Welcome to Crystal Hunters!

We are the world’s first epic manga created for the express
purpose of learning Japanese from zero.

However, Japanese is a hard language to learn. In fact, ac-

cording to the Foreign Service InsBtute, it is the #1 hardest
language for naBve English speakers to learn. But even if
you are learning from zero, we believe you can learn to read
the first 100+ pages of Crystal Hunters in about two weeks if
you study at a brisk pace, or maybe within a weekend if you
blitz it. So, seMle in and join us for fantasBcal adventure that will
give you a sense of accomplishment for life.

Japanese Writing Systems:

Let’s jump in! Japan is unique in that it has three different alphabets/
wriBng systems. Of these three wriBng systems, there are two alpha-
bets and one large list of symbols adapted from Chinese, called “kanji”,
and about 2,000 kanji are commonly used.

Because Japanese mixes all these wriBng systems together, it can be

daunBng to learn how to read in Japanese, even for people who have
been studying for many years. But for this manga, basic knowledge of
the two alphabets is all you need to be able to read everything, and we
will teach them to you if you don’t know them yet!
 Alphabets
The two alphabets are called “Hiragana” and “Katakana”. Hiragana is
the primary alphabet, and Katakana is used very similarly to how we
use italics in English, to show words with extra stress and to write for-
eign words.

Pronunciation:
Luckily, many of the sounds in Japanese are sounds that are found in
English, so the basic pronunciaBon is not that difficult to learn. There
are some differences though, and those will be listed in this secBon.

Vowels
First though, let us cover the basics.Nearly all “leMers” in Japanese have
one of 5 vowels in them. In Hiragana, those vowels are:
あ (a), い (i), う (u), え (e), and お (o).

The way to pronounce these vowels is:

あ (ah), い (ee), う (ooh), え (eh), and お (oh).

However, these Japanese vowels are only half the length of how the
English pronunciaBon is read. To make a full-length vowel sound, you
repeat the same vowel. ああ、いい、うう、ええ、おお.

Or, in Katakana, you can also make a full-length vowel sound by

adding a dash aaer the leMer. An extended ア (a) in katakana is
アー .

It is also possible to extend the お (o) sound by adding a う (u) aaer it:
おう. This is actually more common than the double おお wriBng.
In addiBon, it is possible to make different vowel sounds by mixing two
of the vowels together. The two possible vowel combinaBons are:

あ ＋ い ＝ あい = “eye”, or the name of the leMer “I”

え ＋ い ＝ えい = the “ay” in hay, or the name of the leMer “A”

Consonants

Japanese uses the following consonants in its language: b, d, f, g, h, j, k,

m, n, p, r, s, t, w, y, z.

Most of these are the same or fairly similar to the consonants in Eng-
lish, however the Japanese “f” and “r” are not sounds that have a direct
counterpart in English, and will be described below.

Nearly all consonants in Japanese are followed by one of the 5 vowels,

with the sole excepBon of “n”, which is the only consonant that can
come at the end of a word. Because of this, most “leMers” in Japanese
are a combinaBon of a consonant and a vowel. For example: か is the
combinaBon of “k” and “a” to make the sound “ka”.

Like vowels, it is also possible to double the strength of a consonant.

However, when this is done, a special character is used. つ is usually
“tsu”, but when it is used in its smaller form っ, it doubles the conso-
nant that follows it. For example: かか is pronounced “kaka”, but かっ
か is pronounced “kakka”.
Different sounds

As menBoned above, there are only two sounds in Japanese that do not
have a similar sound in English.

Those are the Japanese “r” and “f”.

The Japanese “r” is actually closer to an “L” sound. To correctly make

this sound, put your tongue just above the gums above your top teeth.
This is called your “hard palate”. To make a Japanese “r”, very soaly flick
your tongue from this locaBon and add the appropriate vowel. Remem-
ber there are no solo consonants besides “n” in Japanese, so a vowel
must be added aaer “r”.

The Japanese “f” is a mix of the English “h” and “f”. When making the
“f” sound in English, your top teeth slightly bite down on your boMom
lips. However, for a Japanese “f” your top teeth do not touch your bot-
tom lips. Instead, bring your top teeth slightly near your boMom lips, and
make the “f” sound with the air hihng your top teeth. This will produce
a soa “f” sound, and this is the Japanese “f”.
 Hiragana & Katakana
There are 46 original characters in each alphabet. However, some
“rows” of the alphabet can be modified with a ゛or ゜to change
the consonant. As well, “ya, yu, yo” can be added to many characters
ending with an “i” sound to change the vowel.

Hiragana English Equivalent Katakana

あ い う え お a i u e o ア イ ウ エ オ
か き く け こ ka ki ku ke ko カ キ ク ケ コ
さ し す せ そ sa shi su se so サ シ ス セ ソ
た ち つ て と ta chi tsu te to タ チ ツ テ ト
な に ぬ ね の na ni nu ne no ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ
は ひ ふ へ ほ ha hi fu he ho ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ
ま み む め も ma mi mu me mo マ ミ ム メ モ
や ゆ  よ ya yu yo ヤ  ユ  ヨ
ら りる れ ろ ra ri ru re ro ラ リ ル レ ロ
わ を wa wo ワ ヲ
ん n ン
 Hiragana English Equivalent Katakana
がぎぐげご ga gi gu ge go ガギグゲゴ
ざじずぜぞ za ji zu ze zo ザジズゼゾ
だぢづでど da ji zu de do ダヂヅデド
ばびぶべぼ ba bi bu be bo バビブべボ
ぱぴぷぺぽ pa pi pu pe po パピぷぺポ
きゃ きゅ きょ kya kyu kyo キャ キュ キョ
ぎゃ ぎゅ ぎょ gya gyu gyo ギャ ギュ ギョ
しゃ しゅ しょ sha shu sho シャ シュ ショ
じゃ じゅ じょ ja ju jo ジャ ジュ ジョ
ちゃ ちゅ ちょ cha chu cho チャ チュ チョ
にゃ にゅ にょ nya nyu nyo ニャ ニュ ニョ
ひゃ ひゅ ひょ hya hyu hyo ヒャ ヒュ ヒョ
びゃ びゅ びょ bya byu byo ビャ ビュ ビョ
ぴゃ ぴゅ ぴょ pya pyu pyo ピャ ピュ ピョ
みゃ みゅ みょ mya myu myo ミャ ミュ ミョ
りゃ りゅ りょ rya ryu ryo リャ リュ リョ
 Kanji in Crystal Hunters
While knowing kanji is not necessary to read Crystal Hunters, we do add
some in so that people who wish to study them are able to. For people
who do not know how to read the kanji, hiragana is placed above the
kanji so that it can sBll be read phoneBcally. When hiragana is used this
way, it is called “furigana”.
 Crystal Hunters Vocabulary List:
(listed alphabeBcally by chapter)

Note: if the word you are looking for ends in -nai, -te, -ou, or -eru,
it is likely to be in the grammar section or in the conjugations list
on the last page of this guide.
Chapter 1
Japanese Word English Spelling Kanji Meaning in English
ああ! a-a AHH!
あなた a-na-ta you
あれ a-re that over there*
ありがとう a-ri-ga-to-u thank you
to have*, to be in a place
ある a-ru
(inanimate objects)
あそこ a-so-ko over there
バンソム ba-n-so-mu Bansom (name)
だ da to be*
だいじょうぶ da-i-jo-u-bu 大丈夫 all right, problem free
だめ da-me 駄目 not good, not allowed
だれ da-re 誰 who
でも de-mo but
どこ do-ko where
どうぞ do-u-zo here you are
が ga subject/object particle*
は ha (pronounced "wa") subject particle*
はい ha-i yes
ひと hi-to 人 person
ほしい ho-shi-i want
いい i-i good, yes
いいえ i-i-e no
いく i-ku 行く to go
to exist, to be in a place
いる i-ru
(for people, animals)
か ka question particle*
かいぶつ ka-i-bu-tsu 怪物 monster
かなしい ka-na-shi-i 悲しい sad
かんがえる ka-n-ga-e-ru 考える to think
かれ ka-re 彼 he
カル ka-ru Kal (name)
けん ke-n 剣 sword
き ki 木 tree
 Chapter 1
Japanese Word English Spelling Kanji Meaning in English
きかい ki-ka-i 機械 machine
ko-n-ni-chi-ha "kon-
こんにちは hello
nichiwa"
ここ ko-ko here
この ko-no this*
これ ko-re this*
クリスタル ku-ri-su-ta-ru crystal
みえる mi-e-ru 見える can see*
みる mi-ru 見る to see
も mo too, also
もつ mo-tsu 持つ to hold*
なか na-ka 中 in, inside
partner, colleague,
なかま na-ka-ma 仲間
group friend
なに na-ni 何 what
なる na-ru 成る to become
なぜ na-ze なぜ why
に ni position particle*
にげる ni-ge-ru 逃げる run away
の no possessive particle*
おかね o-ka-ne お金 money
おとこ o-to-ko 男 man
パンチ pa-n-chi punch
∼ら (suffix) ra plural suffix*
しる shi-ru 知る to know*
そこ so-ko there
その so-no that*
すき su-ki 好き like
to fall down, to be de-
たおれる ta-o-re-ru 倒れる
feated
∼たち (suffix) ta-chi 達 plural suffix*
と to と and
ところ to-ko-ro 所 place
to stop someone or
とめる to-me-ru 止める
something
トラック to-ra-kku truck
つかう tsu-ka-u 使う to use
わ wa 話 chapter, story
わかる wa-ka-ru 分かる to understand*
わたし wa-ta-shi 私 I, me
を wo (pronounced "oh") object particle*
うれしい u-re-shi-i 嬉しい happy
 Chapter 2
Japanese Word English Spelling Kanji Meaning in English
あの a-no that over there*
あたらしい a-ta-ra-shi-i 新しい new
ちから chi-ka-ra 力 power
ハンター ha-n-ta-a hunter
いま i-ma 今 now
かのじょ ka-no-jo 彼女 her
こ ko 子 child, adolescent
のる no-ru 乗る to ride
おんな o-n-na 女 woman
さようなら sa-yo-u-na-ra goodbye
よ yo emphasis particle*
bow (the one used with
ゆみ yumi 弓
arrows)

Chapter 3
Japanese Word English Spelling Kanji Meaning in English
あう a-u 会う to meet
いえ i-e 家 house, home
ナイツ na-i-tsu Knites (character name)
なまえ na-ma-e 名前 name
しっぽ shi-ppo tail
それ so-re that*
つの tsu-no 角 horn
や ya 矢 arrow
to quit, to stop doing
やめる ya-me-ru
something

* means there will be further clarification in the sections below.

 Grammar
Particles
Japanese grammar is very different from English grammar, but in a way
it can be easier than English once you get used to it. Japanese grammar
is particle-based, which means the particles are what guide the mean-
ing of a sentence.

We use seven different parBcles in Crystal Hunters, but the two most
basic parBcles are:
は (ha – but pronounced “wa”) – This determines the subject/topic.
を (wo – but pronounced “oh”) – This determines the object.

は
To begin, we can make very simple sentences with は only.
For example:
わたし は みる = I see.

ParBcles describe the word before them, and in this sentence we

can see that は is describing わたし. わたし and は are now a “word-
parBcle set”, and this makes わたし the subject of the sentence. As
well, verbs do not need parBcles, so this simple sentence only has one
parBcle.
を
Now, let’s add an を to the previous sentence. The normal word
order for Japanese is Subject – Object – Verb.

わたし は クリスタル を みる = I see a crystal.

There is a わたし は word-parBcle set, and a クリスタル を

word-parBcle set. Because Japanese is a parBcle-based language, we
can actually move around the word-parBcle sets and the meaning stays
the same. We can even change the order to be the same as English.

わたし は みる、クリスタル を。

Or, we can change the order to be like Yoda.

クリスタル を、わたし は みる。

While the first version is the most common. All of these versions are
grammaBcally correct.

Singular/Plural

Although the sentence above was translated as “I see a crystal.”, it could

also be “I see crystals.” The reason for this is that Japanese does not of-
ten disBnguish between one thing and many things by modifying its
nouns like English does. So, unBl further explained, Japanese things are
oaen like Schrödinger's cat in that they are in mulBple states of being.
They are both one thing and many things at the same Bme.

There are excepBons to this though, especially when talking about

people, and these will be covered in more detail below in the
―たち、―ら secBon.
No Spaces

ParBcles are very useful for telling us how to read a sentence, and they
are always wriMen in Hiragana. Since Japanese is wriMen in a mixture
of kanji and its alphabets, it is very easy to find where the parBcles are
in a sentence. It’s so easy, in fact, that there is actually no need for spa-
ces between words in Japanese.
Let’s add kanji (and furigana) to the previous example sentence. When
we do this, we just have to find the parBcles, and the parBcles will de-
fine where each word is.
わたし み
私はクリスタルを見る。

Aaer finding the parBcles, we can see that there are three parts to
わたし み
this sentence. 私は、クリスタルを、and 見る. Now that we have
everything separated into word-parBcle sets, we can easily
determine the meaning of the sentence.
に
Our next parBcle, に, is used when showing locaBon or
movement. It can mean “to”, “in”, “on”, or “at”.

For example:

わたし は トラック に いる = I am in the truck.

わたし
And, without spaces: 私はトラックにいる。

We can see that the に defines トラック as the locaBon to be in / to go

to and makes トラック に a word-parBcle set. We then add this to the
わたし は word-parBcle set, and then いる shows us that a living thing
(I) is in the truck.

Now, let’s see another example.

わたし は あそこ に いく= I go over there.
わたし い
Without spaces: 私はあそこに行く。

SomeBmes, like above, the word before the parBcle is all in Hiragana,
and for the untrained eye, it can be hard to see where each word is. But
remember, all we have to do is separate each part of the sentence into
word-parBcle sets, and it becomes easy to see.
わたし い
私は あそこに 行く

It takes a liMle pracBce, but eventually it becomes very easy to do this

automaBcally.
が
Like は, the parBcleが can also mark the subject of a sentence, and dis-
cerning whether to use は or が can oaen be very difficult for Japanese
learners, even for people who have reached near-naBve levels. But
don’t worry! Crystal Hunters only uses が in one way, so within our sto-
ry at least, it is fairly easy to understand.
The way が is used in Crystal Hunters is actually more like an object,
meaning that it replaces を, but only when paired with
certain verbs/adjecBves.

For example:

モンスター が いる = There is a monster.

Without spaces: モンスターがいる。

が oaen joins with いる when introducing where something is. In addi-

Bon, we can see that いる translates to “there is” in this
sentence.

Now, let’s make it slightly more complicated:

あそこ に モンスター が いる ＝ There is a monster over there.

Without spaces: あそこにモンスターがいる。

Within the Crystal Hunters story, we treat word-parBcle sets with

が as ones that include a verb, so モンスターがいる is one set. This is
our “が set”. In real Japanese, we can break the verb off and move it
around, but it gets very complicated very quickly when we do this, so
we will avoid that here.
So, with モンスターがいる being one set, all we have to do is add
あそこに either before or aaer モンスターがいる、and the
meaning becomes “There is a monster over there”.

Using が for adjecBve-verbs

What is an “adjecBve verb”? Well, it’s a word that is a verb in English,

but is an adjecBve in Japanese. For words like this, we use が.
For example:
わたし は クリスタル が すき だ = I like crystals.
わたし す
Without spaces: 私はクリスタルが好きだ。

Wow, there’s a lot in this sentence! Let’s unpack it.

First, let’s start with the part we know. We know that わたし は is a set,
and we know what that means, so let’s take it out for now.

クリスタル が すき だ

OK, now we know that クリスタル が is a word-parBcle

combinaBon, and we know that we want to add a verb to make it a
complete “が set”. But… where is the verb?
OK, so looking at our Crystal Hunters Vocabulary List, we
see that すき means “like”, and だ means “to be”. Looking closer, we
can see that すき is not “to like”, which means that this “like” is an
adjecBve in Japanese, not a verb! To make it a “verb”, we combine it
with だ. So, for this sentence すき だ is the verb.
To make our “が set” we add クリスタル が to すき だ and we get ク
リスタル が すき だ which means “(someone) likes crystals.”

Then we add our わたし は back in, and we get:

わたし は クリスタル が すき だ = I like crystals.
わたし す
Without spaces: 私はクリスタルが好きだ。

Further informaBon on “が sets”.

In Crystal Hunters, these verbs/adjecBves are used in “が sets”.
いる
ある
すき だ
ほしい
みえる
And all verbs in their “can” forms (to be explained later).

However! This does not mean that all of these words are always
part of a “が set”. We only use them in “が sets” when there is an
object in the sentence.

For example, let’s start with the sentence:

わたし は かいぶつ が みえる。= I can see a monster.
わたし かいぶつ み
Without spaces: 私は怪物が見える。

If we take out the object in this sentence (monster), then we get:

わたし は みえる = I can see (it).
わたし み
Without spaces: 私は見える。
Since there is only a subject, and no object in this sentence, we
don’t form a “が set”. In fact, this sentence in parBcular would be
very strange if we turned it into a “が set”:

わたし が みえる = (I) can see myself.

わたし み
Without spaces: 私が見える。
Unless you’re looking in a mirror, this would be a very strange thing to
say.
の
Phew! We made it through the hard parBcles! The final three parBcles
are all relaBvely easy! Let’s go through these quick.

First, there’s の, which is a possessive parBcle. This means it

oaen means “ ‘s ” in English, or it changes “me” into “my” or “mine” or
something like that.

Example:
わたし の けん は あそこ だ = My sword is over there.

When の is used, the word-parBcle set expands. This means that while
わたし の is a word-parBcle combinaBon, it is not the full set. の is a
joiner, not a breaker. Therefore, the whole word-parBcle set goes all the
way unBl は.

わたし の けん は = my sword.

Then we add あそこ and だ for the “over there” and “is” and we
get:
わたし の けん は あそこ だ = My sword is over there.
わたし けん
Without spaces: 私の剣はあそこだ。

As some of you may have already noBced, there is no に aMached to あ

そこ here, and that’s because だ is a special verb which likes to do its
own thing, and だ doesn’t like に, so no に here.
However, if we use ある instead of だ, we need to use the に. Also,
we’re using ある, not いる, because a sword is an inanimate object.

わたし の けん は あそこ に ある = My sword is over there.

わたし けん
Without spaces: 私の剣はあそこにある。
か
The last two parBcles are used like punctuaBon marks, but spoken, and
they are usually added to the end of the sentence. か is like a quesBon
mark.
For example, if we add か to the previous example sentence, it
becomes a quesBon:
わたし の けん は あそこ に ある か？ = Is my sword over
there?
わたし けん
Without spaces: 私の剣はあそこにあるか？

Technically, a か is not necessary to form a quesBon, but using か

is similar to moving the “is” in the previous sentence to the front of the
sentence when asking a quesBon in English. If you make a statement in
English, but lia your inflecBon at the end of the statement, it becomes a
quesBon. This is true for Japanese too.
わたし けん
私の剣はあそこにある？= My sword is over there?

よ
Last parBcle! よ is like an exclamaBon point. If we
take off the か and add よ to the previous example
sentence, it’s like adding an exclamaBon point.
わたし けん
私の剣はあそこにあるよ！ = My sword is over there!

As with か, it is not completely necessary to add よ when using an

exclamaBon point, but it adds an extra amount of oomph!
 Disappearing words

We made it through the parBcles! We’re not far from the end now! But,
let’s take a short detour before we go through the last few grammar
rules to talk about something fun!

So far, we’ve been showing you standard sentences in Japanese, but

just like a ninja, the Japanese language doesn’t always show all of itself.
Many of the words in a sentence can disappear and the sentence works
just fine.

For example, we can remove half the words/parBcles from the

following sentence:
わたし す す
私はクリスタルが好きだ。―＞ クリスタルが好き。
わたし
First, we can take off the 私は because the default subject in
Japanese is “I”. We don’t have this for statements in English, but we do
have something similar for command forms.
For example: “GO! GO NOW!” has a default subject of “You”.
わたし
So, 私は disappears and the meaning remains unchanged.

Also, the だ used aaer some adjecBve-verbs can be chopped right

off and the meaning of the sentence remains fairly unchanged.

QuesBons too!
Yes, there is a default subject for quesBons too, but the default subject
for quesBons is “You”.

So, for example: す す

あなたはクリスタルが好きか？―＞クリスタルが好きか？
す
The か is also not necessary, so: クリスタルが好き？ is also OK.
 Remaining Grammar Rules:
Ok, let’s power through some tenses and other quick grammar rules,
and then we’re almost done with the tutorial and off to the manga!

Present/Future tense

Present tense in Japanese can also be future tense. Yes, that’s correct,
and there is no future tense in Japanese. Phew! That saves us a lot of
Bme! No need to learn future tense!

Just remember that present tense is not only present tense, but
also representaBve of something to be done in the future.
い
So, トラックに行く can be both “I go to the truck.” and “I’ll go to
the truck.” depending on the context of the situaBon.

However, there is one excepBon. だ does its own thing again here too,
and だ cannot be used in the future tense. Instead, だ changes to
に なる(to become) when using “be verbs” in the “future” tense.

For example:
きかい
これは機械だ。= This is a machine.
きかい
これは機械になる。= This will be/become a machine.
 NegaBve form

In English, to make a sentence negaBve, we just add “not” or “do not”

or something like that and the sentence becomes negaBve. Something
similar happens in Japanese, but we don’t add a word, we conjugate the
verb differently. This is because Japanese loves to conjugate verbs.
LOVES. Seriously. There are so many verb conjugaBons in Japanese. We
do our best to keep verb conjugaBons to a minimum here though, so
there are only dicBonary form + five types of conjugaBons in Crystal
Hunters.

There are a couple ways to conjugate a verb into its negaBve form, and
which way you conjugate it depends on how the spelling of the verb
ends. Surprisingly, it’s actually easier to think about this with English
leMers than Japanese leMers. As well, it is easy to tell when a verb has
been turned into its negaBve form, as all negaBve conjugaBons end in
ない.

Normal way

All verbs in Japanese end in a character that has an “u” sound. The
normal way to conjugate the verb is to cut off the “u” sound at the end
of the verb and add “anai”. This means that the last leMer will change,
and then you add “ない” aaer that.

For example:
いく changes to いかない
い
トラックに行かない。 = I don’t/won’t go to the truck.
One slight modificaBon to the normal way is for verbs ending in う. In
stead of adding “anai” aaer taking off “u”, you add “wanai”.

For example:
つかう changes to つかわない
きかい つか
機械を使わない。 = I don’t/won’t use machines.

The “-eru” way.

For verbs that end in -eru, it is very easy to conjugate into negaBve
forms. Just take off る, and add ない.

For example:
みえる changes to みえない.
み
クリスタルが見えない。= I can’t see the crystal(s).

The “-iru” hybrid

Verbs that end in “-iru” can behave like a normal verb, or they can be-
have like -eru verbs, it just depends on the verb. Unfortunately you just
have to memorize which are which for this one.

Example:
しる changes to しらない (normal way).
かれ し
彼は知らない。= He doesn’t know.

みる changes to みない (-eru way).

み
クリスタルを見ない = I don’t/won’t see the crystals.
だ ＆ ある
Of course, だ does its own weird thing again like it always does.

だ changes to じゃない.
す
クリスタルが好きじゃない。 = I don’t like crystals.

ある also does its own thing here. It just changes to ない.

ここにクリスタルがない。= There are no crystals here.
Here is a full list of all the verbs in Crystal Hunters and their conjuga-
Bons from dicBonary form to negaBve form.

Dictionary Form Negative Form

ある ない
だ じゃない
いる いない
いく いかない
かんがえる かんがえない
みえる みえない
みる みない
もつ もたない
なる ならない
にげる にげない
しる しらない
たおれる たおれない
とめる とめない
つかう つかわない
わかる わからない
のる のらない
あう あわない
やめる やめない
 Past tense

Like English, to turn a present sentence into a past tense sentence, you
need to conjugate the verb. For the most part, verbs fall into the same
conjugaBons groups we saw in the negaBve form (“normal” and “eru”).
And like before there are a few excepBons. That said, it is easy to dis-
cern a past tense conjugaBon since all the past conjugaBons in Crystal
Hunters end in た (although some verbs not in Crystal Hunters end in
だ).

Normal way
Usually, there are a few different subsets for the normal way when con-
jugaBng into past tense, but luckily, all the normal conjugaBon verbs in
Crystal Hunters fall into the same group!

When making a verb into past tense in this way, all you have to do is
take off the last character (the whole character and not just the
“u”), and then add “Ma” or った.

For example:
つかう changes to つかった.
きかい
機械をつかった。= I used a machine.

The “-eru” way (and some “iru”)

Again, this way is slightly easier than the normal way. Just take off る
and add た.

かのじょ かんが
彼女は考えた。 = She thought.
だ
だ does it’s own thing again, especially because you don’t cut
anything off of it, but it’s actually fairly normal here.
Just add った.
かれ けん す
彼は剣が好きだった = He liked swords / He used to like swords.
Here is a full list of all the verbs in Crystal Hunters and their conjuga-
Bons from dicBonary form to past form.

Dictionary Form Past Form

ある あった
だ だった
いる いた
いく いった
かんがえる かんがえた
みえる みえた
みる みた
もつ もった
なる なった
にげる にげた
しる しった
たおれる たおれた
とめる とめた
つかう つかった
わかる わかった
のる のった
あう あった
やめる やめた
AdjecBve Past &
 NegaBve Past

In Japanese, instead of conjugaBng the verb to turn an adjecBve into

the past tense (for example: “I was happy”), we conjugate the adjecBve
itself. If the adjecBve ends in い, 99% of the Bme it is an adjecBve you
conjugate. If it does not end in い, you add the past form of だ, or だっ
た。We saw the だった version in the previous example:
かれ けん す
彼は剣が好きだった = He liked swords / He used to like swords.

However, if we use an adjecBve that ends in い, like うれしい,

then it conjugates differently (this is also the reason why we don’t
need だ aaer ほしい when making a “が set”.) For past tense with
these い adjecBves, we conjugate the adjecBve directly. Doing this is
very simple. Just take off the い and add かった.

Example:
うれしい changes to うれしかった.
うれ
嬉しかった。 = I was happy.

Also, since all of the negaBve verb forms end in ない, all of them
are conjugated like い adjecBves.

Example:
つかわない changes to つかわなかった.
つか
トラックを使わなかった。 = I didn’t use a truck.
 “て” form

“て” form for verbs is super easy to learn aaer learning their past form.
All you have to do is change the た on the end to て! Easy! Also, we
don’t have to worry about a weird だ variaBon, because there is no
“て” form of だ!

“て” form is really useful to know, because you can use it to do a

lot of things, such as connecBng it to other verbs and adjecBves.

Soft Command “て”

The simplest way to use “て” form is to use it in its naked state.
That is, without connecBng it to anything else. When you do this, it be
comes a “soa” command. That is, it’s a command, but a somewhat po-
lite command. Japanese has three primary command form conjugaBons
and this is the most neutral. Don’t worry, we won’t learn the other
command conjugaBons here.

As in English, the default subject for command form is “You”.

For example:

つかう changes to つかって.

つか
これを使って。 = Use this.
Here is a list of all the verbs in Crystal Hunters in their “て”form.

Dictionary Form “て” Form

ある あって
だ N/A
いる いて
いく いって
かんがえる かんがえて
みえる みえて
みる みて
もつ もって
なる なって
にげる にげて
しる しって
たおれる たおれて
とめる とめて
つかう つかって
わかる わかって
のる のって
あう あって
やめる やめて

Soa Command “て” – NegaBve Form

NegaBve form “て” is also easy. We just take the negaBve form of a verb
and add で. That’s it!

For example:
みない changes to みないで.
わたし み
私を見ないでよ！ = Don’t look at me!!
 て + いる
But, once you put some “clothes” (other verbs and adjecBves) on your
naked “て", it can very quickly acquire a different meaning.
For example, て＋いる is essenBally “-ing” in English. There are some
slight nuance differences, but for the majority of situaBons
て＋いる = “-ing”.

For example:
けん つか
剣を使っている。= I am using a sword.

For negaBve form, just change the いる at the end into いない.

For example:
きかい も
機械を持っていない。= I am not holding a machine /
I don’t have a machine on me.
 て＋いい
This is essenBally the “You may/You can” or “May I/Can I” form.

For example:
けん つか
剣を使っていい? = May I use a sword?

And then the tradiBonal response to this is:

けん つか
はい、剣を使っていい。= Yes, you may use a sword.

But, like in English, a response to a quesBon can be cut down consider-

ably, with the simplest response being “Yes”. Since the quesBon is asked
with an “いい”, the “いい” version of “yes” is a more common response
here. “はい” would not be wrong though, just less natural.

Example:
の
A:トラックに乗っていい？ = Can I ride in the truck?
B: いいよ。= Yeah, go for it.
In this situaBon, adding a よ adds an equivalent “go for it” or “that’s
fine”, and is much more common than just saying いい。Only saying
いい is much less friendly. It’s confirming that it’s OK, but it doesn’t
necessarily mean that the person saying it is happy about it.
 “Let’s” Form
The “Let’s” Form is a verb conjugaBon that lets us say things like “Let’s
go over there” or “Let’s use this.” This conjugaBon form is not so diffi-
cult to learn because there are luckily no だ or ある versions of this
conjugaBon, and the other verbs fall into the same “normal” and “-eru/
some -iru” groups that we’ve been using unBl now. The “let’s” form is
also easy to idenBfy because it always ends in “ou” (sounds like “oh”).

For the normal verbs, we just delete the last “u”, and we add “ou”.

For example:

いく changes to いこう.
い
あそこに行こう。 = Let’s go over there.

For the -eru/some -iru verbs, we delete the last る and we add
よう.

For example:

にげる changes to にげよう.

に
逃げようよ！ = Let’s run away!
Shall we?
When the “let’s” form is used in a quesBon, it becomes “shall we” in-
stead of “let’s”.
Example:
なかま
仲間になろうか？= Shall we be partners/group friends?

Here’s the same list of verbs and their “let’s” form conjugaBons.

Dictionary Form “Let’s” Form

ある N/A
だ N/A
いる いよう
いく いこう
かんがえる かんがえよう
みえる みえよう
みる みよう
もつ もとう
なる なろう
にげる にげよう
しる しろう
たおれる たおれよう
とめる とめよう
つかう つかおう
わかる わかろう
のる のろう
あう あおう
やめる やめよう
 “can” form or “potenBal” form
This verb conjugaBon means that someone “can” or “is able to” to do
something. Again, we divide our verbs into the same “normal”
and “-eru/some -iru” groups. And again, there’s no だ or ある
versions of this conjugaBon so we don’t have to worry about those two.

This is one of the harder verb forms to recognize though, because al-
though all of the “can” form verbs end in “eru”, there are dicBonary
form verbs that also end in “eru”. So, to disBnguish this form, you need
to know what the dicBonary form of the verb is before you can deter-
mine if it’s a “can” form or not.

As well, as menBoned in the parBcles secBon, “can” form verbs

become part of “が sets” when there is an object in the sentence.

For verbs in the “normal” group, we just delete the last “u” and add
“eru”.

For example:
つかう changes to つかえる.
きかい つか
機械が使える = I can use machines.

For verbs in the “eru/some iru” group, we delete the last る and we add
られる.

For example:

にげる changes to にげられる.

に
逃げられるよ！ = I can run away!
Here’s the same list of verbs and their “can” form conjugaBons.

Dictionary Form “can” Form

ある N/A
だ N/A
いる いられる
いく いける
かんがえる かんがえられる
みえる みえられる
みる みられる
もつ もてる
なる なれる
にげる にげられる
しる しれる
たおれる たおれられる
とめる とめられる
つかう つかえる
わかる わかれる
のる のれる
あう あえる
やめる やめられる
 C-c-c-combo!

We’ve learned all the conjugaBons we need to be able to read Crystal

Hunters! Let’s celebrate this accomplishment by throwing all the conju-
gaBons we’ve learned on top of each other!

One of the fun things about Japanese is that you can just keep adding
conjugaBons and connecBons on to verbs and adjecBves to make more
and more complex sentences.

For example, using only things that we have learned so far, we can con-
jugate and connect our way up from “I meet” to saying “I’m happy I was
able to meet you.”
あ
Step 1: 会う = “I meet”, “I will meet”

+ “can” form
あ
Step 2: 会える = “I can meet”, "I am able to meet”

+ “te” form
あ
Step 3: 会えて = “Go be able to meet” ??? (nonsensical)

+うれしい
あ うれ
Step 4: 会えて嬉しい = “I’m happy to be able to meet (you)”

+ past tense
あ うれ
Step 5: 会えて嬉しかった = “I’m happy I was able to meet (you)”
We did it! Using four conjugaBons/connecBons, we were able to build
up to an 8-word sentence (9 if you count “I’m” as two words!) using just
2 Japanese words! Nice! We’ve taken a big first step on our way to be-
coming Japanese masters!

And now, we just have a few quirks of the Japanese language to go

through before we’re all set and ready to read 100+ pages of manga!

(By the way, if you want to quick check all of the verb conjugaBons,
there’s a list of all the verbs and their conjugaBons on the last page.)
 Japanese Language Quirks:
Last secBon!! Just skim this quick and go read the manga!!

This/That differences

In Japanese, there are six different words for this/that, and we use all of
them in Crystal Hunters. It’s fairly simple to understand the difference
between them though, so just give this a quick look.

この／これ
Both この and これ mean “this”. However, we use この when we
are specifying “this (something)”.

For example:
す
このトラックが好きだ。= I like this truck.

And thenこれ is used when we aren’t specifying anything, and are

using “this” only.
す
これが好きだ。= I like this.

その／それ
その and それ are idenBcal to この and これ, but they mean
“that”, and specifically “that” when it is fairly close to you.

For example:
ほ
そのクリスタルが欲しい。= I want that crystal.
ほ
それが欲しい。= I want that.
あの／あれ
Again, the same paMern here, but this Bme for “that over there”.
い
あのところに行く。= I will go to that place over there.
ひと かな
あの人は悲しい。= That person over there is sad.

Girl/Boy vs. someone’s child

The way we say “girl” in Japanese is:

おんな こ
おんな＋の＋こ = 女の子

And the way we say “boy” in Japanese is:

おとこ こ
おとこ＋の＋こ = 男の子

Since we’ve described の as a possessive parBcle, it may look like

those examples above should mean “the woman’s child” and “the
man’s child”, but instead の is just joining those two words together to
make the equivalent of one word in English here.
HOWEVER!! If we added a その before those, for example:
おとこ こ
その男の子, then it could mean both “that man’s child” and “that
boy” depending on the context of the sentence.
 Going to people/things:

In English, we can easily say things like “I’m going to Kal.” Or “I’m
い
going to the monster.” Well, in Japanese saying カルに行くor
かいぶつ い
怪物に行く would be weird because you’re not going to a “place”.
So, in Japanese, you add の＋ところto the thing or person you
are going to, which makes it so you are going to that thing’s / that per-
son’s place.

Example:
かいぶつ い
カルは怪物のところに行く！ = Kal goes to the monster!

Having things

In Japanese there’s a disBncBon between having something on you at

that moment, and having something in general (maybe on you, maybe
at home).
も
For having something on you, Japanese uses 持っている or
“holding”, but this is not limited to what is in your arms, it just needs to
be on your person.

Example:
きかい も
バンソムは機械を持っている。= Bansom has a machine. /
Bansom is holding a machine.

For having something in general, we use ある。

かね
お金がある。= I have money (but not necessarily on me).
 I know that!

In Japanese, the disBncBon between “understand” and “know” is drawn

using different lines.

In simple terms, わかる is used for showing that something went from
し
unclear -> clear. Whereas 知る is used for showing that something went
from unknown -> known.
So:

わかる = I understand the meaning of what you said /

I understand the concept of what you’re explaining /
I get it.
し
知る = I have that informaBon / I have learned that already.

And:

わからない = I don’t understand what you’re saying /

I’m not completely sure.
し
知らない = I haven’t heard of that /
I don’t have enough informaBon.
 The mysteries of “they”

For some reason, Japan has two suffixes for making groups of people
plural. They have the exact same meaning, but they aMach
to different words. The most common one is ―たち, and is used
for most situaBons.

For example:
わたしたち
わたし＋たち = 私 達 = we
かのじょたち
かのじょ＋たち = 彼女達 = they (group of girls/women)

But, for some reason, we use a different suffix for かれ, and that
suffix is ―ら.
かれ
かれ＋ら= 彼ら = they (group of all boys, or a group of people
that one that has at least 1 boy in it)

However, if a group is predominantly female, but there are one or two

boys in it, it is best to use:
ひとたち
あの＋ひと＋たち = あの人達 = those people.
 I can see!
As some of you may have already noBced, there is both a verb that
み み み
means “can see” (見える), and a “can” form of the verb 見る（見られ
る）. There is a some crossover between the two, but the basic disBnc-
み
Bon is that 見える (dicBonary form) is more in the moment, and the
み み
other 見られる(“can” form of 見る) is more that there is a possibility of
being able to see something under certain circumstances. Crystal
み
Hunters does not use 見られる, so you don’t need to worry about this
too much, just clarifying it for people who might have been confused.

TUTORIAL COMPLETE!!
You are now ready to read Crystal Hunters! Have fun being bilingual
enough to be able read an over 100-page manga in the most difficult
language in the world! This is an accomplishment, be proud of yourself!
Go start reading the manga.
Japanese Version: (ebook)

www.amazon.com/dp/B086MT75W7



Japanese Version: (free)
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/80075613



And, if you want a translated version:

English Version: (ebook)


www.amazon.com/dp/B086LK3DVY



English Version: (free)
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/78232226
----------------------------------------------------
Book 2 of Crystal Hunters is available now!
Book 2 Guide (free) Japanese Version (ebook)
https://crystalhuntersmanga. https://www.amazon.com/dp/
files.wordpress.com/2021/03/ B08HM7CQQS
japanese-guide-4-5-v2-1.pdf
English Version (ebook)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/
B08HM73JK4
 Conjuga(on list

Dictionary Negative Past Tense “て” Form “Let’s” Form “Can” Form
Form Form

ある ない あった あって n/a n/a

だ じゃない だった n/a n/a n/a

いる いない いた いて いよう いられる

いく いかない いった いって いこう いける

かんがえる かんがえない かんがえた かんがえて かんがえよう かんがえられ

る
みえる みえない みえた みえて みえよう みえられる

みる みない みた みて みよう みられる

もつ もたない もった もって もとう もてる

なる ならない なった なって なろう なれる

にげる にげない にげた にげて にげよう にげられる

しる しらない しった しって しろう しれる

たおれる たおれない たおれた たおれて なおれよう たおれられる

とめる とめない とめた とめて とめよう とめられる

つかう つかわない つかった つかって つかおう つかえる

わかる わからない わかった わかって わかろう わかれる

のる のらない のった のって のろう のれる

あう あわない あった あって あおう あえる

やめる やめない やめた やめて やめよう やめられる