ���� / shimasu (do) ���� / mimasu (look, see, watch) ������ / arimasu (exist, inanimate) ���� / imasu (exist, animate). To conjugate a masu verb, use the following:

  POSITIVE NEGATIVE
PRESENT -��� / -masu -���� / -masen
PAST -���� / -mashita -������� / -masen deshita

Be careful when pronouncing ��� / shita, especially in English speaking countries. In Japanese, it's usually pronounced without the �� / i, so it's more like "mashta." Anyway, some examples: �����@�s�U��@���������� / "Watashi wa piza o tabemasen deshta yo!" - I didn't eat the pizza! ����@������ / "Umi ni ikimashta." - I went to the beach.

Looks like it's time to cover some new particles. There are three particles in Japanese that are used for locations: ��, ��, and �� / ni, de, and e (for e, the hiragana �� / "he" symbol is used, but it's pronounced like �� / e). In general, it's safest to use �� / ni: ����@������@��������� / "Boku wa gakkou ni benkyo shimasu." - I study at school. I guess I need to explain that better: ��� / boku is an informal form of ���� / watashi used ONLY by men and boys. Girls, if you really really REALLY want to be feminine, you can use ����� / atashi, but it's not that common. ����� / Gakkou, as you should be able to guess, means "school." ��������� / Benkyo shimasu literally means "to do studying." You can see that ���� / shimasu, to do, is used. To turn a noun into a verb (or foreign verbs, like �_���X / dansu), just put the noun and then ���� / shimasu. ������ / benkyou means "study," so ��������� / benkyou shimasu literally means "do studying." Anyway, you can also use �� / ni for going somewhere: ����@������@������ / Boku wa gakkou ni ikimastha - I went to school. The other two particles, �� / de and �� / e, can be used for the same purposes respectively: �� / de can be used for location (����@������@��������� / Boku wa gakkou de benkyo shimasu, I study at school) and �� / e can be used for direction of travel (����@������@������ / Boku wa gakkou e ikimashta, I went to school). The particle �� / de also has other uses: it can mean "by means of" or "with" in English: ����@����@�����@���[������@����� / Boku wa itsumo ohashi de ramen o tabemasu - I always eat ramen with chopsticks. ����@�����@�t�H�[�L��@���[������@������� / Boku wa zenzen fooki de ramen o tabemasen yo! - I never eat ramen with a fork! What's really gonna bake your noodle is a combination of both �� / de and �� / e: ����@�o�X��@������@����� / Boku wa basu de gakkou e ikimasu - I go to school by bus. It's simple if you break it down: boku wa (I) basu de (by bus) gakkou e (to school) ikimasu (go).

- TE forms of verbs and uses of TE form -

You can't do a whole lot of cool Japanese sentances without using the -te form of verbs. It's a little complicated, but it's very important to learn how to turn a verb into its -te form. For strong verbs, you simply drop the final �� / ru and replace it with a �� / te: ���� / taberu becomes ���� / tabete, ��� / miru becomse ��� / mite. Weak verbs, however, are a bit tougher:

 Final u syllable   Replaced by   Example 
�� / u ��� / tte ��� / kau becomes ���� / katte
�� / tsu ��� / tte ��� / tatsu becomes ���� / tatte
�� / ru ��� / tte ���� / tsukuru becomes ����� / tsukutte
�� / ku ��� / ite ��� / kaku becomes ���� / kaite
�� / gu ��� / ide ���� / oyogu becomes ����� / oyoide
�� / su ��� / shite ��� / dasu becomes ���� / dashite
�� / nu ��� / nde ��� / shinu becomes ���� / shinde
�� / mu ��� / nde ��� / nomu becomes ���� / nonde
�� / bu ��� / nde ����� / asobu becomes ������ / asonde

Hopefully the te form doesn't scare you too much. It's not that bad once you get to know it. It's pretty darn useful, too. There are at least five important things you can do with the te form:

Requests

The te form can be used to ask someone to do something. To make it more formal, add ����� / kudasai: �������� / tabete kudasai (please eat) ������� / mite kudasai (please look/watch) �������� / shinde kudasai (please die) ���������� / asonde kudasai (please play). Not much else to say.

Compound Sentances

The te form can also be used to use two verbs in one sentance: �����A���� ����� ����A�o�X�� ������ ����� / mainichi, boku wa roku-ji ni okite, basu de gakkou e ikimasu - Every day (mainichi), I get up (okiru) at six o'clock (roku-ji) and go to school by bus. That's quite a doozy of a sentance. It's alright if you can't understand, just keep studying! Another thing to mention: if you need to conjugate the verb, only conjugate the final verb in the sentance, since te forms obviously can't be conjugated: ���A���� ���� �����A����@����A������@������ / demo (however, but), kinou (yesterday) boku wa nesugite (oversleep), hayaku (quickly) tabete, gakkou e ikimashita - However, yesterday I overslept, ate quickly, and went to school.

-ing Form

This kinda turns a verb into a noun: �P�[�L��@�����@���@��� / keeki o tabete wa dame desu - Eating cake is not allowed. ��� / dame literally means "no good," so it's basically like saying "Eating cake is no good." Of course, a more useful way of using this is to ask permission: �P�[�L��@�����@���@���� / keeki o tabete mo ii desu ka - Is it okay (lit. "good") to eat cake?

Am [verb]-ing

This is why Japanese does have a present tense and why the base 3 / masu form is used more for future tense or for habitual actions. To say that you are doing something, you turn the verb into te form and add the ��� / iru verb: ���A����@�R���s���E�^��@�E�F�u�T�C�g��@������� / ima, boku wa kompyuuta de uebusaito o tsukatte iru - Right now, I'm making a website on my computer (lit. by means of computer). Note that this is informal. A lot of video games use informal speech, like when Ash plays the Super Famicon in Pokemon: �l�[�T����@�X�[�p�[�t�@�~�R����@���� / Nesan wa Suupaa Famikon o shite ru - Nathan is playing the Super Nintendo. The �� is often dropped in this form, probably because it's not very noticeable when speaking quickly. Anyway, by now, I've given two examples of informal sentances. I think it's time to give some formal examples: ���@�����@��{���@������ ������ / ima watashi wa nihongo o benkyou shite imasu - Right now, I'm studying Japanese. The �� before the ��� can also be dropped if you feel like it. Also, if you want to conjugate the sentance, like if you want to say "I was studying," you would conjugate the ��� / iru verb: �����@������@���@����� / watashi wa benkyou shite imashita - I was studying.

Asking / Giving / Not giving permission

To ask if you may do something, use the form [verb]���@���@���� / [verb]te mo ii desu ka? This basically means "Is [verb]ing good?" but it implies "Is it okay to [verb]?" To give permission, simply drop the �� / ka. To not give permission, use the form [verb]���@���@��� / [verb]te wa dame desu, which literally means "[verb]ing is no good," but the implied meaning is "[verb]ing is not allowed."

- Random Grammar Points -

Compliments

When you want to compliment someone, use the following structure: [activity]��@�����@��� / [activity]ga jouzu desu. A good humble response to a compliment is ����A�������@��� / iie, sou demo nai desu. You should never use ����� / jouzu when referring to one of your own talents or abilities. To say what you are good at / what you enjoy doing, use the same pattern but replace ����� / jouzu with ���� / tokui.

Likes / Dislikes

To say that you like something, use the pattern [object that you like]��@���@��� / [object]ga suki desu. To say that you really love something, add ��� / dai to the front of suki. To say that you don't like something, replace ��� / suki with ���� / kirai. Adding ��� / dai has the same effect of increasing the emotion.

��{���@���@����B/ Nihongo ga suki desu ka? (Do you like Japanese?)
����@���[������@�����@���B/ Boku wa ramen ga daisuki desu. (I love ramen)
����@�����@����@���B/ Mazui yasai ga kirai desu. (I hate yucky vegetables)
�\�[�j�[��@������@���B��������@�����@���B/ Soni ga daikirai desu. Nintendo ga daisuki desu.

Invitations

To invite someone to do something, turn the ��� / masu form into a negative question form: -����� / -masen ka? This literally means "Won't you [verb]?" but the implied meaning is more like "Will you..." or "Would you like to..." To refuse such an invitation, it would be quite rude to say ���� / iie, so try to soften it up a bit. A good form is to say whatever is wrong with the invitation (time, place, activity, etc.) like this: [activity, time, place] ����B/ desu ka? [activity, time, place]��@�����... / wa chotto... Of course, you should also know how to accept an invitation: ���A���@���� / ee, ii desu yo, which means "Yeah, that's good."

Pain

The Japanese equivalent of "Ouch!" is ���� / itai. I'm told video game characters often say this when hurt, even in English games, but I haven't noticed it. I don't play that many video games.... The informal form, equivalent to "Ow" is simply ��� / ite. Notice that ���� / itai is an i-adjective. It can be used as such, but it also commonly uses the [body part]��@����@��� / [part]ga itai desu form.

Time

To ask what time it is, use ���@����@���� / ima nanji desu ka? which literally means "What hour is now?" You can also omit ��� / ima and just say ����@����. To tell the time, use [hour]�� / ji [minutes]��� / ��� / fun / pun. Fun and pun are Japanese words and should be pronounced accordingly: "foon" and "poon." ��� / fun is used for digits ending in 1 - 9. ��� / pun is used for digits ending in 0:

���@���� / niji gofun (2:05)
���@����� / yoji sanfun (4:03)
����@������ / shichiji juppun (7:10)
�������@������� / juuichiji nijuppun (11:20)
����@��� / sanji han (half past 3)

Relative Locations

To locate your relatives, simply say ������@����@���� / ojisan wa soko ni imasu, which means "My uncle is over there." ...Just kidding! English can be so confusing. To describe the location of something relative to the location of something else, the form is [subject]��@[place]��@[relation]��@���� / ������ / [subject]wa [place]no [relation]ni imasu / arimasu. Here are several useful relation words:

��� / ue (above)
��� / shita (below)
��� / mae (in front of)
���� / ushiro (behind)
���� / tonari (next to, beside)
��� / naka (inside)
����� / aida (between)

To use ����� / aida, you have to specify two locations: [place 1]to [place 2]no aida ni imasu / arimasu. Time for some examples:

�}�N�h�i���h��@�������@�����@������ / Makudonarudo wa eigakan no tonari ni arimasu (McDonald's is next to the movie theater)
����@���@����@���� / neko wa ki no ue ni imasu (the cat is above / up in the tree)
������@������@����@��� / sensei wa gakkou no naka ni iru (the teacher is in the school)
�����@�����@������@������@���� / honya wa nomiya to ano mise no aida ni aru (the bookstore is between the bar and that shop over there)

Abilities

To say that you can do something, you have to change the verb. For strong verbs, drop the final �� / ru and add ���� / rareru. To make it formal, drop the other �� / ru to make ����� / raremasu. Examples:

�����@������� / o-sushi ga taberaremasu (I can eat sushi)
������� / neraremasen (I can't sleep)

Also note that �� / o changes to �� / ga. Now for weak verbs. Change the final u character into its e form and add a �� / ru or a ��� / masu:

��{���@������ / Nihongo ga yomemasu yo! (I can read Japanese!)
������� / tatemasen yo! (I can't stand up!)
�����@��{���@����@������ / watashi wa Nihongo ga sukoshi hanasemasu (I can speak a little bit of Japanese)


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