80/20
JAPANESE

80/20
JAPANESE

Learn smarter,
start speaking today,
and get to fluency fast!

RICHARD WEBB

Copyright © 2015 by Richard Webb.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.

ISBN 978-988-13767-3-2

Published by Raw Lisard HK Ltd.

http://8020japanese.com

Cover design by Scott Lee, The Unspoken Pitch, www.theunspokenpitch.com.

Interior layout and eBook conversion by Jimmy Sevilleno.

Initial funding raised with assistance from Publishizer, www.publishizer.com.

This book was made possible thanks to the generous support of the following people:

Otohei Arai

Brian Frank

Charlie Huang

Minaho Imai

Larry Letofsky

Jonathan Luk

Michelle Mackenzie

Andrew Marshall

Eri Nakada

Annemaree O’Brien

Andrew Ooi

Judi Powers

Johan Reunanen

Steve Rendell

Petter Sund

Guy Vincent

Jhonatan Sneyder Salguero Villa

Hsin-Yu Wang

Alison Webb

Masahiro Yamazaki

Thank you!

Contents

Introduction

The 80/20 Approach

Deconstructing Japanese

How To Learn A Language

Creating Opportunities To Practice

Speeding Up Learning

Keeping Motivated

The 80/20 Japanese Road Map

Chapter 1: The Sounds Of Japanese

Chapter 2: Introduction to Japanese Grammar

2.1 Basic Japanese sentence structure

2.2 Introduction to particles

2.3 Particles in more depth

Chapter 3: General characteristics of Japanese

3.1 Politeness

3.2 Unaffected by person or gender

3.3 Addressing and referring to people

3.4 No articles

3.5 No plurals

3.6 Highly dependent on context

3.7 Particle omission

3.8 Loanwords

Chapter 4: The essentials

4.1 More useful particles

4.2 Polite verb tenses and expressions

4.3 A couple of useful verbs

4.4 Liking and wanting things

4.5 Questions

4.6 Other sentence-ending particles

4.7 This, that and other variations

4.8 Relative locations

4.9 Other generally useful words

Chapter 5: Numbers

5.1 Number formation and pronunciation

5.2 Counters

5.3 Using numbers in a sentence

Chapter 6: Expressing time

6.1 Timing

6.2 Period

6.3 Frequency

6.4 Using expressions of time with nouns

Chapter 7: Adjectives, nouns and adverbs

7.1 Adjective types

7.2 Using adjectives before nouns

7.3 Adjectives at the end of informal sentences

7.4 Adjectives in the past tense

7.5 Negatives of adjectives

7.6 Informal questions using adjectives

7.7 Adjective usage summary

7.8 Using nouns in “to be” sentences

7.9 Adverbs

Chapter 8: Verbs

8.1 Verb types

8.2 The present/future tense

8.3 The past tense

8. 4 Verb negatives

8.5 The potential tense

8.6 Let’s…

8.7 Transitive and intransitive verbs

Chapter 9: The te-form

9.1 Converting to the te-form

9.2 Continuous tenses

9.3 Commands and requests

9.4 Linking multiple actions together in a sequence

9.5 Describing the means by which an action is completed

9.6 The negative te-form

9.7 The te-form of adjectives

Chapter 10: The Magic of Noun Phrases

10.1 What are noun phrases?

10.2 Forming noun phrases using verbs that add extra information

10.3 Forming noun phrases that describe the location of something

10.4 Forming noun phrases based around the action itself

10.5 Including multiple pieces of information in a noun phrase

10.6 Differentiating between noun phrases and clauses

Chapter 11: Particles

11.1 Types of particles

11.2 Particle/verb combinations

11.3 The difference between “wa” and “ga”

11.4 Combining particles

Chapter 12: Lots and lots of expressions

12.1 Very useful expressions

12.1.1 Anything, something, nothing, and other similar words

12.1.2 Giving and receiving - ageru, kureru, morau

12.1.3 Have done - shita koto ga aru

12.1.4 Mine, yours, old ones and new ones - watashi no, furui no

12.2 Conditional expressions

12.2.1 If/when - tara

12.2.2 If - nara

12.2.3 If - sureba

12.2.4 If - suru to

12.2.5 When - toki

12.3 Te-form expressions

12.3.1 The other negative te-form

12.3.2 I’m glad/It’s a good thing… - te yokatta

12.3.3 Doing something for someone - te ageru, te kureru

12.3.4 Doing something and coming back - te kuru

12.3.5 Taking and bringing - motte iku/kuru, tsurete iku/kuru

12.3.6 Doing something completely or making a mistake - te shimau

12.3.7 Doing something in preparation - te oku

12.3.8 Apologizing and thanking for specific things - te sumimasen, te arigatō

12.3.9 Even if - temo

12.3.10 Giving and asking for permission - temo ī

12.3.11 Forbidding or saying what shouldn’t be done - te wa ikenai/dame

12.3.12 Things that haven’t been done - Another use of the present continuous tense

12.4 The passive voice

12.5 Other expressions

12.5.1 Need to, have to

12.5.2 Already, yet and still - mō, mada

12.5.3 About/concerning - ni tsuite

12.5.4 While doing - shinagara

12.5.5 Go and do, come and do - shi ni iku, shi ni kuru

12.5.6 It’s easy/difficult to… - shiyasui, shinikui

12.5.7 Making comparisons - yori … hō ga

12.5.8 Should - hazu, beki

12.5.9 Describing an incomplete list of activities - tari … tari suru

12.5.10 Discussing plans - tsumori

12.5.11 Expressing uncertainty - kamo shiremasen

12.5.12 How to do things - yarikata

12.5.13 Trying - shiyō to suru, shite miru

12.5.14 Negative questions - shimasen ka, janai no?

12.5.15 Before/after doing… - mae ni, ato ni

12.5.16 For/in order to - tame ni

12.5.17 Whether or not - kadōka

12.5.18 Too… - sugiru

12.5.19 Describing how things look/appear -sō

12.5.20 Apparently, it seems/looks like - sō, rashī, mitai, yō

12.5.21 Letting or making someone do something - saseru

12.5.22 I have a feeling… - ki ga suru

12.5.23 No choice but to… - suru shika nai

12.5.24 Turning adjectives into nouns -sa

Appendix 1: Understanding verb tenses in noun phrases

Appendix 2: Verb dictionary (English - Japanese)

Appendix 3: Verb dictionary (Japanese - English)

Appendix 4: Non-verb dictionary (English - Japanese)

Appendix 5: Non-verb dictionary (Japanese - English)

Introduction

Japanese is often considered one of the most difficult languages to learn. I thought this too, once upon a time, but now I know better. Yes, it is very different from English and pretty much every other language, but it is incredibly logical, flexible and has very few irregularities. With the right approach, I believe it is possible to learn to speak fluent Japanese in a very short period of time.

That’s why I’ve written this book. I want to share with you the knowledge I have accumulated through years of formal study, over six years of living in Japan, and countless hours spent contemplating the finer points of Japanese and English linguistics.

When I first learned Japanese, I struggled with all kinds of concepts that, in retrospect, aren’t very difficult at all. The problem was that I didn’t know what I was doing, or what I should be learning. I had textbooks and teachers that taught me all the basic grammar and sentence patterns, and I could even put some decent sentences together, but it wasn’t until I studied in Japan that I finally “got it”.

The reason for that is simple - I spent a lot of time learning what to say, without properly understanding how Japanese really works. I had to figure a lot out on my own, which only came after being exposed to Japanese almost exclusively for months on end. If I had just had a better grasp of how languages work in general, and the specific things that make Japanese and English so different, I could have saved myself a lot of time and confusion.

This book is designed to give you the head start I didn’t have. Wherever you are, if you want to learn to speak Japanese, this book will help you learn smarter, start speaking today, and get to fluency fast!

The 80/20 Approach

If you haven’t heard of the 80/20 rule, or Pareto Principle, it suggests that in any endeavor, 80% of the results come from 20% of the input. For a company, 80% of revenue usually comes from around 20% of its customers. In many sports, approximately 80% of the goals are scored by 20% of the players. The ratios won’t always be 20% and 80%, but the point is that in anything you do, there are a few things that matter far more than everything else.

When it comes to languages, one of the most oft-cited examples of the 80/20 principle relates to vocabulary. In just about any language, the most common 1500 words or so usually account for 80% of the spoken or written language. For Japanese, the first 1000 words account for roughly 76% of the words that appear in novels.[1] Although this is good to know, it is somewhat misleading, and misses the point of language learning.

Firstly, many of the most common words have very little meaning on their own, like the English words “it”, “the” and “of”. These words are essential, but they mostly just supplement other, less common words that have more meaning.

Secondly, the most common words overall will not necessarily by the most useful words for you. If your goal is to discuss politics in Japanese, you’ll need a very different set of vocabulary to somebody who wants to understand anime. You’re much better off learning the words you need over the ones you’re told you “should” know.

More importantly though, a language is not merely a collection of vocabulary. A language is a skill, or more accurately, a group of skills that you use to communicate. The most important 20% of the Japanese language is therefore not a list of the most common words, but rather the knowledge and understanding that will allow you to practice and develop these skills most efficiently and effectively. Vocabulary is of course necessary, but it is only one piece of the puzzle.

To speak fluent Japanese, the most important skill you need is the ability to understand how sentences are formed, and how the words in a sentence relate to each other. You need to develop this skill above all others because it applies to everything, and because it is the single aspect that is most different to what you already know, making it the most difficult to master.

Despite this, the usual way people are taught Japanese essentially equates to being made to remember and practice lots of different sentence patterns that apply to specific situations. This works for a while, but it is severely limiting and leads to a lot of confusion. I experienced this myself, and wish I had started with a proper understanding of sentence formation, rather than having to figure it out for myself.

That’s why after introducing the sounds of Japanese, this book focuses first and foremost on giving you a proper understanding of Japanese sentence structure. It does this using simple examples and highlighting the important differences between Japanese and English. This teaches you to think differently, and lays the foundation that will allow you to say anything. It’s the 20% of the language that will get you 80% of the way to speaking fluent Japanese.

One more application of the 80/20 rule in this book is to ignore written Japanese. Learning to read and write Japanese requires a lot of memorization and additional practice. I encourage you to learn these skills when you are ready, but at the beginning stages of learning a new language, an entirely new writing system is a distraction that slows you down and causes added frustration, making you more likely to quit. Instead, it’s better to focus on understanding the language first. That is the most important 20%.

Deconstructing Japanese

The skill of speaking Japanese can be broken down broadly into four pieces - pronunciation, listening, vocabulary and sentence building. The sounds of Japanese, which are relevant to both pronunciation and listening, are covered in Chapter 1, while the remainder of the book focuses on sentence building. In doing so, it also includes a variety of useful vocabulary.

Here is a brief introduction to each of the building blocks of spoken Japanese.

Pronunciation

This is really important, and people often don’t spend enough time on this. There’s no point being able to speak Japanese correctly if nobody can understand what you say. You don’t need to be perfect, but good pronunciation will make communication much smoother and more enjoyable, while also improving your listening skills. In the beginning especially, you should dedicate time every day just to practicing pronunciation. It takes time for the muscles in your mouth to develop the ability to make the new sounds accurately and efficiently, just like any other physical skill. The more you do it, the easier it will become.

Listening

Listening is a skill in itself that takes practice. In addition to learning to recognize all the different sounds and sound combinations, it is important to get used to the natural flow of a language, and practice listening to it being spoken at a natural pace. So often, people will learn all the basics of a language, but can’t keep up when they hear it spoken naturally. Focused practice on listening to naturally spoken Japanese is essential. The sooner you start, and the more you do, the better.

Vocabulary

This is obviously important, but it’s more than just memorization. If you ever studied a language at school, you no doubt had vocabulary tests that required you to memorize the meanings of individual words. You also no doubt forgot most of those words as soon as the test was over.

Instead of this, try to learn words that matter to you, and learn them in context. The majority of my vocabulary has come from hearing or seeing a word in the real world and making the effort to learn its meaning. This works extremely well because it lets your environment tell you which words to learn and how to use them. This doesn’t mean you can’t learn vocabulary through study; just be sure that when you do so, you learn words that are relevant to you, and learn them in context.

Sentence Building

In order to communicate in any language, you need to be able to build and understand sentences. A solid understanding of grammar makes this process much less random and confusing. Grammar is often seen as boring, but it helps you make sense of new concepts, allows you to expand the range of ideas you can express, and if you learn the basics well, it gives you the power to self-correct and experience rapid improvement.

If you think grammar is unnecessary, and simply listening to and immersing yourself in a language is the most effective way to learn it because that’s how children do it, consider this - when you learned your first language, you were constantly surrounded by it and had no way to escape, even in your thoughts. You had a fundamental need for language, a rapidly developing brain, and people around you that actively encouraged you at every step. Even so, it took you several years before you could put a coherent sentence together, let alone have an intelligent conversation.

The fact is, you can’t simulate a child’s circumstances, and nor do you want to. You’re smarter now and your brain is more powerful. As an adult, you possess the ability to dissect and analyze new information far better than any child. Learning grammar allows you to leverage that superior analytical ability to great effect.

How To Learn A Language

Since learning a language means learning a number of skills, it should be treated like any other skill. Simply reading this book from beginning to end won’t magically give you the ability to speak Japanese. It will help you learn all the essential knowledge you need to speak Japanese, but it is critical that you don’t confuse the acquisition of knowledge with the acquisition of a skill.

Consider other skills. If you want to learn to play golf, simply reading about technique and studying videos of Tiger Woods is not enough. This will give you some basic knowledge that will help you improve, but you won’t get better at swinging a golf club until you practice swinging a golf club. It’s that simple.

Learning to speak a language is the same - you need to train your brain to think a certain way, your mouth to move a certain way, and your ears to interpret sounds a certain way. You obviously need some knowledge of the language to be able to do this, but you absolutely must put this knowledge to use by speaking and listening to Japanese.

It’s not just me who thinks this. In his book Fluent in 3 Months, Benny Lewis says that the key ingredient that has helped him become fluent in 7 languages (and counting) is to start speaking from day one. No matter how little you know, talking to people in your target language gives you valuable experience that you can’t get from study. It’s also far more enjoyable than spending all of your time with your head down learning grammar and vocabulary.

As proud as I am of the quality of this book and how beneficial it will be for your Japanese language learning, it will never replace real-life experience. Make sure you practice what you learn early and often.

Creating Opportunities To Practice

“But… but… I don’t have anyone to practice with?”

That excuse may have worked in the past, but not any more.

First of all, Japanese people are everywhere. With few exceptions, Japanese communities can be found in most major cities around the world - you just have to put in the effort to find and connect with them. When you do, though, don’t be that person that goes up to people and says they’re looking for someone with whom they can practice their Japanese. I’ve met countless people who, within a few minutes of meeting me, asked me to help them with their English. I’m happy to help out my friends, but nobody wants to feel as though they’re being used, unless they’re getting something in return. Make friends first before asking for help, or just start speaking to them in Japanese so that becomes the default language. In some cases, you may be able to arrange a language exchange, where you help each other out with your language learning goals. In any case, you want to build a genuine relationship, not one that hinges purely on your need for their language skills.

If you’re worried about your lack of Japanese ability, and fear being ridiculed, don’t be. Easier said than done, I know, but for the most part, Japanese people are incredibly kind and will be flattered that you are trying to speak their language. In English speaking countries, non-English speakers are sometimes made to feel like they don’t belong. They get treated with rudeness, impatience and are sometimes even abused. Japanese people aren’t like this - they don’t expect people to learn their language. They’re impressed with people who can speak Japanese, even a little, and although they might be shy, they will generally want to talk to you, no matter how little sense you make.

If you live somewhere where there aren’t any Japanese people, don’t have the time to spend searching, or are intimidated by the prospect of approaching a Japanese community, there is, of course, the Internet. Using websites like www.italki.com or www.interpals.net, you can find native Japanese language tutors for as little as $8/hour, or connect with language exchange partners for free. This gives you easy, affordable access to native Japanese speakers with whom you can practice speaking Japanese, wherever you happen to be.

Of course, when you just want to practice your listening and interpretation skills without the speaking element, it’s even easier. There are countless movies, TV shows, anime, podcasts, youtube channels and streaming radio channels available online. With these, you can practice when it suits you, and by using media related to a topic you’re interested in, you can ensure that you actually enjoy the process.

For a list of useful resources available to help you practice and improve your Japanese, visit 8020japanese.com/resources.

Speeding Up Learning

When learning a new skill, what you learn and the order in which you learn it makes a big difference. In his book The 4-Hour Chef, Tim Ferriss shares his methodology for rapid skill acquisition, saying you must first deconstruct the skill into manageable blocks, select the most important blocks (the 20%), and then learn those blocks in a logical sequence.

The logical sequence is the “secret sauce”. Using kickboxing students as an example, Tim notes that average students were taught a “hodgepodge of random techniques” that “leave students to assemble the puzzle themselves”. This can still produce excellent students, but success is dependent on each student’s ability to assemble that puzzle. In contrast, teachers that consistently produce the best and most reliable students teach their craft in a logical sequence.

This book is that logical sequence for Japanese. Here you’ll find the most important aspects of the Japanese language broken down and presented in a logical order designed to maximize learning efficiency and long-term effectiveness.

In some cases, this means that things you would normally learn first in a language learning course appear later, or not at all, simply because they are limited in overall application. Remember, this isn’t a phrasebook; it’s a road-map to fluency. By practicing what you learn in this book in the order it appears, you will learn the most crucial concepts first and avoid the biggest sticking points, bringing you closer to spoken fluency faster.

So now that have the material you need, what else can you do to speed up learning? In his book The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman discusses the keys to achieving rapid progress during the early stages of acquiring a new skill.

One of those keys is to learn just enough to self correct. As discussed, spending too much time studying and not enough time practicing Japanese is counter-productive, but so is not learning enough. If you learn just enough so that you will know when you make a mistake, it allows you to self-correct immediately, reinforcing correct methods.

Without this, you generally won’t have that instant feedback. When speaking to a native speaker, their goal is usually just to communicate, so in most cases, they will not correct your mistakes as long as they understand what you are trying to say. Some people will help you out, and you can of course ask people the correct way to say something, but you should make it your own responsibility to be able to recognize and correct your own mistakes. I have done this since I started learning Japanese, and it has served me extremely well.

Another of the strategies Josh describes that is particularly relevant to language learning is to emphasize quantity and speed. When speaking Japanese, you should focus on saying as much as you can as quickly as you can, without trying to be perfect. The same goes for listening - instead of worrying about every single word, just try to understand as much as you can as it is being spoken. Especially in the early stages, your Japanese will rarely be perfect, even if you are careful, so give yourself the opportunity to make lots of mistakes and learn from them.

Keeping Motivated

“The major barrier to skill acquisition isn’t intellectual… it’s emotional”

—Josh Kaufman

The biggest obstacle you will face in your quest to speak fluent Japanese is yourself. The fact is, like any new skill, learning a language is tough. What makes it tough, though, is not the content, but rather the fact that you will get frustrated and feel stupid at times. The road will seem too long, and it would be much easier to just give up and watch old episodes of Game of Thrones instead.

For this reason, it helps to create a system that allows you to overcome these emotional barriers that you will inevitably face. The point of this system is to keep you motivated, or at least to ensure that you keep going even when you don’t feel motivated. Here are ten things you can do to help prevent yourself from giving up or making excuses. You don’t need to implement them all, but by putting some kind of system in place, you make it harder for yourself to lose focus and quit.

1. Focus on small wins

Feeling like you are making progress is crucial. If all you can say to yourself is, “I’ve been doing this for days/weeks/months/years now and I’m still not even close to where I want to be”, you’ll constantly feel like a failure. Instead, enjoy the small wins, and be proud of everything you achieve. It could be something as simple as recognizing a new word that you just learned, or successfully using the correct form of a verb. Everything counts, and everything is progress, so make a habit of celebrating your successes.

2. Recognize that learning a new language is a rollercoaster ride

When I studied in Japan in high school, in five months I went from knowing some basic grammar and vocabulary and not much else, to being able to converse at full pace on any topic that wasn’t too technical. Everyone was amazed at the speed of my progress. Despite this, I constantly went through periods where I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. Invariably, though, these periods were soon followed by huge breakthroughs where I suddenly felt like I could understand absolutely everything. Of course, not long after, I’d be back down again. Then up. Then down. Then up. You get the point. So when things feel hopeless, recognize that it’s a natural part of the process, and that the next big breakthrough is just around the corner. Just keep pushing.

3. Set specific and realistic goals

Saying you want to be fluent in Japanese, with no timeline and no definition of what fluency is, doesn’t work. As Benny Lewis says in his book Fluent in 3 Months, “successful language learners are those who are as specific as possible with their goals”. Start by defining the level of fluency you want to achieve. I recommend starting with something small and within reach, such as the ability to hold a simple, spontaneous conversation. Don’t aim for perfection, and don’t expect yourself to know all the vocabulary that comes up. Once you have a defined goal, give yourself a realistic deadline to achieve it, taking into account how much time you can commit. The more achievable the goal seems, the more motivated you will be to reach it.

4. Use content that interests you

It will make all the difference in the world if you are interested in the content you use to practice your Japanese. When I first lived in Japan, I liked talking to people and learning from them, so that’s what I did. It didn’t feel like study because I enjoyed it, and it’s the reason I can now speak Japanese fluently. You may not be as fortunate as I was to have that opportunity, but if you want to learn to speak Japanese, there’s probably something about Japan or Japanese culture that interests you. Use that. If you just like talking to people, find people to talk to. If you like anime or other forms of Japanese pop-culture, watch it and talk to others who like it too. Whatever your interests, you can find material and someone to talk to about it if you look.

5. Set a schedule and stick to it

Consistency is essential to learning any new skill, especially a language. Deciding you want to learn Japanese, and committing to studying and practicing in your free time, is not really committing at all. When your free time comes around, unless you’re really motivated at that exact moment, there’s a fair chance you will choose to do something else instead. Schedule time to study and practice your Japanese. Meet with a language exchange partner on a weekly basis, make Wednesday nights Japanese movie night, or read this book every morning on your commute. Whatever you do, make sure you deliberately allocate time for learning. As the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail.

6. Practice for at least 20 hours

In his book The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman argues that the beginning stages of learning a new skill are the hardest because, basically, you suck at it. This means you get frustrated, feel stupid, and in many cases, give up. One way to overcome this is to commit before you start to doing at least 20 hours of focused practice. By forcing yourself to the 20-hour point, you get yourself to a level where you feel competent enough that you won’t feel like a failure and will therefore want to continue. Just make sure the twenty hours is consistent and frequent. One hour a week for twenty weeks isn’t going to cut it - instead, aim to reach 20 hours in under a month.

7. Set stakes to ensure accountability

If you have something to lose, such as money or reputation, you’re more likely to work harder to succeed. As Tim Ferriss notes in The 4-Hour Chef, a goal needs consequences. Once you’ve set a specific and realistic goal, create a disincentive for failure. Give a friend money or the right to publicly shame you if you don’t follow through. You could also use a service like www.stickk.com, which punishes you for failing to reach a goal either by telling your supporters of your failure, or by giving money to a friend, foe or ‘anti-charity’. Whatever you put on the line, the more it hurts, the more likely you’ll stay motivated to succeed.

8. The Jerry Seinfeld productivity ‘secret’

Jerry Seinfeld apparently doesn’t like to take credit for this method, but it is often attributed to him nonetheless. Here’s what you do - buy a calendar, and commit to doing a certain amount of Japanese speaking or listening practice every day. Every day you do what you said you would do, mark that day off on the calendar with a big “X”. Your only goal is to not break the chain of days that are marked off. It doesn’t matter how well you perform while practicing, just that you practice for a set period of time every day and don’t break the chain.

9. Write or record a diary in Japanese every day

A great way to both practice as well as create a visual record of your progress is to write a diary in Japanese (in romaji), or speak one into a voice recorder or video camera. Just write or say whatever you can, without worrying too much about the content. I’ve never been the sort of person to keep a journal, but I used this method when I first lived in Japan to practice and consolidate all of the new grammar and vocabulary I had learned. My first entry was just three lines and full of errors, but after five months I was writing a page and a half of almost error-free Japanese every day.

10. Have a good reason to learn Japanese

The best language students are always the ones that are either passionate about the culture of the target language, or whose circumstances require them to learn it. Countless people live abroad for years without learning a single word of the local language, simply because they don’t have a strong desire to learn and can get by without it. On the other hand, some people are able to learn to speak a foreign language without ever traveling to the country it’s spoken in because they want it badly enough and put in the effort. If you kinda sorta wanna learn Japanese, but are not particularly fazed if you never do, you’ll have a much tougher time keeping motivated to make the effort. Find or create a good reason to learn Japanese and the battle is half won.

The 80/20 Japanese Road Map

As stated earlier, this book is designed to help you get from zero to fluency in the shortest possible time, and the lessons in this book have been carefully ordered with that goal in mind. To give you an idea of where you are heading, and why this book has been structured the way it has, here is a basic road map for your journey to Japanese fluency.

In chapter one, you will learn the basic sounds of Japanese. These are obviously essential to learning to speak and understand spoken Japanese. Some basic words will also be introduced, such as greetings and numbers, to help you practice your pronunciation.

In chapter two, we will look at the basic structure of Japanese sentences using basic vocabulary. You will learn how the words in Japanese sentences relate to each other, and how this compares with English, laying the foundations for everything else you will learn in this book.

Chapter three covers some general characteristics of the Japanese language that affect how people communicate. This includes some fundamental differences between Japanese and English that affect everything you say or hear, as well as some key cultural aspects that are reflected in the language.

Chapter four is essentially a summary of all the major aspects of Japanese grammar, and is designed to give you enough knowledge to communicate basic ideas that are useful in everyday conversation. This includes some basic verb tenses, how to talk about your likes and dislikes, and how to ask questions. You will also learn a lot of essential vocabulary to help you put these ideas to use.

In chapter five, you will learn about numbers and counters. Numbers themselves are fairly straightforward, but they need to be converted to counters in order to use numbers in a sentence to talk about quantities. This chapter will help you do that.

Using the numbers you learned in chapter five, chapter six covers all the different kinds of expressions used to discuss time. With this knowledge, you can easily add context to any basic sentence, and ensure that even if you make other mistakes, you can accurately communicate and understand the basic timing of events.

From chapter seven onward, we start looking at the finer points of Japanese grammar, starting with adjectives, nouns and adverbs. Building on your understanding of Japanese sentence structure, this chapter focuses on the different ways that adjectives can be manipulated and used, and how this knowledge can also be applied to nouns and adverbs.

Verbs are the central part of any sentence, and the focus of chapter eight. Here, you will expand on the basic verb tenses covered in chapter four by learning the major verb forms used in both polite and informal speech. You will also learn to differentiate between two main types of verbs, greatly improving your ability to use them correctly in sentences.

Chapter nine introduces one of the most versatile verb forms in Japanese, the te-form. You will learn how to convert any verb into the te-form, as well as some of the most useful ways to use the te-form to express yourself. This includes describing actions that are ongoing, giving commands, making requests, and linking multiple actions in a sequence.

In chapter ten, the shackles come off. Here, you will learn about the concept of noun phrases, and how they can be used to form a wide range of complex, highly descriptive sentences. This chapter will truly take your understanding to the next level.

In chapter eleven, we will take a deeper look at particles, a key component of Japanese sentences first introduced in chapter two. This chapter aims to fill in any gaps in your understanding of how particles work, while also introducing some new ones and teaching you some new tricks.

By the time you reach chapter twelve, you should have a very solid understanding of Japanese sentence formation, and how each of the components interact to create meaning. This final chapter introduces more than 40 new expressions that build on everything you have learned thus far, ensuring you will always know what to say.

That’s it! Hopefully this brief outline has given you a good understanding of where we are heading and how we will get there, so without further ado, let’s start learning Japanese!

[1] The Most Commonly Used Japanese Words by Frequency: http://www.offbeatband.com/2010/12/the-most-commonly-used-japanese-words-by-frequency/

Chapter 1

The Sounds Of Japanese

The first thing to do when learning any new language is become familiar with the sounds that are used. For someone who speaks English, Japanese is relatively easy in this respect because there are fewer unique sounds than in English, and most of them are the same or very similar.

To begin with, there are only five vowel sounds. While English only has five vowels, they are each pronounced differently when used in different combinations with other letters, bringing the total number of unique vowel sounds up to around 20, depending on a person’s accent. Compared with this, the five sounds in Japanese are easy to learn. Here they are in the order they appear in the “syllabary”, the Japanese equivalent of the alphabet:

The descriptions above are only approximations of the actual sounds based on an American accent. They can be used as a guide, but sounds are of course best learned with the ears. You can find an audio-based pronunciation guide at 8020japanese.com/resources.

Also, please note that although the Japanese hiragana characters are shown throughout this chapter, this is only to demonstrate certain principles relating to pronunciation. This book will not cover written Japanese, hence there is no need to learn these characters for the purpose of completing this book.

In the 46-tone syllabary, the above five vowels are the first five “letters”, and we will refer to them from now on as the “a-line”. In speech and writing, these are each used on their own or in combination with consonant sounds to produce other “letters”. For example, the first consonant sound is a “k” sound, but this can only be written or spoken in combination with one of the five vowel sounds. As such, the next five “letters” in the syllabary after the a-line are:

From this point on, we will refer to the above five sounds as the “ka-line”, as there is no such thing in Japanese as a “k” on its own. This is the same for all other consonant sounds, with the exception of “n”, as will be explained shortly.

Japanese Words You Already Know

If you think of any Japanese sports, company names or names of foods that you already know (and that have not been adapted for the global market), you will notice that any consonant sounds are usually separated by a vowel. The only exceptions are double letters and “n”, both of which we will cover later. Some examples include sushi, karate, karaoke, Toyota, Nissan and Honda.

In addition to the basic ka-line above, there is a simple transformation to this line that gives us a whole new set of “letters”. By adding two small lines to the upper right of each of these characters, the hard “k” sound changes into a softer “g” sound as follows:

As you can see, with just two small lines added to each character, we essentially have a new consonant sound. These altered characters, however, do not appear in the syllabary, as they are considered simply as variations of the ka-line. Why is this? Because the “k” sound and the “g” sound are essentially the same except for one small difference - the “g” sound is voiced, while the “k” sound is not.

If you’re not sure what a voiced or unvoiced sound is, say aloud the English “k” sound alone without a vowel, and compare this with what happens when you do the same with an English “g”. You should notice that your mouth moves in much the same way, but while you don’t use your voice for the “k” sound, you do for the “g”. This is because “g” is a voiced consonant, whereas “k” is not.

So, in Japanese, unvoiced sounds including “k”, “s”, “t” and “h” can be altered to create a voiced sound that is written in a similar way to their unvoiced counterparts.

Additionally, in some cases, words that normally use the unvoiced sound (eg. the “k” sound) use the voiced sound (eg. “g”) instead when combined with other words, as it may be easier to say. For example, the number “three” is “san” and the word for “floor” (of a building) is “kai”, yet the third floor could be referred to as “san gai”. This kind of adaptation can be seen all throughout the language.

So if we now combine the first two lines of the syllabary covered so far, it appears as follows:

After “k” the pattern continues, starting with “s” and followed by “t”, “n”, “h”, “m”, “y”, “r” and “w”. There are, however a few exceptions to this basic pattern, and some of these also have voiced alternatives like the “g” described above, so we will now look at each of these lines one by one.

The exception here is that the second sound is “shi”, not “si”.

These sounds can also be altered to a voiced “z” sound as follows:

Again, note that the second sound is “ji”, not “zi”.

The exceptions here are the “i” and “u” variations, where “ti” is pronounced “chi”, and “tu” is pronounced “tsu”, as in the word “tsunami”.

The ta-line sounds can also be altered to a “d” sound, as follows:

The second sound, “ji”, is effectively the same as that from the modified sa-line above, and is rarely used. The “dzu” sound is basically a heavier version of the “tsu” sound where the “dz” is a voiced version of the unvoiced “ts” sound.

Here, there are no exceptions, and there is also no altered version.

The third sound here is not a “hu” sound but a “fu” sound, as in Mt. Fuji. It is, however, a lighter sound than the English “f”, similar to the sound made when unsuccessfully attempting to whistle. Your bottom lip should not touch your teeth.

The ha-line is unique in that it has two alternatives - a “b” sound and a “p” sound. Firstly, the “b” sound is made by adding two lines like the others:

The “p” sound is achieved by adding a small circle instead of two lines, as follows:

Both the “b” and “p” variations of the ha-line are straightforward and without exceptions.

The ya-line only has the “a”, “u”, and “o” sounds, but is otherwise quite straightforward. The “yi” and “ye” sounds died out of the language long ago. As a result of this, the Japanese currency today is pronounced “en” in Japanese, not “yen”.

Although there are no exceptions in the ra-line, this is unquestionably the hardest sound for native English speakers to master. It is mostly written as an “R”, but the sound itself is much lighter than the English “R”, somewhere between an “R” sound and an “L” sound, and is achieved by flicking your tongue lightly against the roof of your mouth. This is why Japanese people often struggle to distinguish between “R” and “L” when learning English - they use the same sound to cover both letters when speaking English.

Like all other sounds, the best way to learn to pronounce the ra-line correctly is to listen and practice repeatedly until your tongue builds up the necessary muscles to make the sound effortlessly.

This line only has the “a” and “o” variations, and the “w” sound is effectively silent in the case of “wo”. The “wo” therefore sounds the same as the “o” from the a-line, but they are used differently in writing and not interchangeable. This will become much more apparent when we start to discuss grammar.

This “n” is the only consonant that stands alone without a vowel sound attached. It is slightly different to the “n” sound produced in the na-line, although you can get away with a regular “n” sound in most cases. To get the correct sound, open your mouth slightly and say “ah”, like at the doctor’s office but not as wide, then use your tongue to close off the flow of air at the back of your throat. Doing this, you should be able to produce an “n”-like sound, almost like a humming sound. This is different from the English “n” sound and the na-line sounds, which are produced with the tongue closer to the front of your mouth.

It is important to note that this “n” sound should always be pronounced as its own syllable, and not blended into other sounds. For example, the name “Shinichi” is actually made up of the sounds shi-n-i-chi , with the “n” sound being the lone “n”, not a part of “ni”. This name should therefore be pronounced with a distinct separation of “shin” and “ichi”. Throughout this book, this “n” sound will be written as “n’” (“n” followed by an apostrophe) whenever it is necessary to distinguish it from a na-line sound.

Also, when “n” is followed by a na-line character, it will be written as “nna”, “nni”, etc., to show that there is an “n” sound followed by a separate na-line sound. For example, the commonly know Japanese word for “hello”, “konichiwa”, actually contains this “n” followed by “ni”, so should therefore be written as “konnichiwa”.

We have now covered all of the basic sounds as they appear in the syllabary. Remembering that we don’t include the altered sounds, the complete syllabary appears as follows:

In addition, we have the altered sounds:

There are, however, a couple more things to cover.

Small “ya”, “yu” and “yo”

i + small ya, i + small yu, i + small yo

The three ya-line sounds can be combined with any of the “i” characters (except for “i” itself from the “a-line”) to produce another variation of sounds. When written, the ya-line sounds are written smaller than regular characters. For example, “ki” + “small ya” would become “kya”, as if you were saying “ki” and then “ya” but without the “i” sound. In the case of the sa-line, “shi” is the character with the “i” sound, so instead of “sya”, “syu” and “syo”, combining “shi” with the small ya-line characters produces the sounds “sha”, “shu” and “sho”. This idea also applies to some other sounds, as you will see below.

The full list of these is as follows:

Note that when a lone “n” sound is followed by a ya-line sound, it will be written as “n’ya”, “n’yu” or “n’yo”. These should be pronounced as two separate sounds, and not joined together like the “nya”, “nyu” and “nyo” sounds above.

Small “tsu” (double consonants)

Some words, when written in Japanese, contain a small “tsu” inserted between other characters. When this is done, the word is pronounced with a tiny pause where the small “tsu” occurs, followed by an accentuation of the sound that follows the small “tsu”. This must always be a consonant sound, and usually a hard, unvoiced sound (k, s, t, p). When written using English letters, the small “tsu” is instead written as a double letter. Examples include Sapporo, Hokkaido, Nissan, and Nippon (an alternative to the word “Nihon”, meaning “Japan”, and often chanted by fans at international sporting events).

Even weighting of sounds, and no accents

When spoken, each kana character is given the same weighting, or an equal amount of time, and there is no accent placed on any of the characters. To demonstrate this, consider the city of Osaka. Many English speakers will naturally put the accent on the first “a” and draw out this sound, so it sounds something like “Osaaka”. In fact, when written in Japanese, Osaka is actually (“oosaka”). Since each kana character is given equal time, Osaka is actually a four character word pronounced “o-o-sa-ka”, with no accent anywhere, and the “o” sound making up half of the word.

The Japanese word for “hello” is similar. As mentioned earlier, this should actually be pronounced “ko-n-ni-chi-wa”, with a longer “n” sound than most English speakers normally say, and no accent on the first “i” (or anywhere else).

Another example might be “karate”. Like Osaka, the second syllable is usually accented by English speakers, but in fact equal time and weight should be given to each of “ka”, “ra” and “te”: ka-ra-te.

Elongated vowel sounds

When a sound is followed immediately by the same vowel sound, it is usually elongated as in the above example of “Osaka”. This applies whether the first of the repeated vowel sounds is paired with a consonant or not. For example, “toori”, meaning “street”, has an elongated “o” sound just the same as that in “Osaka”. When written in Japanese, there are other ways that elongated vowel sounds can be expressed, but since we are focusing on spoken Japanese in this book and not covering writing, all elongated sounds will be written with a line on the top of the vowel like this: ōsaka.

Cities with elongated vowel sounds

The three most well-known cities in Japan - Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto - all have elongated vowel sounds, and as such are usually pronounced incorrectly by English speakers. The correct pronunciation of these is actually Tōkyō, Ōsaka and Kyōto.

Vowel sounds followed by “i”

When the vowel sounds “a”, “e” and “o” are followed immediately by “i”, these two sounds are often blended together into one sound, resulting in something like this:

This also applies to any sounds that start with a consonant, so “kai” would sound like the “ki” in “kite”, and “sei” and “boi” would sound like “say” and “boy” respectively.

Note, however, that they only tend to sound like this, and will often have a faint but distinct “i” sound towards the end of the blended sound. As a pair, they are also still given the weighting of two sounds, so in the word “eigo” (meaning “English language”) for example, the “ay” sound accounts for ⅔ of the word: e-i-go.

Spaces

Japanese is always written without spaces between words or letters. Since this book will be using English lettering, or “Rōmaji”, instead of Japanese characters, spaces will be used in various places for the sake of readability.

Exercise

Below are the numbers one through ten, some common greetings, a few colors, the days of the week, and the months of the year. Practice pronouncing these words. For this exercise only, a hyphen (-) is placed between each sound to make it easier to distinguish between syllables. Be sure to stretch out any elongated vowel sounds (ō, ū etc.).

* For “Nice to meet you” and “You’re welcome” , the “i” before the “te” at the end is usually silent.
For “Good morning” and “Thank you”, the final “u” sound is usually silent.

Chapter 2

Introduction to Japanese Grammar

The purpose of this chapter is to help you understand how the Japanese language is structured. Sentence structure in any language determines how words are used together to form meaning. The content in this chapter is quite heavy, but once you overcome the extreme differences between English and Japanese sentence structure, the language becomes much easier.

2.1 Basic Japanese sentence structure

* In the word “desu”, the “u” is usually not voiced, hence this should be pronounced “dess”.

Let’s start with some basic sentences.

1. I am a person

watashi wa hito desu

2. This is a car

kore wa kuruma desu

3. My car is red

watashi no kuruma wa akai desu

4. That is Taro’s car

sore wa Tarō no kuruma desu

Looking at these sentences, you may notice that:

- Every sentence ends in “desu” (pronounced “dess”)

- Every sentence contains a “wa”

“Desu” is effectively the verb “to be”, which in the above cases takes the form “is” or “am”. In Japanese, the verb always comes at the end of the sentence.

“Wa” is what is known as a particle (particles will be explained in greater detail later). Its purpose is to identify the topic of the sentence. In English, the topic (or subject) of a sentence is whatever comes before the main verb, which in the above cases is either “is” or “am”. In Japanese, the topic of a sentence is whatever comes before “wa”.

Now that we know this, let’s take another look at sentences one and two. Text with the same formatting has the same meaning.

1. I am a person

watashi wa hito desu

2. This is a car

kore wa kuruma desu

First of all, we can see that “wa” has no English equivalent. This is because its entire purpose is to show that “watashi” or “kore” is the topic of these sentences. There is no English equivalent because in English, word order alone is enough to determine the subject of a sentence.

Secondly, since “hito” means person and “kuruma” means car, we can see that there is no Japanese equivalent of “a”. The articles “a”, “an” and “the” simply do not exist in Japanese. This makes things simpler in some ways, but can be hard to get used to for someone used to English or similar languages, as not having these words can sometimes make a sentence feel as though it is lacking somehow.

Now let’s look at sentences 3 and 4.

3. My car is red

watashi no kuruma wa akai desu

4. That is Taro’s car

sore wa Tarō no kuruma desu

Here we can see that:

- “watashi no kuruma” = “my car”, and

- “Tarō no kuruma” = “Taro’s car”

Adding “no”, another particle, indicates possession. It converts “I”, “you”, “he”, “she” and “they” into “my”, “your”, “his”, “her” and “their”, respectively. For other things like people’s names, animals, places and objects, it has the same effect as adding “‘s” (apostrophe s).

The one-size-fits-all way of defining “no” would be to say it is equal to English “of”. For example, instead of “Taro’s car”, “Tarō no kuruma” could be thought of as “the car of Taro”. This is more versatile as there are plenty of situations in English where “‘s” is not normally appropriate. “No” can be used to connect just about any two things, where one of the two things belongs to the other in some way, such as “the back of the door”, “the color of your eyes” or even “the rain of yesterday”.

To summarize what we have learned about Japanese sentence structure so far:

- The verb comes at the end of the sentence

- The particle “wa” defines the topic of the sentence, and has no English equivalent

- There is no “a”, “an” or “the”

- The particle “no” indicates possession

2.2 Introduction to particles

Now that you have a basic understanding of some simple sentences, we will look at the most important concept relating to Japanese sentence structure - particles. Particles are like small words that go in between other words to help a sentence make sense. They are somewhat like prepositions in English (in, at, on, from, to etc.), but only in some cases, and thinking of them as the equivalent of prepositions will likely cause you unnecessary confusion.

Put simply, particles determine the role of each word relative to the verb.

Understanding what this really means will make learning Japanese grammar much, much easier.

To illustrate what is meant by “the role of each word”, let’s first consider how the English language works. In English, the role of words in a sentence is determined primarily by word order. Take the following example:

John saw Jane.

From the word order, we know:

a) John was the person who did the seeing

b) Jane was the person who was seen

If we change the word order, it changes the meaning of the sentence. We can say “Jane saw John”, and it makes grammatical sense, but it does not mean the same thing. This is because English sentences always follow the pattern [subject] + [verb] + [object].

The subject of a sentence is the person/animal/thing that is performing the action described by the verb. In this case, “John” is the subject because John is the one performing the act of seeing. We know this because “John” comes before the verb “saw”.

The object of a sentence is the person/animal/thing that the action is performed on. In this case, “Jane” is the object because she is the one who was seen by John, and we know this because “Jane” comes after the verb “saw”.

As you can see, in English, word order determines the role of each word in the sentence and, in particular, how each word relates to the verb.

In Japanese, instead of word order, particles determine the role of each word and how they relate to the verb. Word order is important too, but not to the same extent. Word order in Japanese mainly influences the natural flow, and has more of an effect on where the emphasis lies within a sentence than on its literal meaning. Don’t worry about this too much for now - the important thing to know is that particles, not word order, determine how all the words in a sentence relate to each other.

The simple sentence “John saw Jane” could be written in Japanese as follows:

John wa Jane wo mimashita

Firstly, as you may have guessed, “mimashita” is the verb “to see” in the past tense. Note that for verbs in the past tense, the “i” after the “sh” is usually silent, hence this would be read as “mimashta”.

Also in this sentence are the two particles, “wa” and “wo”. Like all particles, these ones define the role of the words that come before them.

In general terms:

- “wa” defines the topic of the sentence, as we discussed earlier.

- “wo” defines the object of the verb. Recall from chapter one that the “w” in “wo” is silent, and is therefore simply pronounced “o”.

So in the above sentence:

- “wa” defines “John” as the topic of the sentence, meaning John is the person who performed the act of seeing

- “wo” defines “Jane” as the object of the verb “saw”, meaning Jane is the person who was seen

By putting this together, we can see that:

John wa Jane wo mimashita = John saw Jane

Exercise

So far, we have seen the particles “wa”, “no” and “wo”. Recall that:

- “wa” defines the topic of a sentence or clause

- “wo” defines the object of the verb

- “no” indicates possession

1. Identify the topic of each of the following sentences. Keep in mind that the topic is one ‘thing’ and can be more than one word.

a) I watched the baseball game

b) This apple is green

c) My sister is listening to music

d) The red bike is faster than the blue one

e) The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

2. Identify the object of the verb in each of the following sentences. Like the topic, the object can also be more than one word.

a) He ate a hamburger

b) Alan watched TV

c) I read a fascinating book

d) Her older brother bought a mobile phone

e) My grandfather drank a big glass of water

3. Using the vocabulary provided, translate these phrases into Japanese.

a) My friend

b) His mother

c) Her bicycle

d) Jiro’s book

e) My friend’s dog

Answers

1. a. I; b. this apple; c. my sister; d. the red bike; e. the quick brown fox

2. a. a hamburger; b. TV; c. a fascinating book; d. a mobile phone; e. a big glass of water

3. a. watashi no tomodachi; b. kare no okāsan; c. kanojo no jitensha; d. Jirō no hon; e. watashi no tomodachi no inu

2.3 Particles in more depth

To further your understanding of particles, we will now look at “wa”, “wo” and “no” in action, while also introducing a couple more common particles.

Here is the vocabulary for this section:

* For all of the verbs above, the last “i” is usually silent.

We will now break down the following sentences. Particles are bolded.

1. I watched a movie

watashi wa eiga wo mimashita

2. Taro went to school

Tarō wa gakkō ni ikimashita

3. Taro came to my house

Tarō wa watashi no ie ni kimashita

4. I went to school with Taro

watashi wa Tarō to gakkō ni ikimashita

5. I watched a movie with Taro

watashi wa Tarō to eiga wo mimashita

Notice that every noun in each sentence is followed by a particle. This is almost always true because nouns represent things, and how these things are affected by actions always needs to be defined, which is what particles are for.

Let’s start by deconstructing sentence one:

1. watashi wa eiga wo mimashita

Here you can see that:

- “wa” comes after “watashi”. This means that “watashi” is the topic.

- “wo” comes after “eiga”. This means that “eiga” is the object of the verb “mimashita”.

This sentence says that I am the person who performed the act of watching, and it is a movie that I watched. In other words, “I watched a movie”.

Make sense?

Now let’s compare this to sentence two.

1. watashi wa eiga wo mimashita

2. Tarō wa gakkō ni ikimashita

In sentence two, we can see that Taro is the topic, and he performed the act of going. There is, however, no “wo”. Instead “gakkō”, meaning “school”, is followed by the particle “ni”.

The particle “ni” defines the destination related to an action that involves movement.

This includes actions described by verbs like go, come, move, give, send, return, etc. It is very similar to the English preposition “to”, although they are not perfectly equivalent. Note that “ni” also has a number of other meanings, which will be covered later.

In sentence two, we can see that “ni” comes after “gakkō”, indicating that school is the destination. Putting this together, we know that Taro is the person who went somewhere, and his destination was school, hence sentence two means, “Taro went to school”.

3. Tarō wa watashi no ie ni kimashita

The particles we see here are “wa”, “no” and “ni”, so we know that:

- Taro performed the action, which in this case is “came”

- The place that he came to is “watashi no ie”

Remembering that “no” indicates possession, “watashi no ie” means “my house”. This comes before “ni”, so Taro’s destination must be my house, and the full sentence therefore means, “Taro came to my house”.

Now let’s take a look at sentence four.

4. watashi wa Tarō to gakkō ni ikimashita

We can see that I (watashi) performed the action, the action is went (ikimashita), and the destination is school (gakkō), but we also have “Tarō to” in there as well.

The particle “to” indicates who or what else is involved in the action in the same way.

Basically, “Tarō to” means “with Taro”, making the whole sentence equivalent to, “I went to school with Taro”.

The particle “to” is often compared to “and” in English, but “and” is much more versatile than “to”. “To” can only be used to join nouns together, whereas “and” can be used to join virtually any two phrases together that are grammatically equal. For example, you cannot use the particle “to” to say something like, “I went to school and watched a movie,” because the “and” in this sentence doesn’t join two nouns. For this reason, it is more appropriate to think of “to” as meaning “with”, even if “and” is the more natural choice when speaking English.

One alternative way to express the same meaning as sentence four, although with a slightly different emphasis, is to say, “watashi to tarō wa gakkō ni ikimashita”. Let’s compare these directly:

a) watashi wa tarō to gakkō ni ikimashita

I went to school with Taro

b) watashi to tarō wa gakkō ni ikimashita

Taro and I went to school

Indirect objects

In the previous section, we discussed how the object of a verb in Japanese is marked by the particle “wo”. The particle “wo” is actually used to mark the direct object. In English, we also have indirect objects. These, however, do not exist in Japanese, so a brief explanation might be helpful.

Consider the sentence, “I sent you a letter”. In this sentence, the direct object is “a letter”, because that is what is being sent. The indirect object is “you”, because that is who the letter is being sent to. In English, the indirect object (you) is placed in between the verb (sent) and the direct object (a letter). It defines the recipient of the action. However, there is always another way of phrasing a sentence that uses an indirect object. In this case, that would be, “I sent a letter to you”. This is closer to how it would be phrased in Japanese. Here are some more examples:

I gave you a gift = I gave a gift to you

I showed him a picture = I showed a picture to him

I bought her a present = I bought a present for her

I baked Emma a cake = I baked a cake for Emma

Notice that the alternative phrases always use “to” or “for”.

In Japanese, like everything else, particles are used to define the recipient of the action. Think of the recipient as the destination. For “I sent you a letter”, the destination of the letter is “you”, so “you” should be marked with the particle “ni”. The sentence would therefore be:

watashi wa anata ni tegami wo okurimashita

I              you         letter                  sent

The same applies when the English phrase uses “for”. In the example above, Emma is the recipient of the cake, and this would be expressed by saying “Emma ni”. There is, however, more to it than that, as will be covered in Chapter 12.3.3. For now, focus on the examples that more clearly involve movement to a destination.

In option (a), “watashi” is the only thing before “wa”, so “watashi” is the topic. This means the focus of the sentence is me, and Taro’s presence is additional information. This is more likely to be the answer to the question, “What did you do?”

In option (b), “watashi to tarō” comes before “wa”, so “watashi to tarō” is the topic. This means both Taro and I are the focus of the sentence equally. This is more likely to be the answer to the question, “What did you and Taro do?”

In the end, they both have essentially the same meaning. The difference in emphasis is small enough that it really doesn’t make much difference, so just use whichever one makes the most sense to you.

Sentence five is similar to sentence four.

5. watashi wa Tarō to eiga wo mimashita

We can break this down as follows:

- I (watashi) am the person who performed the action

- Taro is also involved in the action in the same way as me

- The object of the action was a movie (eiga)

- The action was “watched” (mimashita)

The sentence must therefore mean, “I watched a movie with Taro”, and just like sentence four, this could also be rearranged to, “watashi to tarō wa eiga wo mimashita”.

If we ignore the particles, we can see that the important elements of the sentence are: I, Taro, movie, watched. The particles are there to define the role of each of these words, thus defining their relationship with one another. Without them, we can’t be sure what actually happened. We can probably guess what happened, but what if Taro is a film director? Instead of watching a movie with Taro, maybe I actually want to say “I watched Taro’s movie” (watashi wa Tarō no eiga wo mimashita). This uses the same key words, but the relationship between these words is different. This is why particles are so important.

Exercise

In this exercise, you will build simple sentences using the particles covered so far.

Complete tasks 1 - 6 for each of the sentences a - m below. Vocabulary is provided for each sentence so you can focus on the grammatical aspects of each sentence.

1. Identify the topic of each sentence and say it in Japanese followed by “wa”. Be aware that the subject can be more than one word.

2. Identify any extra people involved in the action of each sentence. Say them in Japanese followed by “to”.

3. Identify the destination, if there is one, of the person or object in each sentence. Say it in Japanese followed by “ni”.

4. Identify the object of each sentence and say it in Japanese followed by “wo”. Keep in mind that some sentences do not have an object (including a and b).

5. Translate each of the phrases into Japanese and write them down. Check your answers on the following page.

6. Without looking at your answers from the previous questions, say each of the sentences aloud in Japanese. Check your answers as you go and if you make any mistakes, say the sentence again correctly before moving on. Once you have finished all of the sentences, go back and repeat any that you said incorrectly the first time.

a) This is a pen

b) My name is [your name]

c) I ate an apple

d) You drank water

e) He bought a mobile phone

f) She read the newspaper

g) Your mother wrote a book

h) His father studied Japanese

i) My friend made sushi with Aiko

j) Her older sister listened to music with him

k) Her older brother went to my school

l) He came to my house with Taro

m) She sent a letter to her grandmother

n) Our grandfather taught English to Mai and Kazutaka

o) They gave Mako’s mother a souvenir

p) Yutaka and I gave Kenta a jacket

Answers

Tasks 5 and 6

a) kore wa pen desu

b) watashi no namae wa [your name] desu

c) watashi wa ringo wo tabemashita

d) anata wa mizu wo nomimashita

e) kare wa keitai wo kaimashita

f) kanojo wa shinbun wo yomimashita

g) anata no okāsan wa hon wo kakimashita

h) kare no otōsan wa nihongo wo benkyō shimashita

i) watashi no tomodachi wa Aiko to sushi wo tsukurimashita

j) kanojo no onēsan wa kare to ongaku wo kikimashita

k) kanojo no onīsan wa watashi no gakkō ni ikimashita

l) kare wa Tarō to watashi no ie ni kimashita

m) kanojo wa kanojo no obāsan ni tegami wo okurimashita

n) watashi tachi no ojīsan wa Mai to Kazutaka ni eigo wo oshiemashita

o) karera wa Mako no okāsan ni omiyage wo agemashita

p) watashi to Yutaka wa Kenta ni uwagi wo agemashita, OR
Yutaka to watashi wa Kenta ni uwagi wo agemashita

Chapter 3

General characteristics of Japanese

Now that you should have a basic understanding of how Japanese sentences are structured, let’s go over some general characteristics, mostly related to culture, that will help you use Japanese correctly.

3.1 Politeness

Japanese can be spoken with varying levels of politeness; let’s call these levels ‘informal’, ‘polite’, and ‘super polite’. The distinction is mostly based on verb endings, so the majority of the language remains the same at all levels of politeness, especially the informal and polite levels.

As a general rule, you should only use informal speech with people with whom you are very familiar, or who are of equal or lower standing than you. This means you should use polite language with anybody that you are not close to, as well as any person who is more senior than you, either in age or rank. Politeness and respect for elders is so ingrained in Japanese culture that in many cases, Japanese people will forever use polite language with people who are older than them, even if they become good friends.

We will be focusing initially on the polite form, as this is appropriate in most circumstances. The informal form will be introduced later as it is also very important to understand, and has wide-reaching applications beyond simply defining the level of politeness. You will later see that converting between different levels of politeness is fairly straightforward once you understand the rules that apply.

3.2 Unaffected by person or gender

Although different levels of politeness require different verb endings, person and gender do not affect the way a verb is conjugated. For example, in English, “do” becomes “does” when the subject is a third person (ie. “I do” becomes “he does”, “Jane does”) but Japanese does not change in this way. “Do” is always “shimasu” in the polite form and “suru” in the informal form, no matter who is being talked about. Similarly, there is no gender associated with objects as in languages like Spanish and French, hence no distinction needs to be made for these.

3.3 Addressing and referring to people

Since politeness and respect are a central part of Japanese culture, how you refer to people is important. Let’s go over the key ways of addressing and referring to people.

By name

With the exception of relatives and close friends, Japanese people usually refer to others by their surname. When referring to people by name (first name or surname), it is customary to add “san” to the end of the person’s name as a sign of respect, eg. Yamamoto-san. This should not be used when you say your own name. It is also not usually required for people you are familiar with who are your age or younger, or of equal or lower status.

There are a number of other suffixes that can be added to names instead of “san” depending on your relationship to the person (“sama”, “kun” and “chan” are some examples), but for the sake of simplicity and to be on the safe side, always use “san” until you can determine for yourself what might be an appropriate alternative.

You

There are a few words that mean “you” in Japanese (the main ones being “anata” and “kimi”), but these are not used very often. Instead, when referring to the person you are speaking to, it is common practice to use the person’s name followed by the appropriate suffix, usually “san”. To say “your”, simply add “no” after “san” like you would with any other name, eg. “Yamamoto-san no”. As will be explained shortly, it is also possible to leave the person’s name out of the sentence entirely if it is clear from the context who you are talking about.

I and me

“I” and “me” can actually be said in numerous ways. Here are the most common ones you will hear:

Of all of these, “watashi” is always the safest option, and I would recommend using it until you are more familiar with the other ones. The others are listed here primarily so that you will understand them when you hear them.

Subject/object pronouns

Just to clarify, there is no distinction between subject pronouns (I, he, she, they, who) and object pronouns (me, him, her, them, whom) like there is in English. The below two sentences demonstrate this:

I saw him

watashi wa kare wo mimashita

He saw me

kare wa watashi wo mimashita

As you can see, “I” and “me” are both “watashi”, and “he” and “him” are both “kare”.

Family members

When it comes to family members, different words should be used depending on whether you are talking about your own family or the family of others. Below is a list of the main family member words in both the humble (your own family) and honorific (others’ families) forms. Most of these have other alternative ways of saying them, but these are the main ones for each.

3.4 No articles

As explained in the previous chapter, Japanese does not have the articles “a”, “an” and “the”. This makes things simpler in some ways, but also increases the dependency on context, and can require some time for an English speaker to get used to.

For example, to say something like “I ate a donut”, you would simply say something equivalent to “I ate donut” (watashi wa dōnatsu wo tabemashita). In English, we might alternatively say “I ate the donut” to indicate that we are talking about a specific donut, but in Japanese, this would also simply be “I ate donut”. It is assumed from context that we know which donut the speaker is referring to, but this vagueness can lead to misunderstandings, especially if you’re not used to it.

3.5 No plurals

For the most part, there are also no plurals in Japanese. This means that “I ate a donut” and “I ate some donuts” would both be “I ate donut” (watashi wa dōnatsu wo tabemashita). Without further specification or context, the person could be talking about one, two or fifty donuts. It is, of course, possible to use numbers or words like “many” to define quantity, but even then, the word for “donut” will always take the same form, unlike in English where we add an “s” if there is more than one.

One main situation where plurals are used is with living things, especially people. The simplest way to refer to a group of people or animals in the plural form is to add “tachi” to the end of the word. Here are some examples:

The suffix “ra” can also be used instead of “tachi” in some cases, but it is generally more informal and therefore only used with certain words. Two cases where “ra” is usually preferable to “tachi” are “karera”, meaning “they”, and “uchira”, meaning “we”. You might also hear it with some other words for “I”, like “watashira”, “bokura” or “orera”.

3.6 Highly dependent on context

When speaking Japanese, there is a lot that is left unspoken because it can be understood from context. This even includes the most important things in a sentence, like the subject. Whereas in English you might say, “I went to school today”, in Japanese, it is usually obvious that the person speaking is talking about themselves, so “I” would be omitted. This results in something literally equivalent to, “Went to school today”. Similarly, when asking the question, “Did you go to school today?”, it is usually obvious that the speaker is talking about the the person being asked, so in Japanese it would be normal to say the literal equivalent of, “Did go to school today?”.

Generally, Japanese has looser grammar rules than English, so in Japanese, it is possible to leave out certain parts of a sentence that are grammatically required in English. Here are two main examples:

1. English grammar requires every complete sentence or clause to contain (1) a subject, (2) a verb, and (3) an object if the verb takes one. Japanese clauses only require a verb, and any other words that are understood from context can be left out. In English, it is grammatically incorrect to omit words that are required, so we use pronouns like “he” or “it” to abbreviate them and avoid being repetitive.

For example, if we are talking about a pen, we can say “It fell on the floor”, or “Ben gave it to me”. In this case, we know from the context that “it” refers to the pen. In Japanese, instead of saying “it”, the word is just omitted, resulting in sentences literally equivalent to “Fell on the floor”, or “Ben gave to me”. These are, of course, grammatically incomplete sentences in English, but they are perfectly fine in Japanese.

If all the information is understood from context, the sentence can even just be a verb. For example, if we’re talking about a pen, and someone questions whether or not I gave the pen to Ben or not, I could simply say, “Gave”. This would be a grammatically complete sentence, and it communicates the message effectively since every other relevant piece of information is already understood from the context.

2. In English, determiners (words that go before nouns, like “a”, “the”, “my”, “his”, “their” etc.) are almost always required, but in Japanese they are often omitted. For example, one of the sentences from the exercise at the end of the previous chapter was:

She sent a letter to her grandmother

kanojo wa kanojo no obāsan ni tegami wo okurimashita

The English sentence has two determiners - the “a” before “letter”, and the “her” before “grandmother”. As discussed above, “a” does not exist in Japanese so there is no determiner before “tegami”. “Her grandmother” is translated above as “konojo no obāsan”, but although this is literally correct, it is actually very unnatural. We’re already talking about “kanojo”, so repeating it is redundant, and sounds overly repetitive. It would be more appropriate to leave out “kanojo no” because it can be assumed that the grandmother being referred to belongs to the person we are talking about, ie. “kanojo”. The more natural way to say this sentence would be:

kanojo wa obāsan ni tegami wo okurimashita

This could potentially mean somebody else’s grandmother, but if that were the case, it would normally be necessary to include that information. As long as no additional information is provided or can be derived from context, we can assume that it is “kanojo no obāsan” that is being talked about.

The dependency on context in Japanese can, and does, lead to ambiguity. Coming from English, where we are grammatically required to be specific about things, this can be confusing and frustrating at times. For the most part, though, it is obvious what a person is talking about.

Below are a few commonly used phrases where part of the information has been omitted.

* The “o” at the beginning of “ogenki” and “onamae” is an honorific prefix. It simply makes the word more polite, but should only be used when referring to other people, not yourself.

In the examples and exercises throughout this book, some words that would often be obvious and therefore unnecessary are shown in brackets (). It isn’t wrong to include any of these words, but in many situations, it will be more natural to omit them. In real conversation, these bracketed and other words are usually left out of sentences, so try to get used to omitting them when possible.

3.7 Particle omission

As discussed in the previous chapter, particles are an integral part of the Japanese language. The truth is, however, that in spoken language, particles are often left out. How does this work? Just as with other words that are left out of sentences, it is only done when it is obvious which particle would otherwise be used. Take the following example:

I bought a book

watashi wa hon wo kaimashita

This could be changed to:

hon kaimashita

The “watashi wa” can be removed because, as discussed previously, it is clear the speaker is talking about themselves. In addition, the “wo” can be left out because it is clear that the book is what was bought. In other words, the role of “hon” is obvious. We are not going to get confused and think that the particle should be “wa”, because that would make “hon” the topic of the sentence and imply that the book went and bought something, which makes no sense. The role of “hon” is obvious, and since particles define the role of the words they follow, they become somewhat unnecessary when that role is easily identified.

Although particle omission is possible, until you can speak Japanese more fluently, try to always include all the necessary particles so as to avoid omitting the wrong ones. Just be aware that when a Japanese person is speaking, they may leave some of the particles out, and that’s fine - they probably won’t even realize they’re doing it.

3.8 Loanwords

Japanese contains a lot of words that have been imported from other languages, especially English. These are known as loanwords, or “gairaigo”, and are written using katakana instead of the hiragana and kanji (Chinese characters) used for other words. The number of these words in common use is constantly increasing. Young people are using loanwords more and more, and business people will sometimes use them in order to sound more educated, even when there is a perfectly appropriate pre-existing Japanese word they could use instead.

The prevalence of these words can make it easier to learn a lot of new words quickly, but there is one hurdle - you need to get used to the Japanese pronunciation of these words. Loanwords are, for the most part, limited to the same sounds that exist in regular Japanese, so all of the vowel and consonant sounds that don’t exist in Japanese have to be approximated with sounds that do exist.

There are some exceptions, though, which relate to the consonant/vowel combinations not present in Japanese. For example, since “fu” is the only “f” sound, loanwords will sometimes combine this with other vowels like “a” or “e” to make “fa” and “fe” sounds, which normally don’t exist. This can be seen in words like “sofa” (sofa) and “fēsubukku” (Facebook). When these are written in Japanese, they are written as “fu” followed by a small “a” or “e”, similar to the small “ya”, “yu”, “yo” and “tsu” described in chapter one.

Other sounds that are produced like this include “she” (“shi” + small “e”), such as in the word “mirukushēku” (milkshake), or “wi” (“u” + small “i”), which can be seen in words like “wisukī” (whiskey). Throughout this book, sounds like these will be written as they are pronounced, so just be sure to use the correct Japanese vowel sound (a, i, u, e, o) as it is written.

Here are some common loanwords:

There are no set rules for how loanwords are adapted and pronounced in Japanese, but there is a general pattern that is fairly consistent throughout all such words. Below is a list of general guidelines. There is certainly no need to remember these, but you may find them useful as a point of reference.

One last thing to keep in mind is that a loanword in Japanese may not have the exact same meaning as that of the word it was derived from. For example, while English speakers will usually use the word “bike” to refer to a bicycle, “baiku” in Japanese means “motorbike” (the word for bicycle is “jitensha”). Another example is “poteto”, which usually means “french fries”. There are many more words like these, and in some cases the Japanese meaning is almost nothing like the original English meaning, but for most loanwords this isn’t a problem.

Guidelines for the pronunciation of loanwords

- The sound is what matters most, not the English spelling. For example, the vowel in “ball” is an “a”, but the sound is closest to the Japanese “o” sound, hence it is pronounced “bōru”.

- “R” and “L” sounds both use the ra-line

- “B” and “V” sounds both use the ba-line

- “Th” sounds usually use the sa-line

- Long words are often shortened, eg. sūpā (supermarket), terebi (television)

- When a word contains a hard sound like “t” or “p” it is often turned into a double consonant (a small “tsu” when written in Japanese), followed by either “u” or “o”, eg. hotto doggu (hot dog), intānetto (Internet), hippu hoppu (hip hop).

- If a consonant sound does not have a vowel sound immediately following it, it will usually have an “u” sound added after it. This includes:

- Words that have two different consonant sounds in a row. For example, the “c” in “ice cream” is followed by an “r”, so the “k” sound becomes “ku”. This makes the full word “aisu kurīmu”.

- Words that end in a consonant. For example, “ice cream” ends in “m”, and therefore becomes “aisu kurīmu”.

Note that although written with an “u” sound, the “u” in “su” is usually silent when it comes immediately before a consonant sound. For example, “supōtsu” (sport/s) would be pronounced “spōtsu”, and “resutoran” would be pronounced “restoran”.

The general exceptions to this “u” rule are:

- “n” and “m” sounds often use “n”, since it exists as a consonant on its own and is close enough to “m”, eg. pan (bread), konpyūtā (computer)

- “t” and “d” use an “o” sound instead of “u”, eg. pasupōto (passport)

- a “t” followed by an “s” at the end of a word will use “tsu”, eg. dōnatsu (donut/s)

Chapter 4

The essentials

In this chapter, you will learn the most useful words, phrases and grammar rules that you can apply to quickly expand the range of ideas you are able to express in Japanese.

4.1 More useful particles

Japanese has quite a large number of particles, a few of which we have already covered. We will now look at few more particles that are also very common. There are no exercises to be completed for this section, but more examples that use these particles can be found throughout this chapter and beyond.

de

This particle has two main applications:

1. Defines where an activity takes place.

I played soccer at the park

(watashi wa) kōen de sakkā wo shimashita

They swam in the sea

karera wa umi de oyogimashita

She bought a book at the store

kanojo wa mise de hon wo kaimashita

Sato-san sold his car online

satō san wa intānetto de kuruma wo urimashita

2. Defines the means used to complete an action, like a mode of transport or a tool

I went to school by bus

(watashi wa) basu de gakkō ni ikimashita

He came here by car

kare wa kuruma de koko ni kimashita

She wrote a letter in pencil

kanojo wa enpitsu de tegami wo kakimashita

Suzuki-san spoke in English

suzuki san wa eigo de hanashimashita

ga

This particle defines the subject of the sentence or clause.

This is very similar to “wa”, which defines the topic of the sentence. The difference between “wa” and “ga” is probably the most difficult concept for people learning Japanese to grasp. This will be explained in detail later. For now, use “wa” in most cases, but be aware that there are certain times when “ga” is preferred, and that it is also possible to have both “wa” and “ga” in one sentence.

mo

This particle adds the meaning of “too” or “also” when used with positive verbs, and “either/neither” when used with negative verbs.

This can be used instead of “wa” or “wo” to say things like, “I also did X”, or, “He didn’t do X either”. It can also be used after “ni” to say what else was a destination. In both cases, there is usually at least one element in the sentence that is understood from the context, and this can, and usually is, omitted.

I watched a movie

watashi wa eiga wo mimashita

Taro watched (the movie) too

Tarō mo (eiga wo) mimashita

—

I ate ramen

watashi wa rāmen wo tabemashita

I also ate yakisoba

(watashi wa) yakisoba mo tabemashita

—

He went to the park

kare wa kōen ni ikimashita

He also went to the library

(kare wa) toshokan ni mo ikimashita

4.2 Polite verb tenses and expressions

So far, all of the verbs we have used (with the exception of “desu”) have been in the polite past tense. Verbs will be covered in detail in Chapter 8, but before getting to that, we will first look at a few tenses and expressions in the polite form that are very useful and easy to learn.

The two main verb tenses

The two main verb tenses in Japanese are the present/future tense and the past tense. Between these two, you can talk about almost anything that has happened in the past, or that will happen in the future.

Verb tenses in Japanese are determined by the verb ending. The table below shows the endings that need to be applied to verbs in order to express them in the present/future tense and the past tense.

When pronouncing these verb endings, be sure to remember the following points:

- the “u” at the end of “-masu” is usually silent, hence this should be pronounced “-mas”

- the “i” in “mashita” is usually silent, hence this should be pronounced “-mashta”

- the “i” in “deshita” is usually silent, hence this should be pronounced “-deshta”

“Deshita”, by the way, is also the past tense of “desu”. Although this means “was” when it’s used as a verb on its own, when used at the end of other verbs, it simply changes the verb to the past tense without any added meaning.

Here are some examples of verbs in each of these tenses.

As you can see, conjugating verbs in these tenses is straightforward, and in the polite form, there are no exceptions to the rules stated above.

Just be aware, however, that verbs appear in the dictionary in the informal present/future tense. At the back of this book, you will find the most common Japanese verbs in the informal and polite present tenses, but if you use a dictionary to learn new words, you will need to know how to convert verbs from the informal form to the polite form. This will be covered in Chapter 8.

Of course, just as important as knowing how to say verbs in different tenses is knowing when to use them. Below is a brief explanation of when to use each of these tenses.

Present/future tense

This is mainly used to talk about things that will occur in the future, either actively (eg. I’m going to the beach tomorrow) or passively (eg. It’s going to rain tomorrow). It can include things in the distant future, such as “I will go to Japan in 3 years”, or things that are about to begin immediately, like “I am going to watch a movie now”.

It can also be used to talk about regular activities or habits in the present (eg. I wake up at 7am every day), usually accompanied by an indication of when such activities take place (ie. 7am every day). It is not, however, used to talk about actions that are taking place right now (eg. I am eating breakfast). This requires the use of the present continuous tense, which will be introduced in Chapter 9.

The following examples include some words that specify the time the action takes place, which we haven’t covered yet, but this is just to give the sentences context and demonstrate the different verb tenses. Don’t worry about this too much for now - just focus on the verbs. Expressions of time will be introduced in Chapter 6.

Regular activities and habits

She wakes up at 7 o’clock every day

kanojo wa mainichi shichiji ni okimasu

Ichiro plays baseball on Sundays

Ichirō wa maishū nichiyōbi ni yakyū wo shimasu

I don’t watch television

watashi wa terebi wo mimasen

She doesn’t eat vegetables

kanojo wa yasai wo tabemasen

She doesn’t eat fruit either

(kanojo wa) kudamono mo tabemasen

Future actions

I will meet a friend tomorrow

ashita (watashi wa) tomodachi ni aimasu

I will also go to the library

(watashi wa) toshokan ni mo ikimasu

Okubo-san isn’t coming to the party

ōkubo san wa pātī ni kimasen

Kudo-san isn’t coming either

kudō san mo kimasen

Past tense

The past tense is simply used to talk about actions that both started and finished in the past. Japanese has other ways to talk about past events, but even if it’s not always the best option, the regular past tense can be used for just about anything.

It rained

ame ga furimashita [literally: “Rain fell”]

He bought clothes at Harajuku last week

senshū, kare wa harajuku de fuku wo kaimashita

I didn’t have a shower yesterday

kinō, shawā wo abimasen deshita

I didn’t clean my teeth either

ha mo migakimasen deshita

Lastly, here are two very useful expressions that use verbs in the past tense (unlike English, which uses adjectives):

I’m hungry

onaka ga sukimashita [literally: “(My) stomach has emptied”]

I’m thirsty

nodo ga kawakimashita [literally: “(My) throat has dried”]

Two simple and useful verb expressions

In addition to the two verb tenses introduced above, we will now also look at two useful expressions: “I want to…” and “Let’s…”.

I want to…

The “I want to…” expression presented below can be used any time that you want to say that you want to do something. It can only be used with verbs, so it cannot be used to say “I want sushi”, or some other noun. It also can’t be used to say what other people want, as it is an expression of one’s own desire, not someone else’s. That said, it can be used with “we” to say things like, “We want to play football”.

Let’s…

This expression allows you to suggest activities by saying “Let’s do…”, “Let’s eat…”, “Let’s go…”, etc. This form of the verb does have other applications, in which the meaning is slightly different, but that is not important at this stage.

The table below shows how these two expressions are formed in the polite form.

One thing to note with the “I want to…” expression is that where “wo” would normally be used to mark the object of the verb, “ga” should be used instead. This is because this expression actually functions as an adjective that describes how you feel about doing something, unlike English where “want” is a verb. This is also why it needs “desu” at the end in the polite form. Despite this, though, you will likely often hear people using “wo” instead of “ga”.

Below are some examples of verbs in the polite form of each of these expressions.

Here are some examples of these two expressions:

I want to buy a ticket

chiketto ga kaitai desu

I want to go to the toilet/bathroom

toire ni ikitai desu

I don’t want to eat this

kore ga tabetakunai desu

I don’t want to use chopsticks

ohashi ga tsukaitakunai desu

Let’s make dinner

bangohan wo tsukurimashō

Let’s go to Japan

nihon ni ikimashō

Let’s run

hashirimashō

Let’s also run

watashi tachi mo hashirimashō

Lastly, note that both of these expressions can be turned into questions by adding the particle “ka” at the end, as explained later in Chapter 4.5. When asked as questions, “I want to…” becomes “Do you want to…?” (eg. ~shitai desu ka?), and “Let’s…” becomes, “Shall we…?” or “Shall I…?” (eg. ~shimashō ka?).

4.3 A couple of useful verbs

Now that we’ve covered a few basic verb tenses and expressions, let’s have a look at a couple of verbs that are very common and quite useful to know how to use.

Shimasu

“Shimasu”, meaning “to do”, is very handy as it can generally be used after any noun to turn it into a verb, as long as it makes sense to do so. Here are some examples:

You can, of course, use this in other verb forms as well, like the past tense (shimashita), and to say “I want to…” (shitai desu) and “let’s do” (shimashō).

In many cases, there will actually be another, possibly more common verb with the same meaning as the “noun + shimasu” combination. For example, “hatarakimasu” is an alternative word for “shigoto shimasu” that also means “to work”. To master Japanese, you would still eventually need to learn such words, but knowing that you can just add “shimasu” to the noun allows you to learn a lot of new verbs quickly.

Imasu/Arimasu

We know that the verb “desu” is roughly equivalent to “to be”, but Japanese also has the following two verbs that have a meaning close to “to be” or “there is”:

The difference between these verbs and “desu” is that these are used to say that things exist, or to describe their location. This will become more apparent shortly, but before looking at examples of “imasu” and “arimasu”, you need to know this:

The particle “ni”, when used with “imasu” or “arimasu”, defines the location of something.

This is an additional usage of “ni” to the one described in chapter two (“The particle “ni” defines the destination related to an action that involves movement”).

Now that you know this, consider these sentences:

1a. This is a cat

kore wa neko desu

1b. The cat is in my house

neko wa watashi no ie ni imasu

1c. There is a cat in my house

watashi no ie ni neko ga imasu

2a. That is a pen

sore wa pen desu

2b. The pen is on the table

pen wa tēburu ni arimasu

2c. There is a pen on the table

tēburu ni pen ga arimasu

Firstly, you can see here how “ni” describes the location of the person, animal or object, such as in “watashi no ie ni” (in my house) and “tēburu ni” (on the table). It is important to note that this is only true for “imasu” and “arimasu”. For other verbs, when describing the location where something takes place, the particle “de” should be used instead (refer back to Chapter 4.1).

Secondly, even though the verb in all of these sentences is “is” when expressed in English, its meaning is fundamentally different when “desu” is used compared to when “imasu” or “arimasu” is used. More specifically:

- “Desu” is used when the sentence is simply describing two things as being the same, or “a = b”. For example, “kore wa neko desu” means “this = cat”.

- “Imasu” and “arimasu” are used to describe the existence and/or location of something. For example, “watashi no ie ni neko ga imasu” is equivalent to, “a cat exists in my house”.

These two cannot be interchanged. For example, you cannot say “sore wa pen ga arimasu”, or, “watashi no ie ni neko desu”. Neither of these sentences make sense.

Third, notice that there is a fundamental difference between the meaning of the (b) sentences and the (c) sentences. In sentences 1b and 2b, there is a topic or ‘thing’ defined by “wa”, and these sentences simply state where that ‘thing’ is. In sentences 1c and 2c, however, there is no “wa” because there is no topic of these sentences. This kind of general statement of existence is expressed in English with the words “there is”. In Japanese, the topic is left undefined, and the ‘thing’ that exists is marked with the particle “ga”.

These words can also be used to say that you or someone else has or doesn’t have something. Here are some examples:

I have a younger brother

watashi wa otōto ga imasu

He doesn’t have any children

kare wa kodomo ga imasen

She has a swimming pool at her house

kanojo wa ie ni pūru ga arimasu

Okada-san doesn’t have (any) money

okada san wa okane ga arimasen

Important: These verbs should only be used to mean “has” or “have” when the owner and the possessor are the same person.

Also, in all of these examples, you can see that there is both a “wa” and a “ga”. Let’s see how these sentences would appear if the “wa” portion of the sentences were removed.

There is a younger brother

otōto ga imasu

There are no children

kodomo ga imasen

There is a swimming pool at the house

ie ni pūru ga arimasu

There is no money

okane ga arimasen

All of these are simple statements of existence, where the ‘things’ being talked about do not belong to anybody specific. Even when the “wa” portion is included, they are still just statements of existence - they do not actually indicate possession like the English verb “to have”.

So what does the “wa” portion do? As always, it defines the topic of the sentence, which provides context for everything that follows. In the first sentence, I am talking about myself (watashi wa), and by saying that “a younger brother exists”, the context of “me” implies that the younger brother is mine. A more literal translation would be something like, “When talking about me, there is a younger brother”.

Exercise

1. Look around you and pick five objects, animals or people. For each of these things, write down and say aloud a sentence with each of the following meanings (two sentences each).

a) The [thing] is in/on/at the [place]

eg. The book is on the table

b) There is a [thing] in/on/at the [place]

eg. There is a book on the table

2. Think of three things that you own, and three things that somebody else owns. For each of these things, write down and say aloud a sentence that means:

[person] has a [thing] (eg. I have a car).

Answers

Your sentences should follow the patterns below. “Imasu” should be used for living things, while “arimasu” should be used for all non-living things.

1.

a) [thing] wa [place] ni imasu/arimasu

eg. hon wa tēburu ni arimasu

b) [place] ni [thing] ga imasu/arimasu

eg. tēburu ni hon ga arimasu

2. [person] wa [thing] ga imasu/arimasu

eg. watashi wa kuruma ga arimasu

4.4 Liking and wanting things

The concepts of ‘liking’ and ‘wanting’ are very similar in Japanese and English, but the way they are expressed differs in a fairly fundamental way. In English, we use these words as verbs, or action words, while the equivalent words in Japanese are actually adjectives, or describing words. In this section we’ll look at how to express these two ideas, and how to make sense of the different approach.

Liking and loving things

The Japanese word for “like” is “suki”. The following examples show how to say that someone likes something:

I like sushi

(watashi wa) sushi ga suki desu

He likes ramen

kare wa rāmen ga suki desu

Generally, simply remembering the following pattern will be enough to be able to use “suki” correctly:

[person] wa [thing] ga suki desu

You can do the same for things that you or someone else loves by saying “daisuki” instead (“dai” literally means “big”), like so:

[person] wa [thing] ga daisuki desu

Here are some more examples of each:

I like movies

(watashi wa) eiga ga suki desu

Imai-san likes chocolate

Imai san wa chokorēto ga suki desu

She loves cheese

kanojo wa chīzu ga daisuki desu

Arai-san loves golf

Arai san wa gorufu ga daisuki desu

Wanting things

The Japanese word for “want” is “hoshī”, and it is used in much the same way as “suki”. You’ll recall from Chapter 4.2 that we can turn a verb into an expression meaning “I want to…” by adding “tai” to the verb stem. The difference between that expression and “hoshī” is that “hoshī” is used with nouns instead of verbs, so you would use “hoshī” to say that you want something, and “-tai” to say that you want to do something. Just like with the “I want to…” expression, “hoshī” can usually only be used for yourself, so it cannot normally be used to talk about what someone else wants.

The following examples show how to say that that you want something:

I want sushi

(watashi wa) sushi ga hoshī desu

I want a motorbike

(watashi wa) baiku ga hoshī desu

Generally, the following pattern can be used:

(watashi wa) [thing] ga hoshī desu

Making sense of these expressions

To get a deeper understanding of the interaction between words in these sentences, it may help to recognize that these sentence structures are much like that of the sentences where “imasu” and “arimasu” are used to mean “has”, since they too contain both “wa” and “ga”. Just as was the case there, “wa” defines the topic (or it is implied), and this provides context for the rest of the sentence.

For example, in “kare wa rāmen ga suki desu”, we are talking about “him”, as is defined by “wa”. By saying “rāmen ga suki desu” to describe ramen as “likable” or “appealing”, the context of “him” makes the whole sentence mean, “He likes ramen”. A more literal translation would be something like, “In his mind, ramen is likeable”. You cannot, however, use “suki” and “daisuki” to describe something as likable in a general sentence - it always has to be attributed to someone.

The same applies to sentences using “hoshī”, except that it is mostly only used by the speaker to say “I want…”. In this case, the adjective “hoshī” has a meaning that is something like “wanted”, so the sentence “(watashi wa) sushi ga hoshī desu” would therefore more literally translate to something along the lines of, ”In my mind, sushi is wanted“. The meaning is still simply “I want sushi” - it’s just expressed in a way that fits in better with Japanese grammar and culture.

Exercise

1. For yourself and four people you know, describe one thing that they like and one thing that they love. Write down and say aloud each sentence.

2. Think of five things that you want. For each, write down and say aloud that you want those things.

Answers

1. Your sentences should follow the pattern: [person] wa [thing] ga suki/daisuki desu.

2. Your sentences should follow the pattern: (watashi wa) [thing] ga hoshī desu.

4.5 Questions

Generally speaking, there are two types of questions - yes/no questions, and open questions (who, when, why etc.). Let’s look at how each of these are formed in Japanese.

* Japanese has a unique word for going or returning home. Rather than saying “ie ni ikimasu”, it is normal to say “ie ni kaerimasu”, or just “kaerimasu”. This verb can also be used when a person is returning to a temporary place of lodging, such as a hotel, or a more general idea of “home”, such as a home town, country or continent.

Yes/no questions

Turning Japanese sentences into yes/no questions is incredibly easy.

To form a question, add the particle “ka” to the end of the sentence.

Here are some examples:

This is a pen

kore wa pen desu

Is this a pen?

kore wa pen desu ka

—

You ate sushi

anata wa sushi wo tabemashita

Did you eat sushi?

(anata wa) sushi wo tabemashita ka

—

Mom went to the post office

haha wa yūbinkyoku ni ikimashita

Did mom go to the post office?

haha wa yūbinkyoku ni ikimashita ka

Exercise

For each of the verbs listed below, ask a question in each of the following three tenses:

a) Past tense (Did you…?)

b) Do you want to…?

c) Shall I/we…?

Verbs:

1. tabemasu

2. ikimasu

3. mimasu

4. kikimasu

5. kaimasu

Answers

1. a) ~ wo tabemashita ka    b) ~ ga tabetai desu ka    c) ~ wo tabemashō ka

2. a) ~ ni ikimashita ka        b) ~ ni ikitai desu ka        c) ~ ni ikimashō ka

3. a) ~ wo mimashita ka      b) ~ ga mitai desu ka        c) ~ wo mimashō ka

4. a) ~ wo kikimashita ka    b) ~ ga kikitai desu ka      c) ~ wo kikimashō ka

5. a) ~ wo kaimashita ka      b) ~ ga kaitai desu ka        c) ~ wo kaimashō ka

Open questions

The structure of open questions is similar to that of yes/no questions, but you will of course need to use a questions word, such as “what”, “who”, “when”, etc. Below are all the main question words you need to know, although a few others will be introduced later in this and other chapters.

Here are a couple of notes regarding these words:

- “Nani” and “nan” both mean “what”, but “nan” is usually used when it is followed by “desu”, the particle “no”, or a counter (counters will be explained in Chapter 5). “Nani” is used in most other situations. The different usage is mainly based on what is easier to say.

- “Dōshite” and “nande” can be used interchangeably to mean “why”. “Nande” originated from the Kansai region and was generally not used in “standard” Japanese, but it has since spread and is now used by people from all around the country.

How these question words are used depends on a few factors. Let’s look at some example sentences.

What is this?

kore wa nan desu ka

Where is Mako?

mako wa doko desu ka

Who is the spy?

supai wa dare desu ka

When is the party?

pātī wa itsu desu ka

For all of these questions, the main verb is “desu”. For questions using “desu”, it is important to remember this:

A question word cannot be used before “wa”.

Think of it this way - an unknown factor cannot be the topic of a sentence and provide context for it. If we are asking, “What is this?”, the topic is “this”. We are talking about “this”, and asking for further information about it. Consider these two sentences:

What is this?

kore wa nan desu ka

This is a pen

kore wa pen desu

As you can see, when asking a question in English, we move the question word to the beginning of the sentence and make it the subject. In Japanese, the topic or subject of the sentence remains the same whether the sentence is a question or not. Question words, therefore, will usually come before “desu” when that is the main verb.

Let’s look at some more example questions.

What did you do yesterday?

kinō, nani wo shimashita ka

Where will they go?

karera wa doko ni ikimasu ka

Who will you go with?

dare to ikimasu ka

When shall we eat lunch?

itsu hirugohan wo tabemashō ka

Why did you open the window?

dōshite mado wo akemashita ka

How did he fix the TV?

kare wa dōyatte terebi wo naoshimashita ka

These sentences all use a verb other than “desu”. When the main verb is not “desu”, some question words require a particle to follow them, while others do not. Determining whether or not a particle is needed comes down to this:

Does the role of the thing that the question word refers to need defining?

For example, when asking “who”, “what” or “where”, the question word is referring to someone, something or somewhere that is involved in the action, so the role of that person, thing or place needs to be defined by a particle. Are you asking who did the action (dare ga), who it was done with (dare to), or who it was done to (dare wo)? Are you asking where the action took place (doko de), where it began (doko kara), or where the destination was (doko ni)? Generally, if the question word represents something, whether it be physical, digital or abstract, a particle is normally needed.

Other words like “when”, “how” and “why”, on the other hand, refer to the timing, the method, or the reason for the action. They do not really affect the action itself, hence they do not have a role and no particle is necessary.

The only exception to this might be for “when”. If instead of asking when something takes place, you are asking when it begins (itsu kara) or when it ends (itsu made), a particle would be needed. Words relating to time, including the particles “kara” and “made”, will be explained in detail in Chapter 6.

One last thing - since a question word cannot be used before “wa”, you may be wondering how you ask about the person, animal or object performing the action, such as in the question, “Who ate my bacon?”.

To ask who or what performed the action, put “ga” after the question word.

To ask the question, “Who ate my bacon?”, you could say, “dare ga watashi no bēkon wo tabemashita ka”. The basic order of the words is the same for both statements and questions, but while statements would normally use “wa” to mark the person or thing performing the action, questions use “ga” instead.

Exercise

1. Translate each of the following questions into Japanese. Write down and say aloud each of your answers.

a) What did he buy?

b) What do you want to eat?

c) Where did she go?

d) Where will they play baseball?

e) Who will you watch the movie with?

f) Who used my mobile phone?

g) When will you return home?

h) When do you want to go to Fukuoka?

i) Why did you turn off the TV?

j) Why did you sleep on the sofa?

k) How shall we go to Kyoto?

l) How did he break the chair?

Answers

1.

a) kare wa nani wo kaimashita ka

b) (anata wa) nani ga tabetai desu ka

c) kanojo wa doko ni ikimashita ka

d) karera wa doko de yakyū wo shimasu ka

e) (anata wa) dare to eiga wo mimasu ka

f) dare ga watashi no keitai wo tsukaimashita ka

g) (anata wa) itsu ie ni kaerimasu ka

h) (anata wa) itsu fukuoka ni ikitai desu ka

i) (anata wa) dōshite/nande terebi wo keshimashita ka

j) (anata wa) dōshite/nande sofa de nemashita ka

k) dōyatte kyōto ni ikimashō ka

l) kare wa dōyatte isu wo kowashimashita ka

The word “ask”

One potentially confusing word that relates to questions is the word “ask” itself. The Japanese word for “ask” is actually “kikimasu”, which is the same as the word for “listen”. Even when written in Japanese, these two verbs use the same kanji. The main method of differentiating between someone saying “ask” and someone saying “listen” is in the particles. Compare the following example sentences:

He listened to her

kare wa kanojo wo kikimashita

He asked her a question

kare wa kanojo ni shitsumon wo kikimashita

With “listen”, the particles are simple, with the person thing being listened to being marked as the object with the particle “wo”. In the case of the word “ask”, however, the person being asked is the destination of the question, and are therefore marked by the particle “ni”. What they are asking then becomes the object of the sentence, as marked by the particle “wo”. Although it may be confusing that these two English words are expressed using the same verb in Japanese, the presence or absence of the particle “ni” tells us which action is being described.

4.6 Other sentence-ending particles

In addition to the particle “ka” explained above, there is another group of particles that are often used at the end of sentences known as Interjectory Particles. These particles do not really change the meaning of a sentence, but are used to add emotion or emphasis to an otherwise straightforward statement. Some of these are unique to certain dialects within Japan, but there are two main ones that are extremely common and used (or at least understood) everywhere.

With both of the particles below, you will probably need to hear them a lot before you can fully understand when it is appropriate to use them. Don’t worry though - these are incredibly common, so if you listen to native Japanese speakers, either in person, in movies, on TV or on the radio, you will hear them all the time and will quickly get a sense of how to use them correctly.

Yo

This is used to make assertions, and adds a moderate level of emphasis to a sentence. It is often used when the speaker is providing new information (example 1 below), confirming that something has or will be done (2), giving an opinion, especially one of surprise (3), or expressing disagreement (4). Note that this is not an exhaustive list of possible uses.

1. I bought tickets

chiketto wo kaimashita yo

2. Did you close the window?

mado wo shimemashita ka

(Yes), I did

shimemashita yo

3. That’s expensive!

(sore wa) takai desu yo!

4. Japanese TV is boring

nihon no terebi wa tsumaranai desu

No, it’s interesting/funny!

iya, omoshiroi desu yo!

These sentences would all have the same basic meaning if “yo” wasn’t added at the end, but the “yo” makes each statement more assertive.

Ne

This is generally used to express agreement. It is usually used when responding to something that somebody else has said, although sometimes it is used when the speaker just assumes that the listener(s) will agree with them. It also has a kind of softening effect, which in some ways is the opposite of “yo”. Here are some examples:

This is delicious

kore wa oishī desu

Yeah, (I agree,) it is delicious

oishī desu ne

—

I want to go to the beach

umi ni ikitai desu

That would be great! / Great idea!

ī desu ne!

—

It’s so hot…

atsui desu ne…

Yo + ne

“Yo” and “ne” are also often used together to form a kind of rhetorical question, where the person speaking is stating something that they believe to be true, while also seeking agreement or confirmation from the listener. This is similar to English sentence-ending expressions like “isn’t it?”, “didn’t you?”, etc.

You like takoyaki, don’t you?

(anata wa) takoyaki ga suki desu yo ne?

This is Asada-san’s wallet, isn’t it?

kore wa asada san no saifu desu yo ne?

He understands Japanese, right?

kare wa nihongo ga wakarimasu yo ne?

4.7 This, that and other variations

The Japanese words for “this” and “that” are very useful, but there are a few variations that you need to know and understand well. In this section, we’ll look at the different words that can be used to say “this” and “that”, as well as some other words that have a similar meaning and form.

This and that

Consider these sentences:

1. That is a car

sore wa kuruma desu

2. That is a blue car

are wa aoi kuruma desu

3. That car is blue

sono kuruma wa aoi desu

We know that “sore” means “that”, but as you can see above, the word “that” is represented by “are” in sentence two and “sono” in sentence three. Why? There are two reasons:

1. The word for “that” changes according to where the object is in relation to the listener in the conversation.

In English, “this” is used by the person speaking to refer to something near them, while “that” is used to refer to something that is not near the speaker.

In Japanese, however, there are three words instead of just two:

- “Kore” refers to something near the speaker

- “Sore” refers to something near the listener

- “Are” refers to something that is not near the speaker nor the listener - something that is “over there”

This is best shown in a diagram:

The speaker could refer to A using “kore”, B using “sore” and C using “are”.

In addition to these, there is also the word “dore”, a question word meaning “which”, such as in the question, “Which is your car?” (anata no kuruma wa dore desu ka).

2. Japanese distinguishes between “that” when it’s used on its own as a noun, and when it is used as a determiner, as in “that x”.

For each of “kore”, “sore”, “are” and “dore”, there is an equivalent word that is used when you are trying to say something like “this car” or “that pen”. To create these words, simply replace the “re” with “no”, as follows:

So, using the diagram from earlier, the speaker could talk about car A by saying “kono kuruma”, car B by saying “sono kuruma”, or car C by saying “ano kuruma”. They could also ask “which car” by saying “dono kuruma”.

Important: “Kore”, “sore”, “are” and “dore” should never be used for people. Doing so is very insulting as it implies that that person is an object, not a person. Instead, you should say “this/that/which person” by saying “kono/sono/ano/dono hito”.

Below are some example sentences using these words:

This coffee is awful

kono kōhī wa mazui desu

I don’t want to listen to this song

(watashi wa) kono uta ga kikitakunai desu

That mobile phone is light

sono keitai wa karui desu

Let’s buy that desk

sono tsukue wo kaimashō

That man (over there) is cool/good-looking

ano otoko no hito wa kakkoī desu

That woman (over there) is pretty

ano onna no hito wa kirei desu

Exercise

Look around you and pick two things that are near you, two things near an imaginary person that you will speak to, and two things that are away from both you and the imaginary person. For each thing, write and say aloud two sentences, one with each of the following meanings:

1. This/that is a [thing]

eg. This/that is a chair

2. This/that [thing] is [adjective]

eg. This/that book is heavy

Answers

Your sentences should follow the patterns below. “Kore” and “kono” should be used for the things near you, “sore” and “sono” for the things near the imaginary person, and “are” and “ano” for the things that are not near either of you.

1. kore/sore/are wa [thing] desu

eg. kore/sore/are wa isu desu

2. kono/sono/ano [thing] wa [adjective] desu

eg. kono/sono/ano hon wa omoi desu

Other variations

In addition to the above words for “this”, “that” and “which”, there are actually a few other words starting with “ko”, “so”, “a” and “do” that all use the same underlying principle of being defined by their location relative to the speaker. Here are the main ones:

Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

Koko, soko, asoko, doko

This refers to a place or location, much like “here”, “there”, “over there” and “where” in English. As with other nouns, a particle is normally used to indicate the role of the place or location that is being defined. Here are some examples:

Let’s eat here

koko de tabemashō

I will go there

(watashi wa) soko ni ikimasu

There is a bank over there

asoko ni ginkō ga arimasu

Where is the toilet?

toire wa doko desu ka

Kō, sō, ā, dō

These words are very useful, but their meaning is difficult to define in English. They generally refer to how something is, what someone has said or how something has been done, with a meaning somewhere along the lines of “in this/that way”, “like this/that”, or “as you say”. “Sō” and “dō” are the two you will hear most. There is no need to use particles with these words. Here are some examples, many of which you will likely hear very often:

That’s right/true/correct

sō desu

Really? / Is that so?

sō desu ka

Yes, it is / Yes, that’s right

sō desu yo

Yeah, that’s quite true

sō desu ne

Yeah, that’s true, isn’t it?

sō desu yo ne

Let’s do that

sō shimashō

I think so / I think that is true

sō omoimasu

How is the tea?

ocha wa dō desu ka

What’s the matter?

dō shimashita ka

What shall we do?

dō shimashō ka

What do you think?

dō omoimasu ka

Kochira, sochira, achira, dochira

These are polite, generic words that can be used to mean “this/that/which” or “here/there/where”. Unlike “kore” etc., they can also be used to refer to people, as shown in the first example below.

This is Nakamoto-san

kochira wa nakamoto san desu

There is (some) tea on that table

sochira no tēburu ni ocha ga arimasu

Let’s go that way (over there)

achira ni ikimashō

Which car did you buy?

dochira no kuruma wo kaimashita ka

Konna, sonna, anna, donna

These have a meaning similar to “this kind of…”, “that kind of…”, etc. They are used in sentences before nouns in much the same way as “kono”, “sono”, “ano” and “dono”, albeit with a meaning that is more vague. When pronouncing these words, be sure to apply equal weighting to the “n” sound before ending with “na”.

I like this kind of music too

watashi mo konna ongaku ga suki desu

I want to stay at that kind of hotel

sonna hoteru ni tomaritai desu

I want to become that kind of person

(watashi wa) anna hito ni naritai desu

What kind of movies do you like?

(anata wa) donna eiga ga suki desu ka

4.8 Relative locations

So far, we have learned that “ni” and “de” can be used to define the destination or the location where something exists or takes place. In this section, we will take that a step further by looking at how to say where things are, or where things are happening, relative to something else.

Here are some of the main words that can be used to describe the location of things relative to other things or places.

These words can be used on their own, or in combination with other things or places using the particle “no”. Here are some examples:

My left

watashi no hidari

In front of the television

terebi no mae

Behind the door

doa no ushiro

Next to the hospital

byōin no tonari

On top of the fridge

reizōko no ue

Inside the train

densha no naka

As with all other locations, these should be used in sentences with the appropriate particle. Most commonly, the particle to use will be:

- “ni” when it describes the destination

- “ni” when it describes the location that something exists

- “de” when it describes the location that an action takes place

There is a dog to my left

watashi no hidari ni inu ga imasu

The remote control is in front of the TV

rimokon wa terebi no mae ni arimasu

There is a ball behind the door

doa no ushiro ni bōru ga arimasu

They will play soccer next to the hospital

karera wa byōin no tonari de sakkā wo shimasu

He put the box on top of the refrigerator

kare wa reizōko no ue ni hako wo okimashita

I read the paper on (inside) the train

densha no naka de shinbun wo yomimashita

They played outside

karera wa soto de asobimashita

You can, of course, string together multiple locations by using the particle “no”, such as in the example below. Notice that the words describing the location appear in the reverse order to how they appear in English.

The ball is under the chair next to the TV

bōru wa terebi no tonari no isu no shita ni arimasu

TV        next to    chair    under

Exercise

1. Look around you and describe where some things are in relation to other things. Write down and say aloud your sentences. Try to use each of: hidari, migi, mae, ushiro, tonari, ue, shita, naka, soto.

2. Pick three activities that you did yesterday, and describe where you did those activities, relative to a fixed location. Write down and say aloud each sentence.

Answers

Your sentences should follow the pattern below:

1. [thing A] wa [thing B] no [relative location word] ni arimasu

2. [fixed location] no [relative location word] de [activity in past tense]

4.9 Other generally useful words

Below are some other common and useful words.

hai - yes

There are two things to be aware of with this word:

1. It doesn’t always actually mean “yes”, and is often used to simply reassure the speaker that you are listening. This is important because it can easily lead to misunderstandings, so beware.

2. When a yes/no question is asked, saying “hai” means that what the speaker asked is true, even if it is a negative question. For example, if there was a meeting yesterday that you didn’t go to, and you are asked the question, “Didn’t you go to the meeting?”, in English you would normally reply, “No” or “No, I didn’t”. In Japanese, however, you would need to say “hai”, or “hai, ikimasen deshita”, because what they asked is true - you didn’t go. Unlike English, in Japanese it is perfectly normal to match “hai” with a negative action. The reverse is true for “īe” below.

īe - no

Keep in mind that Japanese people will often find creative and indirect ways of saying “no”, since it is not a part of their culture to be direct. As a result, this word is actually not as common as you would expect.

iya - no

This is a stronger word for no that is often used to show disagreement.

etto / anō - Umm / ah

These are used as filler words when thinking about what to say next. Depending on the person, the “e” or “o” in “etto” is sometimes stretched out.

demo - but

Use this at the beginning of a new sentence, as shown in the example:

I want to go to Japan. But, I don’t have any money.

(watashi wa) nihon ni ikitai desu. demo, okane ga arimasen.

ga / keredomo - but

These have the same meaning as “demo”, but while “demo” is usually used at the beginning of a new sentence, “ga” and “keredomo” are generally used in the middle of a sentence to join two contrasting clauses together. Both can be polite, but “keredomo” is more often heard in its shortened and less polite form “kedo”.

I want to go to Japan, but I don’t have any money.

(watashi wa) nihon ni ikitai desu ga, okane ga arimasen.

(watashi wa) nihon ni ikitai desu kedo, okane ga arimasen.

kara - because / so

When you want to give a reason for something happening, such as in the sentence, “X happened, so I did Y”, you can use “kara”. Similar to “ga” and “kedo”, this is used to join two independent clauses together into one sentence. The first clause - the one before “kara” - should always contain the reason or cause of the second clause.

I want to eat at that restaurant so I made a reservation /

I made a reservation because I want to eat at that restaurant

(watashi wa) ano resutoran de tabetai desu kara yoyaku wo shimashita

soshite - and then…

This can be used at the beginning of a sentence to link activities together in a chain (another way to do this will be described in Chapter 9.4), as shown in the example:

I went to Tokyo. Then, I went to Sapporo.

tōkyō ni ikimashita. soshite, sapporo ni ikimashita.

kudasai - please

If you need to ask for something or make a selection, such as when ordering food or being offered a choice of beverages, you can simply say the ‘thing’ you’re asking for followed by “kudasai”. “Kudasai” is actually a verb meaning “give” in an especially polite form, which is why it fits at the end of the sentence. It’s basically a polite way of saying “Give me …”. When saying this, the thing you are asking for can be marked with the particle “wo”, although this is often omitted.

(May I have some) tea please

ocha (wo) kudasai

daijōbu - okay / fine

This is a very useful word that can be used to say that things are okay, or to ask if they are.

Are you okay? / Is everything okay?

daijōbu desu ka

Yes, I’m fine / Yes, everything’s fine

hai, daijōbu desu

kekkō - no, thank you / I’m fine

If you want to decline when somebody offers you something, you can just say “kekkō desu”. “Kekkō” literally translates as “fine” or “good”, but when used in response to an offering, a more accurate translation would be, “I’m fine, thank you”.

Would you like tea?

ocha wo nomimasuka [literally: Will you drink tea?]

No, I’m fine, thank you

īe, kekkō desu

itai - hurts / ouch

To say something hurts, say the body part followed by “ga itai desu”. Literally, “itai” is an adjective that means “painful”, but it is also the word Japanese people instinctively say when they hurt themselves, like “ouch” in English.

Ouch!

itai!

My hand hurts

te ga itai desu

totemo - very

This can be used immediately before any adjective to mean “very”.

This is very expensive

kore wa totemo takai desu

takusan - lots, many, much

This can be used immediately before a verb to emphasize that the action was done a great amount. It should generally only be used with verbs in their positive form.

I ate lots of sushi

sushi wo takusan tabemashita

There are many people

hito ga takusan imasu

Chapter 5

Numbers

Numbers are, of course, an essential part of life. In this chapter we will look at number formation and pronunciation, the need for counters, and how to use numbers in a sentence.

5.1 Number formation and pronunciation

Here are the numbers zero through nine:

Firstly, zero is most commonly pronounced in effectively the same way as English, albeit with a Japanese accent. There are other pronunciations, the most common of which being “maru” and “rei”, but in most situations, “zero” will suffice.

The numbers four and seven also have two alternative pronunciations. Generally, only “yon” and “nana” are used beyond ten. There are occasional exceptions to this, but in most cases, you won’t be mistaken if you use “yon” and “nana”.

As shown below, the number ten is pronounced “jū”, and the numbers 11 through 19 are pronounced by adding “jū” in front of the number in the “ones” column.

Beyond this, the numbers 20 to 99 are pronounced by simply placing the number of ‘tens’ before “jū”, followed by the number of ‘ones’ (if there are any). The numbers 20 through 29 are therefore pronounced as follows:

This pattern continues on infinitely, with new words being added at different increments, like 100 and 1000. Here are the first few incremental number words:

For any number, just say each number together with its corresponding increment number. For example, the number 32,768 would be pronounced:

san man ni sen nana hyaku roku jū hachi

You have probably noticed that there is a unique word for “ten thousand”, unlike English which just combines the smaller increment numbers “ten” and “thousand”. Japanese doesn’t start combining number increments in this way until after 10,000, or “man”. The first number to do this is therefore 100,000, which is pronounced “jū man”, which literally translates as “ten ten-thousands”.

Basically, where English introduces new words every three zeros (thousand, million, billion etc.), Japanese introduces new words every four zeros: man (10,000), oku (100,000,000), etc. The number 1,000,000, for example, is therefore pronounced “hyaku man”, or “100 ten-thousands”.

This probably sounds confusing and unintuitive, but it’s the natural way of counting in languages like Japanese and Chinese. To Japanese people, the English way of using a new word every three zeros is unintuitive; it’s just a different perspective.

Unfortunately, these different perspectives make life harder when working with larger numbers. To help with this, it will help to remember that:

One million = hyaku man

By using this as a reference point, numbers like “ni sen man” will be much easier to figure out. Since you know that “sen” is 10 times larger than “hyaku”, if you know that “hyaku man” is a million, “ni sen man” must equal 20 million. This should be much easier than trying to calculate 2,000 x 10,000.

Below are some example numbers and their correct pronunciation:

Raw numbers can mostly be pronounced by just saying each number and increment word in the correct order as in the examples above, but there are a few exceptions. Here are all of the special cases that you need to be aware of:

The following four numbers demonstrate all of the above special cases:

Exercise

1. Say the following numbers in Japanese:

a) 47

b) 123

c) 201

d) 3,960

e) 4,618

f) 50,799

g) 65,536

h) 701,852

i) 812,075

j) 9,078,384

Answers

1.

a) yonjū nana

b) hyaku nijū san

c) nihyaku ichi

d) sanzen kyūhyaku rokujū

e) yonsen roppyaku jū hachi

f) goman nanahyaku kyūjū kyū

g) rokuman gosen gohyaku sanjū roku

h) nanajū man issen happyaku gojū ni

i) hachijū ichi man nisen nanajū go

j) kyūhyaku nanaman hassen sanbyaku hachijū yon

5.2 Counters

While forming numbers in Japanese is quite straightforward, using them can be a little bit trickier. This is because all numbers used to define a quantity need to be used in the form of a counter, and these counters vary according to what is being counted.

For example, to say “I have two dogs” would require the number two to be used with the counter for small animals. Similarly, “I have two cars” would require the number two to be used with the counter for vehicles.

There are, in fact, a lot of different counters, some with very specific uses. Rather than trying to remember each and every one, there are a few that are more general in meaning and can be used more widely. Although there will sometimes be a more appropriate counter that you could use, it’s better to use a counter that is “close enough” than none at all. The ones listed below will be enough to get you through most situations.

For a full list of Japanese counters, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word.

Generally, counters are added after the number to be used, although it’s not always that simple. The following table shows the pronunciation for each of these counters for the numbers one through ten, as well as the associated question word meaning “how much?” or “how many?”. Counters with exceptional pronunciation are shown in bold.

Here is a brief explanation of each of these counters and when to use them. An explanation of how they fit into sentences will follow.

en

This is simply used when counting Japanese currency. Note that it is not pronounced “yen”.

sai

This is used to count the age of people and animals. For ages beyond ten, simply express the number as usual, but with the last number pronounced as shown in the table above. Here are some examples:

* For bonus points, also remember that age 20 is usually expressed as “hatachi”. “Hatachi” is an important age in Japan because it is the age from which people are considered adults. They even have a national holiday on the second Monday in January called “Coming of Age Day” (seijin no hi), where everyone who has turned 20 in the past year attends a special ceremony at their local city office.

ko

The “ko” counter is widely used as a generic counter for non-living things. If all else fails, and you’re counting something that isn’t living, use this. Be sure to include a short pause when there is a double “k” sound, such as in “ikko”.

Any number beyond ten can be created using the regular number pronunciation, but with the last number pronounced as shown in the table above. For example:

tsu

The “tsu” counter is also widely used as a generic counter for non-living things, although usually not for large objects like cars or houses. It is probably more common than “ko”, but is generally used only for numbers up to nine. When there are ten items or more, “ko” is usually used instead.

You will have surely noticed that pronunciation for the “tsu” counter is completely different to the regular pronunciation for numbers. It may seem like a lot of effort to learn an entirely new set of numbers just for one counter, but the “tsu” counter is quite possibly the most common counter of all, and is also very similar to the counter for days (to be introduced in Chapter 6), so it is worth the effort.

nin

This counter is for people. Note that although “one” and “two” have pronunciations that differ from the regular numbers, this is not used for numbers beyond ten, so 11 people is “jyūichi nin”, 12 people is “jyūni nin”, etc.

In addition to being able to be used in combination with nouns that refer to people, such as friends, men, women, students etc., this can also be used as a noun by itself in reference to a group of people. For example, the word “futari” could be used as a counter to mean “two” in the sentence, “There are two students over there”, or it can be used as a noun to mean “two people” in the sentence, “There are two people over there”. Here are these two sentences in Japanese:

There are two students over there

asoko ni futari no gakusei ga imasu

There are two people over there

asoko ni futari ga imasu

hiki

This counter can generally be used for most living things that are not people. Technically, there are other counters for some living things, especially birds (wa) and larger animals (tō), but until you have time to learn those, you can get by with just “hiki”.

5.3 Using numbers in a sentence

Simply knowing numbers and counters is certainly helpful, but it’s obviously better if you know how to use them correctly. Let’s now look at how the counters introduced above can be used in a sentence.

Yen and age

The yen and age counters will mostly be used on their own to say how much something costs or how old someone is, respectively. This can be done with simple sentences like this:

This is 100 yen

kore wa hyaku en desu

How much is this?

kore wa ikura desu ka

I am 25 years old

watashi wa nijū go sai desu

How old is he?

kare wa nansai desu ka

You can also use the particle “de” with the “en” counter to describe how much you bought or sold something for, like so:

I bought this for 3,000 yen

(watashi wa) kore wo sanzen en de kaimashita

He sold his phone for 20,000 yen

kare wa keitai wo niman en de urimashita

To understand this fully, remember that “de” defines the means used to complete an action. If you think of currency as the means with which a sale is made, it makes sense that “de” is the appropriate particle. The same, of course, applies to other currencies like dollars (doru).

General counters

There are two main ways in which other counters are used in a sentence. The simplest way is to use them with the particle “no” immediately before the ‘thing’ that is being counted. Below are some examples, with questions and answers for each counter. Note that full sentence answers are only provided for the sake of demonstrating the usage of counters; you wouldn’t normally answer questions in this manner.

How many hamburgers did you eat?

nan ko no hanbāgā wo tabemashita ka?

I ate two hamburgers

niko no hanbāgā wo tabemashita

—

How many golf balls did you buy?

ikutsu no gorufu bōru wo kaimashita ka?

I bought six golf balls

mutsu no gorufu bōru wo kaimashita

—

How many friends did he go with?

kare wa nan nin no tomodachi to ikimashita ka?

He went with three friends

kare wa san nin no tomodachi to ikimashita

—

How many dogs did Keiko see?

keiko wa nan biki no inu wo mimashita ka?

Keiko saw five dogs

keiko wa gohiki no inu wo mimashita

This same pattern can also be used for the yen and age counters, like in the following sentences:

He bought a 500 yen shirt

kare wa gohyaku en no shatsu wo kaimashita

I met a 100 year-old woman

hyaku sai no onna no hito ni aimashita

The second main way to use counters in a sentence is to place the number or question word immediately before the verb, without a particle. Note that this is generally only used when the ‘thing’ you are counting is the object (as denoted by “wo”) of the sentence, or when you are counting the number of things that exist (as denoted by “ga” and used with the verbs “imasu” and “arimasu”). The reason for this is that since the counter is being placed immediately before the verb and without a particle, there is an inherent relationship between the number and the verb. The things being counted must therefore be directly affected by that verb. Here are some examples:

How many hamburgers did you eat?

hanbāgā wo nanko tabemashita ka?

I ate two hamburgers

(hanbāgā wo) niko tabemashita

—

How many golf balls did you buy?

gorufu bōru wo ikutsu kaimashita ka?

I bought six golf balls

(gorufu bōru wo) mutsu kaimashita

—

How many dogs did Keiko see?

keiko wa inu wo nanbiki mimashita ka?

Keiko saw five dogs

(keiko wa inu wo) gohiki mimashita

Lastly, if you have a sentence with multiple different items that each need counters attached to them, you can do this by separating each item/counter combination with the particle “to”. When doing this, the block of words that refers to the things being counted should be kept intact, including the particles, as shown below:

There are three boys and four girls here

koko ni san nin no otoko no ko to yonin no onna no ko ga imasu

koko ni otoko no ko ga san nin to onna no ko ga yonin imasu

(Give me) two hamburgers and one beer please

futatsu no hanbāgā to hitotsu no bīru wo kudasai

hanbāgā wo futatsu to bīru wo hitotsu kudasai

Exercise

1. Using the counters introduced in this chapter, translate the following sentences into Japanese. Write your answers down and say them out loud.

a) This hat is 2000 yen

b) He bought those shoes for 50,000 yen

c) She is 14 years old

d) He introduced his 62 year-old father

e) There are three sizes

f) Let’s order two coffees

g) I bought six of these

h) They carried 8 boxes to the car

i) There were 10,000 people at the concert

j) She played at the park with five friends

k) I caught three fish

l) There are 25 monkeys at the zoo

2. Now do the same with the following questions:

a) How much is this hat?

b) How much did he buy those shoes for?

c) How old is she?

d) How old is his father?

e) How many sizes are there?

f) How many coffees shall we order?

g) How many of these did you buy?

h) How many boxes did they carry to the car?

i) How many people were at the concert?

j) How many friends did she play with at the park?

k) How many fish did you catch?

l) How many monkeys are there at the zoo?

Answers

1.

a) kono bōshi wa nisen en desu

b) kare wa goman en de sono/ano kutsu wo kaimashita, OR
kare wa sono/ano kutsu wo goman en de kaimashita

c) kanojo wa jūyon sai desu

d) kare wa rokujū ni sai no otōsan wo shōkai shimashita

e) mitsu/sanko no saizu ga arimasu, OR
saizu ga mitsu/sanko arimasu

f) kōhī wo futatsu/niko chūmon shimashō, OR
futatsu/niko no kōhī wo chūmon shimashō

g) kore wo rokko/mutsu kaimashita

h) karera wa hakko/yatsu no hako wo kuruma ni hakobimashita, OR
karera wa kuruma ni hakko/yatsu no hako wo hakobimashita, OR
karera wa kuruma ni hako wo hakko/yatsu hakobimashita

i) raibu ni ichiman nin (ga) imashita, OR
ichiman nin ga raibu ni imashita

j) kanojo wa kōen de gonin no tomodachi to asobimashita, OR
kanojo wa gonin no tomodachi to kōen de asobimashita

k) (watashi wa) sakana wo san biki tsurimashita, OR
(watashi wa) san biki no sakana wo tsurimashita

l) dōbutsuen ni nijū go hiki no saru ga imasu, OR
dōbutsuen ni saru ga nijū go hiki imasu

2.

a) kono bōshi wa ikura desu ka

b) kare wa ikura de sono/ano kutsu wo kaimashita ka

c) kanojo wa nansai desu ka

d) kare no otōsan wa nansai desu ka

e) ikutsu/nanko no saizu ga arimasu ka, OR
saizu ga ikutsu/nanko arimasu ka

f) kōhī wo ikutsu/nanko chūmon shimashō ka, OR
ikutsu/nanko no kōhī wo chūmon shimashō ka

g) kore wo ikutsu/nanko kaimashita ka

h) karera wa ikutsu/nanko no hako wo kuruma ni hakobimashita ka, OR
karera wa kuruma ni ikutsu/nanko no hako wo hakobimashita ka, OR
karera wa kuruma ni hako wo ikutsu/nanko hakobimashita ka

i) raibu ni nan nin (ga) imashita ka, OR
nan nin ga raibu ni imashita ka

j) kanojo wa kōen de nan nin no tomodachi to asobimashita ka, OR
kanojo wa nan nin no tomodachi to kōen de asobimashita ka

k) (anata wa) sakana wo nan biki tsurimashita ka, OR
(anata wa) nan biki no sakana wo tsurimashita ka

l) dōbutsuen ni nan biki no saru ga imasu ka, OR
dōbutsuen ni saru ga nan biki imasu ka

Chapter 6

Expressing time

It goes without saying that the ability to talk about time is incredibly valuable. In the broadest sense, there are three main ways that time can be expressed - timing (when), period (for how long), and frequency (how often). In this chapter, we will look at how to express each of these time-related concepts.

Throughout the chapter, an explanation is provided for how to use the various time-related words and expressions in sentences, but don’t worry too much about learning every single rule to perfection. Over time, as you hear other people using these expressions and practice using them yourself, you will develop a natural sense for when and how they are used. If necessary, you can come back to this chapter later to refine your understanding.

6.1 Timing

In both Japanese and English, there are numerous words that specifically exist to describe when things take place. These words can be divided into two main categories:

1. Words that describe a point in time relative to now, eg. Today, Tomorrow

2. Words that rely on context for specificity. eg. Friday, March

The distinction between these two categories helps in determining how to put these words into sentences. Basically, if you can differentiate between these two categories, you’ll have an easier time remembering the correct way to describe the timing of actions. This will become apparent shortly.

Let’s now look at each of these categories, including all the necessary vocabulary as well as how to use them in a sentence.

1. Points in time relative to now

Words in this category describe points in time relative to the present moment, meaning that depending on when they are used, the exact time being referred to varies. Here are the main words that fit into this category.

Using these words in sentences

Using these words in a sentence to say when something happened or will happen is very easy - just put them at the beginning or after the “wa” without a particle. Here are some examples:

I played baseball yesterday

kinō yakyū wo shimashita

I didn’t eat breakfast today

kyō asagohan wo tabemasen deshita

Let’s go to to the beach tomorrow

ashita umi ni ikimashō

She graduated from university last week

senshū kanojo wa daigaku wo sotsugyō shimashita

He will go to London next year

kare wa rainen rondon ni ikimasu

Exercise

1. For each of the following points in time, create a sentence that describes an activity you or someone else did or will do. Write down and say aloud each sentence. Feel free to use the “let’s do…” and “I want to…” expressions for times in the future.

a) The year before last

b) Last year

c) Last month

d) Last week

e) Yesterday

f) This morning

g) Today (before now)

h) Today (after now)

i) Tonight

j) Tomorrow

k) The day after tomorrow

l) Next week

m) Next month

n) Next year

o) The year after next

2. Words that rely on context for specificity

Words in this category include the time of day, days of the week, days of the month, months, seasons and years. What makes them context-dependent is that unlike words in the previous category, when used by themselves and without context, there is no way to determine which occurrence of that time, day, month or season is being referred to. For example, while “tomorrow” always refers to the day after the present one, without context, words like “morning”, “Sunday” and “September” could refer to any morning, Sunday or September in the past, present or future.

By adding context to these words, however, we can determine which morning, which Sunday or which September is being referred to. For example, if we say, “On Sunday”, and we are talking about something that we are going to do in the future, this context tells us that the speaker is most likely referring to the coming Sunday. If instead we were talking about things that have already happened, then the context implies that we are referring to the last Sunday gone. In both cases, the fact that the speaker is referring to the nearest Sunday in the past or future is implied by the lack of extra information. To refer to other Sundays, you will usually need to be more explicit by saying things like “On Sunday, January 5th, 2014”, or “On Sunday two weeks from now”.

Why years are context-dependent

Although years are inherently specific, they are also included in this category because, technically, “2014” relies on the context of the Gregorian calendar. This is so ingrained in our lives that we don’t usually think about which calendar we are using, but without the context that this calendar provides, it would not be clear what “2014” actually refers to. Besides, Japan also has its own system for counting years based on the reign of the current emperor. For example, 2014 is Heisei 26. It’s not essential to learn the Japanese calendar since the Gregorian calendar is used for most things, although it does help to be aware of it. Plus, if a Japanese person asks you what year you were born and you reply using the Japanese calendar, they will most likely find it hilarious.

Here are the main time-related words that are dependent on context:

In addition to these, this category includes years, the days of the month, and the time of day, each of which have their own counters. Let’s take a look at each of these now.

Years

The Japanese counter for years is “nen”, which is very simple and just needs to be added after the number of the year. Here are some examples:

One thing to note is that although in English, “1985” is normally expressed as “nineteen eighty five” rather than “one thousand nine hundred and eighty five”, in Japanese, years are always expressed like any other number, just with the “nen” counter added on the end. As shown above, it is also possible to abbreviate the century and just say, “99 nen”.

Days of the month

Japanese has a specific counter used for days. These are equivalent to words like “first”, “second”, “ninth” and “tenth”, but unlike these English words, they are specific to days and therefore cannot be used for other things like placings in a race.

For the first ten days of the month, the days counter is much like the “tsu” counter. Beyond that, with a couple of exceptions, “nichi” is simply added to the end of the number.

As you can see, beyond ten, the exceptions that need to be remembered are the 14th, 19th, 20th, 24th, and 29th. For all of these, though, saying the regular number followed by “nichi” will be understood, so there’s no need to worry about these exceptions too much. That said, I recommend remembering “hatsuka” for the 20th, as Japanese people will usually be very impressed if you use this correctly. The same applies for the word “hatachi” (age 20).

Time of day

To express the time of day in hours and minutes, “ji” is added after the number of the hour, and “fun” is added after the number of minutes. Like most other counters, there are a couple of exceptions when it comes to pronunciation, so here is the full list with the exceptions shown in bold:

Now, using the above expressions of time, you can say any time of day by simply combining the hours and minutes. Here are some examples:

Using these words in sentences

To use these context-dependent time words in a sentence, they need to be coupled with a particle, usually “ni”. This brings us to a third usage for this particle:

The particle “ni” defines when an action takes place.

It is quite similar to the English prepositions of time “at”, “on” and “in”.

You’ll recall that the time words in category one can be used on their own without any particles. This is the main grammatical difference between the two categories, and is the reason it helps to be able to differentiate between them. If you can recognize the difference between the two categories, and remember that relative time words are used on their own, while context-dependent time words are used with “ni”, you’ll be able to use them correctly.

If you need help remembering this, notice that this distinction is remarkably similar to English and its omission/inclusion of prepositions with the two categories of time words. If a time expression would use “at”, “on” or “in” in English, the equivalent expression in Japanese usually requires “ni”. Conversely, if there is no preposition of time in English, Japanese most likely doesn’t require a particle.

Here are some examples of context-dependent time words as they would appear in a sentence:

These words often appear at the beginning of sentences, immediately after “wa” (if there is one) or between “wo” and the verb. However, since these words are paired with the particle “ni”, it is also possible to use them in different places in a sentence. Remember, the particle defines the role of the word before it, and this is more important than word order. As long as the particle is correct, its placement is not as important and generally only affects naturalness and flow, not so much the literal meaning.

This may leave you wondering where the most natural placement of time expressions is. Basically, it depends. As a general rule, words that appear towards the end of a sentence are more important, or provide newer information, than those that appear near the beginning. Placing the time between “wo” and the verb, for example, would emphasize the time the action occurred over the action itself or the person performing it. On the other hand, if the time expression is near the beginning of the sentence, then the activity or people/things involved in the activity is the point of focus, and the timing is merely additional information.

Here are some example sentences using these time words, each with multiple options for the placement of the timing word:

Hiroshi was born in 1984

hiroshi wa 1984 nen ni umaremashita

1984 nen ni hiroshi wa umaremashita

I went to South Korea in January

(watashi wa) ichigatsu ni kankoku ni ikimashita

ichigatsu ni watashi wa kankoku ni ikimashita

Kanako bought a bicycle on Sunday

nichiyōbi ni kanako wa jitensha wo kaimashita

kanako wa nichiyōbi ni jitensha wo kaimashita

kanako wa jitensha wo nichiyōbi ni kaimashita

Let’s watch the soccer on the 23rd

nijūsan nichi ni sakkā wo mimashō

sakkā wo nijūsan nichi ni mimashō

We will eat lunch at one o’clock

(watashi tachi wa) ichi ji ni hirugohan wo tabemasu

ichi ji ni watashi tachi wa hirugohan wo tabemasu

(watashi tachi wa) hirugohan wo ichi ji ni tabemasu

It is also possible to use question words in the same way. In chapter 4, we saw how “itsu” can be used to ask when something happened or is going to happen, but just like English, questions can be made more specific by using words like “nanji” (what time), “nan nichi” (what day of the month), etc. In such cases, since the timing is what is being questioned, the time expression is important and therefore less likely to come at the beginning of the sentence. Answers to such questions would also follow the same rule, since the timing of the activity is the new and important information.

Here are some examples of questions about specific times:

In what year was Hiroshi born?

hiroshi wa nan nen ni umaremashita ka

In what month did you go to South Korea?

(anata wa) nangatsu ni kankoku ni ikimashita ka

On what day (of the week) did Kanako buy her bicycle?

kanako wa nan’yōbi ni jitensha wo kaimashita ka

kanako wa jitensha wo nan’yōbi ni kaimashita ka

On what day (of the month) shall we watch the soccer?

nan nichi ni sakkā wo mimashō ka

sakkā wo nan nichi ni mimashō ka

At what time will we eat lunch?

(watashi tachi wa) nanji ni hirugohan wo tabemasu ka

(watashi tachi wa) hirugohan wo nanji ni tabemasu ka

Exercise

For each of the following, have a mini conversation with yourself in which you ask a question about the specific timing of an activity, and then answer it. For the sake of practice, use full sentence answers. Be sure to write them down after you have said each of them out loud.

1. Past activities

a) In what year…?

b) In what season…?

c) In what month…?

d) On what day of the month…?

e) On what day of the week…?

f) At what time…?

2. Future activities (use a variety of expressions, including “-masu”, “mashō” and “-tai desu”)

a) In what year…?

b) In what season…?

c) In what month…?

d) On what day of the month…?

e) On what day of the week…?

f) At what time…?

Time word combinations

In many cases, just one time word won’t be enough, and you will need to use a combination. As a general rule, you can use any two time words together, regardless of category, by joining them with the particle “no”. They need to be expressed in descending order of size, so years will come before seasons or months, months before weeks or days, etc. Notice in the examples below that specific times are expressed by first defining a broader period of time (often using a relative time word), and then using “no” to narrow down to the desired level of specificity. More literal English translations are provided in brackets where appropriate.

Yesterday afternoon

kinō no gogo

Tomorrow morning

ashita no asa

Last August (last year’s August)

kyonen no hachi gatsu

Next summer (next year’s summer)

rainen no natsu

Last weekend

senshū no shūmatsu (or senshūmatsu)

Next Tuesday night (next week’s Tuesday night)

raishū no kayōbi no yoru

The end of winter

fuyu no owari

The first Monday in March

sangatsu no saisho no getsuyōbi

You can use this to be more specific about the time of day too, by combining the time with the general words for morning, afternoon and night, as shown below. In this case, the inclusion of “no” is somewhat optional.

Note that when expressing dates, such as “December 31, 2015”, there is no need to insert “no” in between each unit. They are, however, still expressed in descending order of size. For example:

Similarly, the word “yasumi”, which literally means “rest” or “break”, is also often combined with other words without “no” to refer to a specific break, such as in the following examples:

Dates and breaks can be further combined with more specific words like the time of day using “no”, like so:

4:30 on October 21, 2015

2015 nen jū gatsu nijū ichi nichi no yojihan

The morning of June 20

rokugatsu hatsuka no asa

The beginning of summer break

natsu yasumi no hajime

Using time word combinations in sentences

You may notice that all of these combinations end with a context-dependent (category two) time word. This makes sense, because relative time words (category one) are designed to provide a specific reference point, and we never need more than one of these. Combining two such words would result in phrases like “today’s tomorrow” or “next year’s this week”. These do make sense, but they aren’t particularly useful. You may occasionally hear things like “last year’s today” (kyonen no kyō), but this is relatively uncommon.

Since combinations of time words will almost always end with a word from category two, they generally need to be followed by “ni” when used in a sentence. This also means that they have the same flexibility as words from category two in terms of placement. Here are some examples:

I will watch TV at 8:30 tomorrow night

ashita no yoru (no) hachi ji han ni terebi wo mimasu

We left home at 6 o’clock this morning

(watashi tachi wa) kesa no roku ji ni ie wo demashita

She was born on December 4th

kanojo wa jūnigatsu yokka ni umaremashita

They met at the beginning of spring break

karera wa haruyasumi no hajime ni deaimashita

Exercise

1. Translate each of the following sentences into Japanese. Write each sentence down, and say them aloud.

a) I skied at Hakuba last winter

b) I didn’t eat breakfast last Thursday

c) He arrived at the office at 8:30 this morning

d) She was born on April 13th

e) Their train departs at 3:45 on Friday afternoon

f) I want to go to China in the summer break

Answers

1.

a) kyonen no fuyu ni hakuba de sukī (wo) shimashita

b) senshū no getsuyōbi ni asagohan wo tabemasen deshita

c) kare wa kesa (no) hachiji han ni ofisu ni tsukimashita

d) kanojo wa shigatsu jūsan nichi ni umaremashita

e) karera no densha wa kin’yōbi no gogo (no) sanji yonjū go fun ni shuppatsu shimasu

f) (watashi wa) natsuyasumi ni chūgoku ni ikitai desu

Other uses of time expressions

So far in this chapter, all of the expressions of time have been used to define when an action takes place. There are, however, a couple of other ways that expressions of time are used.

Sentences ending in “desu”

Any expression of time (including those introduced later in this chapter) can be used like any other noun in sentences where the verb is “desu”. For example:

Today is Thursday

kyō wa mokuyōbi desu

It is Thursday (today)

(kyō wa) mokuyōbi desu

It is hot today

kyō wa atsui desu

What time is it (now)?

(ima wa) nanji desu ka

It is 12 o’clock

jūni ji desu

I like Saturdays

(watashi wa) doyōbi ga suki desu

The meeting is on Wednesday

kaigi wa suiyōbi desu

The game is at 2:30

shiai wa nijihan desu

You can see here that time words can be used before “wa” to be the topic, before “ga” to be the subject, or before “desu” to be the ‘thing’ that the topic or subject is being described as.

You are probably left wondering about a few of these sentences though.

For example, what happens when the English version of a sentence uses “it”? As described in Chapter 3.6, since anything that is understood from context can be ignored, there is no need for a word like “it” in Japanese. This means that sentences like “It’s Thursday” would simply become “mokuyōbi desu”. What this really is, though, is an abbreviated version of “kyō wa mokuyōbi desu”, where the “kyō” part is understood from context and is therefore omitted.

When “kyō wa” is included, there are two equivalent expressions in English - “Today is Thursday” and “It is Thursday today”. These mean the exact same thing, but it is because English has the word “it” that this is possible. The non-existence of “it” in Japanese simply means that an expression like the latter is not an option. To include the word “kyō”, we therefore need to recognize that it is, in fact, the topic of the sentence. This should help you understand why “It is hot today” becomes “kyō wa atsui desu”.

Another question that may arise is, why is there no particle “ni” after “suiyōbi” or “nijihan” in the last two sentences, even though the English translation includes the prepositions “on” and “at”? The reason for this is that “ni” is used to define the relationship between a time expression and an action. Although “desu” is a verb, it does not describe an action, so it does not make sense to use “ni”. In English, you could get away with saying “The meeting is Wednesday” or “The game is 2:30”, but these aren’t really correct. In any case, these two examples have been included simply to emphasize the point that “ni” is used to define the timing of an action, and does not simply mean “on”, “at” or “in”.

Other particles

Other than “ni”, there are a few other ways that expressions of timing can be used in sentences that involve action, and these require different particles. Here are the most important ones:

kara

This defines the starting time or place of an action. It is very much like “from” in English, and can be used with words representing a time or place. With time expressions, “kara” is sometimes interchangeable with “ni”, since the time that an action occurs and the time that an action starts can be the same thing (first example below). This does not apply, however, when describing the start of a recurring action such as a habit, since the action occurs multiple times but the habit only starts once (second example).

Class starts from 9 o’clock

jugyō wa kuji kara hajimarimasu

From tomorrow, I will study Japanese every day

ashita kara mainichi nihongo wo benkyō shimasu

I am (came) from Australia

watashi wa ōsutoraria kara kimashita

made

This defines the ending time or place of an action. It is mostly used to refer to time with the meaning “until”. It can also be used with words representing a place to define an end point, although this is less common since “ni” is the main particle used to define a destination.

I worked until 7 o’clock

shichiji made shigoto (wo) shimashita

Summer vacation is from June until August

natsuyasumi wa rokugatsu kara hachigatsu made desu

made ni

This defines the time by which an action is due to be completed. It is basically the same as the English word “by” when it is used in relation to time. Since this implies a deadline, it is mostly used with expressions like, “Please do this by…”, or, “I need to do this by…”, which we have not yet covered. The below examples are provided for your reference, but do not worry if you do not recognize the verb conjugations yet - these will be introduced later.

Please reply by next Friday

raishū no kin’yōbi made ni henji shite kudasai

I need to return home by 6 o’clock

rokuji made ni kaeranakereba narimasen

Exercise

1. Translate each of the following sentences into Japanese. Write each sentence down and say them aloud.

a) What time is the movie?

b) The movie is at 7:30

c) From next month, we will play baseball every Saturday

d) They will be busy until next week

e) From when until when was she in America?

f) She was in America from March until last week

g) From what time until what time did you work?

h) I worked from 8 until 6

Answers

1.

a) eiga wa nanji desu ka

b) eiga wa shijihan desu

c) raigetsu kara maishū no doyōbi ni yakyū wo shimasu

d) karera wa raishū made isogashī desu

e) kanojo wa itsu kara itsu made amerika ni imashita ka

f) kanojo wa sangatsu kara senshū made amerika ni imashita

g) (anata wa) nanji kara nanji made shigoto (wo) shimashita ka

h) (watashi wa) hachiji kara rokuji made shigoto (wo) shimashita

6.2 Period

In this section, you will learn the main words and word combinations that describe a period of time, as well as the different ways that such words can be used.

Time counters

Describing a period or amount of time is done using time counters. These generally consist of a number combined with a variation of the time words used to express timing. These counters all end in “kan” (which is written using the character for “interval”), although in some cases this is optional. The table below contains all the main counters for periods of time:

Using these words in sentences

There are a few ways to use these in sentences. The simplest is to use them without a particle after “wa”, or between “wo” and the verb, like so:

I cleaned my room for 1 hour

(watashi wa) ichijikan heya wo sōji shimashita

(watashi wa) heya wo ichijikan sōji shimashita

He will travel Japan for two weeks

kare wa nishūkan nihon wo ryokō shimasu

kare wa nihon wo nishūkan ryokō shimasu

I want to sleep for three days

(watashi wa) mikkakan netai desu

They waited for 40 minutes

karera wa yonjuppun machimashita

The particle “de” can also be applied, since the amount of time can be thought of as a means or a tool - that is, time is something that you use to complete the action. The difference between using “de” and no particle is that when “de” is used, it implies that the activity was completed in that amount of time. When no particle is used, it simply means that the action was performed for that long. Compare these two sentences:

ichi jikan heya wo sōji shimashita

I cleaned my room for 1 hour

ichi jikan de heya wo sōji shimashita

I cleaned my room in 1 hour

As you can see, the first sentence states how long I spent cleaning my room, while the second sentence states how long it took me to clean my room. In other words, sentence one is a general statement, while sentence two implies there was a specific task that needed completion. Here are some more examples using “de”:

She read the book in 45 minutes

kanojo wa yonjūgofun de hon wo yomimashita

He completed the project in 6 months

kare wa rokkagetsu de purojekuto wo kansei shimashita

I want to reach the hotel in two hours

nijikan de hoteru ni tsukitai desu

As with words related to timing, these period of time counters can be used like any other nouns when the main verb of the sentence is “desu”. Here are some examples:

This movie is 95 minutes (long)

kono eiga wa kyūjū gofun desu

One day is enough

ichinichi wa jūbun desu

Two weeks is 14 days

nishūkan wa jūyokkakan desu

Exercise

1. Translate the following sentences into Japanese. Write down each of your answers and say them aloud.

a) I walked for 3 hours

b) She will study in the UK for 4 years

c) He waited for 20 minutes

d) They washed the car in 10 minutes

e) He ran a marathon in 3 hours

f) She fixed the door in 30 seconds

g) How many minutes is this song?

h) This course is 3 months (long)

Answers

1.

a) (watashi wa) sanjikan arukimashita

b) kanojo wa yonenkan igirisu de benkyō shimasu

c) kare wa nijuppun machimashita

d) karera wa juppun de kuruma wo araimashita

e) kare wa sanjikan de marason wo hashirimashita

f) kanojo wa sanjū byō de doa wo naoshimashita

g) kono uta wa nanpun desu ka

h) kono kōsu wa sankagetsu (kan) desu

Extra uses

This section contains some additional ways to use expressions for periods of time, but are less important than the others. Feel free to skip this section and come back to it later.

Using period to describe timing

Just as in English expressions like “in three days”, it is also possible in Japanese to use a period of time to describe when something happened or is going to happen. This is done by combining the period of time with the words “go” and “mae”, followed by “ni”, as shown in the following table:

The following examples demonstrate these expressions.

We will eat lunch in 10 minutes

(watashi tachi wa) juppun go ni hirugohan wo tabemasu

She will go to Japan in 2 weeks

kanojo wa nishūkan go ni nihon ni ikimasu

He left home 3 hours ago

kare wa sanjikan mae ni ie wo demashita

They got married 5 years ago

karera wa gonen mae ni kekkon shimashita

Kakarimasu / wo kakete

Another option for describing how long an activity lasts is to use the verb “kakarimasu”, which when applied to a period of time means “to take”. This can be used instead of the verb that describes the action to say things like, “It took 5 minutes”. Note that when used like this, however, the action itself is not stated, and therefore needs to be clear from the context. That is, it needs to be clear what took 5 minutes. It is possible to include both “kakarimasu” and the action verb to say things like “It takes 5 minutes to walk to work from my house”, but this requires the action to be converted into a noun phrase, which is a more difficult topic that will be covered in Chapter 10.

When using “kakarimasu”, the time expression can be marked with the particle “ga”, although this can be omitted. To understand why “ga” is the appropriate particle, see Transitive and Intransitive Verbs in Chapter 8.7. This verb, by the way, can also be used with an amount of money to say how much something costs. The following sentences demonstrate the use of “kakarimasu”:

It took 5 minutes

gofun (ga) kakarimashita

They took 3 hours by car

karera wa kuruma de sanjikan (ga) kakarimashita

It will take 8 months

hakkagetsu (ga) kakarimasu

This cost 500 yen

kore wa gohyaku en (ga) kakarimashita

The te-form (to be introduced in Chapter 7) of a similar verb, “kakemasu”, can also be used in combination with the verb describing the action to put greater emphasis on the amount of time taken. This is done in the following way:

[period of time] + wo kakete

This can be used at various points in a sentence, but usually appears after “wa”, or at the beginning of the sentence when there is no “wa”.

This verb is much like the English word “spent”, such as in the sentence, “I spent 3 hours cleaning my room” (sanjikan wo kakete heya wo sōji shimashita). The only difference between this and “I cleaned my room for three hours” (heya wo sanjikan sōji shimashita) is that it places more emphasis on the amount of time spent. Like “kakarimasu”, this too can be used with amounts of money. Here are some examples of this expression:

I spent two hours cleaning the kitchen

(watashi wa) nijikan wo kakete daidokoro wo sōji shimashita

He spent 6 weeks fixing his car

kare wa rokushūkan wo kakete kuruma wo naoshimashita

They spent 3 months traveling in Japan

karera wa sankagetsukan wo kakete nihon wo ryokō shimashita

She spent 50,000 yen buying a bicycle

kanojo wa goman en wo kakete jitensha wo kaimashita

6.3 Frequency

There are a few ways to describe how often an activity happens, or its frequency. There are vague words like “always” and “sometimes”, expressions using numbers such as “three times a day”, or more specialized phrases like “every day” and “every year”. Let’s take a look at each of these types of expressions.

Vague frequency words

The simplest but least specific way to talk about how often something occurs is to use words with meanings like “always” and “sometimes”. Here are the most common words:

Important: “Metta ni” and “zenzen” should always be used with a negative verb conjugation. Also note that “zenzen” has other uses that do not relate to time.

These words are used without particles (except for those with “ni” already included above), and will usually appear after “wa”, or in between “wo” and the verb. Here are some example sentences that include these words:

He always wins

kare wa itsumo kachimasu

I often come to this restaurant

(watashi wa) yoku kono resutoran ni kimasu

I eat sushi sometimes

(watashi wa) tokidoki sushi wo tabemasu

She watches TV occasionally

kanojo wa tama ni terebi wo mimasu

They hardly ever go to the cinema

karera wa metta ni eigakan ni ikimasen

I never drink coffee

watashi wa zenzen kōhī wo nomimasen

Every…

The easiest way to be more specific about how often something occurs is to use expressions that mean “every …”. For larger units of time, there are specific words with this kind of meaning. Other units of time and non-standard frequencies can be expressed by saying the period of time followed by “goto ni”, as will be explained shortly. Here are the most common “every …” words:

These words can be used on their own without a particle, and will mostly appear at the beginning of a sentence, after “wa”, or between “wo” and the verb. Here are some examples:

I play basketball every week

watashi wa maishū basuke wo shimasu

There is a meeting every month

maitsuki kaigi ga arimasu

He renews his contract every year

kare wa maitoshi keiyaku wo kōshin shimasu

She watches the news every night

kanojo wa maiban nyūsu wo mimasu

They can also be combined with context-dependent time words like days or months to say things like “every Monday” or “every April”. This is simply done like so:

[’every’ word] + no + [context-dependent time word]

Saying “every Monday”, for example, would therefore be “maishū no getsuyōbi”, which could be more literally translated as “every week’s Monday”. Here are some more examples:

Like other time word combinations, since these “every” combinations always end in a context-dependent time word, they should be followed by “ni” when used in a sentence, as shown in the examples below:

I play basketball every Sunday

watashi wa maishū no nichiyōbi ni basuke wo shimasu

There is a meeting on the first of every month

maitsuki no tsuitachi ni kaigi ga arimasu

He renews his contract every April

kare wa maitoshi no shigatsu ni keiyaku wo kōshin shimasu

She watches the news at 6 o’clock every night

kanojo wa maiban no rokuji ni nyūsu wo mimasu

The limitations of these words are that there is no specific ‘every’ word for smaller units like minutes and hours, and you can only use them when the frequency of something is every one week or every one month. An alternative that allows more flexibility is to combine a period of time with “goto ni”, like so:

[period of time] + goto ni

This allows you to say things like “every hour” or “every two weeks”. This can even be used to replace the specific “every” words that start with “mai”, so you could say “every week” by saying “isshūkan goto ni” instead of “maishū”. The latter is preferable, but the flexibility of “goto ni” makes it a simple alternative that you may find easier to remember in the short term. Here are some examples of “goto ni” being used in a sentence:

There is a test every two weeks

nishūkan goto ni tesuto ga arimasu

The alarm rings every five minutes

arāmu wa gofun goto ni narimasu

He travels abroad every six months

kare wa rokkagetsu goto ni kaigai ni ryokō shimasu

The Olympics are held every four years

orinpikku wa yonen goto ni kaisai saremasu[2]

Number of times per…

The most flexible way to talk about frequency in specific terms is to say how many times something happens in a certain period. This is done like so:

[period of time] + ni + [number of times]

This requires you to know the counter for the number of times something is done, “kai”. The “kai” counter for the numbers one through ten is as follows:

Like other counters, for numbers beyond ten, the number is pronounced as normal, except with the last digit being expressed as shown in the above table. Also, note that this is very similar to the counter for floors in a building. The floor counter, however, uses a different character when written, and usually has a different pronunciation for the number three (sangai).

If we now use “ni” to connect a number expressed using the “kai” counter with a period of time, we can form phrases like the following:

If the period of time is one day, one week, one month or one year, it is not necessary to say the period expression in full (such as “ichi nen kan”). Instead, the simple word for that unit of time can be used: hi, shū, tsuki or nen. The following expressions are therefore valid:

When used in a sentence, these expressions are used without a particle, and usually appear after “wa”, or between “wo” and the verb, as shown in the following examples.

How many times a day do you brush your teeth?

(anata wa) hi ni nankai ha wo migakimasu ka

I go to Tokyo twice every 6 months

(watashi wa) sankagetsu ni nikai tōkyō ni ikimasu

He plays soccer three times every two weeks

kare wa nishūkan ni sankai sakkā wo shimasu

She returns to her home town twice a year

kanojo wa nen ni nikai jimoto ni kaerimasu

6.4 Using expressions of time with nouns

It is also possible to use expressions of time in combination with other words to talk about things of that time, frequency or period. You can do this by connecting the ‘thing’ with the time expression using the particle “no”. When used with “ima”, this allows you to talk about your or someone else’s current situation. Here are some examples:

[2] “Saremasu” is the passive form of “shimasu”. Basically, “kaisai shimasu” means “to hold”, while “kaisai saremasu” means “to be held”. The passive form will be explained in more detail in Chapter 12.4.

Chapter 7

Adjectives, nouns and adverbs

As essential parts of language, we have used adjectives, nouns and a few adverbs throughout this book to help us understand the basics of Japanese grammar. In this chapter, we will take a closer look at each of these parts of speech so that we can use them more accurately and effectively.

The main focus of this chapter is adjectives, as they are the most varied in terms of both their usage, as well as the forms that they take. Additionally, developing a solid understanding of adjectives will actually help us better understand how nouns fit into basic sentences, while also giving us the foundation we need to understand and use adverbs.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to use adjectives and nouns in informal speech, the past tense and the negative form, as well as further enhance your descriptions with the use of adverbs.

7.1 Adjective types

Adjectives in Japanese can be divided into two categories, commonly known as i-adjectives and na-adjectives. The difference between these two types purely relates to syntax, meaning they only differ in how they are used to fit into sentences.

Essentially, all i-adjectives end with the “i” from the a-line of the syllabary (not the other “i” sounds like “ki” or “shi”), while most na-adjectives do not. “Na-adjectives” are called this because they need to be followed by “na” in certain situations. This will be explained shortly.

Let’s first look at some examples of each adjective type.

The first thing to note here is that “good” can be “ī” or “yoi”. It is usually (although not always) used as “ī” on its own, but becomes “yoi” when it is changed to another form, like a negative or past tense. This will become more clear as we use these other forms throughout this chapter.

Secondly, as you can see, there are in fact some na-adjectives that end in “i”. These are still classed as na-adjectives, though, because of how they are used in sentences. Unfortunately, on their own, there is no guaranteed rule that we can use to determine whether an adjective ending in “i” is an i-adjective or a na-adjective. For this reason, it may help to learn all na-adjectives by remembering them with the “na” included, for example, “genki na”, or “kirei na”. If you do this, however, you need to be sure to remove the “na” when it’s not needed, which will be explained below.

Also, if you recall from Chapter 4.4, the Japanese words for “like” and “want” are “suki” and “hoshī”, respectively, and they are both adjectives. The “I want…” expression introduced in Chapter 4.2, as well as “kirai”, the word for “hate”, are also adjectives. These are generally treated like any other adjective, with “suki” and “kirai” being na-adjectives, and “hoshī” and “-tai” being i-adjectives. They will be featured throughout this chapter to help further your understanding of their usage.

7.2 Using adjectives before nouns

Adjectives can be placed before nouns to add meaning to them, wherever they may appear in a sentence. With i-adjectives, we can just place them immediately before the noun, as shown here:

For na-adjectives, however, a “na” needs to be added at the end of the adjective in order to connect it to the noun, like so:

In this case, as long as you can recognize what type of adjective you are dealing with, you just need to know to include “na” if it is a na-adjective.

When an adjective is used before a noun as in the examples above, the combined phrase (adjective + noun) can then be used in a sentence as if it were just another noun. This is the same as English, as the examples below show:

He is a person

kare wa hito desu

He is an interesting person

kare wa omoshiroi hito desu

He is a strange person

kare wa hen na hito desu

I watched a movie

(watashi wa) eiga wo mimashita

I watched an interesting movie

(watashi wa) omoshiroi eiga wo mimashita

I watched a strange movie

(watashi wa) hen na eiga wo mimashita

This is a car

kore wa kuruma desu

This is the car I want

kore wa watashi no hoshī kuruma desu

This is the car I want to buy

kore wa watashi no kaitai kuruma desu

This is the car I like

kore wa watashi no suki na kuruma desu

This is the car I hate

kore wa watashi no kirai na kuruma desu

Exercise

1. Say and write down the following phrases in Japanese.

a) a cold night

b) a beautiful country

c) an ugly building

d) the bag I want

e) the house I want to buy

f) a quiet restaurant

g) a convenient shop

h) pretty scenery

i) the food I hate

j) the music I like

2. Say and write down the following sentences in Japanese.

a) I like cold nights

b) Japan is a beautiful country

c) That (over there) is an ugly building

d) The bag I want is expensive

e) I found the house I want to buy

f) I went to a quiet restaurant

g) This is a convenient shop

h) There is a lot of pretty scenery in Hokkaido

i) She made the food I hate

j) We listened to the music I like

Answers

1.

a) samui yoru

b) utsukushī kuni

c) minikui tatemono

d) (watashi no) hoshī kaban

e) (watashi no) kaitai ie

f) shizuka na resutoran

g) benri na mise

h) kirei na keshiki

i) (watashi no) kirai na tabemono

j) (watashi no) suki na ongaku

2.

a) watashi wa samui yoru ga suki desu

b) nihon wa utsukushī kuni desu

c) are wa minikui tatemono desu

d) (watashi no) hoshī kaban wa takai desu

e) (watashi no) kaitai ie wo mitsukemashita

f) (watashi wa) shizuka na resutoran ni ikimashita

g) kore wa benri na mise desu

h) hokkaidō ni kirei na keshiki ga takusan arimasu

i) kanojo wa watashi no kirai na tabemono wo tsukurimashita

j) (watashi tachi wa) watashi no suki na ongaku wo kikimashita

7.3 Adjectives at the end of informal sentences

As discussed in Chapter 3.1, Japanese has different levels of politeness. “Desu” is the polite version of “to be”, but in informal language, when a sentence ends in an adjective, the “to be” verb is different according to which type of adjective is being used.

na-adjectives

For na-adjectives, “desu” is just replaced by “da” to make it informal. Below are the polite and informal ways of saying different sentences using na-adjectives.

i-adjectives

For i-adjectives, a polite sentence can be converted into an informal sentence by simply omitting “desu”.

One important thing to remember here is that “wa” is not equivalent to “is”. It may look like that in the informal sentences, but that is just your English-speaking brain recognizing a pattern and trying to tell you that words must go in a certain order. In this case, your brain is wrong. Thinking that “wa” means “is” will likely cause you confusion when using other verbs or more complicated sentences. As always, “wa” defines the topic of the sentence, and the remainder of the sentence is like additional information related to that topic. Nothing has changed.

What this means is that in informal sentences that end in i-adjectives, the verb has effectively disappeared. In reality, it does exist, because a complete sentence absolutely must contain a verb, and all of the above sentences are grammatically complete. The best explanation as to why it doesn’t appear is that the verb “to be” is actually included in i-adjectives when they are used in this way (but only then). This is a more accurate assessment, and also explains why i-adjectives have a past tense, as you will see in the next section.

Regardless of the technical reasoning, the important thing to remember is that i-adjectives can end informal sentences without any other verb present, and that “wa”, as always, defines the topic of the sentence and does not mean “is”.

Exercise

1. Say and write down the following sentences in informal Japanese.

a) This is fun

b) That baby (over there) is cute

c) Japanese TV is interesting/funny

d) I want a new car

e) I want to go to Okinawa

f) This town is famous

g) Your house is clean

h) That man (over there) is strange

i) I like dogs

j) I hate noisy people

Answers

1.

a) kore wa tanoshī

b) ano akachan wa kawaī

c) nihon no terebi wa omoshiroi

d) (watashi wa) atarashī kuruma ga hoshī

e) (watashi wa) okinawa ni ikitai

f) kono machi wa yūmei da

g) (anata no) ie wa kirei da

h) ano otoko no hito wa hen da

i) (watashi wa) inu ga suki da

j) (watashi wa) urusai hito ga kirai da

7.4 Adjectives in the past tense

In English, we use the past tense of the verb “to be” to describe something in the past, for example, “That movie was interesting”. In Japanese, we do the same if we are using a na-adjective, but i-adjectives are treated differently. Let’s take a look at each now.

na-adjectives

For na-adjectives, much like we change “is” to “was” in English, we just need to change the verb from “desu” into its past tense form, “deshita”. Note that the “i” sound in “deshita” is usually silent, and is therefore pronounced “deshta”.

That was strange

sore wa hen deshita

He was famous

kare wa yūmei deshita

That restaurant was quiet

ano resutoran wa shizuka deshita

I liked ramen

(watashi wa) rāmen ga suki deshita

I hated yakisoba

yakisoba ga kirai deshita

The informal version of “deshita” is “datta”. Everything else remains the same, hence the less polite way to express the above sentences is as follows:

That was strange

sore wa hen datta

He was famous

kare wa yūmei datta

That restaurant was quiet

ano resutoran wa shizuka datta

I liked ramen

(watashi wa) rāmen ga suki datta

I hated yakisoba

(watashi wa) yakisoba ga kirai datta

i-adjectives

Unlike na-adjectives, i-adjectives themselves can actually be expressed in the past tense. This means that instead of changing “desu” to “deshita”, we change the adjective itself, and leave the “desu” as is.

To change an i-adjective into the past tense, remove the last “i” and add “katta”. Make sure that you only remove one “i” sound if it is an elongated “ī”. You’ll recall from Chapter 1 that these are actually two consecutive “i” sounds, with the first being attached to a consonant, such as in “shi”, so be sure to leave this sound intact by only removing the last “i”.

To use these in sentences, we just put them where their non-past tense equivalent would go.

That was good

sore wa yokatta desu

That movie was interesting

sono eiga wa omoshirokatta desu

He was sad

kare wa kanashikatta desu

I wanted a dog

inu ga hoshikatta desu

I wanted to watch a movie

(watashi wa) eiga ga mitakatta desu

Remember that since the adjective is already in the past tense, the verb “desu” remains unchanged.

In informal speech, the “desu” is simply left off, just as we saw with i-adjectives in the non-past tense.

That was good

sore wa yokatta

That movie was interesting

ano eiga wa omoshirokatta

He was sad

kare wa kanashikatta

I wanted a dog

inu ga hoshikatta

I wanted to watch a movie

(watashi wa) eiga ga mitakatta

Exercise

1. Convert each of these i-adjectives into the past tense.

a) ī / yoi

b) warui

c) mazui

d) atsui

e) atarashī

f) furui

g) utsukushī

h) minikui

i) urusai

j) kawaī

2. Say and write down each of the following sentences in Japanese in both the polite and informal forms.

a) The train was inconvenient

b) Until last week, this town was quiet

c) In 1970, she was famous

d) I liked The Beatles

e) Last year, I hated him

f) The lake was cold

g) Today’s lunch was delicious

h) The football match was fun

i) I wanted a new car

j) I wanted to sleep on the sofa

Answers

1.

a) yokatta

b) warukatta

c) mazukatta

d) atsukatta

e) atarashikatta

f) furukatta

g) utsukushikatta

h) minikukatta

i) urusakatta

j) kawaikatta

2.

Polite:

a) densha wa fuben deshita

b) senshū made, kono machi wa shizuka deshita

c) 1970 nen ni kanojo wa yūmei deshita

d) (watashi wa) bītoruzu ga suki deshita

e) kyonen, (watashi wa) kare ga kirai deshita

f) mizūmi wa samukatta desu

g) kyō no hirugohan wa oishikatta desu

h) futtobōru no shiai wa tanoshikatta desu

i) atarashī kuruma ga hoshikatta desu

j) (watashi wa) sofa de netakatta desu

Informal:

a) densha wa fuben datta

b) senshū made, kono machi wa shizuka datta

c) 1970 nen ni kanojo wa yūmei datta

d) (watashi wa) bītoruzu ga suki datta

e) kyonen, (watashi wa) kare ga kirai datta

f) mizūmi wa samukatta

g) kyō no hirugohan wa oishikatta

h) futtobōru no shiai wa tanoshikatta

i) atarashī kuruma ga hoshikatta

j) (watashi wa) sofa de netakatta

7.5 Negatives of adjectives

In English, to say the negative of an adjective, we just use the word “not”, for example, “This is not good”, “That is not interesting”, etc. In Japanese, this too is done differently for na-adjectives and i-adjectives. Let’s take a look.

na-adjectives

Na-adjectives are easy, as they simply require us to add “janai” to the end of the word without changing anything else.

i-adjectives

To convert an i-adjective into the negative, we remove the “i” at the end, and add “kunai”, like so:

When the last sound before “kunai” is “shi”, the “i” sound after the “sh” is usually silent, so “ureshikunai” would be pronounced “ureshkunai”, and “hoshikunai” would be “hoshkunai”.

Note that these words are also subtly different from the word with the opposite meaning. For example, “not good” is not exactly the same as “bad”. Just as is the case in English, something can be neither good nor bad, but somewhere in between. The same applies for all adjectives of both types.

Exercise

1. Say and write down each of the following negative adjectives in Japanese.

a) not convenient

b) not inconvenient

c) not pretty

d) not delicious

e) not awful (taste)

f) not cold

g) not interesting/funny

h) not fun

i) not new

j) not cute

Answers

1.

a) benri janai

b) fuben janai

c) kirei janai

d) oishikunai

e) mazukunai

f) samukunai

g) omoshirokunai

h) tanoshikunai

i) atarashikunai

j) kawaikunai

Using negative adjectives

Adjectives in their negative form can actually be used in all the same ways as adjectives in the normal, positive form. What makes life a bit easier is that both i-adjectives and na-adjectives actually become i-adjectives when they are negative. This means they all function in the same way as i-adjectives in the following ways:

- They can be placed immediately before nouns without adding “na”

- They can be used unmodified to end sentences in informal speech

- They can be converted to the past tense by replacing the last “i” with “katta”

Let’s now look at each of these.

Placing negative adjectives before nouns

When na-adjectives are placed before a noun, “na” needs to be inserted in between the adjective and the noun, such as in, “genki na hito”. Negative adjectives, however, can be placed immediately before a noun unmodified, just like all i-adjectives. Here are some examples:

a not good person

yokunai hito

an uninteresting movie

omoshirokunai eiga

not beautiful scenery

utsukushikunai keshiki

the car I don’t want

watashi no hoshikunai kuruma

the bag I don’t want to buy

watashi no kaitakunai kaban

—

a not famous person

yūmei janai hito

a not quiet person

shizuka janai hito

a not strange place

hen janai basho

the car I don’t like

watashi no suki janai kuruma

the food I don’t hate

watashi no kirai janai tabemono

Some of the phrases above probably sound strange in English, but in Japanese they are quite natural. In English, we sometimes change the sentence around a bit to express the above ideas in a more natural way. For example, we might put “not” somewhere closer to the verb in the sentence, rather than near the adjective, or we might use what’s known as a relative clause (eg. “scenery that is not beautiful”). In Japanese, simply placing the negative adjective before the noun like in the above examples is the most natural solution.

Using negative adjectives to end sentences in informal speech

Just as i-adjectives can be used to end an informal sentence without using the word “da”, so too can negative adjectives. Here are some examples:

The sashimi is not bad

sashimi wa warukunai

This movie is uninteresting

kono eiga wa omoshirokunai

He’s not famous

kare wa yūmei janai

That place isn’t strange

ano basho wa hen janai

I don’t like futons

(watashi wa) futon ga suki janai

Like before, there may not appear to be any verbs in these sentences, but they do exist as a part of the i-adjective formed by the negative ending.

Converting negative adjectives to the past tense

To form the past tense of a negative adjective, the last “i” is replaced by “katta”. This means that for na-adjectives, “janai” becomes “janakatta”, and the “-kunai” ending of i-adjectives becomes “-kunakatta”. The past tense of the above sentences in the informal (and polite) form would therefore be:

The sashimi was not bad

sashimi wa warukunakatta (desu)

This movie was uninteresting

kono eiga wa omoshirokunakatta (desu)

He was not famous

kare wa yūmei janakatta (desu)

That place was not strange

ano basho wa hen janakatta (desu)

I didn’t like the futon

(watashi wa) futon ga suki janakatta (desu)

Exercise

1. Say and write down each of the following sentences in Japanese using the designated level of politeness. Note that the first three in particular are phrased in a way that is natural in Japanese, even if they seem odd in English.

a) [polite] He bought not delicious pizza

b) [informal] I want a not old TV

c) [polite] We went to a not famous town

d) [polite] They watched a movie I don’t like

e) [informal] This house isn’t clean

f) [informal] I don’t like cheese

g) [informal] He isn’t sad

h) [informal] Japanese isn’t difficult

i) [informal] My car was not expensive

j) [informal] The test was not easy

k) [polite] She wasn’t happy

l) [polite] It wasn’t important

Answers

1.

a) kare wa oishikunai piza wo kaimashita

b) (watashi wa) furukunai terebi ga hoshī

c) watashi tachi wa yūmei janai machi ni ikimashita

d) karera wa watashi no suki janai eiga wo mimashita

e) kono ie wa kirei janai

f) watashi wa chīzu ga suki janai

g) kare wa kanashikunai

h) nihongo wa muzukashikunai

i) watashi no kuruma wa takakunakatta

j) tesuto wa kantan janakatta

k) kanojo wa ureshikunakatta desu

l) taisetsu janakatta (the meaning of ”it” is implied through context - see Chapter 3.6)

7.6 Informal questions using adjectives

As was explained in Chapter 4.5, you can convert any sentence into a yes/no question by simply adding “ka” after the verb. When speaking informally, however, questions are usually asked without “ka”, making them no different in appearance to regular statements. Instead, a questioning tone is used to indicate that a question is being asked.

For example, if you were to ask someone if they were cold, the polite way to say this is, “samui desu ka”. In informal speech, however, you would simply ask “samui?”, using a tone that rises at the end. Normally, saying “samui” with a non-questioning tone would be the equivalent of saying “I’m cold”, so the tone used in this case greatly affects the meaning of the sentence.

Thankfully, it is usually obvious when a question is being asked, and you will likely be able to instinctively use the correct tone of voice when asking informal questions, so there’s no need to worry about this too much. It’s just something to be aware of.

7.7 Adjective usage summary

The table below summarizes how i-adjectives and na-adjectives differ in terms of usage.

7.8 Using nouns in “to be” sentences

Once you have mastered the different uses of adjectives, nouns are relatively straightforward. In sentences where the main verb is “to be”, nouns are treated much the same way as na-adjectives. This includes their use at the end of informal sentences, as well as in the past tense, the negative, and the negative past tense. Let’s look at some examples of each of these.

At the end of informal sentences

When the last element in a sentence before the verb is a noun, and the verb is “to be”, we can turn a polite sentence into an informal one by changing “desu” to “da”.

This is a pen

kore wa pen da

That is my mobile phone

sore wa watashi no keitai da

He is a teacher

kare wa sensei da

She is a fun person

kanojo wa tanoshī hito da

Past tense

Similarly, when used with a noun, “to be” can be turned into the past tense by changing “desu” to “deshita” in the polite form, or “datta” in the informal form.

Polite:

She was a good student

kanojo wa ī gakusei deshita

Until 1869, Kyoto was the capital of Japan

1869 nen made, kyōto wa nihon no shuto deshita

Informal:

Yesterday was my birthday

kinō wa watashi no tanjōbi datta

That was my chocolate!

sore wa watashi no chokorēto datta yo!

Negative

The noun in a “to be” sentence can be made negative by adding “janai” after it. This can be made polite or informal by either including or excluding “desu”.

That is not my bag

sore wa watashi no kaban janai (desu)

I am not a dentist

watashi wa haisha janai (desu)

He is not a bad person

kare wa warui hito janai (desu)

They are not a couple

karera wa kappuru janai (desu)

Negative past tense

To turn a negative “to be” sentence into the past tense, change “janai” into “janakatta”. Again, the inclusion or exclusion of “desu” determines the level of politeness.

That was not our bus

are wa watashi tachi no basu janakatta (desu)

That man was not a doctor

ano otoko wa isha janakatta (desu)

Last year was not a bad year

kyonen wa warui ichinen janakatta (desu)

Yesterday was not my birthday

kinō wa watashi no tanjōbi janakatta (desu)

Exercise

1. Say and write down the following sentences in Japanese using the polite form:

a) Yesterday was Saturday

b) Last year, he was my teacher

c) That (over there) isn’t a hospital

d) This isn’t rain

e) That wasn’t my coffee

f) It wasn’t a party

2. Say and write down the following sentences in Japanese using the informal form:

a) This is a beautiful necklace

b) She is your older sister

c) They are brothers

d) Takamatsu-san is a salaried employee

e) They were tourists

f) He was a good student

g) This isn’t a window

h) Today is not a national holiday

i) That (over there) was not a monkey

j) The shirt wasn’t my size

Answers

1.

a) kinō wa doyōbi deshita

b) kyonen, kare wa watashi no sensei deshita

c) are wa byōin janai desu

d) kore wa ame janai desu

e) sore wa watashi no tabemono janakatta desu

f) pātī janakatta desu

2.

a) kore wa utsukushī nekuresu da

b) kanojo wa anata no onēsan da

c) karera wa kyōdai da

d) takamatsu-san wa sararīman da

e) karera wa kankōkyaku datta

f) kare wa ī gakusei datta

g) kore wa mado janai

h) kyō wa shukujitsu janai

i) are wa saru janakatta

j) shatsu wa watashi no saizu janakatta

7.9 Adverbs

Adverbs are words like “quickly”, “always” and “very” that are used to add meaning to verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They are kind of like adjectives that can be used where adjectives can’t, since adjectives can only be used with nouns. Most adverbs even derive from adjectives, and in Japanese, converting an adjective into an adverb is very easy. Here’s how it’s done:

These simple conversions are all you need to know in order to use the vast majority of adverbs in Japanese. However, in addition to those that derive from adjectives, there are also a number of adverbs that are standalone words. Here are some of the most useful ones, many of which we have seen before:

You may notice that a few of these are time-related words that were covered in Chapter 6. These are in fact adverbs, and they can be used in the same way that adverbs are. The same is true for many other time-related expressions. This helps explain why the particle used with some time expressions is “ni”, as that is what is used to turn na-adjectives into adverbs.

Also, when the word “ī” is converted to its adverb form “yoku”, in addition to meaning “well”, it can also be used to mean “often”.

Using adverbs

Not all adverbs are as versatile as others. Some, like the word “motto”, meaning “more”, can be used with all three word types - verbs, adjectives and other adverbs - while others, like “quickly”, can only be used with verbs. Although this may sound confusing, there is no need to concern yourself with remembering which adverbs can be used with which word types. Generally, the only reason a given adverb might not work with a certain word type is because it doesn’t make literal sense. For example, “very” cannot be used with verbs, but you are unlikely to mistakenly use it with a verb because it makes no sense to say something like, “He very slept”. Adverbs in Japanese are the same.

That said, the placement of an adverb is affected by the type of word it is modifying. Let’s take a look.

Modifying verbs

If an adverb is modifying a verb, it can be placed basically anywhere in the sentence, as long as it comes before the verb that it relates to. It also will not usually be placed before the topic-defining particle “wa”. Here are some examples:

He quickly ran to school / He ran to school quickly

kare wa hayaku gakkō ni hashirimashita

kare wa gakkō ni hayaku hashirimashita

She quietly opened the door / She opened the door quietly

kanojo wa shizuka ni doa wo akemashita

kanojo wa doa wo shizuka ni akemashita

The placement of the adverb doesn’t really affect the meaning of the sentence, although since words that appear later in Japanese sentences generally carry more weight, the adverb will be emphasized more when placed immediately before the verb it modifies.

Modifying adjectives and adverbs

When an adverb is used to modify something other than a verb - that is, an adjective or another adverb - its possible placement is much more restricted. In almost all cases, such adverbs should be placed immediately before the adjective or adverb that they relate to. Here are some examples, with the adverb in bold and the word it modifies underlined:

[Adjective]

This bag is quite light

kono kaban wa kanari karui desu

[Adverb]

He very quickly ran to school / He ran to school very quickly

kare wa totemo hayaku gakkō ni hashirimashita

kare wa gakkō ni totemo hayaku hashirimashita

Since adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words, adverbs that are used to modify them usually specify the degree of the description. For this reason, there are relatively few adverbs that can be used with adjectives and adverbs compared to those that can be used to modify verbs.

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of these sentences in polite Japanese.

a) They danced cutely

b) He often goes to the cinema

c) She waited quietly in front of the library

d) My car was a little bit expensive

e) This museum is quite interesting

f) I want to go to the airport much earlier

Answers

1.

a) karera wa kawaiku odorimashita

b) kare wa yoku eigakan ni ikimasu

c) kanojo wa eigakan no mae de shizuka ni machimashita, OR
kanojo wa shizuka ni eigakan no mae de machimashita

d) watashi no kuruma wa chotto takakatta desu

e) kono hakubutsukan wa kanari omoshiroi desu

f) motto hayaku kūkō ni ikitai desu

Saying “very”

The most common adverb used with adjectives and other adverbs is,of course, “very”. In Japanese, however, there are two words that mean “very” - one that is used with positive statements, and one that is used with negative ones, which is like saying “not very”. Here are the words for “very” and “not very” in Japanese:

The important thing to remember here is that “totemo” is used with adjectives in their positive form, while “amari” must be used with adjectives in the negative form. As explained above, these are usually placed immediately before the adjective or adverb that they affect.

Also, when these are used with the words “suki”, “kirai”, hoshī“ and “-tai”, a better English translation than “very” would be “really”, since this is what we would use with the words “like”, “hate”, and “want” in English. This is simply because these words are adjectives in Japanese, but verbs in English, and the English word “very” cannot be used directly with verbs (eg. “He very likes sushi”). In terms of actual meaning, they are the same. Here are some examples:

He really hates sushi

kare wa sushi ga totemo kirai desu

I really want to play basketball

(watashi wa) basuke ga totemo shitai desu

She doesn’t really like vegetables

kanojo wa yasai ga amari suki janai desu

I don’t really want to go to the park

(watashi wa) amari kōen ni ikitakunai

There are also a couple of other words that are often used colloquially to say “very very”, “really really”, or “extremely”, although these vary from region to region. Here are the most common two words:

Here are some example sentences using these words:

This is extremely delicious!

kore wa chō oishī!

I really really want to go to the beach

(watashi wa) meccha umi ni ikitai!

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of these sentences in informal Japanese.

a) Japan is a very beautiful country

b) This movie is very interesting

c) I really want a cat

d) The airport was very inconvenient

e) This bag isn’t very expensive

f) I don’t really want a red bicycle

g) I don’t really like cheese

h) I really really like ramen! (Kanto region)

i) His house was extremely clean! (Kansai region)

Answers

1.

a) nihon wa totemo utsukushī kuni da

b) kono eiga wa totemo omoshiroi

c) (watashi wa) neko ga totemo hoshī

d) kūkō wa totemo fuben datta

e) kono kaban wa amari takakunai

f) (watashi wa) akai jitensha ga amari hoshikunai

g) (watashi wa) chīzu ga amari suki janai

h) (watashi wa) rāmen ga chō suki da!

i) kare no ie wa meccha kirei datta!

Adverb + narimasu / shimasu

Two particularly common verbs that are used with adverbs are “narimasu” and “shimasu”. Let’s start by looking at an example of an adverb used with “narimasu”.

The bag became light(er) / The bag got light(er)

kaban ga karuku narimashita

The verb “narimasu” means “become”, and in this example, it describes a change in the bag’s weight from heavier to lighter. While normally, the adverb “karuku” would directly translate to English as “lightly”, when used with the verb “narimasu”, it actually defines the end result of the change; that is, what the bag becomes. The adverb form of “karui” is actually much like a noun followed by the particle “ni”, where the “ni” defines the destination. In this case, the destination is “karui”, and the verb that causes the bag to get to that destination is “narimasu”.

You’ll notice that the English translation of the above sentence could end in either the word “light” or “lighter”. The reason for this is because in most cases, Japanese doesn’t differentiate between these two concepts. It is possible to emphasize the relative nature of the word “lighter” by preceding it with the particle “yori” to say “yori karui”, but this is generally considered redundant in Japanese because adjectives, by their very nature, are relative terms. There is no need to explicitly say that something is “lighter”, because just by being “light”, it is implicitly lighter than whatever it is being compared to, which in this example is its previous weight. This is one of those situations where it helps to remember that Japanese is a vague language.

The same principles apply to adverbs used with the more active verb “shimasu”. Normally, “shimasu” is the equivalent of the word “do”, but in this context it should be translated a little differently. Here’s an example:

I made the bag lighter

(watashi wa) kaban wo karuku shimashita

When used with an adverb, “shimasu” is essentially a more active version of “narimasu”, similar in meaning to the English word “make”. If you consider that “narimasu” is used to describe something that has changed from one state to another by itself, “shimasu” is used to describe when someone or something has caused something else to change from one state to another.

The difference between “narimasu” and “shimasu” is also reflected in the particles that appear in each sentence. With “narimasu”, the bag performs the act of becoming lighter by itself, so the sentence only contains a subject (the bag); there is no object. The subject is marked by “ga”, and since there is no object, there is nothing to be marked by “wo”.

In contrast, the person performing the action of “shimasu” is separate from the thing they are performing that action on. The person that makes the bag lighter is the subject (although in this case it is also the topic, which supersedes its role as subject and is therefore marked by “wa”), and the bag is the item that the action is being performed on and is therefore marked by “wo”.

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in informal Japanese.

a) Sorry, I will be(come) late

b) He became sad

c) I want to become famous

d) The teacher will make the test more difficult

e) She made her room clean

f) I want to make the workplace fun

Answers

1.

a) gomennasai, (watashi wa) osoku narimasu

b) kare wa kanashiku narimashita

c) (watashi wa) yūmei ni naritai desu

d) sensei wa tesuto wo motto muzukashiku shimasu

e) kanojo wa heya wo kirei ni shimashita

f) (watashi wa) shokuba wo tanoshiku shitai desu

Chapter 8

Verbs

So far, we have used verbs in a number of different tenses, but the only verb we have learnt to use in informal Japanese is “desu”. In this chapter, we will look at verbs in both the informal and polite forms, and take a closer look at the different verb tenses, including one new one. We will also cover a couple of key concepts that affect how verbs are used in sentences.

There are quite a few rules to remember in this chapter, but they are mostly straightforward, and there are very few exceptions to these rules. Verbs are the central part of any sentence, so once you have mastered the topics in this chapter, you will be able to express a wide range of ideas, using both informal and polite language.

Before getting started with new verb tenses, here’s a quick reminder of the verb endings for the polite verb tenses and expressions we have already covered:

8.1 Verb types

In order to be able to use the verb tenses introduced in this chapter, we first need to understand verb types. We have already learned a few polite verb tenses and expressions, but none of these are affected by the verb types we will look at here, so there has been no need to learn them. We need to understand them now, however, as the conjugation of informal verb tenses as well as some other tenses differs according to the verb type.

From a functional perspective, Japanese verbs are normally grouped into three categories: ru-verbs, u-verbs and irregular verbs. These names are based on the verb endings of the verbs in their dictionary form, but they can be confusing and misleading - all verbs end in “u”, and some “u” verbs end in “ru”! Instead, we’re going to categorize them as: add-on verbs, vowel-changing verbs, and irregular verbs.

Add-on verbs (aka ru-verbs)

Add-on verbs are easy - they consist of a stem and an ending. The stem always remains the same, and the ending changes according to the tense and degree of politeness. Below are some examples. Don’t worry about trying to learn the different tenses just yet.

As you can see in the table above, all add-on verbs keep the same stem in all cases. A different ending is then added onto the stem for each tense and level of politeness. Notice that the ending in each tense is the same for every verb. Like all verbs, these appear in the dictionary in the informal present tense (eg. miru), which is why this is also called the dictionary form.

Vowel-changing verbs (aka u-verbs)

Vowel-changing verbs are a little bit more tricky. Their stem effectively consists of two parts - a fixed part, and what we will call a “vowel-changing” part, which changes according to the tense and level of politeness to be used. In the examples below, the vowel-changing part is underlined, while the verb ending is in bold. Again, don’t worry about learning the different tenses just yet.

Here you can see that the vowel sound in the vowel-changing part is different for some of the tenses. The following table outlines how each tense of a vowel-changing verb is created (you don’t need to remember these yet):

When looking at these verbs with English lettering, it just looks like the vowel changes. What is actually happening, however, is that for each tense or politeness level, a different sound from the same line of the syllabary is used.

For example, you’ll recall from Chapter 1 that the ma-line in the syllabary is “ma mi mu me mo”. The polite tenses of “drink” both use the “i” variation, which is “mi” (nomimasu, nomimashita), the informal present tense uses “mu” (nomu), and the informal potential uses “me” (nomeru). It is important to see it this way because “m” and other consonants do not exist on their own in Japanese, so you will never see these verbs written without a vowel in the stem. For example, you will only ever see “drink” written as “nomu”, “nomimasu” etc., and never as just “nom”. After all, the only way to write these sounds in Japanese characters is with the vowel sound included.

The stem of these verbs is usually considered to be the fixed part plus the “i” variation of the vowel-changing part, that is, “nomi”, “kiki”, etc. However, since the stem changes for different tenses, there will be times throughout this book when the vowel sound variation to be used with the stem needs to be made clear. For this, the following notation will be used: stem(<vowel>). This table shows some examples:

Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are the ones that don’t fit into either of the above two categories and have to be remembered individually. Thankfully, there are only three, and you will hear them all the time.

Looking at just these tenses, “go” and “come” don’t look particularly different from the vowel-changing verbs. They do, however, vary slightly in certain tenses, so we’ll keep them separate to reduce confusion later.

Identifying verb types

Since the informal present tense of verbs is what appears in dictionaries, it is the most important tense to be able to identify. As discussed earlier, vowel-changing verbs are expressed in the informal present tense by using the “u” variation of the vowel-changing part of the stem (eg. “nomu”). Add-on verbs are expressed in the informal present tense by adding “ru” to the stem (eg. “miru”). Since all add-on verbs end in “ru”, any verb that ends in something other than “ru” must be a vowel-changing verb (eg. nomu, kiku).

The potentially confusing part is that some vowel-changing verbs have a stem that ends with a ra-line sound. This makes the informal present tense of these verbs end in “ru” (eg. “tsukuru”), so they look just like add-on verbs. Take a look at these two verbs, for example:

So how do you tell them apart? Some dictionaries will tell you, referring to add-on verbs as “ru” or “ichidan” verbs, and vowel-changing verbs as “u” or “godan” verbs. The other option is to look at other tenses. In most of the other tenses, especially the most common ones, vowel-changing verbs will use something other than the “u” variation in the stem, and this will be different to the ending added to add-on verbs. Here are those two verbs again with the polite present tense added:

In the polite present tense, we can differentiate between verb types because the vowel-changing verb keeps the ra-line sound, while the add-on verb loses the “ru”.

My recommendation is that from now on, when you learn new verbs, you start by learning the informal present tense (dictionary form) together with the polite present tense. This will give you everything you need to know to be able to convert verbs between tenses, while also being familiar with the dictionary form, which should be your default reference point for any verb.

One difficulty this creates is that in some ways, you will need to re-learn the verbs you already know to learn what type they are. The only reason this book didn’t teach you the verb type together with the verb at the beginning is because learning just the simpler polite tenses allows you to practice speaking Japanese much sooner without having to worry about too many technical details.

I warn you now, though, that when you start using and hearing informal verb tenses, you will likely have difficulty trying to figure out which verb is which, since different verbs sound the same in certain tenses. It does take time to get used to, so be patient.

In order to overcome this hurdle, it will help to treat each different form of a verb as a separate word. Being proficient at converting between tenses helps particularly with new verbs, but it slows you down if you have to convert each verb every time you hear it. If instead you can remember, for example, that “katta” means “bought”, you don’t have to reverse-engineer it back to “kaimasu” every time you hear it to understand which verb it is. This does increase the number of words you have to remember, but since it saves you from making the conversion, it gives your brain faster access to words when you need them.

Having said that, it’s important to remember that speaking and understanding Japanese is a skill, not knowledge. The best way to improve your ability to use and identify verbs in real-time, as you say or hear them, is to practice saying and hearing them in context. Start by listening to as much informal conversation as you can and focus on identifying each verb that is used. It will be slow going at first, but this will allow you to quickly remember the different forms of the more common verbs, and develop a more intuitive ability to recognize the different forms of the verbs you are less familiar with.

Put lots of time into this, and it will make the transition to informal speech easier. The huge upside to this is that once you are comfortable with informal verb tenses, it opens up a whole new world of possible expressions, as you will learn in Chapter 10 when we look at noun phrases.

8.2 The present/future tense

In the previous section, we referred to the present tense on several occasions, but this is actually better described as the present/future tense. Generally, it can be used to talk about things that happen regularly or are ongoing, or things that will happen in the future, whether that be one second from now, or 100 years. Examples include:

- General statements of things that happen (eg. People make mistakes)

- Things that happen regularly or habitually (eg. I play basketball every Sunday)

- Things that are about to happen right now (eg. I’m going to the supermarket. See you later!)

- Things that will happen in the future (eg. I will ask him tomorrow)

These are some examples of when the present/future tense is NOT used:

- Things that are happening right now (I am eating dinner)

- To describe your current situation (I work for a big company, I live in Tokyo)

You might be wondering how you can tell if something that is being talked about happens in the present or future, since both take the same form. Generally, it is obvious from context. If it’s a general statement, the idea being expressed will usually sound like a general expression of fact. If a frequency for the activity is defined or implied, it must be a regular or habitual activity. In most other cases, this tense refers to the future, whether the exact timing is defined or not.

The table below shows what add-on and vowel-changing verbs look like in the present/future tense. Even though we have already covered polite tenses, they will be included throughout this chapter for the sake of comparison, and so that you can find everything in one place.

Important: The “u” in the “masu” ending is usually silent, and this should therefore be pronounced “mas”.

Below are some examples of each type, including the three irregular verbs:

Here are some example sentences in the informal present/future tense:

It snows a lot in Hokkaido

hokkaidō de yuki ga takusan furu

I go to school every day by train

(watashi wa) mainichi densha de gakkō ni iku

I’m going to the park (from) now

(watashi wa) ima kara kōen ni iku

We are getting married next year

(watashi tachi wa) rainen kekkon suru

Exercise

1. Complete the following table:

2. Translate these sentences into informal Japanese.

a) Suzuki-san will come (from) now

b) I will wake up at 6am tomorrow

c) I am playing baseball on Sunday

d) They meet at the library every Thursday

e) I swim at the beach 3 days a week

f) She sometimes teaches English to children

3. Pick 5 activities that you do on a regular basis and describe them in informal Japanese. Be sure to include how often you perform each activity, and also try to include where the activity takes place.

4. Pick 5 activities that you are planning to do in the next week and describe them in informal Japanese. Try to include information about where and when you will do each activity.

Answers

1.

2.

a) suzuki san wa ima kara kuru

b) (watashi wa) ashita (no) asa roku ji ni okiru

c) (watashi wa) nichiyōbi ni yakyū wo suru

d) karera wa maishū no mokuyōbi ni toshokan de au

e) (watashi wa) shū ni sankai umi de oyogu

f) kanojo wa tokidoki kodomo ni eigo wo oshieru

3. Each sentence should include the frequency of the activity (using phrases from chapter 6.3), the location marked by the particle “de” (or “ni” if describing a destination and an action involving movement like “go” or “visit”), and the verb in the informal present/future tense.

4. Each sentence should include when the activity will take place (using phrases from chapter 6.1), the location marked by the particle “de” (or “ni” if describing a destination and an action involving movement like “go” or “visit”), and the verb in the informal present/future tense.

8.3 The past tense

The past tense can be used generally to describe any event that started and ended before the present moment. There are other ways to talk about events in the past, but until you learn those, the regular past tense will sufficiently cover you in just about any situation.

Converting verbs to the past tense is easy, except in the case of vowel-changing verbs in the informal form. We’ll learn about that soon, but let’s first look at the other forms of the past tense:

Important: The “i” in the “mashita” ending is usually silent, and this should therefore be pronounced “mashta”.

Here are some examples of verbs in the past tense:

Vowel-changing verbs in the informal past tense

As you know, the last vowel sound in the stem of a vowel-changing verb is different for different tenses and levels of politeness. In most cases, you just need to change that vowel and add something after it to convert a verb into another tense. For the informal past tense, however, the whole ending changes according to the vowel-changing part of the verb stem.

This means that for words like “nomu” and “kiku”, instead of just changing the vowel sound, the “mu” and “ku”, respectively, are actually removed, and a different ending is added in their place. This table shows how verbs are transformed into the informal past tense based on the last sound in the stem (shown with the “u” variation):

Important: These only apply to vowel-changing verbs. Do not use these transformations with add-on verbs or irregular verbs.

Here are some examples of each:

Although they are tricky, it is quite important to learn how to do these transformations. You may be able to avoid using the informal past tense in basic sentences by using the much simpler polite present tense instead, but the informal tenses are used frequently in more complex sentences, including polite ones.

There are also other verb conjugations that follow this pattern. One such conjugation is what is known as the “te-form”, an extremely useful verb form that will be introduced in the next chapter. Aside from the present/future tense and the past tense, the “te-form”
is the most important verb conjugation in Japanese, so although it will take some practice and revision, you need to learn how to do these conversions.

Let’s now look at some example sentences in the informal past tense.

I watched the football game

(watashi wa) futtobōru no shiai wo mita

He waited at the station

kare wa eki de matta

She drank tea

kanojo wa ocha wo nonda

We arrived at the hotel

watashi tachi wa hoteru ni tsuita

They went to the mall

karera wa mōru ni itta

Exercise

1. Complete the following table:

2. Translate these sentences into informal Japanese.

a) I ate some delicious pasta today

b) We watched a very funny movie yesterday

c) My older brother slept on the sofa

d) I bought a new shirt

e) He waited at the station for 15 minutes

f) I ran a marathon last year

g) The children played at the park this morning

h) He drank a lot of wine yesterday

i) My cat died last week

j) I heard a strange noise

k) She swam in the lake with her friends

l) We spoke with the teacher on Tuesday

m) I studied science at university

n) She went to Africa with her mother last year

o) They came to the hotel by bus

3. Pick 5 activities that you have done recently and describe them in informal Japanese. Try to include information about where and when you did each activity.

Answers

1.

2.

a) kyō, (watashi wa) oishī pasuta wo tabeta

b) kinō, (watashi tachi) wa totemo omoshiroi eiga wo mita

c) ani wa sofa de neta

d) (watashi wa) atarashī shatsu wo katta

e) kare wa eki de 15 fun matta

f) kyonen, (watashi wa) marason wo hashitta

g) kesa, kodomo tachi wa kōen de asonda

h) kinō, kare wa wain wo takusan nonda

i) senshū, (watashi no) neko ga shinda

j) (watashi wa) hen na oto wo kīta

k) kanojo wa tomodachi to mizūmi de oyoida

l) (watashi tachi wa) kayōbi ni sensei to hanashita

m) (watashi wa) daigaku de kagaku wo benkyō shita

n) kyonen, kanojo wa okāsan to afurika ni itta

o) karera wa basu de hoteru ni kita

3. Each sentence should include when the activity took place (using phrases from chapter 6.1), the location marked by the particle “de” (or “ni” if describing a destination and an action involving movement like “go” or “visit”), and the verb in the informal past tense.

8. 4 Verb negatives

To say that you didn’t or won’t do something in English, we generally just insert the word “not” where appropriate. In Japanese, we actually need to conjugate the verb into its negative form.

Negative present/future tense

The following table shows how verbs are adapted to the negative form in the future/present tense:

For the informal negative present/future tense, there are two main exceptions to this rule for vowel-changing verbs:

1. When the the vowel-changing part of the stem is from the a-line, it is changed to “wa”, not “a”. This is simply because it’s easier to say. For example, for the verb “tsukau”, it is much easier to say “tsukawanai” than “tsukaanai”.

2. For the negative of the verb “aru”, the word “nai” is used, not “aranai”. Technically, this is a different word (as evidenced by the fact that they use different kanji), but from a usage standpoint, “nai” is effectively the negative of “aru”. In other tenses, “aru” changes in the same way as other vowel-changing verbs.

Here are some examples, including the irregular verbs:

It is also not uncommon for people to make the informal negative form more polite by adding “desu”. For example, instead of “ikimasen”, someone might say “ikanai desu” to say that they won’t go somewhere. Either option is acceptable, but the “-masen” version is a little more proper.

Here are some example sentences using verbs in their informal negative present/future tense:

She doesn’t eat seafood

kanojo wa shīfūdo wo tabenai

I don’t drink beer

watashi wa bīru wo nomanai

He never washes his hair

kare wa zenzen kami no ke wo arawanai

They’re not coming to the party

karera wa pātī ni konai

Exercise

1. Complete the following table:

2. Say and write down each of the following sentences in informal Japanese.

a) I don’t have a younger brother

b) I’m not waking up at 6 am

c) He won’t buy a new wallet

d) There isn’t a TV in this house

e) I don’t understand Spanish

f) She doesn’t read the newspaper very much (often)

g) They never cook

h) I’m not going to work today

Answers

1.

2.

a) (watashi wa) otōto ga inai

b) watashi wa asa rokuji ni okinai

c) kare wa atarashī saifu wo kawanai

d) kono ie ni terebi ga nai

e) watashi wa supeingo ga wakaranai

f) kanojo wa amari shinbun wo yomanai

g) karera wa zenzen ryōri (wo) shinai

h) kyō (watashi wa) shigoto ni ikanai

Negative past tense

Changing a negative verb into the past tense is very straightforward in both the informal and polite forms. Here’s how it’s done:

Important: The “i” in “deshita” is silent, and this should therefore be pronounced “deshta”.

You can see that for the informal form, the “nai” from the present/future tense is simply changed to “nakatta”, just like with the “kunai” and “janai” used to make adjectives and nouns negative. In the polite form, we just add “deshita” to the end of the negative present/future tense.

Here are some examples of the negative past tense.

Just like in the present tense, the informal negative form is sometimes made more polite by adding “desu”. For example, instead of “tabemasen deshita”, you could say “tabenakatta desu” to say that you didn’t eat something. Again, either option is acceptable, but the “-masen deshita” version is a little more proper.

Here are some example sentences using verbs in their informal negative past tense:

She didn’t eat breakfast this morning

kesa, kanojo wa asagohan wo tabenakatta

You didn’t listen to my advice

(anata wa) watashi no adobaisu wo kikanakatta

I didn’t use her computer

(watashi wa) konojo no konpyūta wo tsukawanakatta

He didn’t come to school today

kyō kare wa gakkō ni konakatta

Exercise

1. Say and write down each of the following sentences in informal Japanese.

a) I didn’t give her a present

b) He didn’t close the door

c) There wasn’t a toilet in that shop (over there)

d) They didn’t buy ice cream

e) She didn’t make this bread

f) I didn’t clean my teeth this morning

g) We didn’t order this

h) They didn’t go to the beach today

Answers

1.

a) (watashi wa) kanojo ni purezento wo agenakatta

b) kare wa doa wo shimenakatta

c) ano mise ni toire ga nakatta

d) karera wa aisu kurīmu wo kawanakatta

e) kanojo wa kono pan wo tsukuranakatta

f) kesa, watashi wa ha wo migakanakatta

g) (watashi tachi wa) kore wo chūmon shinakatta

h) kyō, karera wa umi ni ikanakatta

8.5 The potential tense

The potential tense allows us to talk about what a person is capable of; in other words, what they can or can’t do. In English, we do this by inserting the word “can”, but Japanese requires us to conjugate the verb itself. This is fairly straightforward, but varies slightly for each verb type.

An important difference between Japanese and English is that in Japanese, the potential tense is rarely used when asking for permission or making a request. For example, in English, you might say, “Can I watch TV?” or “Can you please pass me the salt?”, but in Japanese, this would be an incorrect usage of this tense.[3] In Japanese, the potential tense is only ever used to describe a person’s ability to perform the action.

The following table shows the rules for conjugating add-on and vowel-changing verbs into the potential tense.

Below are some examples of each type, including the three irregular verbs:

For add-on verbs, you will often hear people leave off the “ra” part of the verb ending, so for example, instead of saying “taberareru”, they might say “tabereru”. Either is acceptable, but the version that includes “ra” is technically more correct.

There are a few verbs that are never used in this tense because it doesn’t make much sense. For example, “wakaru” (understand) is never used in this form because this verb already describes a capability - the ability to understand. In English, there is a subtle difference between saying “understand” and “can understand”, but these ultimately mean the same thing. In Japanese, you will never hear a person say “wakareru” to mean “can understand”. Another verb not used in the potential tense is “aru”, presumably because “aru” is used to mean “to be” for non-living things, and non-living things can’t have abilities.

Exercise

1. Complete the following table.

Answers

1.

Using the potential tense in a sentence

These tenses can generally be used in a sentence like any other, except for one small difference:

For verbs in the potential tense, the object of the verb is marked using the particle “ga”, not “wo”.

This is similar to the “I want to…” expression, in which the “wo” marking the object is also replaced by “ga”. Much like with the “I want to…” expression, it is not uncommon to hear “wo” used incorrectly with these verbs instead of “ga”. Ultimately, you’re not going to have any problems using “wo” with this verb tense, so don’t worry about it too much. Just be aware that “ga” is the correct particle to use.

Also be aware that in cases where “wo” wouldn’t normally appear, there is no need to forcibly insert “ga” into the sentence. There doesn’t have to be a “ga”, and particles like “ni” and “de” should be used in the same way they normally would. Only “wo”, where it appears, should be changed.

Here are some example sentences using this tense in a mixture of polite and informal Japanese:

I can be here (stay) until 8:00

(watashi wa) hachi ji made koko ni irareru

He can play the piano

kare wa piano ga hikemasu

They can use chopsticks

karera wa ohashi ga tsukaeru

You can make a reservation online

intānetto de yoyaku dekimasu

Can you come to tomorrow’s meeting?

(anata wa) ashita no kaigi ni koremasuka

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in either informal or polite Japanese, as indicated.

a) [polite] I can eat sushi

b) [informal] I can teach you English

c) [polite] Can you wake up at 7am?

d) [polite] I can speak Japanese

e) [polite] She can run 15km

f) [informal] He can read kanji

g) [informal] I can play until 6 o’clock

h) [polite] Can you play golf?

i) [informal] I can go to the post office in the afternoon

j) [informal] I can come by car next week

Answers

1.

a) (watashi wa) sushi ga taberaremasu

b) (watashi wa) anata ni eigo ga oshierareru

c) asa shichi ji ni okiraremasu ka

d) (watashi wa) nihongo ga hanasemasu

e) kanojo wa jūgo kiro hashiremasu

f) kare wa kanji ga yomeru

g) (watashi wa) roku ji made asoberu

h) (anata wa) gorufu ga dekimasu ka

i) (watashi wa) gogo ni yūbinkyoku ni ikeru

j) raishū, (watashi wa) kuruma de koreru

Other forms of the potential tense

Like the other tenses, the potential tense can also be expressed in the negative, the past, and the negative past tenses. Once you know the standard form of the potential tense outlined above, these other forms are very easy, as all verb types follow the same, basic rules. The following table summarizes the changes made to the standard potential tense to form each alternative, with examples:

Here are some example sentences using these various forms of the potential tense.

I can’t eat natto

watashi wa nattō ga taberarenai

She can’t speak English

kanojo wa eigo ga hanasemasen

I was able to buy a new refrigerator

atarashī reizōko ga kaeta

They were able to cancel their tickets

karera wa chiketto ga kyanseru dekimashita

I couldn’t sleep last night

kinō no yoru nerarenakatta

He couldn’t renew his contract

kare wa keiyaku ga kōshin dekimasen deshita

Exercise

1. Complete the following table.

2. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in either polite or informal Japanese, as indicated:

a) [Informal] I can’t play golf

b) [Informal] He can’t eat sashimi

c) [Polite] I can’t go to the post office today

d) [Polite] They can’t open the window

e) [Informal] The staff were able to speak English

f) [Informal] We were able to meet at the airport

g) [Polite] She was able to fix my phone

h) [Polite] We were able to practice for 2 hours

i) [Informal] She couldn’t buy the shoes she wanted

j) [Informal] I couldn’t wake up this morning

k) [Polite] He couldn’t go to work last week

l) [Polite] They couldn’t come to the meeting

Answers

1.

2.

a) (watashi wa) gorufu ga dekinai

b) kare wa sashimi ga taberarenai

c) kyō (watashi wa) yūbinkyoku ni ikemasen

d) karera wa mado ga akeraremasen

e) sutaffu wa eigo ga hanaseta

f) (watashi tachi wa) kūkō de aeta

g) kanojo wa watashi no keitai ga naosemashita

h) (watashi tachi) wa ni jikan renshū dekimashita

i) kanojo wa hoshī kutsu ga kaenakatta

j) kesa (watashi wa) okirarenakatta

k) senshū kare wa shigoto ni ikemasendeshita

l) karera wa kaigi ni koremasendeshita

Watching, seeing, listening and hearing

A couple of verbs to be careful of here are “miru” and “kiku”. The reason for this is that in the potential tense, they refer to the person’s ability to watch or listen, not whether of not they can see or hear. It is the same as the difference in English between “I can watch” and “I can see”, or between “I can listen” and “I can hear”. In both cases, the former describes what the person is able to control themselves, while the latter describes factors that are somewhat out of their control.

The table below shows the different words used to express these ideas.

The following sentences demonstrate how each of these is used.

I can’t watch scary movies

(watashi wa) kowai eiga ga miraremasen

I can’t see the TV

(watashi wa) terebi ga miemasen

I can’t listen to loud music

(watashi wa) urusai ongaku ga kikemasen

I can’t hear the teacher

(watashi wa) sensei ga kikoemasen

These can, of course, also be expressed in the past tense. This is done in the same way as for other verbs in the potential tense, with “-ta” and “-mashita” endings in the positive, and “-nakatta” and “-masen deshita” endings in the negative.

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in informal Japanese:

a) We can watch this movie next week

b) They can see the restaurant

c) I can listen to music on my phone

d) I can hear a strange sound

e) She can’t see the ball

f) He couldn’t watch yesterday’s soccer match

g) They can’t hear my voice

h) I can’t listen to this boring music

Answers

1.

a) (watashi tachi wa) raishū kono eiga ga mirareru

b) karera wa resutoran ga mieru

c) (watashi wa) keitai de ongaku ga kikeru

d) (watashi wa) hen na oto ga kikoeru

e) kanojo wa bōru ga mienai

f) kare wa kinō no sakkā no shiai ga mirarenakatta

g) karera wa watashi no koe ga kikoenai

h) (watashi wa) kono tsumaranai ongaku ga kikenai

8.6 Let’s…

In Chapter 4.2, we looked briefly at the polite version of the “Let’s…” expression, in which verbs end with “-mashō”. As was touched on at that time, this can also be turned into a question meaning “Shall we…” by adding “ka” on the end: “-mashō ka”.

Truthfully, this expression does not literally mean “let’s…”, but rather is more accurately an expression of intent. In most cases, it just has a meaning equivalent to “Let’s do…”, but the “intent” interpretation will become more relevant later when you learn some other expressions that incorporate this one. For now, keep it simple and only use this expression when it makes sense to say “Let’s…” or “Shall we…”. Just be aware that you may hear it used in other ways in which “Let’s…” wouldn’t really be an appropriate translation.

As you would expect, there is also an informal form of this expression. The following table shows how to create the “Let’s…” expression for add-on and vowel-changing verbs in both informal and polite Japanese.

Below are some examples of each type, including the three irregular verbs:

Here are some example sentences of this expression in informal language:

Let’s eat ramen today

kyō, rāmen wo tabeyō

Let’s drink some water

mizu wo nomō

Let’s go to Kyoto next year

rainen, kyōto ni ikō

Shall we come here again?

mata koko ni koyō ka

Exercise

1. Complete the following table:

2. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in informal Japanese:

a) Let’s give her this beautiful dress

b) Shall we wake up at 6:30 tomorrow?

c) Let’s meet at the station tonight

d) Let’s make okonomiyaki

e) Shall we use my computer?

f) Shall we study Japanese tomorrow?

g) Let’s go by bus

h) Let’s come to Japan again next year

Answers

1.

2.

a) kanojo ni kono utsukushī wanpīsu wo ageyō

b) ashita (no) rokujihan ni okiyō ka

c) kon’ya eki de aō

d) okonomiyaki wo tsukurō

e) watashi no konpyūta wo tsukaō ka

f) ashita nihongo wo benkyō shiyō ka

g) basu de ikō

h) rainen mata nihon ni koyō

8.7 Transitive and intransitive verbs

The concept of transitive and intransitive verbs exists in English, but it is not as important as in Japanese, and you are likely not aware of it. It’s important in Japanese because a large number of verbs have two alternate versions - a transitive one, and an intransitive one. In order to use the correct one, you need to understand the difference between them.

What are transitive and intransitive verbs?

Transitive verbs are those that require an object. This means that the person or thing performing the action must be doing that action to something else. For example, if I buy a sandwich, then I am performing the act of buying on that sandwich. The sandwich is the object, and since the act of buying requires that something is bought, “buy” is a transitive verb.

Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, do not take an object. The person or thing performing the action does it alone, and nothing else is directly affected. For example, if I sleep, then I don’t sleep something in the same way that I would buy something. I can “buy a sandwich”, but I can’t “sleep a bed”. “Sleep” does not take an object, and is therefore an intransitive verb.

Some verbs are both transitive and intransitive. They can be used as either, depending on the situation. For example, the following two sentences are both grammatically correct:

I opened the door.

The door opened.

In the first sentence, “open” is used as a transitive verb, with “I” as the subject and the door as the object. I performed the act of opening on the door.

In the second sentence, however, “open” is used as an intransitive verb. This time, the door is the subject, and there is no object. The door is performing the act of opening by itself. Of course, there has to be something that caused the door to open, but all we are concerned about here is the expression of what happened, not what actually happened.

The important point here is that even though each sentence uses the verb “open” in a different way, the word itself stays the same.

Unfortunately, Japanese isn’t quite so simple. A large number of verbs in Japanese actually have a transitive version and a separate intransitive version. “Open” is one of these. Here are our example sentences again with Japanese translations.

I opened the door

(watashi ga) doa wo akemashita

The door opened

doa ga akimashita

As you can see, the first sentence uses “akemashita”, a transitive verb, while the second uses “akimashita”, which is intransitive. Although they both mean “open”, and both use the same kanji when written in Japanese, these words have subtly different nuances, and cannot be interchanged. This means we need to learn what they are and when to use each alternative.

Using transitive and intransitive verbs

The key difference between a transitive and intransitive verb is who or what is performing the action. If the person or thing is performing the action on something else, then the verb should be transitive. If instead they are performing the action by themselves, the intransitive verb should be used. Here are some examples that demonstrate this:

I open the door

watashi ga doa wo akeru

The door opens

doa ga aku

I close the window

watashi ga mado wo shimeru

The window closes

mado ga shimaru

I drop the pen

watashi ga pen wo otosu

The pen falls

pen ga ochiru

I move the car

watashi ga kuruma wo ugokasu

The car moves

kuruma ga ugoku

I take/spend time

watashi ga jikan wo kakeru

It takes time

jikan ga kakaru

I raise my hand

watashi ga te wo ageru

The elevator goes up

erebēta ga agaru

I put the book in the box

watashi ga hon wo hako ni ireru

I enter the room

watashi ga heya ni hairu

I turn on the lights

watashi ga denki wo tsukeru

The lights come on

denki ga tsuku

I turn off the lights

watashi ga denki wo kesu

The lights go out

denki ga kieru

I collect stamps

watashi ga kitte wo atsumeru

People gather

hito ga atsumaru

Using “wa” and “ga”

In the example sentences above, it is also possible to say “watashi wa” instead of “watashi ga”. The “ga” alternative was used here for the sake of easy comparison with the intransitive verb sentences. As mentioned earlier, the difference between “wa” and “ga” is subtle and quite complex, and will be explained in detail in Chapter 11.3.

The important thing to notice here is the particles used. Every sentence includes the subject-defining particle “ga”, and in all cases it is attached to the person or thing performing the action. The difference between each pair of sentences is whether or not there is something else that is affected by that action, as defined by “wo”.

For example, in the sentence “watashi ga denki wo kesu”, the person speaking is saying that they are the ones turning the lights off. “I” am taking action, therefore “watashi” is followed by “ga”. By comparison, when the sentence is “denki ga kieru”, the lights are turning off by themselves. The lights are taking action, so “denki” is followed by “ga”.

Just as importantly, there is an “wo” in all of the sentences that use transitive verbs, but not in the ones using intransitive verbs. You’ll recall that “wo” defines the object of a sentence - the thing being acted upon. Since intransitive verbs do not take objects, there can never be an “wo” connected directly with an intransitive verb. By definition, only transitive verbs can be connected to the particle “wo” because only transitive verbs take objects.

One thing to be careful of, though, is that even when there is an object, it won’t always be included in the sentence. If it is understood from context, it will likely be omitted, together with the particle “wo”. Even when that’s the case, a transitive verb should be used because what’s important is not whether the sentence contains an object, but whether or not it could.

For example, if we’re talking about the door, and questioning why it is open, I could say “kare ga aketa”. Although I have not mentioned the object or used the particle “wo”, I must use the transitive verb because the person who performed the act of opening, “kare”, performed it on the door, as is understood from the context. If I mistakenly said “kare ga aita”, that would imply that he himself opened, which makes no sense at all.

The exception to this is with verbs in the “I want to…” form and the potential tense. For these, the particle “wo” should be changed to “ga”, so a sentence like, “I want to open the door”, would be, “watashi wa doa ga aketai desu”, while “I can open the door” would be “watashi wa doa ga akeraremasu”. Note that in these cases, “watashi” is usually followed by “wa” because it’s rare for “ga” to appear twice in the same clause. Again, the choice between “wa” and “ga” is quite tricky and will be covered in more detail in Chapter 11.3.

In summary, when looking at transitive and intransitive verbs, the particles are important, but what matters most is that you understand the true difference between the meanings of these two verb types. Once you understand this and get used to using them, differentiating between their uses will become second nature.

Differentiating between transitive and intransitive verbs

Although there are no specific rules for identifying these verb types, there are a few way you can generally tell whether a verb is transitive or intransitive. Take another look at the verbs from the examples in the previous section:

Looking at these, you may notice the following patterns:

- Transitive verbs often have an “e” sound and are add-on verbs (shimeru, kakeru, ageru, atsumeru, akeru, ireru, tsukeru)

- Intransitive verbs often have an “a” sound (shimaru, kakaru, agaru, atsumaru), or are vowel-changing verbs (aku, hairu, tsuku)

- Generally, only transitive verbs end in “su” (otosu, ugokasu, kesu)

These are not definite rules by any means, but they can be useful when trying to identify a verb’s type or for guessing one version of the verb based off the other.

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in polite Japanese. Unlike in the examples above, use the particle “wa” to mark words representing people.

a) She opened the window

b) The door didn’t close

c) He dropped his phone in the toilet

d) I can’t move this desk

e) It took 3 hours by bus

f) We went up to his office by elevator

g) He put the milk in the refrigerator

h) I’ll turn the TV on

i) The candle went out by (due to) the strong wind

j) They gather in the library every Tuesday

Answers

1.

a) kanojo wa mado wo akemashita

b) doa ga shimarimasen deshita

c) kare wa keitai wo toire ni otoshimashita, OR
kare wa toire ni keitai wo otoshimashita

d) (watashi wa) kono tsukue ga ugokasemasen

e) basu de sanjikan (ga) kakarimashita

f) (watashi tachi wa) erebēta de kare no ofisu ni agarimashita

g) kare wa miruku/gyūnyū wo reizōko ni iremashita, OR
kare wa reizōko ni miruku/gyūnyū wo iremashita

h) (watashi wa) terebi wo tsukemasu

i) tsuyoi kaze de rōsoku ga kiemashita

j) karera wa maishū no kayōbi ni toshokan de atsumarimasu

[3] Technically, this is incorrect English as well, since the words “may” and “would” should be used, respectively, instead of “can”, but it is common practice nonetheless.

Chapter 9

The te-form

The te-form is a special verb form that is used in a wide range of situations, such as continuous tenses, commands and requests, and when linking multiple actions together in a sequence. In this chapter, we will look at how the te-form is created, and some of the main ways in which it can be used.

When generally referring to verbs in the te-form, the following notation will be used: verb(te).

9.1 Converting to the te-form

Verbs can be converted into the te-form in much the same way as they are converted into the informal past tense. In fact, for all verb types, the only difference is that the last sound is “te” or “de” instead of “ta” or “da”. The te-form is not technically a tense, and there is only one version, with no differentiation between polite and informal.

Add-on verbs and irregular verbs in the te-form look like this:

For vowel-changing verbs, we do the same transformations as for the informal past tense, but using “te” and “de” instead of “ta” and “da”.

Here are some examples:

Exercise

1. Complete the following table:

Answers

1.

9.2 Continuous tenses

The first use of the te-form we will look at is to talk about actions that are currently taking place at a given moment, such as in the sentences, “I am watching TV”, or “I was watching TV at 8 o’clock yesterday”. This is done by adding the appropriate form of the verb “imasu” (“iru”) after the main verb in the te-form. Everything else in the sentence remains the same.

These tenses can generally be used any time to talk about something that is in progress or continuing, in a very similar way to how they are used in English. Here are some examples in both informal and polite language:

I am watching TV

watashi wa terebi wo mite iru

watashi wa terebi wo mite imasu

He is eating sushi

kare wa sushi wo tabete iru

kare wa sushi wo tabete imasu

She was playing tennis

kanojo wa tenisu wo shite ita

kanojo wa tenisu wo shite imashita

They were drinking tea

karera wa ocha wo nonde ita

karera wa ocha wo nonde imashita

You can see from these examples that the te-form of the verb is much like the “-ing” form of English verbs. They are similar, as both allow us to use certain verbs together with other verbs, but they are not exactly the same, so try not to remember them as such.

Also, there is an important difference to English that should be noted. In English, it is possible to use the present continuous tense to talk about your plans. For example, you could say, “I am eating sushi tomorrow with my friends”. Even though the verbs in this example are “am eating”, which is the present continuous tense, this sentence is clearly referring to the future, not what is happening right now. It is essentially the same as saying “I will eat sushi tomorrow”.

You cannot do this in Japanese. You cannot say, “ashita, watashi wa tomodachi to sushi wo tabete imasu”. This tense is not used in this way in Japanese. Instead, you would just use the present/future tense and say, “ashita, watashi wa tomodachi to sushi wo tabemasu”.

There are circumstances where you can use the present continuous tense to refer to something taking place in the future, but it is more like saying, “I will be eating…”. It is relatively uncommon and not worth thinking about at this stage, so we won’t go into it here. As a general rule, just don’t use the present continuous tense to talk about the future in Japanese until you are more familiar with it.

Negative continuous tenses

Just as with other tenses, these too can be expressed in the negative form to describe things that you or someone else isn’t doing. To do this, we just change the verb “iru” to its negative form, like so:

The examples below demonstrate the use of negative continuous tenses.

They’re not doing their homework

karera wa shukudai wo shite inai

She’s not listening

kanojo wa kīte imasen

He wasn’t watching the game

kare wa shiai wo mite inakatta

I wasn’t waiting

(watashi wa) matte imasen deshita

Differences between continuous tenses in English and Japanese

One area in which Japanese and English continuous tenses differ is with certain verbs that talk about the current situation. English has a group of verbs called “non-continuous” or “stative” verbs, which are often used in the regular present tense even when referring to an action that is currently in progress.

For example, it is normal to say “I live in Japan” for the present, or “I lived in Japan” for the past, even though the act of “living” in Japan is, or was, in progress. It is possible to use the continuous tense and say, “I am/was living in Japan”, but this doesn’t have quite the same meaning, and isn’t the standard way of expressing this basic idea in English.

However, actions that are represented by non-continuous verbs in English are usually expressed using continuous tenses in Japanese. The phrase, “I live in Japan”, in Japanese would be, “watashi wa nihon ni sunde iru”. To directly translate English and use the present/future tense to say, “watashi wa nihon ni sumimasu”, would instead refer to future plans to live in Japan, not the current situation.

Here are some other verbs that fall into this category, along with example sentences in a mixture of polite and informal speech.

* The verb “kau”, meaning “to have (a pet)”, looks the same as the word for “buy”, but it is a different word that uses a different kanji when written in Japanese.

Ultimately, the key to using this correctly is to avoid translating from English, and instead think about whether or not the action is of an ongoing nature. For all verbs in Japanese, if the action began at some point in the past, and has not yet finished, then the present continuous tense should be used.

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in informal Japanese:

a) She is writing a book

b) Taro is reading the newspaper

c) I was sleeping on the sofa

d) He was using the company’s computer

e) You’re not listening to me

f) They’re not speaking (in) English

g) He wasn’t waiting at the station

h) Miho wasn’t watching

i) She has a big dog

j) He doesn’t love her

2. Think of 5 things that other people are doing right now and describe them using polite Japanese. Try to include information about where each person is doing that activity.

Answers

1.

a) kanojo wa hon wo kaite iru

b) Tarō wa shinbun wo yonde iru

c) (watashi wa) sofa de nete ita

d) kare wa kaisha no konpyūtā wo tsukatte ita

e) anata wa watashi wo kīte inai

f) karera wa eigo de hanashite inai

g) kare wa eki de matte inakatta

h) Miho wa mite inakatta

i) kanojo wa ōkī inu wo katte iru

j) kare wa kanojo wo ai shite inai

2. Each sentence should include (where possible) the location marked by the particle “de” (or “ni” if describing a destination and an action involving movement like “go” or “visit”), and the verb in the te-form followed by “imasu”.

9.3 Commands and requests

Another very common use of the te-form is in commanding and requesting people to perform actions, such as, “Come here!”, or “Come here, please”. To do this, simply end the sentence with the verb in the te-form for a command, or add “kudasai” (please) to soften it and make it a request instead. There is usually no topic or subject in these types of sentences because commands and requests, by their very nature, are usually directed at the person being spoken to, hence the person who should perform the action is obvious.

Here are some example sentences:

Look at this!

kore wo mite

Hurry up!

isoide

Come here

koko ni kite

Do your best/Good luck

ganbatte

Please take off your shoes

kutsu wo nuide kudasai

Please wait

matte kudasai

Please wait a bit

chotto matte kudasai

Ganbatte!

The word “ganbatte” is worth mentioning because it is very common, yet there isn’t really an equivalent word in English. It is the te-form of the verb “ganbaru”, which means something like “to do your best”, or “to work hard”. Japanese people are often told that the English translation is “to fight”, and for this reason you might occasionally hear them chanting or yelling “faito!” at sporting events.

In any case, “ganbatte” is usually said to a person as a form of encouragement before or during something challenging, such as a competition, an exam, or even just everyday work. Since it is often said before the event, it is sometimes translated to English as “Good luck”, although “Do your best” or “Work hard” is usually more appropriate, since effort, not luck, is what is being encouraged. In its regular form, “ganbaru” or “ganbarimasu” is often said by a person about to take on a challenge, as if to say, “I will do my best”.

A common alternative way to soften commands in colloquial speech that allows you to avoid the formality of the word “kudasai” is to add “ne” after the te-form verb. For example, “chotto matte ne” would be a casual way of saying “wait a second”, while “ganbatte ne” is a more relaxed way to encourage someone. You will likely hear this a lot, but remember that it should only be used in informal settings, or when the person speaking is of a higher standing than the person being spoken to.

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in Japanese:

a) Wake up!

b) Please return home by 6 o’clock

c) Read this article

d) Please tell (teach) me your phone number

e) Close the door!

f) Please speak in Japanese

g) Wash your hands over there

h) Please gather in the library at 3 o’clock

Answers

1.

a) okite!

b) rokuji made ni (ie ni) kaette kudasai

c) kono kiji wo yonde

d) denwa bangō wo oshiete kudasai

e) doa wo shimete!

f) nihongo de hanashite kudasai

g) asoko de te wo aratte

h) sanji ni toshokan de atsumatte kudasai

9.4 Linking multiple actions together in a sequence

We can use the te-form to talk about multiple actions that take place together or in a sequence. When describing multiple actions together, the te-form is used for all of the verbs except the last one. The tense used for the last verb then applies to all of the preceding verbs that appeared in the te-form. There is no limit to the number of actions that can be linked together, and this can be done in virtually any tense, as long as it makes logical sense. Here are some examples:

He went to the convenience store and bought a sandwich

kare wa konbini ni itte sandoicchi wo kaimashita

This morning, I woke up, ate breakfast and cleaned my teeth

kesa, watashi wa okite, asagohan wo tabete, ha wo migakimashita

I want to go to Japan and ride the bullet train

(watashi wa) nihon ni itte shinkansen ni noritai desu

When the actions occurring together happen in a sequence, we can further emphasize the order of the different actions by including the particle “kara” after the te-form of the verb. This is like saying “and then” or “before”, as shown in the examples below. Just be aware that this shouldn’t be used too many times in one sentence or it becomes repetitive.

I went to the library and then I went to school

(watashi wa) toshokan ni itte kara gakkō ni ikimashita

Please take your shoes off before going (entering) inside

kutsu wo nuide kara naka ni haitte kudasai

It is also possible to link sentences together when the verb is “desu”, albeit in a fairly limited way. The te-form of “desu” is “de”, and this can be added after a noun in place of “desu” to allow one sentence to lead into another. Unlike other verbs, however, this does not describe actions occurring in a sequence because “desu” only describes the state of being, not an actual action. Here are some examples of “de” being used in place of “desu” to link two sentences together.

This is a pen, and that is a pencil

kore wa pen de, sore wa enpitsu desu

Today is fine (weather), and it will rain tomorrow

kyō wa hare de, ashita ame ga furimasu

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in informal or polite Japanese, as indicated:

a) [Informal] He stood up and hit his head

b) [Polite] She put on shoes and went to the mall

c) [Informal] We ate dinner and watched a movie, then went for a walk in the park

d) [Polite] Next year, I will go to China and study Chinese

e) [Informal] Tomorrow, we will go to Akihabara and buy a new TV

f) [Informal] They’re eating yakiniku and drinking beer

g) [Polite] I want to sell my car and buy a motorbike

h) [Polite] I want to quit my job and travel the world

i) [Polite] Let’s go to Shinjuku and do karaoke

j) [Informal] Let’s return home and go to sleep

k) [Polite] This is my car, and that (over there) is his motorbike

Answers

1.

a) kare wa tatte atama wo butsuketa

b) kanojo wa kutsu wo haite mōru in ikimashita

c) (watashi tachi wa) bangohan wo tabete eiga wo mite kara, kōen de sanpo shita

d) rainen (watashi wa) chūgoku ni itte chūgokugo wo benkyō shimasu

e) ashita, (watashi tachi wa) akihabara ni itte atarashī terebi wo kau

f) karera wa yakiniku wo tabete bīru wo nonde iru

g) (watashi wa) kuruma wo utte baiku ga kaitai desu

h) (watashi wa) shigoto wo yamete sekai ga ryokō shitai desu

i) shinjuku ni itte karaoke wo shimashō

j) ie ni kaette neyō

k) kore wa watashi no kuruma de, are wa kare no baiku desu

9.5 Describing the means by which an action is completed

Similarly to how we can link actions together that occur in a sequence, we can also link actions together to imply that one action enabled another to occur, or to describe the means by which an action takes place. In other words, it can be used to show cause and effect, much like saying “I did A by doing B” or “I did A and B happened”. Here are some examples:

He opened the door by kicking it

kare wa doa wo kette akemashita

They became rich by selling cameras

karera wa kamera wo utte okanemochi ni narimashita

She lost weight by exercising every day

kanojo wa mainichi undō shite yasemashita

I ate lots of candy and became sick

okashi wo takusan tabete byōki ni narimashita

In each of these examples, you can see that the first action leads directly to the second action, either as the means by which it occurs (eg. kicking the door open), or as its cause (eg. becoming sick due to eating lots of candy).

You’ll no doubt notice that these sentences appear exactly the same as those in the previous section that showed actions in a sequence. The truth is, both instances describe actions that occur together or in a sequence; the difference just comes down to the interpretation of the effect of one action on the other.

In Chapter 2, we learned about the particle “de”, and how it is used to define either the location where an action takes place, or the means by which an action is completed. In many ways, the te-form is like the verb version of the particle “de”. They cannot always be used in the same ways, but if you think of the particle “de” as describing the means by which an action takes place, then using a verb in the te-form has the same effect. The only difference is that the means is in the form of a verb, not a noun.

One very common way in which verbs are used together like this is when describing the mode of transportation in the form of a verb. Rather than just saying something like, “I walked to the park”, in Japanese, the verb describing the movement, such as “go” or “come” is usually included as well. The following examples demonstrate this:

I walked to the park

(watashi wa) kōen ni aruite ikimashita

He ran here

kare wa koko ni hashitte kimashita

She rode her bike to school

kanojo wa gakkō ni jitensha ni notte ikimashita

One way in which the te-form is very similar to the particle “de” is that it makes the word order more flexible. Normally, the verb comes at the end of a sentence or clause, but when a verb is in the te-form and used to describe the means by which an action occurs, it is no longer the main verb, and can therefore be moved around like a “noun + de” combination. Here are the above example sentences again with the word order rearranged:

I walked to the park

(watashi wa) aruite kōen ni ikimashita

He ran here

kare wa hashitte koko ni kimashita

She rode her bike to school

kanojo wa jitensha ni notte gakkō ni ikimashita

In all of these examples, the verb in the te-form has been moved closer to the beginning of the sentence, just like might be done with the particle “de”. If we compare the first example to similar sentences where the means of transport is a car, you can see how similar the te-form of verbs is to the particle “de”:

kuruma de kōen ni ikimashita

aruite kōen ni ikimashita

kōen ni kuruma de ikimashita

kōen ni aruite ikimashita

As mentioned above, this doesn’t mean that you can always use “de” and the te-form of verbs in the same way. For example, since nouns don’t represent an action, you can’t use a noun with “de” to form a command or a continuous tense, so while it’s fine to say “hashitte kudasai” to ask someone to run, you can’t say “kuruma de kudasai” to tell someone to travel by car; the latter still needs a verb. Because of this, it is somewhat inaccurate to think of “de” and the te-form as being perfectly equal. However, being aware of their similarities should hopefully help you when forming sentences that use the te-form to describe the means by which actions take place.

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in informal or polite Japanese, as indicated:

a) [Polite] I overslept and was late to the meeting

b) [Informal] He gained weight by eating cake every day

c) [Polite] She broke her computer by dropping it

d) [Informal] He took his jacket off and became cold

e) [Polite] I will study lots and pass the test

f) [Informal] I drank a lot of coffee and (now I) can’t sleep

g) [Polite] They ran to the post office

h) [Informal] I want to swim to that island over there

Answers

1.

a) watashi wa nebōshite kaigi ni okuremashita

b) kare wa mainichi kēki wo tabete futotta

c) kanojo wa konpyūta wo otoshite kowashimashita

d) kare wa uwagi wo nuide samuku natta

e) (watashi wa) takusan benkyō shite tesuto ni gōkaku shimasu

f) kōhī wo takusan nonde nerarenai

g) karera wa yūbinkyoku ni hashitte ikimashita, OR
karera wa hashitte yūbinkyoku ni ikimashita

h) ano shima ni oyoide ikitai, OR
oyoide ano shima ni ikitai

9.6 The negative te-form

Verbs in the negative can also be expressed in the te-form. Although the transformation is easy, there are actually two versions of the te-form for negatives, and each have different uses. To keep things simple and avoid confusion, we will only look at one for now - the one that relates most to the te-form uses introduced in this chapter. The other will be explained in Chapter 12.3.1.

To form the first version of the negative te-form of a verb, we just add “de” to the end of the verb in its negative informal tense. The verb ending therefore becomes “naide”, such as in the following examples:

This version of the negative te-form has two main uses:

- In commands and requests in the negative, eg. Please don’t go over there

- To decribe actions that didn’t (or will not) happen when linking actions together in a sequence, eg. He didn’t eat before going to school

Note that the negative te-form is not used with continuous tenses. As explained earlier, to describe something that is not happening, the verb should be used in the regular te-form, with the verb “iru” expressed in the negative. For example, to say “He is not watching TV”, you would say “kare wa terebi wo mite inai”. Much like English, there only needs to be one verb in the negative form to make the whole clause negative, and with continuous tenses, that verb should be “iru”.

Here are some examples of the negative te-form in action:

Don’t watch TV!

terebi wo minaide!

Please don’t close the door

doa wo shimenaide kudasai

He didn’t eat breakfast before going to school

kare wa asagohan wo tabenaide gakkō ni ikimashita

She went to the beach without putting on sunscreen

kanojo wa hiyakedome wo nuranaide umi ni ikimashita

Exercise

1. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in polite Japanese:

a) Don’t wear that shirt

b) Don’t give chocolate to the dog

c) Please don’t forget your jacket

d) Please don’t sit on this chair

e) He rode his bicycle without wearing shoes

f) She didn’t wash her hands before eating pizza

g) I went to bed (slept) without cleaning my teeth

h) They didn’t make a reservation before going to the restaurant

Answers

1.

a) sono shatsu wo kinaide

b) inu ni chokorēto wo agenaide

c) uwagi wo wasurenaide kudasai

d) kono isu ni suwaranaide kudasai

e) kare wa kutsu wo hakanaide jitensha ni norimashita

f) kanojo wa te wo arawanaide piza wo tabemashita

g) (watashi wa) ha wo migakanaide nemashita

h) karera wa yoyaku shinaide resutoran ni ikimashita

9.7 The te-form of adjectives

As we learned in Chapter 7, Japanese adjectives are different from English adjectives in one major way - they can be conjugated into different tenses. With that in mind, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that adjectives also have a te-form.

Converting adjectives into the te-form is easy. For i-adjectives, we remove the last “i” sound and replace it with “kute”. For na-adjectives, we just add “de” on the end instead of “na”.

The i-adjective conversion applies to all types of words that have been converted into a form that is the same as i-adjectives, such as verbs in the “I want to…” form with the “–tai” ending (eg. ikitakute), and negative adjectives ending in “nai” (eg. yokunakute).

Like with verbs, the te-form of adjectives has a number of uses. Two of the main uses of the te-form of adjectives are:

- To apply multiple descriptions to something, eg. The big, red dog

- To describe a reason for something, eg. I can’t eat this because it’s hot

Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

Applying multiple descriptions

Multiple adjectives can be strung together in a sentence by expressing all but the last adjective using the te-form. The following example sentences demonstrate this:

That dog (over there) is big and scary

ano inu wa ōkikute kowai desu

Japanese is easy and interesting

nihongo wa kantan de omoshiroi desu

The small, black cat is under the table

chīsakute kuroi neko wa tēburu no shita ni imasu

Note that when doing this, the natural-sounding order of the adjectives won’t always be the same as English. For example, some people may express the last example by saying “kurokute chīsai neko”, or “black, small cat”. This sounds less natural in English because we usually use adjectives of size before colors, not after, but the same isn’t always true in Japanese. This is not really worth worrying about because ultimately, no matter what word order you use, if the words are correct, then the meaning will be understood. Just be aware that the order may differ from English, and as you hear and speak Japanese more, you will develop an intuitive understanding of what sounds most natural.

Describing a reason

Adjectives can be used in the te-form to describe a reason for something. When this is done, the meaning of the sentence is much like an English sentence that includes “because”. As with other “because”-type sentences, the order of the reason and the outcome is the opposite of how it is usually expressed in English. When using the word “because” in English, it is normal to express the outcome first, followed by “because” and then the reason. In Japanese, however, the reason comes first (in the te-form), and the outcome comes after. The example sentences below, which use an adjective as a reason, should help clarify this.

I can’t walk because my leg hurts

ashi ga itakute arukenai

I won’t buy these shoes because they’re expensive

kono kutsu wa takakute kawanai

I couldn’t see the sign because it was dark

kurakute kanban ga mienakatta

I don’t want to carry this bag because it’s heavy

kono kaban wa omokute mochitakunai

Notice that in each of these, the reason comes first, followed by the outcome. This is generally how outcomes and their reasons, of all types, are expressed in Japanese. We can, however, re-phrase these expressions using the English word “so” in order to match the word order to the Japanese sentence while still expressing the same basic idea. Here are the English sentences re-phrased:

My leg hurts so I can’t walk

These shoes are expensive so I won’t buy them

It was dark so I couldn’t see the sign

This bag is heavy so I don’t want to carry it

Exercise

1. Complete the following table:

2. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in polite Japanese:

a) She bought a pink, cute bag

b) They entered the dark, scary house

c) Your shoes are dirty and smelly

d) This is my new, expensive watch

e) I ate lots of sushi because it was delicious

f) I quit my job because I want to travel

g) I don’t want to watch this movie because it’s boring

h) He goes to that shop every day because it is convenient

Answers

1.

2.

a) kanojo wa pinku de kawaī kaban wo kaimashita

b) karera wa kurakute kowai ie ni hairimashita

c) anata no kutsu wa kitanakute kusai desu

d) kore wa watashi no atarashikute takai tokei desu

e) sushi wa/ga oishikute (watashi wa) takusan tabemashita

f) (watashi wa) ryokō shitakute shigoto wo yamemashita

g) kono eiga wa/ga tsumaranakute (watashi wa) mitakunai desu

h) ano mise wa benri de (kare wa) mainichi ikimasu

Chapter 10

The Magic of Noun Phrases

This chapter is where we really take things to the next level. You probably haven’t heard of noun phrases before, but they are an essential part of any language, and complex noun phrases allow us to communicate with much more detail. In this chapter, we’ll look at what noun phrases are, how they fit into sentences, and also cover a number of ways that noun phrases can be formed in Japanese. Once you understand everything in this chapter, you will have the foundations to understand almost anything the Japanese language will throw at you.

10.1 What are noun phrases?

As you know, nouns are words that represent things, whether they be physical or abstract. A noun phrase is just a sequence of words that together, as a whole, represent things in the same way that a single noun does. They are phrases that act as nouns grammatically.

The following are all noun phrases:

- car

- a car

- a blue car

- the blue car over there

- the blue car over there that’s being washed by the guy wearing the red hat

These are all noun phrases because they all represent a thing - a car. “Car”, in this case, is what is known as the head noun, and the only difference between each example is the amount of additional detail that is attached to this head noun. All of them can be used as a single block to fit into a sentence in exactly the same way as a plain old noun. Let’s try it.

- I bought a car last week

- I bought a blue car last week

- I bought the blue car over there last week

- I bought the blue car over there that’s being washed by the guy wearing the red hat last week

What this means is that if we know how to form noun phrases, we can add a lot more detail to our sentences. It allows us to include more information about every single noun, and then just slot that into a sentence without changing anything else. As the examples above show, it doesn’t matter if we’re just talking about “a car”, or “the blue car over there that’s being washed by the guy wearing the red hat”, as long as we are using a noun phrase, we can insert it into a sentence in exactly the same way.

We have actually used some noun phrases in Japanese already, albeit very simple ones. Technically, a noun on its own is a noun phrase, but we have also created larger noun phrases when we joined two nouns together with “no” to say things like “watashi no kuruma” (my car). The same is true when we use an adjective (or two) before a noun, like when we say “aoi kuruma” (blue car). We can also combine these two to say, “watashi no aoi kuruma” (my blue car), and this also constitutes a single noun phrase.

There are, however, more ways to form noun phrases. Below are the main ones covered in this book:

- Determiner only - “This is my car”

- Adjective that describes a ‘thing’ - “This is a blue car”

- Verb that adds extra information- “This is the car that I bought”

- Verb as the action itself - “I saw him buying a car”

- Location preposition - “The car over there is blue”

We’ve already covered the first two, and you should have no problems using them in sentences. For the rest of this chapter, we will focus on the other three ways listed above, which will greatly increase the depth of expression you’re capable of in Japanese.

10.2 Forming noun phrases using verbs that add extra information

Using verbs to create noun phrases is particularly powerful because by combining verbs with nouns, we can actually turn almost complete sentences into noun phrases. These in turn can then be inserted into other, longer sentences like any other noun or noun phrase. Consider this example:

He bought some bread at the supermarket.

If we want to talk more about the bread in this sentence, without starting a new sentence, we can convert the entire sentence into a noun phrase built around the word “bread”, and then use that noun phrase as part of a longer sentence. The above sentence converted into a noun phrase looks like this:

The bread (that) he bought at the supermarket

As you can see here, by taking a complete sentence and rearranging it a little, we can turn it into a noun phrase. This can then be inserted into a longer sentence like so:

I like the bread (that) he bought at the supermarket.

In Japanese, turning a basic sentence into a noun phrase is relatively easy. Here’s the original sentence again with a Japanese translation using polite language:

He bought some bread at the supermarket

kare wa sūpā de pan wo kaimashita

Now, this is what the equivalent noun phrase looks like:

The bread (that) he bought at the supermarket

kare ga sūpā de katta pan

To create this noun phrase, we have altered the original sentence in three ways:

- Put the head noun (pan) at the end, after the verb

- Changed the verb into the informal form (katta)

- Changed the particle “wa” to “ga”

Here is a quick explanation of each of these changes:

Putting the head noun at the end

For any noun phrase, the head noun - the thing that we’re talking about - is the last word in the noun phrase. This is always true, regardless of how many other words or what type of elements are included in the phrase. Even when using adjectives or other nouns, the head noun comes last. For example, if talking about a car, whether we say “aoi kuruma”, “watashi no kuruma”, “watashi no aoi kuruma”, or “kare ga katta kuruma”, the head noun, “kuruma”, always comes at the end.

Changing the verb into the informal form

Except in rare, overly polite cases where the verb might remain in a polite tense, a verb in a noun phrase is always expressed in the informal form of whatever tense is being used. This does not, however, make the noun phrase informal. Any verbs that appear within a noun phrase are not the main verb of the sentence and are there for purely functional reasons, so politeness is not an issue. Instead, the politeness of a sentence is dependent mostly on the main verb at the end of the sentence. As long as the main verb in each clause is polite, the whole sentence will be polite too.

Changing the particle from “wa” to “ga”

Not all noun phrases will contain these particles, but when they do, “ga” should always be used. The reason for this is that the particle “wa” defines the topic of a sentence, but a noun phrase alone is not enough to form a complete sentence. If something is not a complete sentence, it cannot have a topic, and “wa” should not be used. Since a noun phrase is not a complete sentence, “ga” should be used instead.

—

We can now put this into a sentence as if it were any other noun:

I like the bread that he bought at the supermarket

watashi wa kare ga sūpā de katta pan ga suki desu

The bread that he bought at the supermarket is over there

kare ga sūpā de katta pan wa asoko ni arimasu

We ate the bread that he bought at the supermarket

watashi tachi wa kare ga sūpā de katta pan wo tabemashita

As you can see here, the noun phrase can be treated as a single block, and just be followed by whichever particle is appropriate within that sentence. As mentioned above, the fact that we use the informal form of the verb inside the noun phrase does not affect the overall politeness of the sentence. The main verb - the one at the end - determines how polite a sentence is, so all of the above examples are in the polite form.

Using different head nouns

In our example above, we took a basic sentence, extracted the word “bread”, and built a noun phrase around that word. However, there are other elements in the sentence that we can build noun phrases around. Here are some of the different noun phrases that can be created from our original sentence, “He bought some bread at the supermarket”:

- The bread (that) he bought at the supermarket

- The supermarket where he bought the bread

- The person who bought the bread at the supermarket

- The reason (why) he bought the bread at the supermarket

In the first three examples, we have extracted “the bread, “the supermarket, and “the person” (he), respectively, and created a noun phrases that centers on those things. In the fourth sentence, we have actually added an extra element - the reason - but the concept is the same. In all cases, we can insert the full noun phrase into a sentence and still retain all of the extra information about the chosen element.

When we do this in English, we usually use the word “that” or question words like “where”, “who”, “why” and “which” to connect the head noun to the rest of the information. Sometimes we leave these words out to save time and because we can, but we always have the option to use one of these words because that is how English connects the verb to the head noun.

This is where Japanese is nice and easy. No matter which element you build your noun phrase around, no extra words are needed. All you have to do is make the three changes listed above: put the noun at the end, use the informal verb form, and change “wa” to “ga” when necessary.

Let’s take a look at how each of the alternative noun phrases above are formed in Japanese.

The person who bought the bread at the supermarket

sūpā de pan wo katta hito

The supermarket where he bought the bread

kare ga pan wo katta sūpā

The reason (why) he bought the bread at the supermarket

kare ga sūpā de pan wo katta riyū

The structure here is basically the same as when we used “bread” as the head noun. All we have had to do is take out the head noun element (in the first sentence, “hito” is used as a substitute for the personal pronoun “he”) and put it at the end after the verb. We can now insert these noun phrases into other sentences like any other noun phrase. Let’s try it using the example where the head noun is “hito”:

I don’t like the person who bought the bread at the supermarket

watashi wa sūpā de pan wo katta hito ga suki janai desu

The person who bought the bread at the supermarket is over there

sūpā de pan wo katta hito wa asoko ni imasu

We saw the person who bought the bread at the supermarket

watashi tachi wa sūpā de pan wo katta hito wo mimashita

Reading the last example, you may notice that there are two possible interpretations. “At the supermarket” could refer to where the person bought the bread, or it could refer to where the person was seen. This ambiguity is present in both English and Japanese, and is a result of the fact that both verbs in the sentence (buy and see) can be associated with a location, and because there is a certain amount of freedom that exists with word order.

This ambiguity is sometimes avoidable, but not always. If the location refers to the main verb - in this case “see” - then the word order can be changed so that the meaning is more clear. For example, in English, we could say, “At the supermarket, we saw the person who bought the bread”. By putting “at the supermarket” at the beginning, it is separated from the noun phrase, and therefore must relate to the main verb; the ambiguity is removed.

In the example above, however, the location refers to where the person bought the bread, and must therefore be grouped together with the rest of the noun phrase that defines the bread, since noun phrases cannot be split up. The only way a sentence like this can be changed is to re-order the words within the noun phrase. However, this can’t really be done in English. The best we can do is change the noun phrase to, “the person who, at the supermarket, bought the bread”, but this is obviously quite unnatural.

Fortunately, Japanese offers us a bit more freedom. Because of the flexibility in word order afforded to us by particles, it is perfectly fine to change the noun phrase to, “pan wo sūpā de katta hito”. By putting the location in the middle of the noun phrase, it can no longer be interpreted as part of the main sentence, so the ambiguity is removed.

That said, you don’t want to be thinking about these kinds of minor technicalities when you’re speaking Japanese; that will only cause you to over-think things, which is not recommended. The point is simply that certain ambiguities will arise in Japanese, just as they do in English. The flexibility of Japanese grammar sometimes allows us to avoid these kinds of ambiguities, but like many other things, context will usually be enough to make the intended meaning clear. Just be aware that ambiguities do exist, and when context doesn’t help to clarify things, you can always ask.

Exercise

1. Convert the following sentences into different noun phrases, as indicated.

a)

I watched a movie last week

watashi wa senshū eiga wo mimashita

i. The movie I watched last week

ii. The person who watched the movie last week

iii. The reason why I watched the movie last week

b)

They are drinking sake at an izakaya

karera wa izakaya de osake wo nonde imasu

i. The sake they are drinking at the izakaya

ii. The izakaya where they are drinking sake

iii. The people drinking sake at the izakaya

c)

He will eat ramen with Yamamoto-san tomorrow

kare wa ashita yamamoto san to rāmen wo tabemasu

i. The ramen he will eat with Yamamoto-san tomorrow

ii. The person who will eat ramen with Yamamoto-san tomorrow

iii. The reason he will eat ramen with Yamamoto-san tomorrow

d)

She was reading a book at the library

kanojo wa toshokan de hon wo yonde imashita

i. The book she was reading at the library

ii. The library where she was reading the book

iii. The person who was reading a book at the library

e)

I go to that supermarket every week

watashi wa maishū ano sūpā ni ikimasu

i. The supermarket I go to every week

ii. The person who goes to that supermarket every week

iii. The reason I go to that supermarket every week

2. Write down and say aloud each of the following sentences in polite Japanese.

a) The movie I saw last week was boring

b) The people drinking sake at the izakaya are my colleagues

c) The ramen he will eat with Yamamoto-san tomorrow is expensive and delicious

d) I really like (love) the book that she was reading at the library

e) He saw Takuya at the supermarket I go to every week

Answers

1.

a)

i. watashi ga senshū mita eiga

ii. senshū eiga wo mita hito

iii. watashi ga senshū eiga wo mita riyū

b)

i. karera ga izakaya de nonde iru osake

ii. karera ga osake wo nonde iru izakaya

iii. izakaya de osake wo nonde iru hito tachi

c)

i. kare ga ashita yamamoto san to taberu rāmen

ii. ashita yamamoto san to rāmen wo taberu hito

iii. kare ga ashita yamamoto san to rāmen wo taberu riyū

d)

i. kanojo ga toshokan de yonde ita hon

ii. kanojo ga hon wo yonde ita toshokan

iii. toshokan de hon wo yonde ita hito

e)

i. (watashi ga) maishū iku sūpā

ii. maishū ano sūpā ni iku hito

iii. (watashi ga) maishū ano sūpā ni iku riyū

2.

a) (watashi ga) senshū mita eiga wa tsumaranakatta desu

b) izakaya de osake wo nonde iru hito tachi wa watashi no dōryō desu

c) kare ga ashita yamamoto san to taberu rāmen wa takakute oishī desu

d) watashi wa kanojo ga toshokan de yonde ita hon ga daisuki desu

e) kare wa (watashi ga) maishū iku sūpā de takuya wo mimashita

10.3 Forming noun phrases that describe the location of something

When you want to talk about a particular ‘thing’ and specify it by describing its location, the appropriate noun phrase can be formed in much the same way as any other noun phrase. Here is an example of how a basic sentence defining an object’s location can be turned into a noun phrase:

The bread is on the table

pan wa tēburu ni arimasu

The bread on the table is not delicious

tēburu ni aru pan wa oishikunai desu

All that has happened here is the head noun “bread” has been moved to the end of the sentence after the verb “aru”. If instead of bread we were talking about a living thing, the verb would be “iru”.

The dog is over there

inu wa asoko ni imasu

I gave some bread to the dog over there

(watashi wa) asoko ni iru inu ni pan wo agemashita

An important difference between English and Japanese in these noun phrases is that the English noun phrases do not contain a verb, while the Japanese ones do. This is because in English, we just need to attach the location information to the noun using a preposition like “on”, “in” or “at”, such as in the phrase, “the bread on the table”. This doesn’t work in Japanese, so it would be wrong to say something like “tēburu ni pan” and treat it as a noun phrase. The verb is necessary, so always remember to include “aru” or “iru” as appropriate.

Both of the above noun phrases, and any others like them, can also be used in the past tense, like so:

Where is the bread that was on the table?

tēburu ni atta pan wa doko desu ka?

I gave some bread to the dog that was over there

(watashi wa) asoko ni ita inu ni pan wo agemashita

You’ll notice that in the English sentences, we had to add “that was” in order to use these noun phrases in the past tense. Since our original phrase, “the dog over there”, doesn’t contain a verb, one needs to be added so that that verb can be conjugated in the past tense. We therefore effectively expand the original phrase to, “the dog that is over there”, and then change the verb “is” to “was”. In Japanese, however, since the verb is already included in the present tense version of the phrase, it just needs to be changed to the past tense, and everything else remains the same.

Exercise

1. Convert the following sentences into noun phrases based around the location of the item being described. Be sure to include all of the information from the original sentence.

a)

The chair is next to the desk

isu wa tsukue no tonari ni arimasu

the chair next to the desk

b)

The cat is under the bed

neko wa beddo no shita ni imasu

the cat under the bed

c)

There was a mobile phone here

koko ni keitai ga arimashita

the mobile phone that was here

d)

There is a movie theater in Umeda

umeda ni eigakan ga arimasu

the movie theater in Umeda

e)

The dog is outside

inu wa soto ni imasu

the dog (that is) outside

2. Write down and say aloud each of the following sentences in polite Japanese.

a) Please use the chair next to the desk.

b) The cat under the bed is chasing a mouse.

c) Where is the mobile phone that was here?

d) Let’s go to the movie theater in Umeda.

e) The dog outside is noisy.

Answers

1.

a) tsukue no tonari ni aru isu

b) beddo no shita ni iru neko

c) koko ni atta keitai

d) umeda ni aru eigakan

e) soto ni iru inu

2.

a) tsukue no tonari ni aru isu wo tsukatte kudasai

b) beddo no shita ni iru neko wa nezumi wo oikakete imasu

c) koko ni atta keitai wa doko desu ka

d) umeda ni aru eigakan ni ikimashō

e) soto ni iru inu wa urusai desu

10.4 Forming noun phrases based around the action itself

Sometimes, we want to talk about actions as if they are things. Actions are, of course, expressed using verbs, but in both Japanese and English, we need to convert these verbs into noun phrases in order to talk about the action itself. Let’s start with an example:

Learning Japanese is fun

In this sentence, the subject is “learning Japanese”, an action. However, it has been turned into a noun phrase by using what’s called the gerund form of the verb “learn”. In Japanese, an action can be turned into a noun phrase and used in a similar way by adding “no” after the verb in its informal form, like so:

Learning Japanese is fun

nihongo wo manabu no wa tanoshī desu

This is almost the same as when we added the noun after the verb in the previous section to build a noun phrase around the head noun “bread”. The only difference is that this time, since we want to use the action itself as the head noun, we follow the verb in its informal form with “no” instead of another noun like “bread”. Let’s try it again with our sentence about bread.

He bought some bread at the supermarket

kare wa sūpā de pan wo kaimashita

Buying bread at the supermarket is easy

sūpā de pan wo kau no wa kantan desu

The element “he” has been removed here to make the sentence a general statement, rather than about a specific person. It can be included, but it would change the meaning to something like, “his buying bread at the supermarket”.

In any case, the important thing is that the original sentence can be easily turned into a noun phrase, where the action is the ‘thing’ being talked about, by adding “no” after the verb in its informal form.

An alternative to using “no” after the verb is to use the word “koto”. The meaning is essentially the same, but you will likely hear “no” more often in spoken language. Here is the first example again, together with the “koto” version:

Learning Japanese is fun

nihongo wo manabu no wa tanoshī desu

nihongo wo manabu koto wa tanoshī desu

So what’s the difference? Not much. For the most part, “no” and “koto” can be used interchangeably, although there are a few situations where only one or the other is appropriate. It is a little bit like the difference between these two sentences:

I like watching movies

I like to watch movies

Much like “miru no” and “miru koto”, “watching” and “to watch” have basically the same meaning in most contexts. In some cases, they are not interchangeable (for example, you wouldn’t say “I want watching a movie” or “To watch movies is fun”), but in the majority of cases, they are. So with that in mind, we can express the same idea in two different ways in Japanese like so:

eiga wo miru no ga suki desu

eiga wo miru koto ga suki desu

However, it would not be accurate to say, for example, that the “no” version is equivalent to using “watching”, and the “koto” version is equivalent to “to watch”. They are just two similar ways of expressing the same idea, and when used in this way, “no” and “koto” are so close in meaning that it is not worth worrying about the finer details. You would be better off just using “no” most of the time, and as your Japanese improves, you will develop a feel for which one is more appropriate in different circumstances.

One more thing to remember with these kinds of noun phrases is that the verbs need to be in the appropriate tense. The above examples are general statements, so the dictionary form of the verb is used. When talking about a specific action, however, the verb describing that action needs to be in the tense that reflects the action’s timing. Here is an example:

I saw him eating sushi

(watashi wa) kare ga sushi wo tabete iru no wo mimashita

In this case, the action of ‘him’ eating sushi is ongoing, so it should be expressed in the present continuous tense. If the action is completed at the time the action described by the main verb occurs, then it should be in the past tense, like so:

I saw that he ate our sushi

(watashi wa) kare ga watashi tachi no sushi wo tabeta no wo mimashita

Here, the action being referred to occurred in the past, so the past tense is used. The finer details relating to the rules for verb tenses in noun phrases are actually fairly tricky as they are quite different from English. To avoid confusion, we won’t cover that here, but it is explained in more detail in Appendix 1: Understanding verb tenses in noun phrases.

To summarize, much like when turning a sentence into a noun phrase using a head noun such as “bread”, there are three basic rules for building a noun phrase around the action itself. These slightly different rules that relate to actions are as follows:

1. Put “no” or “koto” at the end after the verb

2. Change the verb into the informal form in the appropriate tense

3. Change the particle “wa” to “ga”

Exercise

1. For each of the following, translate the second sentence into Japanese using a noun phrase based on the first sentence. Express all your answers in polite Japanese, and be sure to use the correct tense when converting the first sentence into a noun phrase.

a)

I run in the mountains

watashi wa yama de hashirimasu

Running in the mountains is difficult

b)

He is making dinner

kare wa bangohan wo tsukutte imasu

I saw him making dinner

c)

It takes 3 hours

sanjikan (ga) kakarimasu

I didn’t know that it takes 3 hours

d)

They are speaking in Japanese

karera wa nihongo de hanashite imasu

I can hear them speaking in Japanese

e)

You sent your grandmother a postcard

(anata wa) obāsan ni hagaki wo okurimashita

I saw that you sent your grandmother a postcard

f)

You got married in this park

(anata wa) kono kōen de kekkon shimashita

I forgot that you got married in this park

g)

She listens to music in her room

kanojo wa heya de ongaku wo kikimasu

She likes listening to music in her room

h)

I write emails to my boss

watashi wa jōshi ni mēru wo kakimasu

I don’t like writing emails to my boss

Answers

1.

a) yama de hashiru no wa muzukashī desu

b) (watashi wa) kare ga bangohan wo tsukutte iru no wo mimashita

c) sanjikan (ga) kakaru no wo shirimasen deshita

d) watashi wa karera ga nihongo de hanashite iru no ga kikoemasu

e) (watashi wa) (anata ga) obāsan ni hagaki wo okutta no wo mimashita

f) (watashi wa) anata ga ano kōen de kekkon shita no wo wasuremashita

g) kanojo wa* heya de ongaku wo kiku no ga suki desu

h) watashi wa* jōshi ni mēru wo kaku no ga suki janai desu

* For g) and h), “wa” is not changed to “ga” because the topic of the main sentence is the same as that of the noun phrase. The “kanojo” and “watashi” from the first sentences has effectively been dropped, since it is obvious from the context of the new sentence that is who is being spoken about.

10.5 Including multiple pieces of information in a noun phrase

With any noun phrase, it is possible to include as much or as little description as you want - there is no real limit. How this is done, though, depends on what the extra information actually relates to. There are three basic scenarios where additional information can be added:

- Adding multiple descriptions to a single head noun

- Adding extra detail related to an action

- Stacking noun phrases within noun phrases

Let’s now take a look at each of these.

Adding multiple descriptions to a single head noun

If we look at the different ways of forming noun phrases introduced in this chapter, plus the ones covered earlier in this book, they can be broken down into two main groups: those that focus on a ‘thing’, and those that focus on an action. For now, we are interested in the noun phrases that are focused on a ‘thing’, such as the following:

- This bread

- The delicious bread

- The bread that he bought at the supermarket

- The bread on the table

When talking about a particular thing, we will sometimes want to describe it in greater detail, which requires us to combine multiple descriptions together into a single noun phrase. For example, we can take all of the noun phrases about bread above, and combine them into a single, more detailed noun phrase like this one:

This delicious bread on the table that he bought at the supermarket

When doing this in Japanese, it will help to recognize that there are three word types that can be used to manipulate the head noun:

- Determiners, such as “kono” or “watashi no”

- Adjectives

- Verbs, including “aru” and “iru”

In English, we can also use location prepositions to add information, but since this is done using the verbs “aru” and “iru” in Japanese, they can be treated the same as other verbs.

Let’s now look at our noun phrases about bread, and see how we can combine them into a single, more descriptive noun phrase. Here are the individual noun phrases:

This bread

kono pan

The delicious bread

oishī pan

The bread that he bought at the supermarket

kare ga sūpā de katta pan

The bread on the table

tēburu ni aru pan

We already know how to combine the first two:

This delicious bread

kono oishī pan

As a general rule, whenever you have an adjective (eg. oishī), it will usually be the last item before the head noun. This means that when you have another item like a determiner (eg. kono), this will come before the adjective, as in the example above.

The other important rule is that when combining different noun phrases together, the descriptive parts of each one (that is, everything before the head noun “pan”) should be used as they are - they don’t need to be changed in any way. We can see this here, with both “kono” and “oishī” being used unchanged.

Both of these rules are also true for verb-based descriptions. Let’s start by combining just the adjective description with the location description:

The delicious bread on the table

tēburu ni aru oishī pan

Notice here that:

1. The adjective comes immediately before the noun

2. The descriptions are unchanged from when they were used on their own

If we now want to add in “kono” as well, the best place to put it is after the verb but before the adjective, like so:

This delicious bread on the table

tēburu ni aru kono oishī pan

When adding in the last piece of information (that he bought the bread at the supermarket), we have a choice: it can go either before or after the location description. Since these are both expressed using verbs in Japanese, they can really be used in any order, along with any other verb-based description we care to include. This means that both of the following are acceptable:

This delicious bread on the table that he bought at the supermarket

tēburu ni aru, kare ga sūpā de katta kono oishī pan

kare ga sūpā de katta, tēburu ni aru kono oishī pan

One thing to be aware of is that it helps to include a comma, or a pause when spoken, in between each verb-based description to make it clear that these are separate descriptions relating to the same head noun. Without the pause, the middle part of the second phrase above would become, “kare ga sūpā de katta tēburu ni aru…”, which could be interpreted to mean that ‘he’ bought the table at the supermarket, not the bread. The pause or comma helps to clarify that these are separate descriptions.

To summarize, the three types of descriptions that can be attached to a head noun should be used in the following order:

Verbs → Determiners → Adjectives

This is not a rule that is set in concrete, and you will certainly hear people use different word ordering - such is the flexibility of the Japanese language! However, if you use these elements in this order, your sentences will usually sound natural.

Adding extra detail when describing an action

For noun phrases focused on actions, adding extra information is quite straightforward, and is actually nothing that we haven’t already covered. Basically, all of the information relating to the action can just be included in the sentence before it is converted to a noun phrase with “no” or “koto”. Consider these examples:

Eating bread

pan wo taberu no

Eating this bread

kono pan wo taberu no

Eating delicious bread

oisihī pan wo taberu no

Eating bread at home

ie de pan wo taberu no

For all of these, the extra information is just included in the part that leads up to the verb, either using different particles, or by expanding on the nouns that exist within it, like “oisihī pan”. Up until “no”, it is just like a regular sentence; there is nothing special done to the verb itself. This means that to add all of these pieces of information together into one noun phrase, we would just treat it like a regular sentence, and then add “no”:

I eat this delicious bread at home

(watashi wa) ie de kono oishī pan wo taberu

Eating this delicious bread at home

ie de kono oishī pan wo taberu no

This can then be used in another sentence in the same was as any other noun phrase, like this:

I like eating this delicious bread at home

watashi wa ie de kono oishī pan wo taberu no ga suki desu

Stacking noun phrases within noun phrases

Since all sentences can be turned into noun phrases, and these noun phrases can then be inserted into longer sentences which can themselves be turned into noun phrases, we can, in theory, build a never ending chain of noun phrases within noun phrases within noun phrases. Of course, we don’t want to do this too much or we end up with ridiculous sentences like this one:

This is the car that my friend bought from the tall man whose mother lives in the green house with the white front door that I made using materials I was given by my old roommate who always wears a purple suit to work.

It is, however, quite common to have two or three noun phrases nested within each other. To do this, we can just take any noun within a sentence or other noun phrase and use a more detailed noun phrase in its place. Here is an example of how to do this:

He likes bread

kare wa pan ga suki desu

+

The bread that is on the table

tēburu ni aru pan

=

He likes the bread that is on the table

kare wa tēburu ni aru pan ga suki desu

+

The table that I bought last week

watashi ga senshū katta tēburu

=

He likes the bread that is on the table that I bought last week

kare wa watashi ga senshū katta tēburu ni aru pan ga suki desu

Realistically, most noun phrases that are used inside other noun phrases will be based on an adjective or location because nesting verb-based noun phrases within each other quickly becomes a mouthful, and usually isn’t necessary. For example, in a situation where someone would use the sentence above, it would probably be obvious which table the bread in question is on. If not, a simple description like “the table over there” or “the blue table” would be sufficient. Nevertheless, in both Japanese and English, it is possible, and occasionally necessary, to create or understand sentences like the one above, and now you know how!

Exercise

1. For each question below, translate each noun phrase into Japanese. The last phrase in each set combines the other individual noun phrases together.

a)

i. clothes

ii. dirty clothes

iii. the clothes they are washing

iv. the dirty clothes they are washing

b)

i. these shoes

ii. old shoes

iii. the shoes that I’m wearing

iv. these old shoes that I’m wearing

c)

i. that (TV) show

ii. an interesting show

iii. the show he is watching

iv. that interesting show he is watching

d)

i. four steaks

ii. big steaks

iii. the steaks that he bought

iv. the steaks in the refrigerator

v. the four big steaks in the refrigerator that he bought

e)

i. my shirts

ii. five shirts

iii. white shirts

iv. the shirts in your closet

v. my five white shirts in your closet

2. For each of the following, say aloud and write down the second sentence in polite Japanese. Use the first sentence as the basis for building the noun phrase to be used in your translation.

a)

Honda-san is going to Sapporo today

kyō honda san wa sapporo ni ikimasu

I forgot that Honda-san is going to Sapporo today

b)

I play soccer with my friends at the park on weekends

shūmatsu ni tomodachi to kōen de sakkā wo shimasu

I like playing soccer at the park with my friends on weekends

c)

I received a beautiful painting from her 10 years ago

jū nen mae ni kanojo ni/kara utsukushī e wo moraimashita

I remember I received a beautiful painting from her 10 years ago

d)

He learned Japanese without going to Japan

kare wa nihon ni ikanaide nihongo wo manabimashita

It’s possible to learn Japanese without going to Japan

e)

He was wearing a blue shirt at the party on Wednesday

suiyōbi ni kare wa pātī de aoi shatsu wo kite imashita

I saw him wearing a blue shirt at the party on Wednesday

f)

She is reading a magazine next to the convenience store over there

kanojo wa asoko no konbini no tonari de zasshi wo yonde imasu

I can see her reading a magazine next to the convenience store over there

3. Say aloud and write down each of the following sentences in polite Japanese.

a) I forgot to give him the expensive wine that I bought in France last month

b) I ate a delicious lunch at a new restaurant in Namba with some friends that I met (got to know) at university

c) I remember seeing her put her wallet on the table in the kitchen

Answers

1.

a)

i. fuku

ii. kitanai fuku

iii. karera ga aratte iru fuku

iv. karera ga aratte iru kitanai fuku

b)

i. kono kutsu

ii. furui kutsu

iii. watashi ga haite iru kutsu

iv. watashi ga haite iru kono furui kutsu

c)

i. ano bangumi

ii. omoshiroi bangumi

iii. kare ga mite iru bangumi

iv. kare ga mite iru ano omoshiroi bangumi

d)

i. yotsu no sutēki

ii. ōkī sutēki

iii. kare ga katta sutēki

iv. reizōko ni aru sutēki

v. kare ga katta, reizōko ni aru yotsu no ōkī sutēki, OR
reizōko ni aru, kare ga katta yotsu no ōkī sutēki

e)

i. watashi no shatsu

ii. itsutsu no shatsu / gochaku no shatsu

iii. shiroi shatsu

iv. anata no kurōzetto ni aru shatsu

v. anata no kurōzetto ni aru, watashi no itsutsu/gochaku no shiroi shatsu

2.

a) (watashi wa) kyō honda san ga sapporo ni iku no wo wasuremashita

b) (watashi wa) shūmatsu ni tomodachi to kōen de sakkā wo suru no ga suki desu

c) (watashi wa) jū nen mae ni kanojo ni/kara utsukushī e wo moratta no wo oboete imasu

d) nihon ni ikanaide nihongo wo manabu no wa kanō desu

e) (watashi wa) suiyōbi ni kare ga pātī de aoi shatsu wo kite iru no wo mimashita

f) (watashi wa) kanojo ga asoko no konbini no tonari de zasshi wo yonde iru no ga miemasu

3.

a) (watashi wa) sengetsu furansu de katta takai wain wo kare ni ageru no wo wasuremashita

b) (watashi wa) daigaku de shiriatta tomodachi to nanba ni aru atarashī resutoran de oishī hirugohan wo tabemashita

c) (watashi wa) kanojo ga saifu wo daidokoro ni aru tēburu ni oku no wo mita no wo oboete imasu

10.6 Differentiating between noun phrases and clauses

If we zoom out from the individual words in a sentence, there are three main types of word clusters in Japanese: noun phrases, independent clauses and conditional clauses. The reason we want to understand these is because each particle in Japanese is limited in terms of the types of clusters they can be attached to, and it’s not uncommon to hear even advanced Japanese speakers make fundamental mistakes with regards to their use of particles.

You already know about noun phrases, so here is a quick explanation of the other two.

Independent clauses are basically phrases that describe a subject doing an action. This includes when the subject is omitted from the sentence or when the action is simply ‘being’. It is essentially any phrase that is able to stand on its own as a complete sentence. In Japanese, this includes any phrase that ends in “da” or “desu”, another verb, or an i-adjective. To clarify, the reason i-adjectives are included is because when used in their informal form at the end of a sentence, i-adjectives effectively include the word “da” or “desu”, as was explained in Chapter 7.3.

Although independent clauses can stand alone as complete sentences, we can also use multiple independent clauses in a single sentence by joining them together with connective words like “and”, “but” or “so”. Here is an example:

I want to go to the park but it is raining

kōen ni ikitai desu ga, ame ga futte imasu

This sentence consists of two independent clauses, linked by the particle “ga”, meaning “but”.

A conditional clause is, as the name suggests, a clause that expresses a condition using words like “if” and “when”. For example, “If you go to the park” is a conditional clause because it describes the condition that affects some other action. Conditional clauses, in both Japanese and English, usually do not stand on their own as individual sentences because the condition needs to be related to some other action. Also, some Japanese conditional clauses actually take on the form of a noun phrase, meaning there is a certain amount of overlap between these two types of word clusters. We have not covered conditional clauses yet, but the most common ones will be introduced in Chapter 12.2.

Now that we’ve got our definitions out of the way, let’s look at why they are important.

A big mistake many people learning Japanese make is that they often use independent clauses in the same way as noun phrases, which generally doesn’t work. More specifically, particles like “wa” (topic), “ga” (subject), “wo” (object), “de” (location, means) and “ni” (destination, location) can only be used with noun phrases. Using them after either type of clause described above (except where a conditional clause takes the form of a noun phrase) would be incorrect.

This is the same in English; generally, subjects and objects of a sentence must be noun phrases, and it is incorrect to use verbs and adjectives in the form of independent clauses in these roles. You would not, for example, say “Every week, I watch he plays soccer”, because the object - “he plays soccer” - is in the form of an independent clause. For this sentence to be correct, “He plays soccer” needs to be converted to the noun phrase “him play soccer”. The same principle applies in Japanese.

The whole purpose of this chapter is to help you turn independent clauses into noun phrases so you can correctly use them together with these particles when forming complex sentences. Let’s look at some examples of what happens when we form such sentences without first converting clauses into noun phrases, or when we do the conversion but use the resulting noun phrase incorrectly.

I like eating sushi

Mistaken Japanese sentence

sushi wo taberu ga suki desu ≈ I like eat sushi

Why it’s wrong

“Sushi wo taberu” is an independent clause, but the particle “ga” defines the subject of a clause, which can only be a noun. In both English and Japanese, the “eat sushi” part needs to be converted into a noun phrase before it can be used in this way. In English, it needs to be changed to “eating sushi” or “to eat sushi”, while in Japanese, it needs to be changed to “sushi wo taberu no” or “sushi wo taberu koto”.

Correct sentence

I like eating sushi / I like to eat sushi

sushi wo taberu no ga suki desu

sushi wo taberu koto ga suki desu

Please stop watching television

Mistaken Japanese sentence

terebi wo miru wo yamete kudasai ≈ Please stop watch television

Why it’s wrong

Similar to the previous example, “terebi wo miru” is an independent clause that needs to be converted into a noun phrase before it can be used as the object of a sentence, as defined by “wo”. This can be done by adding “no” (”koto” is less appropriate in this case).

Correct sentence

Please stop watching television

terebi wo miru no wo yamete kudasai

It’s a hot day, but I want to play outside

Mistaken sentence

atsui hi ga soto de asobitai desu ≈ Hot day, but I want to play outside

Why it’s wrong

In this case, the opposite mistake has been made. “Atsui hi” is a noun phrase, but the particle “ga”, when used to mean “but”, should only be used after an independent clause. The part before “ga” needs to be able to stand on its own as a complete sentence, which means it needs a verb. We can solve this problem by simply adding “da” or “desu” after “hi” (option 1 below). Another option is to turn the noun phrase back into a basic clause by removing “hi”, although when doing this, we either need to add “desu” to make the first clause polite (option 2), or remove “desu” from the second clause to make it informal (option 3). This is to ensure that the politeness of the whole sentence is consistent.

Correct sentence

It’s a hot day, but I want to play outside

(1) atsui hi desu ga soto de asobitai desu

It’s hot, but I want to play outside

(2) atsui desu ga soto de asobitai desu

(3) atsui ga soto de asobitai

Ultimately, the difference between noun phrases and clauses affects the particles that we can use with them. There are certain particles that can only be used after nouns or noun phrases, and others that can only be used after independent clauses. A few can be used with both, but many of the most common particles only have one use, so in order to use them correctly, you need to know what word types can be used with each particle. In the next chapter, we will take a closer look at many of the most common particles, including which word or phrase types they can be used with.

Exercise

1. For each of the following phrases, identify whether they are noun phrases or independent clauses.

a) gorufu wo suru

b) kare ga kaita hon

c) ano mado wo shimenakatta hito

d) watashi wa kaigai ni ikitai

e) kawaī neko

f) soto de matte iru no

g) doa wo akeyō

h) watashi ga gakkō ni aruku no

i) karera ga kamera wo tsukatte iru

j) kare ga shigoto wo yameta koto

k) kanojo ni agetai nekuresu

l) sora ga aoi

Answers

1.

a) Independent clause

b) Noun phrase

c) Noun phrase

d) Independent clause

e) Noun phrase

f) Noun phrase

g) Independent clause

h) Noun phrase

i) Independent clause

j) Noun phrase

k) Noun phrase

l) Independent clause

Chapter 11

Particles

We have used a number of different particles throughout this book so far. This chapter aims to give you a deeper understanding of particles so that you can confidently use the correct ones in any given situation. This will include a brief explanation of the different types of particles and the most common particles of each type, a look at certain particle/verb combinations to be aware of, a detailed analysis of the difference between “wa” and “ga”, and a brief overview of some useful particle combinations. There are quite a large number of particles, with varying degrees of usefulness, so not all of them will be covered in this chapter. Instead, our focus will be on the particles that are most useful in daily conversation.

11.1 Types of particles

In Chapter 2, the following broad definition was given for particles:

Particles determine the role of each word relative to the verb

This isn’t actually entirely accurate. This is an over-simplified definition, and there are in fact different types of particles that relate to words in different ways. We won’t go into the details of all the different types of particles, and there is no need to remember the different types, but a brief explanation of the main types of particles should help you to use them correctly, and clear up any confusion you may have over how different particles can be used. Note that some particles fit into multiple categories - sometimes with very different meanings, and sometimes with very similar ones.

Case markers

These are the main particles, and are really the ones that fit the general definition from Chapter 2 above; that is, they define the role of each word relative to the verb. They include key particles like “ga”, “wo”, “ni” and “de”, and are the ones that define the core components of each sentence. Below is a summary of the most important case markers. Bare in mind, however, that some of these particles have other uses that fall into other particle categories.

GA defines the subject, or the person or thing that is doing the action described by the relevant verb. The subject must always be expressed as a noun phrase.

WO, pronounced “o”, defines the object, or the person or thing that the action is being done to. This object must also always be expressed as a noun phrase.

NI defines the destination of an action that involves movement (or the origin if using a passive verb, as will be explained in Chapter 12.4). It can also define the location that something is in when using verbs like “aru” and “iru”. The destination or location must always be expressed as a noun phrase.

DE defines the location where an action takes place. This location must always be expressed as a noun phrase.

TO defines who or what else is involved in an action, much like the English preposition “with”. Since this person or thing is involved in the action in the same way as the subject, it too must always be expressed as a noun phrase. Also see Parallel markers below.

TO can also be used to define a quotation. Since any expression can be quoted, the quotation can take the form of any phrase type, including noun phrases and clauses, although clauses are more common. See Chapter 11.2 for a detailed explanation of how to use quotations.

HE, pronounced “e”, defines the destination of an action that involves movement, very much like “ni”. There are a few situations where one is preferable over the other, although for the most part, they are interchangeable. As with “ni”, the destination defined by “he” must always be expressed as a noun phrase.

KARA defines the starting point or origin in terms of either time or location. Whether the starting point refers to a time or location, it must always be expressed as a noun phrase. (Note: Apart from frequencies, most time expressions that do not already end in a particle are noun phrases).

YORI defines the starting point or origin, much like the particle “kara” above. The difference between the two is negligible, although “kara” is much more common, and also more flexible. Like “kara”, “yori” should also only be used after noun phrases.

YORI can also be used to make comparisons. This is done by placing it after the noun or clause that is the basis for comparison. The part of the sentence that comes after “yori” should be a descriptive phrase that includes either an adjective or an adverb. Here are some examples:

Elephants are bigger than dogs

zō wa inu yori ōkī desu

This car is faster than the previous model

kono kuruma wa mae no moderu yori hayai desu

She can dance better than me

kanojo wa watashi yori umaku odoremasu

Parallel markers

These are basically used to join two or more words or phrases together. This group includes the particle “no” as it is used to say things like “watashi no kuruma” or “tarō no hon”. When two phrases, usually noun phrases, are joined together with parallel markers, they are effectively grouped together to become a single phrase, which can then be inserted into a sentence like any other single phrase. Here is a summary of the most common parallel markers:

NO indicates a relationship of possession. When two words or phrases are joined together by the particle “no”, the thing after “no” belongs to the thing before it. Both sides of “no” must take the form of noun phrases.

KA can be used to list alternatives, much like the English word “or”. It can be used with either noun phrases or clauses, but all of the alternatives listed must be of the same phrase type; that is, noun phrases with noun phrases, or clauses with clauses, not a combination of both. Also, when used with clauses especially, “ka” should be used after every alternative, including the last one.

I want to go to Tokyo or Osaka

tōkyō ka ōsaka ni ikitai desu

I can’t decide whether to go to Tokyo or go to Osaka

tōkyō ni iku ka ōsaka ni iku ka kimeraremasen

In the second example above, the English sentence could be expressed much more simply, but it is written like this because this is the natural way to express this kind of idea in Japanese. This is mainly because there is no word in Japanese that takes the meaning of “whether”, so the two (or more) options need to be expressed in full as actions, each followed by the particle “ka”.

TO is used to list multiple people or things and join them together into a single noun phrase. This noun phrase can then be used in a sentence like any other noun phrase, being marked by particles like “wa”, “ga”, “wo” and “ni”, or even the case marker version of “to”.

This is very similar to, although slightly different from, the case marker particle “to”. The case marker version, as described above, defines somebody or something that is also performing the action, like the English word “with”. It defines the relationship between that person or thing and the verb; that is, who else is doing the action. The parallel marker version simply joins noun phrases together into a single noun phrase like the word “and”, which can then be used like any other noun phrase.

The following example uses the case marker version of “to”:

I went to Tokyo with Yamazaki-san

watashi wa yamazaki san to tōkyō ni ikimashita

In this case, the “to” relates directly to the verb “ikimashita”. Here is an example using the parallel marker “to”:

I went to Tokyo and Osaka

watashi wa tōkyō to ōsaka ni ikimashita

In this case, “tōkyō to ōsaka” have been joined together to become a single noun phrase. The “to” does not relate directly to the verb - it simply joins the two place names together to form a single noun phrase. This, as a whole, is then defined as the destination and linked to the verb by the particle “ni”. We can also use it with other particles, like so:

Tokyo and Osaka are big cities

tōkyō to ōsaka wa ōkī toshi desu

Both versions of “to” are also often used together, such as in this example, where the first “to” is a parallel marker, and the second “to” is a case marker:

I went to Tokyo with Yamazaki-san and Kawaguchi-san

watashi wa yamazaki-san to kawaguchi-san to tōkyō ni ikimashita

Like the case marker version, the parallel marker version of “to” should only be used to join noun phrases.

There is no real need to be able to differentiate between each version of “to”. They are simply highlighted here to help you understand why sometimes “to” is used to form a list, with the words on either side of “to” being ‘equal’ (eg. “tōkyō to ōsaka”), while at other times, “to” just marks another person or thing that is involved in the action (eg. ”watashi wa yamazaki san to tōkyō ni ikimashita”).

YA is used to link things together to form an incomplete list. It is much like the parallel marker “to”, but because it indicates that the list is incomplete, it adds a meaning that is similar to the words “like”, “such as” or “et cetera” in English. In most cases, the last item in a list of things separated by “ya” will be followed by the particle “nado”. Here is an example:

I bought coffee, tea, milk, etc. / I bought things like coffee, tea and milk

kōhī ya ocha ya gyūnyū nado wo kaimashita

In the above sentence, the speaker is implying that they bought several other things as well, most likely things that would normally be associated with coffee, tea and milk. There is no limit to the number of items that can be listed with “ya”, although since the entire purpose of “ya” and “nado” is to be a little bit vague and avoid including unnecessary detail, the number of items listed will usually be limited to two or three. Both “ya” and “nado” should only be used with noun phrases.

SHI is used to list multiple activities (verbs) or characteristics (adjectives), while placing emphasis on how many different activities or characteristics there are. Because of this inherent emphasis, each activity or characteristic description normally contains the particle “mo”, meaning “also” (see Binding Particles below for a more detailed explanation of “mo”). Here are some examples:

They went shopping and also saw a movie

karera wa kaimono mo shita shi, eiga mo mita

Noguchi-san is here, and so is Sato-san

koko ni noguchi san mo iru shi, satō san mo imasu

As for this restaurant, the scenery is pretty and the food is delicious

kono resutoran wa, keshiki mo kirei da shi, ryōri mo oishī

As in the above examples, “shi” should only be used after an independent clause. This can be expressed in either the polite or informal form, although the informal form is more common, and is still sufficiently polite as long as the sentence ends with a polite verb, such as in the second example above.

Sentence-ending particles

These are added to the end of a sentence in order to alter it in some way. By far the most important of these to know is “ka” as it is used to turn a phrase into a question. Another common one is yet another usage of the particle “no”, as explained below. Most other sentence ending particles are just colloquialisms that add a bit of emotion to the original sentence. They are far less common, and would be better to learn as you come across them in regular conversation. As you would expect, sentence-ending particles should generally be placed at the end of an independent clause. Here are the most common ones:

KA turns a sentence into a question. The sentence can be in any tense and any level of politeness.

NO can be placed at the end of a sentence to help emphasize a particular word or phrase within that sentence.

For example, in informal situations, it is possible to ask a question without using “ka” by just speaking with a questioning intonation. However, when the person asking the question is surprised or excited about what they are asking, they can express this feeling by speaking in an excited way and adding the particle “no” at the end. Here is an example of a basic question, expressed both with and without “no”.

Are you going to Japan?

(anata wa) nihon ni iku?

Are you going to Japan!?

(anata wa) nihon ni iku no!?

When written in text, the only way to differentiate between these sentences in English is through the use of exclamation marks, so the difference is not completely obvious. When spoken, however, the added emphasis in the question ending in “no” is clear.

For non-questions, the same basic rule applies, with “no” adding emphasis to a particular word or phrase in the sentence. In addition to the use of “no”, the part of the sentence being emphasized should be stressed when spoken. Here are some examples, with the emphasized words in italics:

I went!

watashi ga itta no!

He threw out my blue shirt!

kare wa watashi no aoi shatsu wo suteta no!

Statements like these can also be followed by “da” or “desu”, although in such cases, the “no” is usually abbreviated to just “n”. Here are the above examples again with “da” and “desu” added.

I went!

watashi ga itta n da!

watashi ga itta n desu!

He threw out my blue shirt!

kare wa watashi no aoi shatsu wo suteta n da!

kare wa watashi no aoi shatsu wo suteta n desu!

These kinds of expressions are also often used in combination with “yo”, which further strengthens the emphasis. In such cases, the use of “da” or “desu” after “no” is still optional, although “no yo” at the end of a sentence sounds quite feminine, and is generally only used by females. As such, if using “no” and “yo” together in informal settings, males should end their sentences with “nda yo”.

I went!

[Informal] watashi ga itta n da yo!

[Feminine] watashi ga itta no yo!

[Polite] watashi ga itta n desu yo

He threw out my blue shirt!

[Informal] kare wa watashi no aoi shatsu wo suteta n da yo!

[Feminine] kare wa watashi no aoi shatsu wo suteta no yo!

[Polite] kare wa watashi no aoi shatsu wo suteta n desu yo!

To ask polite questions that carry the emphasis that “no” brings, the ending should simply be changed to “n desu ka”, as these examples show:

Are you going to Japan!?

nihon ni iku n desu ka!?

Did he throw out your blue shirt!?

kare wa anata no aoi shatsu wo suteta n desu ka!?

One important rule to be aware of in relation to this use of “no” is that when it comes after a noun or na-adjective, this word should be followed by a “na”. While normally a sentence ending in a noun or na-adjective would be followed by “da” or “desu”, this effectively needs to be changed to “na” in order to be followed by “no”. The following examples demonstrate this:

This is a pen

kore wa pen da

Is this a pen!?

[Informal] kore wa pen na no!?

[Polite] kore wa pen nan desu ka!?

—

That’s right

sō desu

That’s right

[Informal] sō nan da yo

[Feminine] sō na no yo

[Polite] sō nan desu yo

The following table summarizes the different ways that “no” can be used at the end of a sentence to add emphasis:

NA can be used to form a very strong negative command. By putting “na” at the end of a sentence in the informal, non-negative present tense, you can command or order someone to not do the action described by the sentence.

Don’t come here!

koko ni kuru na!

Don’t close the door!

doa wo shimeru na

The most important thing to remember with this kind of expression is that despite being a negative command, the verb is in the positive form. Also note that you cannot form a positive command by using “na” after a verb in its negative form.

Interjectory particles

As explained in Chapter 4.6, these particles are used to add emotion or emphasis to an otherwise straightforward sentence. They normally appear at the end of a sentence, although they can also be inserted into a sentence anywhere there is a pause. Here are the most common ones:

YO is used to make assertions, and adds a moderate level of emphasis to a sentence. It is often used when the speaker is providing new information, confirming that something has or will be done, giving an opinion, or expressing disagreement.

NE is generally used to express agreement, and has a kind of softening effect on the overall sentence.

Conjunctive particles

In English, a conjunction is a word like “so” or “but” that is used to connect two separate clauses together. In Japanese, there is a group of particles that take on this role. Included in this group are particles that we have already learned, like “ga” when used to mean “but”, and “kara” when used to mean “so” or “because”.

Conjunctive particles should generally be placed at the end of a clause. Although they are usually followed by a connected clause, the second clause is not mandatory, as long as the context allows it. For example, if someone asks you why you did something, you could explain with a sentence that just ends in “kara” or “kara desu”, much like you might answer a question by saying, “Because …” in English. The explanations below will further clarify this.

GA is used to connect two contrasting clauses, much like the English words “but” or “though”. This can be used in between two clauses of a contrasting nature, or at the end of a single clause if the contrasting idea is understood from context, like in the second example below:

I want to go to Japan but I don’t have any money

(watashi wa) nihon ni ikitai desu ga okane ga arimasen

I can’t go to Japan. I want to go, though…

nihon ni ikemasen. ikitai desu ga…

Sometimes, “ga” is also used as a way to lead one phrase into another, even if the ideas expressed in each clause are not of a contrasting nature. Here are a couple of examples:

Excuse me. How much is this?

sumimasen ga, kore wa ikura desu ka

I’m starting; is that okay (good)?

kore kara hajimarimasu ga, ī desu ka?

KEREDOMO is also used to connect two contrasting clauses. It is interchangeable with “ga”, and is very often used in its shortened and less polite form “kedo”. “Keredo” is also quite common, and is more polite than “kedo”.

KARA connects two clauses together, with the first providing an explanation or reason for the second, similar to the English words “because” and “so”. The important difference between “kara” and “because” is that within a sentences, “because” appears before the reason, whereas “kara” always comes after it. This makes “so” a more accurate direct translation of “kara”.

The reason clause is often expressed in the informal form, even in polite language, with the last verb in the sentence making the whole sentence polite.

I can’t go to Japan because I don’t have any money. / I don’t have any money so I can’t go to Japan

(watashi wa) okane ga nai kara nihon ni ikemasen

In the following example, the second clause is omitted by person B because it is understood from context.

A: Why don’t you go to Japan?

A: dōshite nihon ni ikimasen ka?

B: Because I don’t have any money.

B: okane ga nai kara desu.

NODE also connects a reason clause with a result clause, and is essentially a more polite version of “kara”. However, it is almost always used after a verb in the informal form, as there is usually a clause that follows it that would be expressed with the appropriate level of politeness. When placed after a clause ending in a noun or na-adjective, “na” should be used instead of “da”, as shown in the second example below:

I can’t go to Japan because I don’t have any money

okane ga nai node nihon ni ikemasen

This is a new car, so please be careful

kore wa atarashī kuruma na node, ki wo tsukete kudasai

NONI connects two clauses together, taking on a meaning similar to “even though” in English. It is usually only used after independent clauses ending in a verb in its informal form, and like “node”, when the clause before it ends in a noun or na-adjective, “na” should be used instead of “da”. Here are some examples:

He bought a new TV even though he doesn’t have any money.

kare wa okane ga nai no ni atarashī terebi wo katta

Even though I looked for my keys for an hour, I didn’t find them.

ichi jikinan kagi wo sagashita no ni, mitsukarimasen deshita

Even though it’s my computer, she is always using it.

watashi no konpyūta na noni, itsumo kanojo ga tsukatte iru

Binding particles

These are quite possibly the most confusing group of particles because they can be used either in place of or together with other particles, particularly case markers, to change the inherent meaning of a sentence. They can be placed after various word types depending on the particle, but will most often be found after noun phrases or other particles. We will start by looking at “mo”, because although it is not the most important binding particle, it is probably the easiest to understand.

MO, as discussed in Chapter 4.1, can be used instead of a particle like “wo” to add the meaning of “also” to a sentence, such as in this example from earlier:

I ate ramen

(watashi wa) rāmen wo tabemashita

I also ate yakisoba

(watashi wa) yakisoba mo tabemashita

It can also be used in the place of the subject marker “ga”, or after other particles like “ni”, “de”, and “kara”. These kinds of particle combinations will be explained in Chapter 11.4.

WA defines the topic of a sentence, which is actually a concept that doesn’t exist in English grammar. The topic is the main thing that is being talked about, and it provides context, or additional context, for everything that follows in the sentence. The most difficult part about “wa” is that the topic of a sentence is often the same as the subject, meaning that either “wa” or “ga” could be used after a given word in many situations. There is, however, a difference between defining a certain word as the topic as opposed to the subject, so it is important to understand the difference between these two concepts. This will be explained in detail in Chapter 11.3.

DEMO is much like the English word “even” as it appears in sentences like, “Even I can do that”. Let’s take a look:

I can do that

watashi wa sore ga dekimasu

Even I can do that

watashi demo sore ga dekimasu

In this example, you can see that by replacing “wa” with “demo”, the meaning of “even” is added. This is quite similar to the way “mo” can be used to replace other particles to add the meaning of “also”. It keeps the fundamental message of the sentence – that ‘I’ can do ‘that’ – while implying that other people are capable too. Here are some more examples:

Even my grandfather has a smartphone

(watashi no) ojīchan demo sumaho wo motte iru yo

Even today is warmer than yesterday

kyō demo kinō yori atatakai desu

One similar but slightly different usage of “demo” is to imply that something is just one option among many. For example, a common question asked by someone hosting a visitor might be:

ocha demo nomimasu ka

This is a polite way of asking a person if they would like to drink some tea, but the use of “demo” implies that tea is just one of a number of possible options. It is more open than a simple yes/no question, giving the visitor the option to request something other than tea. Of course, even if the question were just, “ocha wo nomimasu ka”, the visitor could still ask for something other than tea, but by using “demo”, the host is more obviously indicating that other options are available. Here are some more examples of this, including some cases where “demo” is combined with other particles:

Shall we watch a movie (or something)?

eiga demo mimashō ka?

I want to eat Japanese food (or something)

washoku demo tabetai desu

SHIKA is similar to the English adverb “only”. It often takes the place of the particles “ga” and “wo”, and can also be used after other particles like “ni”, “de” and the case marker version of “to”. The most important thing about “shika” is that it is only ever used with verbs in their negative form, despite having a positive meaning in relation to the thing that it marks. Here is an example:

I only have 100 yen

(watashi wa) hyaku en shika motte inai

In this sentence, I am saying that I have 100 yen, yet the verb is expressed in the negative form. Rather than translate “shika” as “only”, it may be better to think of it as “apart from”. We could then express the English sentence as, “Apart from 100 yen, I don’t have anything”. This puts the verb in its negative form, making it more equivalent to the Japanese sentence, even if it is a less natural English translation. It is still not perfect, but it fairly accurately expresses the same idea.

Here are some more example sentences using “shika”, including some that combine “shika” with other particles:

I only did half of my homework

(watashi wa) shukudai no hanbun shika yaranakatta

I only want to go to that new amusement park

(watashi wa) ano atarashī yūenchi ni shika ikitakunai

These shoes can only be bought here

kono kutsu wa koko de shika kaemasen

11.2 Particle/verb combinations

The fundamental rule of particles is that they relate directly to the word or phrase that comes before them. That does not mean, however, that they are not affected by what comes after them. In particular, certain verbs should only be used with certain particles, and the appropriate particle is not always what you might expect.

For example, in English, the verb “to ride” looks like any other transitive verb. A sentence like “I rode the train” has the same fundamental structure as the sentence, “I opened the door”. However, in Japanese, the correct way to say each of these is “densha ni norimashita” and “doa wo shimemashita”, respectively. The appropriate particle to be used with the verb ride is “ni”, not “wo”, even though the train is what is being ridden in the same way that the door is what is being closed.

The reason for this is that the act of riding, as Japanese treats it, is actually the movement from being off something to being on it, so the particle “ni” is used to define the destination of this movement. “Noru” can be used to simply describe somebody as currently being on a particular mode of transport, but even then, the appropriate particle is “ni”.

There are several other interesting particle/verb combinations like this one that may, at first, seem unintuitive coming from English. While not an exhaustive list by any means, here are some of the more common verbs that use somewhat unexpected particles.

noru

English meaning: to ride

Particle to use: ni (not wo)

Reasoning: As noted above, the mode of transport being ridden is the destination of the movement defined by “noru”.

Examples:

He is riding the bus

kare wa basu ni notte imasu

Get on the train please

densha ni notte kudasai

au / deau / hōmon suru

English meaning: to meet / to meet for the first time / to visit

Particle to use: ni (not wo)

Reasoning: Like “noru”, the person being met or visited is the destination of the act of meeting. In English, the person being met or visited is the object of the appropriate verb, but in Japanese, they are always the destination of that action.

Examples:

I will meet my friend tomorrow

ashita (watashi wa) tomodachi ni aimasu

I met her (for the first time) at a party

(watashi wa) pātī de kanojo ni deaimashita

She visited her grandmother yesterday

kinō (kanojo wa) obāsan ni hōmon shimashita

wakaru

English meaning: to understand

Particle to use: ga (not wo)

Reasoning: This is actually an intransitive verb in Japanese, so it does not take an object. Unlike English, where the thing being understood is expressed as the object of the verb “understand” (eg. I understand Japanese), in Japanese, the thing being understood is the subject of the verb “wakaru” (eg. nihongo ga wakarimasu). On a grammatical level, this makes “wakaru” more similar to the passive verb phrase “to be understood”, because in a sentence like, “Japanese is understood”, the thing being understood is defined as the subject of the sentence.

Ultimately, all this means is that instead of marking the thing being understood with “wo”, “ga” should be used instead. The person by whom it is understood is either implied by context, or can be specified by making them the topic of the sentence marked by “wa”.

Examples:

I understand Japanese

(watashi wa) nihongo ga wakarimasu

He doesn’t understand how to use the air conditioner

kare wa eakon no tsukaikata[4] ga wakarimasen

omou / iu

English meaning: think / say

Particle to use: to (not wo)

Reasoning: In Japanese, anything that is thought or said is generally expressed in the form of a quotation, and “to” is the particle that marks such a quotation. While in English we would often say things like, “He said he wants to buy a new car”, in Japanese, what the person thought or said is expressed as a quotation, so the sentence sounds more like, “He said, ‘I want to buy a new car’”. This will not always be obvious, however, since the subject of the sentence being quoted (ie. “I want to buy a new car”) will often be omitted. Regardless, things that people think or say are almost always expressed as quotations in Japanese, so “to” should be the particle used.

Examples (quotation is underlined):

I think Japanese is easy

(watashi wa) nihongo wa kantan da to omoimasu

He was saying that he wants to buy a new car

kare wa (watashi wa) atarashī kuruma ga kaitai to itte imashita

Pronunciation of “iu”

As a side note, the verb “iu” is often pronounced as “yū”, even when conjugated in other forms. This makes things like “itte imashita” often sound like “yutte imashita”. The reason for this is simply that in its dictionary form, “iu” sounds a lot like “yū”, and this sound has been carried over into other forms of the verb. Technically it might be considered incorrect, but in spoken language, this pronunciation is extremely common.

suwaru / tatsu

English meaning: sit / stand

Particle to use: ni (not de)

Reasoning: For most actions, the place where the action takes place is marked by the particle “de”, but for verbs like “suwaru” and “tatsu”, the place where a person is sitting or standing is treated as the destination of that action. Much like “noru”, “suwaru” refers to the movement of going from a non-siting position to a sitting position, so whatever the person is sitting on is the destination. The same applies to “tatsu”.

Although “de” seems the more appropriate particles in this case, it would actually define what body part is used to sit or stand, so “ashi de tatsu” would indicate that somebody is standing on their legs/feet.

Examples:

He is sitting on the sofa

kare wa sofa ni suwatte imasu

Please don’t sit on the table

tēburu ni suwaranaide kudasai

I am standing on the roof

watashi wa yane ni tatte imasu

Please stand over there

asoko ni tatte kudasai

11.3 The difference between “wa” and “ga”

One of the most difficult concepts to understand in Japanese is the difference between the particles “wa” and “ga”. It is not uncommon for people to study Japanese for years, and even speak the language to a considerable degree of fluency, and still not really know when to use “wa” and when to use “ga”. Hopefully, the explanation that follows will help clarify the roles of these two particles.

Understanding the difference between “wa” and “ga”

Most books and other resources, this one included, state that “wa” defines the topic of a sentence, while “ga” defines the subject. This is accurate, but it doesn’t really tell us much, or help us differentiate between them. The difference is also much more complicated than just these simple definitions, although it does give us a good starting point.

So what’s the difference between the topic and subject?

- The topic is what is being talked about in that sentence.

- The subject is the person or thing that performs the action described by the verb.

The confusion between these two stems from the fact that what is being talked about, and the person performing the action, are often the same thing. Take the following example:

Taro went to the supermarket

tarō wa sūpā ni ikimashita

Here, Taro is the one who is being talked about, and he is also the one performing the act of “going”. This means that either “wa” or “ga” could be used in this case, although changing “wa” to “ga” would change the emphasis of the sentence.

Essentially, “ga” places the emphasis of a sentence on the subject, so it should only be used when the subject represents new or important information. If we care most about who did something, then “ga” should be used to emphasize that point. If, however, we care more about other factors like what they did, where they did it, or why, then “wa” should be used to take the emphasis away from the “who”.

The following example, which is easily translated into English with a comparable difference in meaning, helps to illustrate this point:

He is a spy

kare wa supai desu

He is the spy

kare ga supai desu

The first sentence, where “wa” is used, is just stating a simple fact - that the specified person is a spy. This sentence would normally be used to answer the question, “What is he?” We already know about the person ‘he’, but want to know more about him. This new information comes after “wa”.

By contrast, in the second sentence, there is an implication that we already know that a spy is present. In English, the word ‘the’ implies that the existence of a spy is known, and by saying that ‘he’ is the spy, we are answering the question, “Who is the spy?” In this case, the fact that ‘he’ is the spy is the new information, hence it is followed by “ga”.

This same idea applies to other sentences, even if the difference may not be as obvious in English. Consider these sentences:

Taro went to the supermarket

tarō wa sūpā ni ikimashita

Taro went to the supermarket

tarō ga sūpā ni ikimashita

The first sentence defines Taro as the topic, and is a basic statement telling us that he went to the supermarket. It answers the question, “What did Taro do?”, or possibly “Where did Taro go?”

The second sentence, on the other hand, defines Taro as the subject. As was the case with the spy example, the use of “ga” puts the emphasis on the fact that Taro is the one who went to the supermarket, making this an appropriate answer to the question, “Who went to the supermarket?” In English, the word order remains the same, so the difference between these two statements is not as obvious. The different emphasis therefore needs to be expressed in English by stressing the word “Taro”.

One common situation where the difference between “wa” and “ga” is particularly important is when making choices. In Japanese, when someone gives you a choice between a number of options, asking you which you would like, the normal way to respond to this directly translates as saying which option is “good”. However, particle choice is crucial. Compare these two sentences:

This is good

kore wa ī desu

This is good

kore ga ī desu

Again, the sentence using “wa” is just a basic statement describing the attributes of “this”. The “ga” version, however, places the emphasis on the thing referred to as “this”, implying that that is what the speaker wants. Without “ga”, there is no such emphasis, and it is still unclear as to which you want to choose. In fact, depending on intonation, “kore wa ī desu” can actually mean that you don’t want that thing, a bit like saying, “I’m fine (without this) thanks”. Although only a subtle difference, this example shows how important the choice between “wa” and “ga” can sometimes be.

The subject is not always the topic

To summarize what we have covered so far, “ga” is used to mark the subject when it contains new or important information. If we are more concerned about other pieces of information, “ga” should be replaced by “wa” so that the subject is re-defined as the topic. This removes the emphasis away from the “who”, and instead just provides context for the rest of the sentence.

This helps us to choose between “wa” and “ga” when it’s possible to use either, but the truth is, there are many times when the thing being talked about in a sentence (the topic) is not the person doing the action (the subject).

One particularly common situation where the topic and subject are different is when talking about things we like and hate. Consider the following sentence:

I like sushi

watashi wa sushi ga suki desu

Unlike our previous examples, in this sentence, the topic and the subject are different things. The topic, or the thing we are talking about, is “watashi”, which provides context for the rest of the sentence. Within that context, the subject, “sushi”, is then described as performing the act of being (”desu”), and what it is being is liked.

As this example shows, the topic, as defined by “wa”, is not always the person or thing that is performing the action. In fact, “wa” can define any number of things as the topic of a sentence, including the object, destinations, locations, or virtually anything else. This may sound confusing, but as you will soon see, the rules we applied when choosing between “wa” and “ga” are the same in other cases too.

Re-defining “wa” in English

In order to go any further, we need to have a clear understanding of how “wa” can be expressed in English. We already know that it is the topic of a sentence, and that this means it is the thing that is being talked about, but we need a better way to express it.

The best way to directly translate “wa” into English would be with a phrase like, “When talking about…”. This can be applied in almost any situation involving “wa”, and as long as we accept that our English sentence might sound a bit funny or even be grammatically wrong, we will be able to come up with direct translations that accurately represent whatever is being said in Japanese. Let’s try a few examples from earlier:

When talking about Taro, went to the supermarket

tarō wa sūpā ni ikimashita

When talking about him, is a spy

kare wa supai desu

When talking about me, sushi is liked

watashi wa sushi ga suki desu

The English sentences above are obviously a little bit odd, but by having “wa” translated as, “When talking about”, we can effectively create the appropriate context in the same way that “wa” creates context in Japanese.

Using “wa” in place of “wo”

Now that we have a way to express “wa” in English, let’s try using it as a replacement for the object particle “wo”:

When talking about this chair, bought

kono isu wa kaimashita

Here, the topic has been defined as “kono isu”, which in a normal sentence would actually be the object marked by “wo”. The difference here is the same as was the case when “wa” replaced “ga”. By defining “kono isu” as the topic, it is considered to be old or unimportant information, and the emphasis shifts to what comes after “wa”. The new or important information is therefore the fact that the chair was bought. Again, by defining “kono isu” as the topic, the speaker is simply clarifying the context for the rest of the sentence.

Note, however, that in the above example, nobody has been defined as the person who bought the chair. As we know, this implies that the person speaking is most likely talking about themselves, so there is no need to clarify this with “watashi wa”. The speaker could include this if they wanted to, but it really isn’t necessary; we already know that they are answering the question, “Did you buy this chair?”

What happens, though, if we change the question to, “Who bought this chair?” The answer would obviously need to include a reference to a person, but which particle should we use with that person? Let’s try it:

Who bought this chair?

dare ga kono isu wo kaimashita ka

When talking about this chair, he bought

kono isu wa kare ga kaimashita

The particle to use after “kare” is, of course, “ga”. As the person who performed the act of buying, “he” is the subject, and since this is new and important information, it should be marked with “ga”. At the same time, because “kono isu” was specified in the question, the person answering already knows what item they are talking about, so they can replace “wo” with “wa” in order to take the emphasis away from the chair, and place it somewhere else.

Ultimately, “wo” follows the same rules as “ga” in that it is used to mark new or important information. Like “ga”, if the thing being defined by “wo” as the object is already understood from context, and we want to emphasize a different part of the sentence, “wo” can be changed to “wa” to create this effect.

One thing that you may have noticed about the question above is that the question word “dare” is marked by “ga”. Given what we know about “ga”, this makes perfect sense because the important piece of information that is being asked about in that question is “who”. Since question words almost always represent the information being sought, this information must be important, and should therefore be marked by “ga” when it is the subject, or “wo” when it is the object.

Combining “wa” with other particles

This basic principles of using “wa” to change the emphasis of a sentence can also be applied to other particles, although in a slightly different way. “Wa” can be used together with particles like “ni”, “de”, “to”, “kara” and “made” to define the topic of a sentence as the destination, location, companion or something else. Let’s look at an example:

When talking about ‘to the meeting’, went

kaigi ni wa ikimashita

This is a little bit more awkward to express in English with the phrase, “When talking about”, but the effect in Japanese is the same. The only difference is that the particle “ni” needs to be kept in order for the relationship between the destination and the verb to be clear. If “ni” were not included, it would still be quite obvious that the meeting is the destination of the verb “ikimashita”, and you will sometimes hear people say a phrase like this without “ni”, but in most cases, it is best to leave “ni” in to ensure clarity. This combining of particles, by the way, should never be done with “ga” or “wo”.

In every other way, however, the use of “wa” here is the same as before. By placing “wa” after “kaigi ni”, it implies that “to the meeting” is old or unimportant information, and that the emphasis should instead be on the fact that the person went, answering the question, “Did you go to the meeting?” We can also change this around to answer a different question, such as “Who went to the meeting?”.

Who went to the meeting?

dare ga kaigi ni ikimashita ka?

When talking about ‘to the meeting’,Usui-san went

kaigi ni wa usui san ga ikimashita

Like before, the important information in this sentence is the person performing the action, and this is marked by “ga”. Meanwhile, the known information - that the destination is the meeting - is marked by “ni wa” as a way to clarify that that is what is being talked about. A more simple way to answer the above question would be to simply say, “Usui-san ga ikimashita”, since the destination is already known, but by including “kaigi ni” and marking it with “wa”, it removes any possibility of confusion. This usually isn’t necessary, but in some cases, where, for example, a number of different destinations are being discussed, including it ensures that the listener knows which destination is being referred to.

Other particles can also be combined with “wa” in the same way with the same effect. More such combinations will be covered in Chapter 11.4.

Using “wa” to express contrast

One way that “wa” is often used in everyday conversation is to highlight a contrast in relation to certain actions. This is done by using “wa” in the same way as has been described so far, so it isn’t really anything new. The only difference is that multiple clauses are used together and each one is given a different topic. Here is a basic example with a natural English translation:

I went to the party, but Takashi didn’t go

watashi wa pātī ni itta ga, takashi wa ikanakatta

This is quite straightforward, but for the sake of clarity, here is the English translation again using our alternative expression for “wa”:

When talking about me, went to the party, but when talking about Takashi, didn’t go

By defining a different topic in each clause, we are able to compare the actions of each of those topics, while placing the emphasis of each clause on the action and whether or not it was performed. In doing so, the contrast between the actions of the two people is highlighted.

Now let’s look at an example that’s not so straightforward:

I like sushi, but I don’t like sashimi

sushi wa suki desu ga, sashimi wa suki janai desu

The alternative English translation for this would be:

When talking about sushi, is liked, but when talking about sashimi, is not liked

Normally, when talking about the things we like, the thing being described as liked is marked by the particle “ga”. As you know, this is because in such cases, that is the new and important piece of information. When we want to highlight the contrasting nature of two things, however, the important part of each clause is not the food, but whether or not that food is liked. It is, of course, important that the food being described in each clause is made clear, but the emphasis of this sentence should be on the part describing it as liked or not liked; that is where the contrast lies.

Here is another example:

I bought bread, but I didn’t buy milk

pan wa katta kedo, gyūnyū wa kawanakatta

Here, “wo” has been replaced by “wa” in both clauses so as to contrast the statuses of bread and milk. Again, the use of “wa” shifts the emphasis of each clause onto the action.

It’s also possible to use “wa” to highlight a contrast like this without actually mentioning a second object or action. Consider this example:

I bought bread

pan wa katta

In a sentence like this, it is implied that there are some things that have not been bought. There is still a sense of contrast, except because only one thing has been mentioned, it is not completely clear what it is being contrasted with. In most cases, however, the thing that hasn’t been bought will be understood from context, such as in this conversation:

A: Did you buy bread and milk?

A: pan to gyūnyū wo katta?

B: I bought bread

B: pan wa katta

In this case, without saying so, person B is implying that they did not buy milk. The same idea applies when talking about things we like:

A: Do you like sushi, sashimi, etc.?

A: sushi ya sashimi nado wa suki desu ka?

B: I like sushi

B: sushi wa suki desu

Similar to the previous example, the implication here is that person B does not like sashimi, or at least does not like it as much as sushi.

Even when someone asks a question about just one thing, it is quite natural to use “wa” in the answer. Remember, “ga” puts the emphasis on whatever comes before it, so if you were asked if you liked sushi, replying with “sushi ga suki desu” would be placing the emphasis on the “sushi”, when really, the new and more important information is the fact that you like it. Using “wa” to talk about things in a contrasting way is just one more way of using “wa”; it does not mean it can only be used in such situations.

Choosing particles in noun phrases

One important thing to remember about noun phrases is that they should never contain the particle “wa”. The reason for this is that “wa” is used to define the topic of a clause, and since noun phrases are one piece that exist within a clause, and not really a clause themselves, they cannot have a topic. Let’s look at an example:

I broke the chair that Mari bought

watashi wa mari ga katta isu wo kowashimashita

The noun phrase within this sentence is “mari ga katta isu”. The “ga” in a noun phrase like this should never be replaced by “wa” because that would result in Mari being defined as the topic for the entire clause, not just the noun phrase. This is how such a sentence would look:

watashi wa mari wa katta isu wo kowashimashita

In this mistaken sentence, Mari has become the topic for the whole sentence. She has effectively become linked to the verb “kowashimashita”, implying that she is the one that broke the chair. The original topic, “watashi”, is effectively meaningless, and Mari is no longer directly linked with the act of buying the chair. The result is an unnatural sentence with a confusing meaning.

You may be wondering, then, how you would contrast a chair that Mari bought with one bought by someone else. The key is to remember that you are comparing the chairs, not the people. The “wa” should therefore be placed after the word “isu”, which comes at the end of the noun phrase, as shown below:

I like the chair that Mari bought, but I don’t like the chair that Kenta bought

mari ga katta isu wa suki desu ga, kenta ga katta isu wa suki janai desu

In both sides of this sentence, the noun phrases describing the chairs are defined as the topic, with the noun phrases only containing the particle “ga”, not “wa”.

The same rule should be applied to all particles. That is, “wa” should never appear inside a noun phrase - not as a replacement of “ga” or “wo”, nor in combination with other particles like “ni”, “de” and “to”.

In summary

The difficulty in understanding the difference between “wa” and “ga” is not really about choosing one or the other; it is about understanding the true meaning of “wa”. While particles like “ga”, “wo”, “ni” and “de” have specific purposes that directly connect a noun phrase to a verb, “wa” is a special particle that can be substituted or inserted into a sentence to provide context for the rest of the sentence, and change where the emphasis lies.

The most important things to remember in relation to these particles are that:

- Using “wa” is like saying, “When talking about…”

- Important or new information should come after “wa”

- Phrases marked by “ga” and “wo” contain new or important information

- Replacing “ga” or “wo” with “wa” removes the emphasis from the phrases they mark and shifts it towards the back of the sentence

- The same applies when “wa” is used together with other particles, like “ni”, “de” and ”to”; and

- “Wa” should never appear inside a noun phrase

11.4 Combining particles

So far, most of our examples and exercises have used only one particle to mark each word or phrase. As briefly introduced in the previous section, it is also possible to combine particles together to express different relationships.

There are a lot of possible particle combinations, but we will focus on the most common ones. Specifically, we will look at some of the possible combinations involving the particles “no”, “mo” and “wa”

Particles combined with “no”

Particles are often combined with “no” as a shorter way of creating a descriptive noun phrase. In English, for example, a sentence like “The train coming from Shinjuku” could have the verb removed to become, “The train from Shinjuku”. In Japanese, the particle “no” is often used to shorten sentences in this way. Here are some of the more common particle combinations involving “no”:

KARA NO can be used to describe something as being from somewhere or someone. Since “kara” can be used to define the origin of something like the word “from”, we can use “kara no” to talk about something that is from a particular person or place, like so:

The train from Shinjuku

shinjuku kara no densha

A souvenir from Takuya

takuya kara no omiyage

MADE NO can be used in a similar way to “kara no” to describe something specific that ends at a certain time. Expressions that use “made no” usually sound odd when translated directly to English because in English, a verb would normally be needed for the sentence to sound natural (as shown in brackets below), but they are perfectly fine without the verb in Japanese.

The festival (that ran) until yesterday was fun

Kinō made no matsuri wa tanoshikatta desu

This is the tour (that runs) until Friday

kore wa kin’yōbi made no tsuā desu

HE NO is used to describe something by its destination. While normally “ni” can be used to define the destination of a motion, “he no” is basically always used to describe things by their destination, since “ni no” sounds quite awkward.

I don’t know the way to Tokyo

(watashi wa) tōkyō he no michi ga wakarimasen

My present to her was expensive

watashi no kanojo he no purezento wa takakatta desu

TO NO can be used to describe an event based on the other person or people involved in the event.

My date with her is on Saturday

(watashi no) kanojo to no dēto wa doyōbi desu

Our contract with that company ends tomorrow

(watashi tachi no) ano kaisha to no keiyaku wa ashita owarimasu

DE NO is usually used to define something by the place where it occurs.

Let’s go to the festival at the park

kōen de no matsuri ni ikimashō

Concerts (held) outside are fun

soto de no raibu wa tanoshī

Particles combined with “mo”

While “mo” can replace particles like “ga” and “wo” to add the meaning of “also”, with other particles, it is necessary to keep the original particle and use it together with “mo” so that the role of the preceding word is still clear. For example, when defining an ‘also’ destination, keeping “ni” and saying “ni mo” ensures that it is clear that this is marking the destination of the action.

Additionally, when using “mo”, it is possible to string multiple words together, separated only by “mo” and the other particle, to emphasize the number of things in the list. This is shown in some of the examples below.

NI MO is used to define an “also” destination.

I went to France last year. I also went to the UK.

kyonen, furansu ni ikimashita. igirisu ni mo ikimashita.

Yesterday, I rode a train, a bus and a plane.

Kinō, densha ni mo basu ni mo hikōki ni mo norimashita

DE MO is used to describe where else something can or does take place. The combination of “de” and “mo” could be viewed as simply another usage of the particle “demo”, but in this case, by thinking of it as two separate particles combined, the role each word has in the sentence should be more clear.

Let’s swim in the pool. Let’s also swim in the sea.

Pūru de oyogimashō. Umi de mo oyogimashō.

(You) can buy bread at the supermarket and also at the convenience store

pan wa sūpā de mo konbini de mo kaemasu

Particles combined with “wa”

As was introduced in Chapter 11.3, the topic-defining particle “wa” can be used with many more things than just a person or object. It can be a location, a destination, a companion, or any other noun phrase. Much like “mo”, however, things like destinations and locations still need to be defined as such using the particles “ni” and “de”, even when “wa” is added.

The addition of “wa” after another particle takes the emphasis away from the word that it marks, and pushes it towards the back of the sentence. Like other uses of “wa”, it is similar to saying, “When talking about…”, as this sets up the context for the rest of the sentence in the same way as “wa”. The main difference of “wa” being combined with another particle, however, is that instead of the topic just being a thing, like “I” or “Japan”, the thing being talked about would be translated to English as a prepositional phrase, such as “to me”, or “in Japan”. The examples provided below should help clarify this.

NI WA defines the topic of a sentence as the destination of an action involving movement, or the location of something when using “aru” and “iru”.

When talking about ‘to Germany’, I haven’t been

(watashi wa) doitsu ni wa itta koto ga arimasen[5]

When talking about ‘in here’, there are lots of people

koko ni wa hito ga takusan imasu

DE WA turns the location where something takes place, or the means by which the action is done, into the topic of the sentence.

When talking about ‘at my hotel’, the food is cheap

watashi no hoteru de wa, tabemono wa yasui desu

By bus, it takes one hour

basu de wa ichijikan kakarimasu

TO WA defines the topic of a sentence as the person or thing with whom the action is performed.

With him, I play tennis every week

kare to wa, maishū tenisu wo shimasu

As for her, she plays with the dog, but she doesn’t play with the cat

kanojo wa, inu to wa asobimasu ga, neko to wa asobimasen

KARA WA defines the topic of a sentence as the point of origin of an action involving movement.

From her, I received a bicycle

kanojo kara wa, jitensha wo moraimashita

From here, it will take one hour, but from your house, it will take two hours

koko kara wa ichijikan kakaru kedo, anata no ie kara wa nijikan kakaru

[4] “Tsukaikata” means “how to use”, as will be explained in Chapter 12.5.12

[5] The expression “have done” referring to past experience will be introduced in Chapter 12.1.3.

Chapter 12

Lots and lots of expressions

At this point, we have covered all of the fundamental rules of the Japanese language. You can talk about things in the past, present and future, and can describe them in great detail. In this chapter, you will learn a wide range of additional expressions. The expressions are grouped where appropriate and presented in order of general usefulness, but there is no need to learn them in this order, so feel free to pick and choose the expressions you want to learn.

12.1 Very useful expressions

The first set of expressions we will look at are not related to each other in any particular way. They are all just very common expressions.

12.1.1 Anything, something, nothing, and other similar words

Words like “anything” and “something” are expressed in Japanese by combining question words, such as “nani” and “dare”, with certain particles. Although there is a general pattern for this, it can be a little bit confusing because the meanings of these words can change depending on whether they are used with a positive verb or a negative verb. For example, “dare mo” means “everybody” when used with a positive verb, but means “nobody” when used with a negative verb.

Let’s take a look at each question word and the different words that can be formed by combining them with particles.

When used in sentences, these words each behave slightly differently. “Dokoka” should be treated like a noun, and should be followed by whichever other particle is necessary to define its role in the sentence. The other words, however, should be treated as a noun that already has a particle attached. This means that when used in a sentence, “dokoka” will often be followed by “ga” or “de”, while the other words will be followed immediately by a verb. The examples below demonstrate this:

You can buy water anywhere

mizu wa doko demo kaemasu

He went somewhere

kare wa dokoka ni ikimashita

Let’s wait somewhere

dokoka de machimashō

I searched everywhere

doko mo sagashimashita

There are no seats anywhere

doko mo seki ga nai

As you can see, “dokoka” acts like any other noun, while “doko demo” and “doko mo” are followed immediately by the verb without any other particle.

There is, however, one more consideration. In these combinations, the particles “demo” and “mo” can only really take the place of “ga” or “wo”. When using “doko demo” and “doko mo” with a verb that has a destination, for example, the particle “ni” needs to be inserted in between “doko” and the other particle. Here are some examples of this:

You can go anywhere in Japan by bullet train

shinkansen de nihon no doko ni demo ikemasu

I don’t have a car, so I can’t go anywhere

watashi wa kuruma ga nai kara, doko ni mo ikenai

He has been everywhere

kare wa doko ni mo itta koto ga arimasu

With a couple of exceptions, the same rules apply to the other words introduced below.

Although you may occasionally hear “nani mo” used with a positive verb to mean “everything”, “subete” and “zenbu” are far more common. Like “nanika”, they should always be followed by the appropriate particle. Otherwise, these words follow the same rules as the words based on “doko”, as shown below:

He can do anything

kare wa nan demo dekiru

Let’s buy something

nanika wo kaimashō

I gave her all of my things

(watashi wa) subete no mono wo kanojo ni agemashita

I don’t want to do anything

watashi wa nani mo shitakunai

There is nothing inside the box

hako no naka ni nani mo arimasen

I can become anything

watashi wa nani ni demo naremasu

Again, these words are used in sentences in the same way as the other words, but for one exception; the word “daremo” can also be defined as the subject followed by “ga” when used with a positive verb. This simply defines everybody as the people performing the action, as the examples below show.

Note that the word “everybody” can also be expressed as “minna” in informal settings or “minasan” in polite conversation. The difference between these and “dare mo” is that “dare mo” refers to everyone in general, while “minna” and “minasan” usually refer to everyone within a specific group of people.

Anybody can learn Japanese

dare demo nihongo ga manaberu

Somebody is listening to music

dareka ga ongaku wo kīte iru

Everybody knows that

sore wa daremo ga shitte iru

Everybody respects her

daremo ga kanojo wo sonkei shite iru

There is nobody here

koko ni dare mo inai

He gave presents to everybody

kare wa dare ni mo purezento wo ageta

She didn’t ask anybody

kanojo wa dare ni mo kikanakatta

As time-related phrases, these are a little different to the others. All of these are essentially adverbs, and can therefore be inserted into a sentence anywhere that makes sense, and without the use of an additional particle.

Please come any time

itsu demo kite kudasai

Let’s meet again sometime

mata itsuka aimashō

He is always eating ramen

kare wa itsumo rāmen wo tabete iru

He never cleans the bathroom

kare wa zenzen furoba wo sōji shinai

These are all straightforward, following the same usage rules as the words based on “doko”. They are rarely combined with other particles like “ni”, however, since it doesn’t often make sense to do so.

Any one of them is fine

dore demo ī yo

Please give one of them to him

doreka wo kare ni agete kudasai

All of them are delicious

dore mo oishī

I don’t need any of them

(watashi wa) dore mo iranai

12.1.2 Giving and receiving - ageru, kureru, morau

In Japanese, the verbs used for giving and receiving can be a little bit confusing, so they require special attention. The reason for this is because the word “give” is actually different depending on the direction that the act of giving is occurring.

Giving - “ageru” and “kureru”

The two words meaning “to give” are “ageru” and “kureru”. “Ageru” is used when the direction of the giving is going away from yourself, or between two third parties. “Kureru” is used when the giving is coming towards yourself. Consider these sentences:

I give the book to her

He gives the book to her

She gives the book to me

In the first two sentences, the verb to use in Japanese would be “ageru”, while in the third sentence, “kureru” is appropriate. It is actually exactly the same as for the verbs “go” and “come”. Consider these sentences:

I go to her

He goes to her

She comes to me

In both English and Japanese, we use either “go” or “come” based on the direction of the movement relative to ourselves. The default option is “go”, but in the case where the movement is towards us, “come” is used instead.

In Japanese, this exact same principle applies to the verbs meaning “to give”. Basically, when the action is giving, the default verb to use should be “ageru”, but in the case where the direction of the giving is towards us, “kureru” should be used instead. Here are some examples:

I will give you a present tomorrow

(watashi wa) ashita (anata ni) purezento wo ageru

She gave him a new guitar

kanojo wa kare ni atarashī gitā wo agemashita

Daisuke gave me his headphones

daisuke wa (watashi ni) iyahon wo kuremashita

Let’s give them some food

karera ni tabemono wo ageyō

I want to give this to my friend

(watashi wa) kore wo tomodachi ni agetai desu

Ayumi didn’t give me anything

ayumi wa (watashi ni) nani mo kurenakatta

Compared to “ageru”, “kureru” is a bit more limited in how it is used, especially given the polite and indirect nature of Japanese culture. For example, you would never use “kureru” in its te-form to form the command “kurete”. Instead, you would use the extremely forceful and impolite form “kure!”, or the more polite “kudasai”, which is actually a form of the super-polite equivalent of “kureru”, “kudasaru”. Here are some examples:

Please give me the salt

shio wo kudasai

Give me your wallet!

saifu wo kure!

Also, since “kureru” is invariably used for the actions of other people, when talking about the future, it is often used as part of less certain expressions, such as “He said he would give me …” or “I think she will give me …”. This is because we can only speculate about the future actions of other people, and Japanese does not really allow concrete statements to be made about uncertain things. Here are some examples:

He said he would give me his text book

kare wa (watashi ni) tekisuto wo kureru to īmashita

I think she will give me her camera

kanojo wa (watashi ni) kamera wo kureru to omoimasu

They might give us a bit more time

(karera wa) mō chotto jikan wo kureru kamo shiremasen[6]

Interestingly, the use of “kureru” is not limited to when you yourself are the recipient. As long as the receiver is closer to you compared with the giver, “kureru” is the more appropriate verb to use. For example, if you are talking to Taro about something that somebody else gave him, you should still use “kureru” to describe the act of giving because Taro is closer to you than the person who gave that something to Taro.

As for that shirt, did Maiko give it to you?

sono shatsu wa Maiko ga kureta no?

Receiving - “morau”

When it comes to receiving, things are much more straightforward, but a little bit of care is still required with regards to particles. In the English sentence, “Taro received a book from Maiko”, it is important to recognize that Taro is the subject of the sentence; he is the one performing the act of receiving. In Japanese, the same rule applies, and the person receiving the item should be marked by “ga” or “wa”, like so:

Taro received a book from Maiko

tarō wa maiko ni hon wo moraimashita

What you may find confusing here is the use of the particle “ni”. “Ni” is normally used to mark the destination of an action involving movement, but because the verb “morau” carries a passive meaning, the opposite is true. That means the origin of the act of giving, which in this case is Maiko, is marked by the particle “ni”. It is possible to use the particle “kara” in this situation, and you are free to use this if you find it less confusing, but you will no doubt hear “ni” used commonly by other people. Here are some more examples:

I received a letter from my mom

watashi wa haha ni/kara tegami wo moraimashita

She received a necklace from her boyfriend

kanojo wa kareshi ni/kara nekuresu wo moraimashita

The only time other than with the verb “morau” (or its super-polite counterpart “itadaku”) that the meaning of “ni” is reversed in this way is when regular verbs are expressed in the passive form. This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 12.4. In all other cases of actions that involve movement, “ni” defines the destination.

12.1.3 Have done - shita koto ga aru

This expression is used to talk about experience, and is often compared to the English expression “I have done…”. It is formed in the following way:

[verb in informal past tense] + koto ga aru

The final verb, “aru”, is mostly expressed in the present tense, but can also be expressed in the past tense to describe something that had or hadn’t been done at a specific time in the past. Here are some examples:

I have been to Japan

watashi wa nihon ni itta koto ga arimasu

I haven’t ridden a plane

watashi wa hikōki ni notta koto ga arimasen

One year ago, I hadn’t been abroad

ichinen mae, (watashi wa) kaigai ni itta koto ga nakatta

The “koto” in these expressions turns the act of going to Japan, etc., into a noun phrase that describes experience performing that action. By combining this with the verb “aru”, this expression states that that experience exists. Since an experience can only exist if it has already occurred, the verb before “koto” should always be in the past tense.

12.1.4 Mine, yours, old ones and new ones - watashi no, furui no

As you know, the particle “no” is used to indicate possession of an item, but it is also possible to use “no” to indicate possession without actually specifying what the item is. In English, we do this using words like “mine” and “yours”. In Japanese, we just leave off the word that would otherwise come after “no”, so instead of saying “watashi no pen”, we would simply say “watashi no”. The following examples should help clarify this:

This is mine

kore wa watashi no desu

That car is his

ano kuruma wa kare no da

This is Hiroki’s

kore wa hiroki no desu

A similar effect can be created with adjectives. Instead of referring to the old book as “furui hon”, if it is clear that a book is what is being spoken about, then the thing being described - in this case “hon” - can be replaced by “no”. This results in a phrase similar to the English expression, “the old one”. Here are some examples:

Pass me the old one

furui no wo (watashi ni) watashite kudasai

Where’s the new one?

atarashī no wa doko desu ka?

Which is the one you like?

(anata ga) suki na no wa dore?

As in the last example, na-adjectives should retain the “na” when the original noun is replaced by “no”.

12.2 Conditional expressions

Conditional expressions in English are basically expressions that use the words “if” and “when” to describe a condition that affects another action. In Japanese, there are a number of different conditional expressions, each with different uses. In some cases these are interchangeable, but in many situations, one expression will sound more natural than the others. We will now take a look at the main conditional expressions in Japanese, but keep in mind that it is better not to worry too much about the subtle differences between each expression. Over time, you will get a natural feel for when to use each one.

12.2.1 If/when - tara

Probably the most flexible conditional expression is “-tara”. It can be used to say “if X happens” or “when X happens”, and it can be used to talk about your own actions, the actions of other people, or just actions that occur on their own (intransitive verbs). It can also be used to talk about things in both the past and the future.

The “-tara” expression is formed in a similar way to the te-form and the informal past tense, as shown in the following table:

For verbs in the negative form, the “nai” ending is simply changed to “nakattara”. For verbs expressed in the continuous form, the “-te iru” ending is changed to “-te itara”.

Essentially, it is the same as the informal past tense, but with “ra” added on the end. Here are some examples of “-tara” being used in a sentence:

If you go to the supermarket, please buy some milk

(anata ga) sūpā ni ittara, gyūnyū wo katte kudasai

If I buy a car, I can go to the beach every weekend

(watashi wa) kuruma wo kattara, maishūmatsu umi ni ikemasu

When I opened the door, there was a dog

(watashi ga) doa wo aketara, inu ga imashita

When I grow up (become big), I want to become a doctor

(watashi wa) ōkiku nattara, isha ni naritai desu

If the train doesn’t come, what shall we do?

densha ga konakattara, dō shiyō?

When I was waiting at the bus stop, I saw Suzuki-san

basutei de matte itara, suzuki san wo mimashita

The “-tara” ending can also be added to the end of adjectives and nouns. For i-adjectives, this is done by adding “ra” after the adjective expressed in its past tense. Na-adjectives and nouns should be followed by “dattara”, which is the “-tara” form of the verb “desu”. Here are some examples:

If you are cold, I will lend you a jacket

samukattara, uwagi wo kashite ageru[7] yo

If you are bored, please wash the dishes

hima dattara, shokki wo aratte kudasai

If tomorrow is his birthday, let’s buy him a present today

ashita ga kare no tanjōbi dattara, kyō purezento wo katte agemashō

12.2.2 If - nara

The particle “nara” is similar to the word “if”, but is only really used when it is certain or almost certain that the specified activity did or will occur. It is similar in meaning to the English expression, “If it is the case that…” when used with verbs, or “In the case of…” when used with nouns.

In a sentence, “nara” can be added either directly after a noun phrase, or directly after a clause expressed in the informal form. The clause can be in any tense that makes logical sense. Here are some examples:

If (it is the case that) you will return it by Friday, I will lend you my car

kin’yōbi made ni kaeshite kureru nara, kuruma wo kashite ageru[8] yo

If we are going to buy it online, let’s order it soon/quickly

(watashi tachi wa) netto de kau nara, hayaku chūmon shiyō

If it is the case that you didn’t go to school today, what on earth did you do?

kyō gakkō ni ikanakatta nara, ittai nani wo shimashita ka?

In the case of this vending machine, there is water

kono jidōhanbaiki nara mizu ga aru yo

12.2.3 If - sureba

This conditional expression is mostly used to talk about future actions in a hypothetical way, where it is not yet known whether or not the action will occur. For this reason, it is not used in the way that “when” is used in English, and should only be used to mean “if”.

This expression is formed using the “e” sound variation for vowel-changing verbs followed by “ba”. For add-on verbs, “reba” is added after the stem. The following table shows how each verb type is converted to the “sureba” expression:

Below are some examples of each type, including the three irregular verbs:

For verbs in the negative form, “nai” is changed to “nakereba”. For verbs expressed in the continuous present/future tense, “-te iru” is changed to “-te ireba”.

Here are some examples of this expression:

If we pay cash, will it become cheaper?

genkin de haraeba, yasuku narimasu ka?

If you don’t have a ticket, you can’t enter

chiketto ga nakereba hairemasen

If you are carrying a bag, please put it over there

kaban wo motte ireba, asoko ni oite kudasai

This expression is commonly used for discussing the best course of action. This is done by saying “ī” after the verb expressed in this form. Here are some examples of both questions and answers using “sureba ī”:

Q: Should I wait here? (literally: If I wait here, is that good?)

Q: koko de mateba ī desu ka?

A: No, you should go over there (literally: No, if you go over there, that is good)

A: īe, asoko ni ikeba ī desu

—

Q: What should I do when I arrive at Ikebukuro station?

Q: ikeburukuro eki ni tsuitara dō sureba ī desu ka?

A: Please wait in front of the station

A: eki no mae de matte kudasai

12.2.4 If - suru to

The particle “to” can be used after a verb in the informal present/future tense to describe what will happen if a certain action is performed. It is similar to both “-tara” and “nara” (when used for future actions), as well as “sureba”, but “to” implies a slightly stronger connection between the first action and the second. For this reason, it is often used when giving instructions, or when the consequences of the first action are undesirable. Here are some examples:

If you eat (your) vegetables, you will become strong

yasai wo taberu to tsuyoku naru yo

If you open the window, it will get hot

mado wo akeru to atsuku narimasu yo

If you go straight, there will be a convenience store on the left hand side

massugu iku to, hidari gawa ni konbini ga arimasu

If I drink coffee at night, I become unable to sleep

(watashi wa) yoru ni kōhī wo nomu to nerarenaku narimasu

As these examples show, “to” is used to describe a direct link between one action and another. Because of this link, this expression is particularly common when describing the negative implications of not doing a certain action, such as in these examples:

If we don’t put on sunscreen, we will definitely get sunburnt

(watashi tachi wa) hiyakedome wo nuranai to, zettai ni hiyake suru yo

If you don’t read the instructions, you will break it

setsumeisho wo yomanai to kowashite shimau[9] yo

If we don’t leave now, we will be late

ima denai to okurete shimaimasu yo

12.2.5 When - toki

The word “toki” is a noun that can be used like any other noun to form a noun phrase that takes the meaning of, “When…”. Literally, “toki” means “time”, so you can think of this expression as meaning, “At the time of…”. This expression can be formed in the following ways:

[informal verb] + toki

[i-adjective] + toki

[na-adjective] + na toki

[noun] + no toki

Here are some examples:

When I went to Japan, I ate lots of sushi

(watashi wa/ga) nihon ni itta toki, sushi wo takusan tabemashita

When you leave the house, please take out the garbage

(anata ga) ie wo deru toki, gomi wo dashite kudasai

When the weather is good, we ride our bicycles to the park

tenki ga ī toki, (watashi tachi wa) kōen ni jitensha ni notte ikimasu

When it’s quiet, I like to read the newspaper

shizuka na toki, shinbun wo yomu no ga suki da

When I was a child, I wanted to become a policeman

(watashi wa/ga) kodomo no toki, keisatsukan ni naritakatta desu

When he was a student, he ate ramen every day

kare wa gakusei no toki, mainichi rāmen wo tabeta

When a noun is followed by “no toki”, as in the last two examples, an equivalent English sentence would normally include the verb “was”, but there is no need for such a verb in the Japanese sentence.

Sometimes, a noun phrase ending in “toki” will be followed by the particle “ni”. When this is done, the overall meaning of the sentence does not really change, but the addition of “ni” puts greater emphasis on the timing of the activity, giving it more importance. If, for example, we re-phrase the second example above to say “ie wo deru toki ni”, the implication would be that the person must take out the garbage when they leave the house, not at some other time. The following examples demonstrate this:

Please take out the garbage when you leave the house, (not now)

(ima janakute), ie wo deru toki ni gomi wo dashite kudasai

Please do that when I’m not here

sore wa watashi ga (koko ni) inai toki ni yatte kudasai

Let’s go to the park in our free time (literally: “when we are free”)

hima na toki ni kōen ni ikimashō

I will call you when it is my lunch break

hiruyasumi no toki ni denwa shimasu

12.3 Te-form expressions

The te-form of verbs forms the basis of several common expressions in Japanese. In this section, we will look at some of the more common ones.

12.3.1 The other negative te-form

Before looking at the different expressions that make use of the te-form, we need to take another look at the negative te-form. In chapter 9.6, it was mentioned that there are two alternative te-forms for verbs in the negative, and the “naide” version was introduced. The other version is much like the te-form of adjectives, with the informal “nai” ending being changed to “nakute”, as shown below:

The difference between “nakute” and “naide” is that “nakute” has quite a descriptive feel, while “naide” has a more active connotation. This is consistent with the fact that the “nakute” ending is the same as the negative te-form ending for adjectives. The implications of this will become more apparent over time as you become more familiar with the many different uses of the te-form, some of which are introduced below. To help you reach that point, the explanation of the te-form expressions that follow include guidelines for which negative te-form, if any, should be used with each.

12.3.2 I’m glad/It’s a good thing… - te yokatta

One very common colloquial expression is to add “yokatta” after a verb in the te-form. This is used when the person speaking is relieved or glad that a certain action was or was not taken. Here are some examples:

Today’s weather is horrible, so it’s a good thing we went yesterday

kyō no tenki wa hidoi kara, kinō itte yokatta desu

I’m glad I charged my phone this morning

kesa keitai wo jūden shite yokatta

Negative verbs should be expressed with the “nakute” ending, like so:

It’s a good thing I didn’t forget my sunglasses

sangurasu wo wasurenakute yokatta

I’m glad there isn’t a test today

kyō tesuto ga nakute yokatta

In some cases, such as the last example, it may seem odd that “yokatta” is expressed in the past tense, even though the verb refers to something in the future. “Yokatta” should, however, always be in the past tense in expressions like this because no matter when the action takes place, the knowledge about whether or not the action will take place is a known fact that has been decided in the past.

12.3.3 Doing something for someone - te ageru, te kureru

In English, when we talk about doing something for someone, we will often include words like “for you” or “for him” to show that a favor is being done. In Japanese, the same sentiment is expressed by adding the words for giving and receiving at the end of the sentence (see Chapter 12.1.2 for a detailed explanation of these words), like so:

[verb in te-form] + ageru/kureru

[negative verb with “naide” ending] + ageru/kureru

The “give” verbs can be expressed in any tense that makes sense. Here are some examples:

I bought him a book

(watashi wa) kare ni hon wo katte ageta

He is going to make dinner for her

kare wa kanojo ni bangohan wo tsukutte ageru

She didn’t send me a postcard

kanojo wa hagaki wo okutte kurenakatta

They didn’t forget me

karera wa watashi wo wasurenaide kureta

It does not matter whether or not the person receiving the favor is explicitly defined; as long as someone is doing something for someone, then a giving or receiving word should be added at the end of the sentence to reflect that generosity. In the second example above, it is perfectly fine to omit “kanojo ni” if it is understood from context who the dinner was made for, but whether it is included or not, the verb “ageru” should always be added at the end as long as there is a recipient of the action.

The use of “ageru” and “kureru” can also make it unnecessary to include other information. In the third example above, the Japanese sentence does not include a word meaning “me”, but because the sentence ends in “kureru”, it is clear that the postcard was sent in the direction of the person speaking. The Japanese sentence could also potentially be interpreted as “She sent us a postcard”, but in most cases, it will be obvious from the context whether the speaker means “me” or “us”.

12.3.4 Doing something and coming back - te kuru

In Japanese, when talking about going somewhere for a specific purpose and then coming back, it is common practice to add “kuru” in an appropriate form at the end of the sentence. Here is an example:

I’m going to the supermarket (and then coming back)

(watashi wa) sūpā ni itte kimasu

You will recall from Chapter 9.4 that it is possible to string multiple activities together in a sequence by expressing all but the last verb in the te-form. That is exactly what is happening in this expression; one action is being performed, and after that, the person will come back to where they started. This may seem unnecessary, and indeed it is possible to express the same idea without “kuru”, but it is extremely common, and almost sounds unnatural when it is left out.

Adding “kuru” also has the added effect of implying that the person must go somewhere else to perform the action, which helps to clarify exactly what the person will do. In English, we will often say things like, “I will go and…”, but in Japanese, this can effectively be substituted for, “I will do … and come back”. The following examples demonstrate this:

I went and bought a newspaper (and then came back)

shinbun wo katte kimashita

Let’s go and eat lunch (and then come back)

hirugohan wo tabete koyō

Go and have a look (and then come back)

mite kite

In all of these examples, the meaning of “go” in the English sentences is effectively replaced by “-te kuru”. Although they are different literally, the meaning is the same.

12.3.5 Taking and bringing - motte iku/kuru, tsurete iku/kuru

In Japanese, there are no words that directly translate as “take” or “bring”, so these concepts are expressed by combining the word “motsu”, meaning to hold or carry, with the verbs “iku” (go) and “kuru” (come). Here are some examples:

He brought his computer

kare wa konpyūta wo motte kimashita

I will take my guitar

(watashi wa) gitā wo motte ikimasu

Negative verbs should be expressed using the “naide” version of the negative te-form, followed by “iku” or “kuru”, like so:

Did you come without your camera!?

kamera wo motanaide kita no!?

In most cases, however, it sounds more natural to use the regular te-form “motte”, and instead express “iku” or “kuru” in the negative of the appropriate tense. Here is the above sentence re-written in this way:

Didn’t you bring your camera!?

kamera wo motte konakatta no!?

Although this second sentence uses the verb “kuru” in the negative form, it does not mean “didn’t come”. The negative verb ending applies to the whole phrase, and since “motte kuru” as a whole means “bring”, the verbs in this sentence translate as “didn’t bring”. As is the case in English, for sentences like this, the second option above is usually more natural than the first.

Importantly, the word “motsu” should only be used for things that are physically carried from one place to the other. To say that you brought or took a person or animal somewhere, the word “tsureru” should be used instead, like so:

I brought my dog

inu wo tsurete kimashita

Please take him to the hospital

kare wo byōin ni tsurete itte kudasai

Won’t you bring your wife?

okusan wo tsurete kimasen ka?[10]

12.3.6 Doing something completely or making a mistake - te shimau

When the word “shimau” is used after a verb in the te-form, it emphasizes that the action has been completed in full. It can be used simply for this emphasis, but in most cases, it implies that the completion of that action is regrettable in some way. The following examples demonstrate this:

I ate all the chocoloate

chokorēto wo zenbu tabete shimatta

I dropped my mobile phone

keitai wo otoshite shimatta

I was late to the meeting

kaigi ni okurete shimaimashita

All of the above sentences could be expressed without the addition of “shimau”, but its inclusion adds that feeling of regret that the speaker has, as though what happened was unintended and the result is undesirable.

12.3.7 Doing something in preparation - te oku

The word “oku” is used after a verb in the te-form to say that the action is being done deliberately in preparation for something, without necessarily specifying exactly what that something is. Here are some examples:

I bought tickets yesterday (in preparation)

kinō chiketto wo katte okimashita

It will rain later so please close the windows (in preparation for when it rains)

atode ame ga furimasu kara mado wo shimete oite kudasai

Let’s ask now (in preparation for later)

ima kīte okimashō

When a verb is expressed in the negative te-form (naide), the addition of “oku” still indicates that something is being prepared for, but instead, the person is being very deliberate about not doing that particular action. Here are some examples:

It will rain later, so please don’t hang out the laundry

atode ame ga furimasu kara, sentakumono wo hosanaide oite kudasai

I dropped this on the floor, so it would be better not to eat it

kore wa yuka ni otoshite shimatta node, tabenaide oita hō ga ī[11]

12.3.8 Apologizing and thanking for specific things - te sumimasen, te arigatō

As you know, the words “sumimasen” and “gomennasai” can be used on their own to apologize, but they can also be used in a sentence to apologize for a specific action. This is done by expressing the action with a verb in the te-form, and following it with the appropriate apology word.

Sorry/excuse me for being late

osoku natte sumimasen

Sorry I broke your (eye) glasses

(anata no) megane wo kowashite gomennasai

Since the action being apologized for is likely regrettable, this is often combined with the “-te shimau” expression, with “shimau” also being expressed in the te-form. The following examples demonstrate this:

Sorry/excuse me for being late

osoku natte shimatte sumimasen

Sorry I broke your (eye) glasses

(anata no) megane wo kowashite shimatte gomennasai

For negative verbs, the “nakute” ending is normally used for apologies, as shown in the following examples:

Sorry I can’t go to your graduation ceremony

(anata no) sotsugyōshiki ni ikenakute gomennasai

Sorry there aren’t any of the crackers you like

(anata no) suki na kurakkā ga nakute gomen ne

Being late

There are three common ways that the concept of “being late” is expressed in Japanese. The first two use the verbs “okureru” and “chikoku suru”, which both mean “to be late”. The third combines the adjective “osoi”, meaning “late” or “slow”, with the verb “naru” to become “osoku naru”. This could be translated literally to mean “become late”, but it has essentially the same meaning as “okureru” and “chikoku suru”, hence these three expressions are mostly interchangeable.

The same general rules apply for thanking someone with “arigatō (gozaimasu)”. The only difference is that when thanking someone, the word “kureru” (or the more polite “kudasaru”) would normally be added in between the main verb and “arigatō”, since an expression of thanks usually means that a favor has been done. This, however, is still optional. Here are some examples:

Thanks for buying milk

gyūnyū wo katte arigatō

Thank you for listening

kīte kudasatte arigatō gozaimasu

Thanks for washing the car

kuruma wo aratte kurete arigatō

The other difference between thanking and apologizing is that for thanking, negative verbs are usually expressed with the “naide” ending, as shown below:

Thank you for not buying that ugly sofa

ano minikui sofa wo kawanaide kurete arigatō

Thank you for not turning on the light

denki wo tsukenaide kurete arigatō

12.3.9 Even if - temo

Adding the particle “mo” after a verb or adjective in the te-form turns the phrase into an expression that means “even if…”. This is essentially the verb-based equivalent of the binding particle “demo” introduced in Chapter 11.1. Here are some examples:

Even if we leave now, we won’t be on time for the meeting

(watashi tachi wa) ima detemo, kaigi ni ma ni aimasen

Even if tomorrow is cold, I will definitely go for a walk

ashita ga samukutemo, zettai ni sanpo shimasu

For verbs in the negative form, the “nakute” ending should be used, as shown below:

Even if you don’t want to eat ice cream, I do (want to eat it)

(anata wa) aisu ga tabetakunakutemo, watashi wa tabetai desu

Even if he doesn’t appear (in the match), we can still win

kare ga (shiai ni) denakutemo, watashi tachi wa mada kateru yo

12.3.10 Giving and asking for permission - temo ī

One particularly common usage of “temo” is to say “temo ī”, meaning “(you) may”. As you know, the word “ī” means “good” or “okay”, so this expression could more literally be translated as, “Even if you do …, it is okay”. In most cases, “ī” will be followed by “yo” (or “desu yo” in polite speech) to soften it, since granting permission is usually something done with some level of compassion. Here are some examples:

You may enter

haitte mo ī (yo)

You may go home when you have finished

owattara kaettemo ī desu

This phrase can also be used to ask for permission by adding “ka” to the end of the sentence to form a question, or even just using a questioning tone.

May I sit here?

koko ni suwattemo ī desu ka?

May I watch TV?

terebi wo mitemo ī?

In English, a question like this would normally be answered with just “yes” or “no”, but in Japanese, questions are mostly answered by explicitly repeating the verb used in either its positive or negative form, depending on the answer. The words for “yes” or “no” can also be included, but they are rarely used alone.

For these questions, an appropriate response would be “(hai), ī desu yo” for yes, or “(īe), dame desu (yo)” for “no”. The word “dame” roughly translates to English as “not allowed” or “naughty”, and can also be used on its own to tell someone they’ve done something wrong. The following example conversations demonstrate how each of these responses may be given in Japanese:

May I sit here?

koko ni suwattemo ī desu ka?

Yes you may

(hai), ī desu yo

—

May I watch TV?

terebi wo mitemo ī?

You may not

dame da yo

This expression is also commonly used for negative verbs, which take the form of “nakutemo”. Here are some examples:

You don’t have to wait for me

watashi wo matanakutemo ī desu yo

Is it okay if I don’t go to school today?

kyō, gakkō ni ikanakutemo ī?

12.3.11 Forbidding or saying what shouldn’t be done - te wa ikenai/dame

The opposite of giving someone permission to do something is to forbid it, or to tell them it shouldn’t be done. In Japanese, this can be expressed using the te-form followed by “wa ikenai” or “wa dame”:

[verb in te-form] + wa ikenai/dame

[negative verb with “nakute” ending] + wa ikenai/dame

“Dame”, as described earlier, has a meaning similar to “not allowed” or “naughty”, and “ikenai” (or “ikemasen” in the polite form) is essentially the same. The only real difference is that “dame” is quite harsh, while “ikenai” and “ikemasen” are much softer, somewhat like the word “unacceptable”. For this reason, “dame” is rarely used in polite settings, with “ikemasen” being used instead.

The reason that the particle used here is “wa” and not “mo” is because “mo” has the underlying meaning of “also”. Saying “-temo dame” would mean that that activity is also not allowed, so without context, the implication is that most other activities in the world are not allowed either, which is an overly negative assumption. By using “wa” instead, the specified activity is being explicitly singled out, implying that it is the exception. The only time “mo” would be used with “dame” or “ikenai” would be in a situation where several things are all being described as forbidden together. This is because in such a context, each activity being described would also not be allowed.

Here are some examples of this expression:

In Japan, you are not allowed to wear shoes inside the house

nihon de wa, ie no naka de kutsu wo haite wa ikemasen

You may not take photographs inside the shrine

jinja no naka de shashin wo totte wa ikemasen

Don’t run with scissors (literally: You may not carry scissors and run)

hasami wo motte hashitte wa dame da yo

Colloquially, “tewa” is often contracted into “cha”, as shown in the following examples:

If you don’t do your homework, you may not watch TV

shukudai wo shinai to terebi wo micha ikenai

You can’t touch that!

sore wo sawaccha dame da yo!

This expression can also be used with verbs in the negative te-form. The result is a double negative (eg. “You may not not do your homework”) that effectively means “I/you must”. This is actually quite common, and will be explained with examples in Chapter 12.5.1.

12.3.12 Things that haven’t been done - Another use of the present continuous tense

Although the present continuous tense is normally used to refer to actions that are or were happening at a given moment, the negative form of the present continuous tense is actually also often used to talk about things that a person hasn’t done yet, but still could.

Where the negative of the regular past tense is used to say, “I didn’t do X”, the negative of the present continuous tense can be used to say, “I haven’t done X”. The difference between “didn’t do” and “haven’t done” is that the former implies that the opportunity to do X has passed. “Haven’t done”, on the other hand, implies that X could still be done at some point in the future.

In Japanese, the same differentiation can be made by saying either “X wo shinakatta” or “X wo shite inai”.

The reason for this is because in the present, the state of having not done X is still continuing, but could change. In such a situation, the present continuous tense can be used. In contrast, if it is no longer possible to do X because the opportunity has passed, then the regular past tense is preferable.

This is probably a bit confusing, so let’s look at an example.

If someone asked you, “Did you buy milk?”, and you had, you could simply state that by saying “katta”. However, if you hadn’t bought milk, instead of using the past tense and saying “kawanakatta”, it would be more appropriate to say, “katte inai”. This is because the state of not having bought milk is still continuing; in time, your answer might change. It’s the same as saying “No, I haven’t”, as opposed to “No, I didn’t”.

If, however, the question gave a specific time frame, for example, “Did you buy milk yesterday?”, then you would need to say “kawanakatta” because yesterday has finished, and the fact that you did not buy milk yesterday cannot change - your answer will always be “No, I didn’t”.

Basically, if the action hasn’t been performed, but the opportunity to perform the action is still alive given the context, the negative present continuous tense should be used. Here are some more examples:

Have you thrown out the garbage?

gomi wo suteta?

No I haven’t

sutete inai

—

Have you received the postcard I sent you?

watashi ga okutta hagaki wo moraimashita ka?

No, I haven’t

īe, moratte imasen

—

I exercised yesterday, but I haven’t exercised today

kinō undō shimashita ga, kyō wa undō shite inai

Remember that this only applies to the negative form. In the positive, if something has been done, then the action has been completed so the past tense is used.

12.4 The passive voice

In both Japanese and English, it is possible to flip many sentences around and express them in a passive way. Consider these sentences:

He saw me

I was seen by him

Both sentences refer to the same event, but the first uses what is known as the active voice, while the second uses the passive voice. These two voices essentially allow us to describe the same event from two different perspectives. In terms of meaning, the main difference is that the focus of a passive sentence is on the action itself, rather than the person performing the action. That is, in the second sentence, we are more concerned with the fact that I was seen, rather than who it was that saw me.

The passive voice also allows us to talk about an action without actually specifying who performed it. For example, we could just say “I was seen”, without actually specifying who it was that saw me. Again, the focus in this case is on the action rather than the person who performed it.

From a grammatical standpoint, the key difference between the above two example sentences is that the subject and object of the verb “to see” have been swapped. As you can see, the word referring to “he/him” is the subject in the active sentence, but the object of the passive sentence. The reverse is true for “I/me”. In English, we also need to insert the verb “to be” in order to form a passive sentence, while also changing the main verb to the appropriate form (the past participle).

To see the changes that need to be made in Japanese, let’s look at an example:

He saw me

kare wa watashi wo mimashita

I was seen by him

watashi wa kare ni miraremashita

Firstly, as you can see, the subject/topic has changed from “kare” to “watashi”. This is the same as English.

Like English, the verb form also changes, with “mimashita” being converted to its passive form, “miraremashita”. The following table shows how to change add-on and vowel-changing verbs into the passive form:

Below are some examples of each type, including the three irregular verbs:

* Some verbs, such as “iku” and “kuru” do not make much sense in the passive form on their own, but they can make sense when combined with other verbs. One such example would be “motte ikareru”, which means “to be taken by”.

The third and possibly more confusing change is that the particle following “kare” has become “ni”. As stated above, in English, the passive voice is formed by swapping the subject and the object. In Japanese, the object becomes the subject, but the original subject is treated differently. Instead of becoming the object of the sentence, the original subject is treated as the origin of that action. With the verb “to see” for example, if something “was seen”, or “miraremashita”, then the person who did the seeing is where that act of seeing originated.

This may sound confusing, but it explains why “ni” is the particle to use. As you know, “ni” is normally used to mark the destination of an action involving movement. For passive verbs, however, this role is reversed, and “ni” is used instead to mark the origin. The following example, using the verb “iu”, shows this more clearly.

He told me to stop (literally: He said to me, “stop!”)

kare wa watashi ni “yamete!” to īmashita

I was told by him to stop

watashi wa kare ni “yamete!” to iwaremashita

In this case, “ni” is used in both the active and passive sentences, but their roles are different. In the active sentence, it marks the destination of the action; that is, who “stop!” is being said to. In the passive sentence, however, it marks the origin of the action, or in other words, where the call of “stop!” originated.

Although most verbs do not have this element of direction when used in the active voice, in the passive voice, there is always a direction that applies to the action, with the person performing the action being the origin. As such, whenever the person or thing performing the action is included in a passive sentence, the particle “ni” is used. Here are some more examples:

The cake was eaten by somebody!

kēki ga dareka ni taberareta!

I was asked a difficult question by him

(watashi wa) kare ni muzukashī shitsumon wo kikaremashita

I was brought here by Yamamoto-san

watashi wa yamamoto san ni koko ni tsurete koraremashita

Although the above sentences may seem unnatural in English, these kinds of ideas are often expressed in the passive form in Japanese. This is because Japanese people tend to feel more comfortable using indirect language. By using the passive form, the speaker can easily speak from the perspective of themselves, rather than talk directly about the actions of others.

The passive form is also useful when you want to talk about a particular action without mentioning who that action was performed by, either because you don’t know, or because it’s not important. The following examples demonstrate this:

It says (is written) here that it closes at 3 o’clock

koko ni, san ji ni shimaru to kakarete iru

Batteries are included

denchi wa fukumarete iru

He is riding a bicycle made from steel

kare wa tekkō de tsukurareta jitensha ni notte imasu

In summary, to form the passive voice in Japanese, three things need to be changed:

1. The object of the original, active sentence becomes the subject

2. The verb is changed to its passive form, and

3. The subject of the active sentence, if included, is marked by the particle “ni” to define the action’s origin

12.5 Other expressions

12.5.1 Need to, have to

Japanese does not have a single word that takes the meaning of “need to” or “have to” in the same way that English does. Instead, this concept is expressed using a double negative to say that it is unacceptable to not perform the desired action. This is done by combining any of “shinakereba”, “shinai to” or “shinakute wa” with the words “naranai”, “ikenai” or “dame”. The following is a complete list of ways to say, “I must do…”:

- shinakereba naranai

- shinakereba ikenai

- shinakereba dame

- shinai to naranai

- shinai to ikenai

- shinai to dame

- shinakute wa naranai

- shinakute wa ikenai

- shinakute wa dame

Although all of the above options are possible, some are more common than others. The main ones to use are:

- shinakereba naranai

- shinai to ikenai

All of the these should, of course, be expressed in the polite form in polite situations. The most commonly used polite option is:

- shinakereba narimasen

Here are some example sentences using the more common expressions from above:

I need to go to the post office

yūbinkyoku ni ikanakereba naranai

yūbinkyoku ni ikanai to ikenai

yūbinkyoku ni ikanakereba narimasen (polite)

We have to pick up Noriko in the afternoon

gogo ni noriko wo mukae ni ikanakereba naranai

gogo ni noriko wo mukae ni ikanai to ikenai

gogo ni noriko wo mukae ni ikanakereba narimasen

These expressions can also form part of noun phrases that describe things that have to have something done to them, such as in the following examples:

There is something (a thing) I have to go and buy

kai ni ikanai to ikenai mono ga aru

I hate that I have to do homework every day!

mainichi shukudai wo shinai to ikenai no ga kirai!

12.5.2 Already, yet and still - mō, mada

In English, the adverbs “already”, “yet” and “still” are used to emphasize whether or not something has or has not happened. Consider these sentences:

I have already eaten lunch

I’m already eating lunch

I am still eating lunch

I haven’t eaten lunch yet

In Japanese, these same ideas can be expressed, but instead of having three words, there are only two - “mada” and “mō”. Essentially, “mō” is the same as “already”, while “mada” is the equivalent of both “yet” and “still”. Let’s look at the above four sentences in Japanese:

I have already eaten lunch

(watashi wa) mō hirugohan wo tabemashita

I am already eating lunch

(watashi wa) mō hirugohan wo tabete imasu

I am still eating lunch

(watashi wa) mada hirugohan wo tabete imasu

I haven’t eaten lunch yet

(watashi wa) mada hirugohan wo tabete imasen

“Mō” is quite simple as it is usually always “already”, but “mada” can be a little more confusing as its English meaning changes according to the verb tense. Just remember that if it is used with an action that has not happened yet, it means “(not) yet”, and if it refers to an action that has started but is still ongoing, it means “still”.

12.5.3 About/concerning - ni tsuite

With verbs involving discussion like “talk” and “ask”, you will often need to specify what the discussion is about, or what it is concerning. This is expressed in Japanese by adding “ni tsuite” after the topic being discussed. The following examples demonstrate this:

I don’t want to talk about money

okane ni tsuite hanashitakunai desu

I emailed him about tomorrow, but he didn’t reply

ashita ni tsuite kare ni mēru shita kedo, henji shite kurenakatta

This expression can also be used with nouns by modifying it to “ni tsuite no”, as shown below:

I read an interesting article about Japanese culture

nihon no bunka ni tsuite no omoshiroi kiji wo yomimashita

I didn’t understand his explanation about particles

kare no joshi ni tsuite no setsumei ga wakaranakatta

12.5.4 While doing - shinagara

“Nagara” is a verb ending used to describe two actions being performed simultaneously, similar to the English phrase, “While doing…”. First, let’s look at how each verb type is modified to end in “nagara”.

This is then used in a sentence like so:

[first action]-nagara + [second action]

The second action can be expressed in any tense, and this tense applies to both actions, since they are done simultaneously. Here are some examples:

I ran while listening to music

(watashi wa) ongaku wo kikinagara hashirimashita

Let’s walk and talk (talk while walking)

arukinagara hanashimashō

Generally, the second action is the main action being spoken about, with the first action - the one expressed in the “nagara” form - just being supplementary information. The “nagara” verb is a bit like a description of the background upon which the other action is being performed. In the above examples, the main activities are running and talking, respectively. However, the emphasis on the main action is not always particularly strong, and both actions can carry relatively equal weight. This means that if you are ever unsure which action should be expressed in the “nagara” form, it probably doesn’t matter.

12.5.5 Go and do, come and do - shi ni iku, shi ni kuru

In Japanese it is possible to talk about things that you go somewhere else to do, much like the English expressions “go and do X” or “go to do Y”. This is done by adding “ni iku” to the stem of the verb describing the action that is being done elsewhere, like so:

The verb “iku” can then be conjugated into whichever tense is applicable. Here are some examples:

He went to buy bread

kare wa pan wo kai ni ikimashita

Let’s go and watch a movie

eiga wo mi ni ikō

By using the verb “kuru” instead of “iku”, the reverse expression meaning “come and do X” can also be formed, such as in these examples:

She came to borrow my car

kanojo wa watashi no kuruma wo kari ni kimashita

They came to pick up their bags

karera wa kaban wo tori ni kimashita

12.5.6 It’s easy/difficult to… - shiyasui, shinikui

Saying whether something is easy or difficult to do can be done in Japanese by adding “yasui” or “nikui”, respectively, to the end of a verb. The following table illustrates how this is done:

In both cases, the resulting word is an i-adjective, which can be used like any other i-adjective, as shown in the following examples:

This tea is easy to drink

kono ocha wa nomiyasui desu

That sign is difficult to read

ano kanban wa yominikui desu

I received a really easy-to-use camera from her

kanojo kara totemo tsukaiyasui kamera wo moraimashita

I need to fix this hard-to-close door

kono shimenikui doa wo naosanai to ikenai

12.5.7 Making comparisons - yori … hō ga

In Chapter 11.1, the particle “yori” was introduced as a way to define the basis for a comparison, such as in the following sentence:

Today is hotter than yesterday

kyō wa kinō yori atsui desu

One further application of this, which has more flexibility, is to combine “yori” with a noun phrase ending in the word “hō”. “Hō” roughly translates as “the way of”, although such a direct translation would rarely be used in English. The above sentence could be re-phrased using “hō” as follows:

Today is hotter than yesterday

kinō yori kyō no hō ga atsui desu

Although the English translation is the same in both cases, there is a subtle difference in Japanese. In the first example, where “hō” isn’t used, “kyō” is defined as the topic, which therefore places greater emphasis on what follows; that is, that yesterday is the day that today is hotter than. In the second example, however, “kyō no hō” is followed by “ga”, so there is a greater emphasis on the fact that today is the hotter day.

Ultimately, it does not make much difference, but the “hō” expression has other uses that make it more flexible. For starters, we can remove “kinō yori” from the second sentence above, and still keep the comparative meaning, like so:

Today is hotter

kyō no hō ga atsui desu

The use of “hō” allows us to say that today is hotter, without specifying what today is hotter than. Of course, for this to make sense, it has to be understood from context what today is being compared to.

The biggest advantage of “hō”, however, is that it makes it easier to compare other things, like verbs and adjectives. It allows us to say things like:

It would be better to wait here than to go inside

naka ni hairu yori, koko de matta hō ga ī desu

To fully understand how to use this expression, we need to know how to combine different phrase types with each of “yori” and “hō ga”.

“Yori” can be placed after almost any type of phrase without altering the phrase at all, as long as the phrase type that comes before “yori” is consistent with what comes after it. The only rule is that when a verb is used immediately before “yori”, it should always be expressed in the present/future tense.

The following table shows how “hō” can be combined with different phrase types:

The most important point to take away from this table is that when comparing actions, the past tense should be used for verbs in their positive form, while the present/future tense should be used for verbs in their negative form. The reason for this, and for why the verb before “yori” should be in the present/future tense, is quite complicated and doesn’t need to be fully understood. However, if you would like a deeper understanding, the text box below provides a brief explanation.

Verb tenses in the “yori…hō ga” expression

In general, when talking about an action that will be done, there will be a time when that action is in the past. In the “yori…hō ga” expression, the description that follows “hō ga” applies to that future time, so the past tense should be used for the verb before it. When talking about an action that is not done, however, there is never a time when the action is in the past. The action is in a perpetual state of non-completion, and the description that follows “hō ga” applies to that ongoing state. Negative verbs before “hō ga” should therefore be expressed using the present/future tense.

The same applies to the verb before “yori”. Since the final description applies to the alternative action (the one before “hō”), in that context, the action before “yori” is also never completed, and should therefore be expressed in the present/future tense.

For a more thorough explanation of this, refer to Appendix 1: Understanding verb tenses in noun phrases.

Here are some examples of this expression:

I prefer cold weather

(watashi wa) samui tenki no hō ga suki desu

When it comes to kitchens, spacious is easier to use than cramped

daidokoro wa semai yori hiroi hō ga tsukaiyasui desu

Simple is better than complicated

fukuzastu yori shinpuru na hō ga ī desu

It’s raining, so it would be better to go to the movies than play outside

ame ga futte iru kara, soto de asobu yori, eigakan ni itta hō ga ī

This smells strange, so I think it would be better not to eat it

kore wa hen na nioi ga suru kara, tabenai hō ga ī to omoimasu

One additional thing to keep in mind is that although the phrase type that comes before “yori” needs to be consistent with what comes after it, it does not necessarily need to be consistent with the phrase type immediately before “hō”. The following sentence is one such example:

It would be better to go by car than by bus

basu yori kuruma de itta hō ga ī desu

In this case, the mode of transport is being compared, not the action itself, so although the “yori…hō ga” pattern is still used, the things being compared are independent from “hō ga”.

12.5.8 Should - hazu, beki

In Japanese, there are a couple of different expressions that can be translated into English to mean “should”, but they are not interchangeable. Consider these two sentences:

He should be able to go to the meeting

You should go to the meeting

Although both sentences use the word “should”, they have fundamentally different meanings. The first sentence expresses an expectation regarding the current situation; that is, the expectation that ‘he’ will come to the meeting. In the second sentence, however, “should” is used to say what action is in the person’s best interests, almost as if the person has an obligation to go to the meeting.

In Japanese, this difference is important, as the word used to mean “should” is different in each case.

hazu

When a person is describing their expectation, the Japanese equivalent to the word “should” is “hazu”. This word is a noun and is mostly used as the head noun of a noun phrase and followed by “desu” or “da”. The word before “hazu” can be a verb expressed in any tense, an adjective, or even a noun followed by “no”, as shown in the following examples:

It should be here

koko ni aru hazu desu

I should be able to play tennis on Saturday

(watashi wa) doyōbi ni tenisu ga dekiru hazu desu

He should have been able to go to the meeting

kare wa kaigi ni iketa hazu desu

Okinawa should be hot

okinawa wa atsui hazu da

Tomorrow’s exam should be easy

ashita no shiken wa kantan na hazu da

It should be my turn next (literally: Next should be my turn)

tsugi wa watashi no ban no hazu da

beki

When a person is describing what action is in their own or someone else’s best interest, or what they are obligated to do, the word “beki is used. This fits into sentences in a similar way as “hazu”, as it usually appears as the head noun of a noun phrase, except it can only be used after a verb in the informal present tense (dictionary form). To describe what somebody should have done in the past, “desu” should be expressed in the past tense. Similarly, for negatives, the verb should remain unchanged in its positive form, with “janai” being added after “beki” instead. Here are some examples:

You should go to tomorrow’s meeting

(anata wa) ashita no kaigi ni iku beki desu

I should read the newspaper more frequently, shouldn’t I?

(watashi wa) shinbun wo motto hinpan ni yomu beki da yone?

You should have waited until 5 o’clock

(anata wa) goji made matsu beki datta

Even if they’re cheap, you shouldn’t buy things you don’t need

yasukutemo, iranai mono wo kau beki janai

When used with “beki”, the verb “suru” is an exception in that the “ru” is usually dropped. The resulting phrase is “su beki”, as shown in the following examples:

You should practice Japanese every day

mainichi nihongo wo renshū subeki desu

We shouldn’t trust old information

(watashi tachi wa) furui jōhō wo shinrai subeki janai desu

You may occasionally hear a Japanese person say “suru beki”, and you can get away with using this yourself, but it is technically incorrect.

12.5.9 Describing an incomplete list of activities - tari … tari suru

In Chapter 11.1, we learned about the particles “ya” and “nado”, which are used together to describe a vague or incomplete list of things. The same kind of vague list can be built for actions by using the “-tari” verb ending. Consider this example:

We did some shopping, saw a movie, drank tea, etc.

(watashi tachi wa) kaimono wo shitari, eiga wo mitari, ocha wo nondari shimashita.

Here, the speaker is talking about several things that they did, while also implying that they did other things as well. Much like sentences using “ya” and “nado”, this kind of sentence is deliberately vague.

The “-tari” verb ending is formed in the same way as the informal past tense, with the addition of “ri”, as shown below:

For verbs in the negative form, the “nai” ending is changed to “nakattari”. For verbs expressed in the continuous form, the “-te iru” ending is changed to “-te itari”.

The pattern to follow when using this expression is as follows:

[action]-tari, [action]-tari, …, [action]-tari + suru

There is no limit to the number of activities that can be listed using this expression. However, like “ya” and “nado”, since this is a deliberately vague expression, the number of activities is usually limited to three or four. It is also possible and not uncommon to list just one activity.

The important part to remember is that the sentence is not complete until the verb “suru” is added in the appropriate tense, which can be basically anything. You will sometimes hear “tari” used without “suru” at the end, and this is acceptable in certain contexts, but generally, “suru” needs to be included in order for the phrase to be a complete sentence. Here are some more examples:

Today, I cleaned the house, did the laundry, etc.

kyō, ie wo sōji shitari, fuku wo sentaku shitari shimashita

I want to go to Japan and climb Mount Fuji, ride the bullet train, etc.

nihon ni itte, fuji san wo nobottari, shinkansen ni nottari shitai

I love music, and I am always (doing things like) dancing

watashi wa ongaku ga daisuki de, itsumo odottari shite imasu

12.5.10 Discussing plans - tsumori

In both English and Japanese, there are different ways to express our plans based on how certain it is that those plans will go ahead. While we don’t often think about it, in English, we tend to use the word “will”, or say things like “I’m going to the mall tomorrow” when our plans are certain. If, on the other hand, our plans are fairly certain but there is still a chance - even a small one - that they will not eventuate, we tend to insert phrases like, “I’m planning to…” or “I intend to…” to express that lower level of certainty, no matter how small.

In Japanese, definite plans are, as you know, expressed by simply using the present/future tense. Less concrete plans can be expressed by adding the word “tsumori” after a verb in the informal present/future tense. This forms a noun phrase that usually comes at the end of a sentence followed by “desu” or “da”. Here are some examples:

I plan to go to the mall tomorrow

ashita (watashi wa) mōru ni iku tsumori desu

I intend to leave home at 6am

asa roku ji ni ie wo deru tsumori da

I planned to buy a new shirt, but there wasn’t enough time

atarashī shatsu wo kau tsumori deshita ga, jikan ga nakatta desu

As the last example shows, even when talking about the plans you had for the past, the verb (in this case “kau”) is expressed in the present/future tense. The past tense use of “deshita” makes the whole clause a reference to the past.

12.5.11 Expressing uncertainty - kamo shiremasen

An easy and useful way to add a degree of uncertainty to any phrase is to add “kamo shiremasen”, or “kamo shirenai”, at the end of the sentence. This is similar to inserting a word like “might” or “could be” into an English sentence. It is also often used as a way to be more indirect when saying “no” to someone, which is important in Japanese culture, where directness is often considered impolite.

This expression can be added after any noun phrase or clause, with clauses mostly ending in verbs in their informal form. Here are some examples:

I might not be able to go

(watashi wa) ikenai kamo shiremasen

There might be a convenience store over there

asoko ni konbini ga aru kamo shirenai

That might be the case

sō kamo shirenai

This is very handy when you are not 100% certain of something, or even when you want to speak in a vague or indirect way. Since Japanese is generally a vague and non-specific language, and directness is not often well received, this expression is very common.

12.5.12 How to do things - yarikata

Any verb can be turned into a noun that means “how to …” or “the way to…”. This is done by adding “kata”, which loosely translates as “way”, to the verb stem. Here is how “kata” is added to each verb type:

These can then be used in a sentence like any other noun, as these examples show:

I don’t know how to eat this

kore no tabekata ga wakarimasen

He showed me how to open the window

kare ga mado no akekata wo misete kuremashita

I’ve forgotten how to go to the airport

kūkō he no ikikata wo wasuremashita

You’re doing it wrong (literally: Your way of doing it is mistaken)

(anata no) yarikata ga machigatte iru yo

Please teach me how to practice karate

karate no renshū shikata wo oshiete kudasai

The verb “suru” on its own is rarely expressed in this way as “shikata”. The verb “yaru”, also meaning “do”, is usually used instead. However, for verbs that consist of a word followed by “suru”, like “renshū suru”, only “shikata” is appropriate.

12.5.13 Trying - shiyō to suru, shite miru

In English, the word “try” has two main meanings:

1. To test or evaluate something to see what the result is, eg. Sushi is delicious. Try it!

2. To attempt to do or achieve something, eg. He tried to run 10km but stopped at 5km.

This difference is important because in Japanese, they are completely separate concepts that are expressed in completely different ways. Let’s take a look at each of these:

Testing or evaluating something

To say that you or someone else is trying something to see what the result will be, the verb is expressed in the te-form followed by the verb “miru”, like so:

[verb(te)] + miru

This is literally like saying, “Do and see”, meaning that you will do the action, and see what the result is. This can also be used simply to mean “do and see”, even if the word “try” would not be appropriate.

Here are some examples:

Sushi is delicious. Try it!

sushi wa oishī yo. tabete mite!

Did you try restarting your computer?

konpyūta wo saikidō shite mimashita ka

Let’s try turning the lights off

denki wo keshite miyō

In the English translations of all of the above sentences, the word “try” could be removed, and the entire sentence re-phrased to say “do and see”. Although it may not always sound natural, it is a useful way determine which “try” expression to use if you are ever unsure.

Describing an attempt

To express an attempt to do or achieve something, the action being attempted is expressed using the same verb ending as the “Let’s…” expression, followed by “to suru”, as shown in the following table:

The verb “suru” at the end can be expressed in any tense or level of politeness that makes sense. Here are some examples:

He tried to run 10km but stopped at 5km

kare wa jukkiro hashirō to shita kedo, go kiro de yameta

I’m trying to open the window

mado wo akeyō to shite imasu

I tried to withdraw money, but the ATM is broken

okane wo orosō to shita kedo, ATM ga kowarete iru

Although it may look like it, this verb ending does not give the sentences the meaning, “Let’s try”. The “Let’s…” interpretation of the “-yō” or “-ō” verb ending is simply the most accurate way to translate it into English when it is used on its own. When followed by “to suru”, however, it forms a set expression meaning “try to”. If we want to say, “Let’s try to…”, we can do so by using the “shiyō” form of “suru” at the end of the phrase, like so:

Let’s try to fix the car

kuruma wo naosō to shiyō

This kind of expression is not very common, however, as it implies that you don’t really expect to succeed. Instead, you would more likely use a more positive statement like, “kuruma wo naosō” (Let’s fix the car), or even the other “try” expression, “kuruma wo naoshite miyō” (Let’s fix the car and see).

12.5.14 Negative questions - shimasen ka, janai no?

In English, we sometimes ask questions using a verb in the negative form, such as, “Won’t you come with me?” or, “Didn’t you see him yesterday?”. The same kinds of questions are often asked in Japanese, usually either as invitations, or when the person asking the question is expecting the answer to confirm that the action being described didn’t happen (eg. “No, I didn’t see him”). In the case of invitations, although the verb is expressed negatively, it is very much a positive invitation - that is, the person asking the question is hoping that the response will be positive. Here are some examples of negative questions:

Won’t you go and see a movie with me on Friday?

kin’yōbi ni watashi to eiga wo mi ni ikanai?

Didn’t you buy bread yesterday?

kinō pan wo kawanakatta no?

Won’t you lend me your car?

(watashi ni) kuruma wo kashite kuremasen ka

A particularly common group of negative questions is regular statements followed by a questioning, “janai desu ka”. A person would use this to seek confirmation of what they already believe (“Isn’t the party tomorrow?”), as opposed to asking a simple question (”Is the party tomorrow?”). Particularly with verbs and i-adjectives, this is commonly preceded by “n”, the contraction of the sentence-ending particle “no” (see Chapter 11.1). Here are some examples:

Isn’t the party tomorrow?

pātī wa ashita janai desu ka

Wouldn’t it be better to go?

itta hō ga īn janai?

Isn’t my jacket on the bed?

watashi no uwagi wa beddo ni arun janai no?

12.5.15 Before/after doing… - mae ni, ato ni

To describe when one action occurs relative to another, we can use the words “mae ni” and “ato ni” to form noun phrases meaning “before” and “after”, respectively. These words can be attached to verbs in the informal form, or connected to nouns with the particle “no”. The following table shows how these words can be used to form noun phrases:

Here are some examples of these expressions:

Please read the report before the meeting

kaigi no mae ni repōto wo yonde oite kudasai

Before I left the house, I hung out the laundry

ie wo deru mae ni, sentakumono wo hoshite okimashita

Before we buy a new house, let’s save a bit more money

atarashī ie wo kau mae ni, mō chotto chokin shite okimashō

After my lunch break, I need to go and renew my passport

hiruyasumi no ato ni, pasupōto wo kōshin shi ni ikanakereba narimasen

After the match ended, we all (everyone) went to karaoke

shiai ga owatta ato ni, minna de karaoke ni ikimashita

After I have spoken with her, I will send you the details via email

kanojo to hanashita ato ni, shōsai wo mēru de (anata ni) okurimasu

The important thing to remember is that no matter whether we are talking about the future or the past, the verb before “mae” should always be in the informal present/future tense, and the verb before “ato” should always be in the informal past tense. The reason for this is that in Japanese, unlike English, it is not relevant when the first action occurred in relation to now. All that matters is when the action occurred relative to the other action.

If, for example, we say “gakkō ni iku mae ni, terebi wo mimashita”, the act of watching TV happened before going to school. Relative to the timing of watching TV, the act of going to school is in the future, hence the present/future tense should be used. On the other hand, if we say “gakkō ni itta ato ni, terebi wo mimashita”, then relative to the timing of watching TV, the act of going to school is in the past, so the past tense is used. For a more thorough explanation of why verb tenses differ from English in these situations, see Appendix 1: Understanding verb tenses in noun phrases.

12.5.16 For/in order to - tame ni

The expression “tame ni” can be added after a noun or verb to define the purpose or reason for a particular action.

With nouns

When used with a noun, “tame ni” defines who or what the action is done for, and is used in a sentence like so:

[person/thing] + no tame ni

Here are some examples:

Let’s buy this book for our mother

kono hon wo haha no tame ni kaimashō

Did you make this for me?

kore wo watashi no tame ni tsukutta no?

I went to Tokyo for a concert

(watashi wa) raibu no tame ni tōkyō ni ikimashita

With verbs

When used with a verb, “tame ni” takes the meaning of ”in order to” or “so that”. In other words, it defines what purpose the action is being done for. The part of the sentence that comes before “tame ni” will therefore usually describe a goal, while the part that follows it describes the action to be taken in order to achieve that goal.

The action taken to achieve the goal can be expressed in any tense or level of politeness, as is appropriate. The verb describing the goal, however, should always be expressed in the present/future tense, as shown below:

[goal, using verb in present/future tense] + tame ni + [action taken to achieve the goal]

Here are some examples:

In order to become a doctor, I will study a lot

(watashi wa) isha ni naru tame ni, takusan benkyō shimasu

I need to save money to buy a new computer

atarashī konpyūta wo kau tame ni okane wo tamenai to ikenai

We waited an hour to ride the ferris wheel

kanransha ni noru tame ni ichijikan machimashita

12.5.17 Whether or not - kadōka

One useful application of the question particle “ka” is to combine it with “dōka” to effectively say “whether or not”. This can be added basically anywhere the particle “ka” might be used, although the verb before the first “ka” is usually expressed in the informal form. “Kadōka” is then often followed by a phrase equivalent to something we might say before “whether or not” in English, such as, “I don’t know…” or “I will ask him…”. The following examples demonstrate this:

I don’t know whether or not it will rain tomorrow

ashita ame ga furu kadōka wakarimasen

I don’t know whether or not they won

karera ga katta kadōka wakarimasen

I asked him whether or not he is coming, but he didn’t answer

kare ga kuru kadōka kīte mita kedo, kotaete kurenakatta

Please confirm whether or not your address is correct

(anata no) jūsho ga tadashī kadōka kakunin shite kudasai

12.5.18 Too… - sugiru

In English, when we want to describe something as being excessive in some way, we use the word “too” before the appropriate adjective. Similarly, when we want to say that someone has performed a certain action excessively, we add a phrase like “too much” or “too far”, as in the sentences, “He bought too much” or “He went too far”.

In Japanese, the same idea can be expressed for both adjectives and verbs by attaching the word “sugiru” to the end of the word. “Sugiru” is itself an add-on verb, meaning it can be expressed in different tenses and with different levels of politeness. The following table shows how “sugiru” can be attached to each word type:

Below are some examples of “sugiru”. Notice that since “sugiru” is itself a verb, it can be expressed in different tenses where appropriate.

This house is too scary

kono ie wa kowasugiru

This town is too quiet

kono machi wa shizuka sugimasu

I ate too much pasta

(watashi wa) pasuta wo tabesugimashita

I don’t want to use too much money

(watashi wa) okane wo tsukaisugitakunai

Don’t buy too much meat

niku wo kaisuginaide

He brought too much luggage

kare wa nimotsu wo motte kisugita

12.5.19 Describing how things look/appear -sō

The “sō” ending in Japanese can be added to adjectives or verbs to describe how something appears. For adjectives, this transforms a sentence like, “You are cold”, to, “You look cold”. For verbs, this is used to describe something that hasn’t happened yet, but looks like it will or is about to. The following table shows how “sō” can be added to each word type:

An exception to this is the adjective “ī/yoi”, which should be changed to “yosasō”. Similarly, when the adjective or verb is expressed as a negative, the “nai” ending should be changed to “nasasō”.

When the “sō” ending is added to a word in this way, it becomes a na-adjective. This can be used like any other na-adjective, although in most cases, it will come at the end of a sentence followed by “desu” or “da”, such as in the following examples:

You look cold!

(anata wa) samusō da!

He doesn’t look very happy

kare wa amari ureshikunasasō desu

The cup looks like it will fall from the table

koppu ga tēburu kara ochisō da

It looks/seems like they will lose at the next election

karera wa tsugi no senkyo de makesō desu

He looks like he is going to hit that tree

kare wa ano ki ni butsukarisō da

It appears she won’t be able to come

kanojo wa korenasasō desu

12.5.20 Apparently, it seems/looks like - sō, rashī, mitai, yō

The words “sō”, “rashī”, “mitai” and “yō” can be added after certain phrases to indicate that the information being conveyed is not necessarily fact, but rather just what someone perceives to be true. Who that someone is is determined by which word is used. This is equivalent to using words like “apparently” and “seem” in English.

These words are attached to different word types like so:

Although these words are added to phrases in different ways, once formed, they are all used in the same way, with “sō”, “mitai” and “yō” being na-adjectives, and “rashī” being an i-adjective. In terms of meaning, however, they are slightly different, so we need to take a closer look.

The words “sō” and “rashī” are primarily used to convey information that has come from a source other than oneself. For example, if you heard some interesting news and wanted to convey that to someone else, you would add “sō” or “rashī” to the end of the sentence to indicate that this is second-hand information. Here are some examples:

Apparently, there is a convenience store over there

asoko ni konbini ga aru sō desu

Apparently, swimming at that beach is dangerous

ano umi de oyogu no wa abunai sō desu

Apparently, he likes ice cream

kare wa aisu ga suki rashī desu

Apparently, she caught a cold

kanojo wa kaze wo hīta rashī desu

In all of these sentences, the addition of “sō” and “rashī” turns an otherwise simple, direct statement into a communication of external information. In some cases, one of these two words may sound more natural than the other, but they are generally interchangeable.

Different kinds of “sō”

Although similar, this “sō” is not the same as when “sō” is added at the end of a verb or adjective to describe how things look, as described in Chapter 12.5.19. Compare these two sentences:

Apparently, there is a convenience store over there

asoko ni konbini ga aru sō desu

It looks like there is a convenience store over there

asoko ni konbini ga arisō desu

In the first sentence, the speaker is relaying information that they heard somewhere else, while in the second sentence, the speaker is expressing their own expectation of where a convenience store might be. Although these meanings are similar, they are subtly different.

In contrast, a person would use “mitai” or “yō” to tell someone how they themselves perceive things to be. Consider the following examples:

It seems he will come

kare wa kuru mitai desu

It seems that bread is delicious

ano pan wa oishī mitai da

It seems they already left the house

karera wa mō ie wo deta yō desu

You are like a child

anata wa kodomo no yō da

In all of these, the speaker is expressing what they themselves believe to be true based on information they have. Each statement could, of course, be expressed without “mitai” or “yō”, but by including these words, the speaker implies that they are expressing their own thoughts, not facts. The difference between “mitai” and “yō” is much like “sō” and “rashī” in that although they are sometimes used in slightly different circumstances, they are mostly interchangeable.

12.5.21 Letting or making someone do something - saseru

In Japanese, the expression used to talk about someone letting someone else do something, or someone making someone else do something, is the same. Even though these two concepts - “letting” and “making” - are very different in English, with the former describing someone receiving permission, and the latter implying that someone has been forced to do something, Japanese does not differentiate between them. Instead, context is relied upon to determine whether the person who eventually performs the action is doing so because they want to and are allowed, or because they have been forced to.

To express these ideas, verb endings are changed in the following ways:

Using these verbs in a sentence is fairly straightforward, but there are three important rules to remember when doing so:

1. The subject is the person who is making or letting the other person perform
the action

2. For intransitive verbs, the person who is being made or allowed to perform the action is marked by the particle “wo”

3. For transitive verbs, the person who is being made or allowed to perform the action is marked by the particle “ni”

The first rule should be fairly intuitive as it works the same way as English. In the sentence, “Atsushi made him eat sushi”, Atsushi is the subject because he is the one who is making the other person eat. The same applies in Japanese.

The other two rules are more complicated. When the “saseru” ending is added, intransitive verbs like “iku” are effectively turned into transitive verbs. The person being made or allowed to perform the action then becomes the object of that verb. Let’s compare it to a regular transitive verb:

I ate sushi

watashi wa sushi wo tabemashita

I made/let Hiroshi go

watashi wa hiroshi wo ikasemashita

The English sentence structure is different in each case, but in Japanese, the relationship between the key words is the same; just like sushi is the thing that has been eaten, Hiroshi is the thing that has been made/allowed to go. “Hiroshi” is therefore the object, and this should be marked by “wo”.

Transitive verbs are different, however, because they already have an object. Whether you say “I ate sushi” or “I made him eat sushi”, the thing being eaten is still sushi. We therefore need a different particle to identify who it is that has been made to perform the act of eating. That particle is “ni”, and this is based on the idea that the person who eventually performs the act of eating is the destination of the other person’s permission or force. Let’s look at an example.

He made Maki eat (her) vegetables

kare wa Maki ni yasai wo tabesasemashita

In this case, the vegetables are the object, so this is marked by “wo”. Maki is then marked by the particle “ni” because she is the one being made to eat her vegetables, and is therefore the destination of the other person’s force. The same applies when the meaning is “let”:

He let Maki eat chocolate

kare wa Maki ni chokorēto wo tabesasemashita

Similarly, the chocolate is the object marked by “wo”, while Maki is marked by “ni” as she is the destination of the permission to perform the act of eating.

Here are some more example sentences, using both transitive and intransitive verbs:

He is going to make her buy the tickets

kare wa kanojo ni chiketto wo kawaseru

The boss made Kudo-san write the report

jōshi wa kudō san ni repōto wo kakasemashita

My dad let my older brother drive the car

chichi wa ani ni kuruma wo unten saseta

Let’s make them wait

karera wo mataseyō

The teacher didn’t let her go home

sensei wa kanojo wo kaerasenakatta

Please let me go by airplane

(watashi wo) hikōki de ikasete kudasai

“Making” and “letting” can also be expressed in the passive form. This is done by changing “(s)aseru” to “(s)aserareru”. The rules for using this in a sentence are the same as for other passive verbs, with the subject becoming the person who is made or allowed to perform the action, and “ni” marking the origin of that force or permission. The following examples demonstrate this:

I was made to eat natto by my host family

watashi wa hosuto famirī ni nattō wo tabesaserareta

I was allowed to meet the prime minister

(watashi wa) sōri daijin ni awaseraremashita

12.5.22 I have a feeling… - ki ga suru

The expression “ki ga suru” can be added after an independent clause to describe something that you have feeling may be true, but are not sure of. This will often be preceded by “yō na” to become “yō na ki ga suru”, which adds an extra element of uncertainty to the expression. Here are some examples:

I have a feeling it was on the table

tēburu ni atta ki ga suru

I have a feeling it would be better not to do that

sore wo shinai hō ga ī ki ga suru

I have a feeling he won’t be able to come

kare wa korenai yō na ki ga suru

12.5.23 No choice but to… - suru shika nai

As explained in Chapter 11.1, the particle “shika” can be placed after a noun phrase and followed by a verb in the negative form to mean “only”. This particle can also be used after verbs in the dictionary form, together with the word “nai/arimasen” to say, “We have no choice but to…”. Such sentences are formed like so:

[verb in dictionary form] + shika nai/arimasen

Here are some examples:

We have no choice but to wait until tomorrow

(watashi tachi wa) ashita made matsu shika arimasen

It was becoming dark, so I had no choice but to go home

kuraku natte ita kara, kaeru shika nakatta

You have no choice but to buy a new one

(anata wa) atarashī no wo kau shika arimasen

Do we have no choice but to give up?

akirameru shika nai no?

As these examples show, the timing of the unavoidable action is described by changing the tense of the final verb “aru” accordingly.

12.5.24 Turning adjectives into nouns -sa

Most English adjectives can be converted into nouns with a similar meaning. For many of them, this is done by adding “ness” to the end of the word. For example, the adjective “kind” can be converted into the noun “kindness”, which can then be used like any other noun. Japanese adjectives can be similarly converted into nouns by replacing either “i” (for i-adjectives) or “na” (for na-adjectives) with “sa”. Here are some examples:

The new words formed by adding “sa” can then be used in a sentence like other nouns. Here are some examples:

I appreciate your kindness

anata no yasashisa ni kansha shimasu

I can’t put up with this heat any more

kono atasusa wa mō taerarenai

I was surprised by the cleanliness of his room

kare no heya no kireisa ni bikkuri shita

[6] See Chapter 12.5.10

[7] The te-form followed by “ageru” is used to indicate a favor is being done. This is explained in detail in Chapter 12.3.3.

[8] The te-form followed by “ageru” is used to indicate a favor is being done. This is explained in detail in Chapter 12.3.3.

[9] See Chapter 12.3.6 for an explanation of the “-te shimau” expression.

[10] Negative questions are explained in Chapter 12.5.14

[11] The “hō ga ī” expression is explained in chapter 12.5.5

Appendix 1

Understanding verb tenses in noun phrases

There is an important difference between how Japanese and English treat verbs in noun phrases. Consider the following sentences:

When Yoshi arrived in Tokyo, he went to the hotel

yoshi wa tōkyō ni tsuita toki, hoteru ni ikimashita

When Yoshi arrives in Osaka, please call me

yoshi ga ōsaka ni tsuita toki, (watashi ni) denwa shite kudasai

In the first example, the words “arrive” and “tsuku” are in the past tense in both English and Japanese. In the second example, however, “arrive” is in the present tense, but the word “tsuku” is in the past tense. The reason for this is because the timing that relates to verbs in conditional clauses and noun phrases is different in each language.

In English, the important piece of timing information is the timing of the action relative to the present moment. If the action took place in the past, the past tense is used. If the action will take place in the future, the present tense is usually used. It may seem odd that the present tense is used for future actions, but this is just one of the quirks of the English language, and is the reason that many non-native English speakers would mistakenly express the second sentence above as, “When Yoshi will arrive in Tokyo, please call me”.

Regardless, in Japanese, the important piece of timing information is the timing of the action relative to the main verb in the sentence. In the first example, the main action is the act of going to the hotel. Since Yoshi’s arrival in Tokyo happened before he went to the hotel, from the perspective of the main action, his arrival occurred in the past, so the past tense is used. Similarly, in the second example, relative to the time that the person should call “me”, Yoshi will have already arrived in Osaka. The act of arriving will be in the past relative to that point in time, so the past tense is used.

This difference in perspective applies to noun phrases of all types, and all verb tenses. Here is an example from Chapter 10.4, slightly modified for the sake of comparison:

I saw that he was eating sushi

(watashi wa) kare ga sushi wo tabete iru no wo mimashita

In this case, the English sentence uses the past continuous tense for “eat”, but in Japanese, “taberu” is expressed in the present continuous tense. This is because ‘he’ was in the process of eating sushi at the time that ‘I’ saw him.

A more clear example that shows these different perspectives is when using the words “mae” and “ato” to say “before” and “after”. Consider these sentences from Chapter 12.5.15:

Before I left the house, I hung out the laundry

ie wo deru mae ni, sentakumono wo hoshite okimashita

After I have spoken with her, I will send you the details via email

kanojo to hanashita ato ni, shōsai wo mēru de (anata ni) okurimasu

In the first example, both actions described in the sentence occurred in the past, but because the word “mae” is used to form a noun phrase describing when ‘I’ left the house, the verb in that noun phrase - “deru” - needs to be expressed from the perspective of main verb in the sentence. At the time that ‘I’ hung out the laundry, the act of leaving the house was in the future, so “deru” needs to be expressed in the present/future tense.

The opposite situation occurs in the second example. The overall sentence refers to the future, but at the time that the main verb in the sentence - “okurimasu” - takes place, the act of speaking with “her” will be in the past. The verb “hanasu” should therefore be expressed in the past tense.

Another example is this one from Chapter 12.5.7, where the past tense is used even though the action being referred to is in the present or future:

It would be better to wait here than to go inside

naka ni hairu yori, koko de matta hō ga ī desu

This is a bit trickier to make sense of, but essentially, the main verb here is “desu”, and this is used to describe the act of ‘waiting here’ as good (“ī”). The timing that this description applies to is actually a hypothetical future, where we are looking back and evaluating the outcome of having waited. At that hypothetical future time, the act of waiting is in the past, so the past tense is used for that verb.

By contrast, the act of ‘going inside’ will not have occurred at that future time. Instead, it will be in a perpetual state of non-completion, not occurring in the past, present or future. For this reason, the dictionary form is used to refer to the act of ‘going inside‘ in general terms.

The same reasoning can be applied to why the negative present/future tense is used when a negative verb appears before “hō”, such as in this example, also from Chapter 12.5.7:

This smells strange, so I think it would be better not to eat it

kore wa hen na nioi ga suru kara, tabenai hō ga ī to omoimasu

Here, too, the act of ‘not eating’ does not occur at any time in the past, present or future. It is therefore described in general terms, which is done using the negative of the dictionary form.

In summary, the tense used for verbs that appear within noun phrases is sometimes different in English and Japanese because the perspective that applies to these actions is different. While in English we almost always talk about things from the perspective of the present, in Japanese sentences, verbs that appear within noun phrases should be expressed from the perspective of the main action in that sentence.

Appendix 2

Verb dictionary (English - Japanese)

This dictionary contains all of the verbs that appear in the examples and exercises in this book. Japanese verbs are presented in their dictionary form (informal present tense) and in the polite present tense to assist with verb type identification. Verbs that are part of a transitive/intransitive verb pair (refer to Chapter 8.7) are marked with a [t] for transitive and [i] for intransitive.

Appendix 3

Verb dictionary (Japanese - English)

This dictionary contains all of the verbs that appear in the examples and exercises in this book. Japanese verbs are presented in their dictionary form (informal present tense) and in the polite present tense to assist with verb type identification. Verbs that are part of a transitive/intransitive verb pair (refer to Chapter 8.7) are marked with a [t] for transitive and [i] for intransitive.

Appendix 4

Non-verb dictionary (English - Japanese)

This dictionary contains all of the vocabulary that appears in the examples and exercises in this book, except verbs. For an English-Japanese verb dictionary, see Appendix 2.

Appendix 5

Non-verb dictionary (Japanese - English)

This dictionary contains all of the vocabulary that appears in the examples and exercises in this book, except verbs. For a Japanese-English verb dictionary, see Appendix 3.