Japanese

Grammar Notes
INTRODUCTION 2

PRONUNCIATION AND ALPHABET 3

NOUNS 5

VERBS 6

ADJECTIVES 10

OTHER WORD FORMS 11

STATEMENTS 16

QUESTIONS 17

COMPARISONS 19

NUMBERS 21

WANT TO LEARN MORE? 23

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Introduction
Japanese language shares some structural features with other languages in
the world. However, many of them are not present in Western languages
including English. Listed below are some key concepts of the Japanese
language:

1. Sentence structure: Subject + Object + verb, rather than Subject + Verb +
Object like English

2. Verbs: Verbs have conjugations of tense and aspect.

3. Singular and Plural: There is no obvious distinction between singular and
plural. Quantities are often presented by simply adding quantifiers in front of
the nouns.

4. Levels of formality: According to the situation, it is necessary to change
the style of both written and spoken Japanese. There are few ways on how to
make words and phrases polite.

5. Verb conjugation: simply apply “formal words” rather than basic words
and add [o] in front of nouns - [o hana] / flowers instead of [hana]
/ flowers - are some of the examples.

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6. Particles and Articles: Example of a Particles are [wa], [ga] / subject
or topic markers are placed after nouns and pronouns.Without these
particles, the nouns cannot be grammatical subjects. [n]) / similar to
English prepositions such as in, to, on. [no] / similar to an apostrophe 's'.
These are just a few examples, and many of them are used in multiple ways.
They are the words that mainly show the relationship of words, phrases, or
clauses to the rest of the sentence. Some particles are like English
prepositions they always follow the word they mark. That's why they are
called subject marker or object marker. Articles on the other hand such as a,
an, and the, are not used in Japanese language. Demonstrative pronouns
such as 'this' and 'that' are often used instead of articles.

Pronunciation and Alphabet

Spoken Japanese has the following characteristics:

1. Slight differences in speech style between men and women.

2. The predicate (verbs) is sometimes the only part that is present in
sentences in Japanese. Subjects and objects can be omitted if the speaker
judges them to be understood among others.

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Three different kinds of writings in Japanese:

1. Kanji (Chinese characters) - each character has an idea or meaning. Most
of them have two or more readings.

Examples:
[ki] / tree
[mizu] / water
[yama] / mountain

2. Hiragana (phonetic letters) - these are the characters that are most likely
the first letters you learn.

Example:
[konnichiwa] / Hello :: [ko] [n] [ni] [chi] [wa]

3. Katakana (phonetic letters) - those are used mainly for foreign words
(foreign names and foreign originated words)

Example:
[chokore^to] / chocolate :: [cho] [ko] [re^]
[to]
[Amerika] / America :: [a] [me] [ri] [ka]

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Nouns
Nouns are quite simple in Japanese. There is no use of gender or articles and
there is no required distinction between singular or plural.

Examples:
[onna no hito] / woman
[otoko no hito] / man
[jitensya] / bike


[otokonoko ga pan o tabemasu]
The boy is eating bread.

Take note of the particle [o] after [nani] and the food name. [o] is
placed after nouns and it indicates that the nouns are the direct objects, it is
an object marker. Without this particle the nouns cannot have objective
meanings grammatically and the sentences sound choppy and incomplete.

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Verbs
Japanese sentences end with verbs and the ending of verbs are the different
form of conjugations that shows its tense and aspect.

Basic form of verbs are hardly used especially in conversations, however you
need to know them to conjugate verbs as they are the 'base'.

Example:
[suwaru] / sit
[tatsu] / stand
[aruku] / walk

Verb conjugations:
Japanese verbs can be divided into three types for conjugations:

1. [u] verbs - verbs that ends with [u], such as [nomu] / drink
2. [ru] verbs - verbs that ends with [ru], such as [taberu] / eat
3. irregular verbs, such as [kuru] / come

Present Tense
To make present continuous tense [-ing form], you need to conjugate verbs to (-te)
form and then add [teimasu] / -ing.

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Example:
[suwatte] / sit = [suwatte imasu] / sitting
[tatte] / stand = [tatte imasu] / standing
[aruite] / walk = [aruite imasu] / walking

Basic sentence structure in present continuous tense: Subject (noun) + Verb:
[otoko no hito] + [suwatte imasu] / The man is sitting.

As mentioned to be able to make complete sentences in the Japanese language, a
particle is needed. Subjects are made up with nouns, pronouns or proper nouns +
particles. Another particle is [ga] which is a topic/subject marker. It is placed
after nouns, in this case it would be [otoko no hito] / man. Without this
particle, the noun cannot be a grammatical subject.

[otoko no hito] / man + [ga] / subject marker particle +
[suwatte imasu] / sitting


[otoko no hito ga suwatte imasu]
The man is sitting.

Future Tense

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To form the future tense of verbs:

1. [u] verbs - change the last sound [ u] to [ou] and add
[toshiteimasu] / is going to [verb]

Example:
[nomu] / drink - change last sound to [ou], [nomou] / drink and add
[nomou toshiteimasu] / is going to drink


[neko ga nomou toshiteimasu]
The cat is going to drink.

2. [ru] verbs - drop the last letter of the word [ru] and add [you] and
[toshiteimasu] / is going to [verb]

Example:
[taberu] / eat - [ru] the last letter of the word + [you
toshiteimasu] = [tabe you toshiteimasu] / is going to eat


[inu ga tabe youtoshiteimasu]
The dog is going to eat.

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Past Tense

To form the past tense of the verb:

1. [u] verbs – change the last sound [u] to [i] and add [mashita] /
suffix of the past tense of the verb
[nomu] / drink change to [nomi] + [mashita] = [nomi mashita] /
drank


[neko wa nomi mashita]
The cat drank.

2. [ru] verbs - drop the last letter of the word [ru] and add [you] and add
[mashita] / suffix of past tense of the verb


[inu wa tabe mashita]
The dog ate.

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Adjectives
There are three types of adjectives in Japanese. The differences are the
ending letters in them. In their base forms, there is an:

1. [i] adjective which ends with the letter [i]
2. [na] adjectives which ends with the letter [na]
3. colour words which are nouns that transform to [i] adjectives in the
most cases.

To make negative form with adjectives, first you need to drop [i] part
which is the last letter and add [kunai], the negative suffix.

Examples:
[aka i] red – drop the last letter of the word [i] + [kunai]
negative suffix = [akaku nai] / not red
[kuri i] / black - drop the last letter of the word [i]+ [kunai]
negative suffix = [kuroku nai] / not black


[kono keitaidenwa wa kuroku naidesu. sore wa aoi desu]
This mobile phone is not black, it's blue.

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[kono denwa wa akaku naidesu. sore wa kuroi desu]
This telephone is not red, it's black.

Other Word Forms

Prepositions
[naka] / in
[ue] / on
[shita] / under

Another particle is [no] and perhaps it is the most useful particle of all. In
this case it is used as a noun modifier which means directing where the
objects are, not exactly like English 'to', but perhaps similar to 'of'. [naka]
without [no] is translated to 'middle' or 'inside' which are both nouns.
Now, add [no] after [naka], [naka no] is translated to 'in' or 'inside
of' or 'middle of'. Without this particle, the noun [naka] cannot be a
preposition or have a meaning equal to a preposition such as 'in'.

[ue no] / on
[shita no] / under

Examples:

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[kuruma no naka no akachan]
A baby in a car.


[kuruma no ue no jitennsya]
A bike on a car.


[hikouki no shita no otokonoko]
A boy under a plane.

In the first sentence you can notice that [naka no] is placed after
[kuruma no]. This is very different from the English form and is a very
common mistake for beginner students to make.

Pronouns
[kare] / he
[kanojo] / she

Please note that these words are also used for him and her, his and hers.
How you make a difference is easy, you simply use different particles.
Remember, each particle has different purpose.

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Pronouns 'he' and 'she' using [wa]: [kare] / he and [kanojo] / she
are pronouns in Japanese but without a subject marker [wa], they cannot
be grammatical subjects.

Examples:

[kare wa nani o kite imasuka]
What is he wearing?


[kare wa nagai zubon o haiteimasu]
He is wearing long pants.


[kanojo wa nani o motte imasuka]
What is she holding?


[kanojo wa ooki i bo^ru o niko to chiisa i bo^ru o ikko motte imasu]
She is holding two big balls and a small ball.

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[watashi] / I
[anata] / you

Please note that these words are also used for 'me' and 'you' (as an object
form) and 'mine' and 'yours'.

Below are examples using [watashi] and [anata] by using [wa]
as a subject marker. [watashi] and [anata] are also pronouns in
Japanese but without the subject marker [wa], they cannot be
grammatical subjects:

[boushi] / hat


[anata wa nani o kite imasuka]
What are you wearing?


[watashi wa shiroi boushi o kabutteimasu]
I'm wearing a white hat.


Demonstrative pronouns

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One demonstrative pronoun is the word [ano] / that. Remember that
there is no 'the' in Japanese because we don't really use articles. However,
you can say [sono] or [ano] for 'the' in Japanese to specify or
emphasize a word.

[kono] / this
[ano] / that/the
[sono] / the

Examples:
[oniisann] / older brother
[imouto] / younger sister


[kono otokonoko wa sono onnanoko no oniisan desu]
This boy is the older brother of the girl.


[kono onnanoko wa sono otokonoko no imouto desu]
This girl is the younger sister of the boy.

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Statements
Making negative sentences is quite simple in the Japanese language.

Verbs are formed as (present continuous tense + negative). In Verb
conjugations, just remember the present continuous tense [imasu]
/ -ing, take out the last letter [su] and add [sen], a suffix, which will
make it to its negative form. Unlike in English, negative suffix [sen] is
used in Japanese to make negative forms it can't be translated to 'not'
directly but it has the same effect.

Example:
[tatte imasu] / standing

Negative form:
[su] the last letter from the sentence + [sen] the negative form suffix
= [tatte imasen] / not standing


[onna no hito wa tatte imasen]
The woman is not standing.

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Questions
To formulate questions in Japanese use present continuous forms as they are the
most commonly used forms in both spoken and written Japanese. Unlike in English,
we don't move the order of subjects and verbs in the sentences to make question
forms. We simply add [ka] at the end of the sentence.

Examples:
[ryuri shiteimasu] / cooking
[nonndeimasu] drinking

Now Add [ka] to formulate a question:

[ryouri shiteimasuka]
(Are you/Is she etc.) cooking?

.
[otokonoko ga tabeteimasu ka.]
Is the boy eating?

WHAT
The question word [nani o] / what.

Example:

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[ano onna no hito wa nani o shiteimasuka]
What is that woman doing?

WHERE
It's simple to make a question, just add [ka] (sentence ending particle for question
forms) at the end. Another particle to use is [wa] which is a subject/topic marker
particle.

Example:
[doko] / where
[desu] / be

.
[ano otoko no hito wa dokodesuka]
Where is the man?


[ano otoko no hito to onna no hito wa dokodesuka]
Where are the man and the woman?

WHO
The question word [dare] / who.

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Example:

[ano sensei wa dare desuka]
Who is the teacher?


[ano isha wa dare desuka]
Who is the doctor?

Comparisons
When comparing two things in Japanese, normally the sentence is formed:
A + [wa] +B [yori]+ adjective/adverb + verbs (or verbs that are described
with adverbs). This means, A is more than B.

[wa] - subject marker particle
[yori] - more than, less than, -er than as in 'bigger than'

Example:
[onna no hito](A) + [wa] + [otoko no hito](B) + [yori]) +
[kirei] (adjective) + [desu] (verb)

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[onnanohito wa otoko no nin yorikireidesu]
The woman is more beautiful than the man.

The 'as____as' form or [onaji] in Japanse is usually translated to same in English.
To use it to make comparison sentences is shown below, [wa] or [ga] are also
used as subject markers:

A + [wa] or [ga] + B [to onaji] + adjective/adverb + be verbs (or verbs
that are described with adverbs).

'A' and 'B' are the same /have the same 'adjective/adverb'. This means A is as
'adjective' as B.

Example:
[hige no otoko no hito] (A) + [wa] + [boushi no
otoko no hito](B) [onaji] + [takasa] / tall + [verb]


[higeno otoko no hito wa boushi no otoko no hito to onaji takasa desu]
The man with the beard is as tall as the man with the hat.

Superlative Comparison
To form comparison sentences with most or in a superlative degree we have:

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'A' subject/topic + [wa] or [ga] + [ichiban] / the most + adjective, noun or
adverb + be verbs (or verbs that are described with adverbs). [ichiban] is
usually translated to the most, No. 1, top etc in English.

Example:
[zou](A) + [ichibann] / the most + [ookii] / big


(zou ga ichibann ookii)
The elephant is the biggest.

Numbers
Counting numbers in Japanese is very simple. After you learn how to count from one
to ten, you simply need to combine those numbers systematically to go from there.

[ichi] / one
[ni] / two
[san] / three
[shi] / four
[go] / five
[roku] / six

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[shichi] / seven
[hachi] / eight
[kyuu] / nine
[juu] / ten

Note: People use those universal numbers (number system) such as 1, 2, 3, 4… 100,
1000… as well as Kanji characters in Japan.
[juu ishi] / eleven
[juu ni] / twelve
[juu san] / thirteen

Can you see the pattern? They are combinations of [juu] / ten and the numbers in
the ones place.

[juu shi] / fourteen
[juu go] / fifteen
[ni juu] / twenty: combination of the numbers [ni] x [juu].
[ni juu ichi] / twenty one : [ni] x [juu] + [ichi]

More Examples:
[juu] / ten + [ichi] / one = [juu ichi] / eleven 11
[juu] / ten + [kyuu] / nine = [juu kyuu] / nineteen 19
[ni] / two x [juu] / ten = [ni juu] / twenty 20

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[ni juu] / twenty + [go] / five = [ni juu go] / twenty five 25
[kyuu] / nine x [juu] / ten = [kyuu juu] / ninety 90
[kyuu juu] / ninety + [kyuu] / nine = [kyuu juu kyuu] / ninety nine 99
[hyuku] / one hundred 100

After [hyuku] you start: [hyuku] / one hundred + [ichi] / one = [hyaku
ichi] one hundred one] and so on. The rest is exactly the same.

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