Grammar
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
Grammar · Page 19
Kan or Not: Durations Versus Points in Time in Japanese
One small syllable separates a clock reading from a length of time. Get kan and the particle that goes with it right, and half of your time sentences stop sounding odd.
13 min readZutsu, Oki ni, and Goto ni: Distribution and Intervals
Three small Japanese words decide whether you take your medicine daily, every other day, or once in three. Getting them right matters more than most grammar points you will study this month.
12 min readGachi, Gimi, and Ppanashi: Tendency and Excess Suffixes
Japanese has a small set of suffixes for saying that something leans one way or goes too far. Learn what each one attaches to and you can describe habits, symptoms and mess in one word instead of a paragraph.
18 min readDare ka, Dare mo, Dare demo: The Ka, Mo and Demo System
Japanese builds someone, no one and anyone out of one word: dare. Add ka, mo or demo and the grid does the rest, for who, what, where, when and which.
14 min readKamo Shirenai and Ni Chigainai: How Sure Are You?
Japanese marks how confident you are at the end of the sentence. Choose the wrong ending and a careful guess turns into a flat claim, or a firm conclusion turns into a shrug.
15 min readTara ii and Ba ii: Asking What You Should Do
The single most useful sentence a beginner can carry is a request for guidance. Japanese builds it out of a conditional plus ii, and once you own the pattern you can ask what to do, where to go, what to say, and by when.
18 min readTame ni, You ni, No ni: Three Ways to Say In Order To
English covers purpose with one phrase, in order to. Japanese splits it three ways, and the split is decided by the verb in front of the pattern rather than by the meaning you have in mind.
17 min readOne Ending, Three Meanings: Passive, Potential, and Honorific
The same verb ending does three unrelated jobs in Japanese, and native listeners sort them out in a fraction of a second. This guide shows you the clues they use.
14 min readTe-aru, Te-iru, and Te-oku: Results, States, and Preparation
Mado ga aite imasu, mado ga akete arimasu, and mado o akete okimasu all involve an open window, and they say three different things. This is the contrast that separates intermediate Japanese from beginner Japanese.
14 min readSae, Koso, and Made: Japanese Emphasis Particles
Sae, koso, made and mo all sit on top of a word and raise your voice without raising your volume. Each one emphasises a different thing, and choosing the wrong one makes a warm sentence sound stiff.
14 min readNado, Toka, and Ya: Listing Things Loosely in Japanese
Japanese draws a clear line between a list that is finished and a list that is only a sample. Getting that line right is what makes your speech sound relaxed instead of recited.
14 min readJapanese Adjectives: i-Adjectives and na-Adjectives
Japanese adjectives change shape the way verbs do, and almost all of that change follows two patterns. Learn which family a word belongs to and you can describe anything in past, present, positive, and negative without stopping to think.
12 min readPractical guides
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