The verb goes at the end
私は水を飲みます
Subject, object and then the verb. Until the end you do not know what is being done, and that forces you to listen to the whole sentence — which is exactly the habit you need to pick up.
文法 · bunpō
Japanese grammar: not difficult, just different
No gender, no plural endings, no articles and no verbs that change with who is speaking. What there is instead is a different order and a set of particles that say what role each word plays. It makes sense sooner than you would think.
The verb at the end and the particles in charge. The full syllabus, unit by unit.
What awaits someone coming from English
The first thing is good news: Japanese does not conjugate by person. «I eat», «she eats» and «they eat» are all said the same way; who is doing it you know from context or say separately. There is no compulsory plural either, no articles and no agreement to drag along.
The second is what has to be relearned: the verb goes at the end, and the role of each word is marked by a particle that goes after it. In English, word order says who does what; in Japanese the particle says it, and that is why the order can shift without the sentence changing its meaning.
And the third is what does not exist in English: register is built into the verb. The same sentence is said one way to a friend and another way to a customer, and it is not a matter of polite vocabulary but of the verb form you choose.
With the polite -masu form and five particles you can say almost everything you need day to day. That is what the first units of the course cover.
The six things that change everything
If you only keep six ideas from this page, make it these.
Particles mark the role
は · が · を · に · で · の
They stick on right after the word and say whether it is the topic, the subject, the object, the destination or the place. They are the backbone of the Japanese sentence.
です and ます, the polite form
学生です
The ending that works with strangers and colleagues. It is the one to start with: with it you never put a foot wrong anywhere.
Two kinds of adjective
高い山 · 静かな町
Some end in い and conjugate as if they were verbs; others need な to attach to the noun. It is the first rule you really have to memorise.
Negation goes in the verb
飲みます → 飲みません
There is no separate «not»: the ending changes. The same goes for the past, and the two combine in a single form.
What is understood goes unsaid
行きます
If it is clear who is being talked about, the subject is not said. A correct Japanese sentence can be a single word, and at first that throws you more than the particles.
The full syllabus
The course units, by level of the official exam and in the order they are studied. Each one has its explanation, its examples, its diagrams and a mini-quiz with the reason behind every answer.
N5 15 units
- 字 The writing system 40
- 文 Sentence structure 40
- 助詞 The basic particles 44
- 指示 Kosoado: this, that, that over there 40
- 数 Numbers and counters 41
- 動詞 Verbs: the -masu form 40
- 形容詞 -i and -na adjectives 40
- 質問 Asking questions 40
- 有 There is something, there is someone 40
- 手 The te-form 50
- 進 ています: what's happening now 40
- 願 Wanting, inviting, suggesting 40
- 許 Permission and prohibition 40
- 接 Joining sentences 40
- 程 Likes, knacks and how much 40
N4 12 units
- 普 The plain form 40
- 過 The ta-form and its uses 40
- 能 Being able to do something 40
- 意 Intentions and plans 40
- 条 The four ways to say "if" 40
- 授 Giving and receiving 40
- 義 You have to do it 40
- 比 Comparing 40
- 受 Passive and causative 40
- 様 Endings that add a nuance 40
- 修 Clauses that describe 40
- 丁 Raising the register 40
N3 12 units
- 尊 Keigo: the Japanese of respect 40
- 自 Transitive and intransitive pairs 40
- 推 Degrees of certainty 40
- 因 The why, with nuance 40
- 逆 Although, no matter how much 40
- 際 Placing things in time 40
- 引 Reporting what someone else said 40
- 味 Particles that shade the meaning 40
- 補 Auxiliary verbs with て 40
- 機 Decisions and habits 40
- 対 Compound particles 40
- 話 The Japanese people actually speak 40
To the right of each unit, how many questions its mini-quiz has. They are drawn at random and you decide how many go into a round, so the unit is not learned by heart in the order of the questions.
Grammar, in depth
は and が, the hardest pair
Both are almost always left untranslated, and both can go after what in English would be the subject, so your own language is no help. The basic idea is this: は introduces the topic, what is going to be talked about, and が points out who does something or what something is, above all when it is new information. 私は学生です is «as for me, I am a student»: the topic is me. 田中さんが来ました answers «who has come?»: the news is Tanaka. That is why a question word takes が and not は: 誰が来ましたか.
Over time, uses turn up that the basic idea cannot explain on its own. は is used for contrast: 肉は食べません is «meat, I don't eat», and implies that other things I do. が goes with verbs and adjectives that English builds differently: 猫が好きです, «I like cats», or 日本語がわかります, «I understand Japanese». And both can go in the same sentence: 象は鼻が長い, «elephants have long trunks», with the elephant as the topic and the trunk as the subject. It is learned through lots of examples more than through a rule.
Three verb groups and the て-form
Almost everything you do with a Japanese verb starts with knowing which group it belongs to. Group 1 verbs conjugate by changing the vowel of the last syllable: 書く gives 書きます and 書かない. Group 2 verbs end in -iru or -eru and simply drop the る: 食べる, 食べます, 食べない. And group 3 is two irregular verbs, する and 来る. The trap is that some verbs ending in -iru or -eru belong to group 1, like 帰る (to go back) or 入る (to enter), and have to be learned separately.
The て-form is the one that does the most work. It is used for requests (待ってください), for what is happening (食べています), for chaining actions (起きて、食べて、出かけます) and for asking permission (入ってもいいですか). It is formed according to the last syllable of the dictionary form: う, つ and る give って; む, ぶ and ぬ give んで; く gives いて and ぐ, いで; す gives して. And there is one exception that comes up straight away: 行く makes 行って. In the course it has its own unit in N5, before everything that uses it.
Everything that describes goes in front
In Japanese, whatever modifies a word is placed in front of it. With adjectives it is easy: 高い山, «a tall mountain»; 静かな町, «a quiet town», with な for adjectives of that group. With nouns you use の: 日本の車, «a Japanese car». And with whole clauses nothing is needed: the clause goes in front of the noun in its plain form, with no «that» or «which» to link it. 昨日買った本 is «the book I bought yesterday», and it reads something like «yesterday bought book».
That allows long phrases ordered the opposite way round from English. 日本で働いている友達 is «a friend who works in Japan», but it reads «in Japan working friend», and until the end you do not know who is being talked about. The habit to pick up is waiting for the noun and looking back. And the same mechanism turns an action into a thing with の or こと: 泳ぐのが好きです, «I like swimming», is literally something like «the swimming is liked».
What goes unsaid and what is added at the end
If it is clear who is being talked about, Japanese does not say it. 行きます can be «I go», «we go» or «she goes», and it is the context that decides. Repeating 私は in every sentence, as happens when translating from English, sounds heavy and unnatural. Objects that have already been mentioned are not repeated either. That forces you to listen differently: instead of looking for the subject in each sentence, you have to keep track of who is in the conversation and what was being talked about.
What does get added is a particle at the end that sets the tone. ね seeks agreement or confirmation, like a «right?»: いい天気ですね. よ offers something the other person does not know, like an «I'm telling you»: おいしいですよ. か turns the sentence into a question, and よね combines the first two: «it is, isn't it?». They do not change the content, but without them spoken Japanese sounds curt, and overusing よ can sound pushy. They are learned by hearing them in real sentences, not in tables.
How grammar is studied here
Reading a rule is not knowing it. What fixes it in place is getting it wrong and having someone tell you why.
Short units
Each one can be read in a few minutes, with sections, tables and diagrams laid out to be readable on a phone too.
Questions with their reason
When you get one wrong, the quiz stops and explains what happened: every question has its reason written out, not a repeat of the answer. Getting it right does move on by itself, because there is nothing to read there.
And what you study comes back
When you finish a unit, its examples go into spaced repetition and reappear days later, just when you are about to forget them.
Questions about Japanese grammar
Is Japanese grammar difficult?
It is different, not difficult. A lot of what makes European languages hard is gone —there is no gender, no number, no conjugation by person and no articles— and one new thing is added: particles and the verb at the end. The curve is strange at first and soon levels out.
What are Japanese particles?
They are syllables placed after a word to say what role it plays in the sentence: は marks the topic, が the subject, を the direct object, に the destination, で the place of the action and の possession. Since the particle marks the role, word order is fairly free.
What is the word order in Japanese?
Subject, object and verb, with the verb always at the end of the sentence. Whatever modifies a word goes in front of it, so relative clauses also go before the noun, with no «that» or «which» to link them.
What level does the grammar course go up to?
Up to N3 of the official exam, which is where everyday spoken Japanese ends: with that you can follow a normal conversation and read quite a lot. Levels N2 and N1 only appear as tags on kanji, which do go all the way up.
How many verb tenses does Japanese have?
Two basic forms: the non-past, which covers the present and the future (食べます, «I eat» or «I will eat»), and the past (食べました). The nuances English expresses with tenses, like what is happening right now or what you have done at some point, are expressed with constructions: 食べています, 食べたことがあります.
What are verb groups?
Japanese verbs are divided into three groups according to how they conjugate. Group 1 verbs change the vowel of the last syllable (書く, 書きます); group 2 verbs, which end in -iru or -eru, drop the る (食べる, 食べます); and group 3 is just する and 来る, which are irregular. The group is the first thing to check on a new verb.
Are there articles or plurals in Japanese?
No. 本 can be «book», «the book», «a book» or «books», and it is the context that makes it clear. When you need to be precise you say it with other words: a number with its counter (本を三冊), a word like たくさん (many) or, with people, the suffix たち: 私たち, «we».
What is keigo?
It is respectful Japanese: a system of verb forms and special words for speaking to someone of higher rank or to a customer. It has two sides: language that raises the other person, like いらっしゃる instead of いる, and language that lowers your own side, like 参る instead of 行く. It is used above all at work and in customer service, and the course devotes an N3 unit to it.
Keep going
Japanese phrases that people actually use
Five hundred phrases with their reading, their audio and the «when it is used» of each one.
Japanese vocabulary: everyday words, by topic
Everyday words by topic and level, with their reading, their meaning and the notes that head off the typical mistake.
The JLPT levels, from N5 to N1
The official scale explained, with how many kanji and how many units the course covers at each level.
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