Japanese Grammar Guide
This guide was created as a resource for those who want to learn Japanese grammar in a rational, intuitive way that makes sense in Japanese. The explanations are focused on how to make sense of the grammar not from English but from a Japanese point of view.
It is released under the Creative Commons License and is free to copy and distribute for non-commercial uses.
Before you begin
If your computer is not setup to display Japanese, you'll want to enable Japanese support to read the Japanese text.
The Original Guide
The original guide before the transition to this site is still available in various formats. It is not being maintained and may be out-of-date.
Zip File | Single Html Page | PDF Version
iPhone App
The guide is also available as an iPhone app written by Ronald Timoshenko.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- The Writing System
- Basic Grammar
- Essential Grammar
- Polite Form and Verb Stems （～です、～ます）
- Addressing People
- The Question Marker （か）
- Compound Sentences （て-form、から、ので、のに、が、けど、し、～たりする）
- Other uses of the te-form （～ている、～てある、～ておく、～ていく、～てくる）
- Potential Form
- Using する and なる with the に particle （～[よう]になる／する）
- Conditionals （と、なら、ば、たら）
- Expressing "must" or "have to" （～だめ、～いけない、～ならない、～ても）
- Desire and Suggestions （たい、欲しい、volitional、～たらどう）
- Performing an action on a subordinate clause （と、って）
- Defining and Describing （という）
- Trying something out or attempting to do something （～てみる、volitional+とする）
- Giving and Receiving （あげる、やる、くれる、もらう）
- Making requests （～ください、～ちょうだい、～なさい、command form）
- Numbers and Counting
- Casual Patterns and Slang
- Review and more gobi
- Special Expressions
- Causative and Passive Verbs
- Honorific and Humble Forms
- Things that happen unintentionally （～てしまう、～ちゃう／～じゃう）
- Special expressions with generic nouns （こと、ところ、もの）
- Expressing various levels of certainty （かもしれない、でしょう、だろう）
- Expressing amounts （だけ、のみ、しか、ばかり、すぎる、Amount+も、ほど、さ）
- Various ways to express similarity and hearsay （よう、～みたい、～そう、～そうだ、～らしい、～っぽい）
- Using 方 and よる for comparisons and other functions （より、の方、stem＋方、によって、によると）
- Saying something is easy or difficult to do （～やすい、～にくい）
- More negative verbs （ないで、ず、～ん、ぬ）
- Hypothesizing and Concluding （わけ、～とする）
- Expressing time-specific actions （ばかり、とたんに、ながら、まくる）
- Leaving something the way it is （まま、っぱなし）
- Advanced Topics
- Formal Expressions （である、ではない）
- Things that should be a certain way （はず、べき、べく、べからず）
- Expressing the minimum expectation （でさえ、ですら、おろか）
- Showing signs of something （～がる、ばかり、～めく）
- Formal expressions of non-feasibility （～ざるを得ない、やむを得ない、～かねる）
- Tendencies （～がち、～つつ、きらいがある）
- Advanced Volitional （まい、であろう、かろう）
- Covered by something （だらけ、まみれ、ずくめ）
- Advanced proximity of actions （が早いか、や否や、そばから）
- Others （思いきや、がてら、あげく）
This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License.
Ignore the outline below, it is automatically generated and there's no way to turn it off.
thank you so much for your
thank you so much for your hard work, it is really appreciated
I have been looking through
I have been looking through Japanese Lessons online and this is by far the best! Thank you for those who made this site possible
I really enjoy this guide!
I really enjoy this guide! But, I'm still having trouble deciding when to use the wa and ga grammar particles. I tried using the hints the guide gave, but it's still a little confusing. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Hey, great site you have! I
Hey, great site you have! I was wondering if you could compile your "lessons" into a PDF file that users could download, or at least in Chapters! Thank you so much!
Hi, i just thought i'd post
Hi, i just thought i'd post and let you know your blogs layout is really messed up on the K-Melon browser. Anyhow keep up the good work.
Best Japanese grammar guide
Best Japanese grammar guide EVER! The lessons are great!
A huge "thanks" from Brazil!
This is just amazing, thank
This is just amazing, thank you a lot!
PS: The 'Show all answers' buttons don't work at all here under firefox.
I can understand when I am
I can understand when I am being ignored....(T-T)
At least, if anybody out there knows anybody fluent in both English and Japanese that I can talk to, please email me.
I am the annoying person who has requested twice about Tae Kim-sama (Even though his name appears to be only Korean, and not Japanese...) Riku.
Anybody out there who doesn't mind being pestered by a eager student of Japanese, please e-mail me at riku@hushmail.com.
Okini
I've been reading this site
I've been reading this site for about 20 minutes and I'm already so impressed with it's logical approach and use of interactive exercises.
O-jamashimasu! Tae
O-jamashimasu!
Tae kim-Sama I was wondering if you could chat with me via email as I have many questions about Japanese, and ways to memorize certant things easier as I am having trouble with some key points. I would also like somebody to practice reading and writing Japanese with as there is absolutely no one in my area who can do so. I know you might suggest somithing like that lang8 or th like, but I have limited time to use the internet and to me and my family email is the only 'good' way to converse with some one over the internet.
Please contact me at rike@hushmail.com if you can take the time to do so.
I would be very greatful, doumo argatou gozaimasu.
RIKU
I first found this site when
I first found this site when it was a site, not a blog, and it had a downloadable zipfile of the material. Is there any equivalent now? Didn't see one.
There's a zip file at the top
There's a zip file at the top of the page.
Tae kim-san, I was wondering
Tae kim-san, I was wondering if you could e-mail me some things about Japanese as I can't always check out your site. Could you please tell me if there is an easy way to remember how, and in what way, to use the 'markers' Ni, Ga, O, Wa, and the like. I ask this because they are really the only things I'm having trouble with, I would also like to practice my Japanese with someone so that I can at least get better at reading and writing it as I have no one to speak with.
Please contact me via e-mail, my adress is Riku@hushmail.com.
Doumo arigatou, Sensei! (This computer does not support the ability to read the japanese characters)
And yet again, please contact me if you can spare the time.
What's のに mean
What's のに mean here?
もっと お金 あれば 家を 建てられるのに
It's althuogh.
It's althuogh.
Hey, I live in Japan and I
Hey,
I live in Japan and I had hard time to learn cuz no time because of work...
but at least on your website I can do one page a day on a break and try to practice on the evening
I think it's a great guide as all the other book (including Minna no nihongo) bored me to death
(and don't wanna pay for online lessons too)
I think your approach is very pragmatical and we can use sentences very quickly.
I feel I make a lot of progress thanks to your guide.
So the gaijin says "thank you" again and if you make a similar guide for korean, I would be interested too :)
Japanese has no alphabets.
Japanese has no alphabets. Why do you say that?
The kana (hiragana and katakana) are syllabaries.
If we want to get really
If we want to get really technical, the kana are not syllabaries or alphabets. Each kana is a mora, the fundamental unit of sound in the Japanese language (not western syllables). While syllables and letters are measures of sounds, a mora is a measure of space, or how long a sound is. Under this use, the ん kana is just as much a mora as any of the other kana.
I have no idea what a mora-based system of writing is called. A syllabary is probably close enough, ne?
Also, kana are not 100%
Also, kana are not 100% syllabary because ん is not a syllable.
By definition, a syllable is:
By definition, a syllable is: a unit of spoken language larger than a phoneme; "the word `pocket' has two syllables." The way Japanese language is spoken makes it plainly obvious that ん is also a syllable, as there is a distinct difference between a word like konna and kona.
Also, just because it's a consonant does not mean it is not a syllable. As in many other syllabaries, final consonants are often written with seperate characters.
Yes, at certain times, it may be extremely nazalized, but it represents a sound no less and is therefore a syllable.
No, it's mora. It cannot have
No, it's mora.
It cannot have a stress and is pronounced as coda in single accent.
I think Tae Kim was just
I think Tae Kim was just trying to accomodate to those who weren't able to grasp the word "syllable" is grade school. Also, there're quite a few English learners that use this site too.
P.S.
Syllableries
hi , my name kasumi kyoko and
hi , my name kasumi kyoko and i like to say thank you because i understand japanese better now all thanks to this guide .
Thank you so much for this!
Thank you so much for this! Really helped improve my Japanese
Japanese language
Umm... hi. I'd just like to
Umm... hi. I'd just like to ask for a few tips on using this guide. I'm not very clear with the instructions but everyone's reviews say that it's a great resources so I really want to know how to get the best out of this. *is a grammar failure*
Thanks~
I just want to say
I just want to say thankyouuuuu. I really appreciate your hard work. I'm guessing by your name that you're Korean? I've been trying to study both Korean and Japanese but Korean is soooo much easier for some reason. I think I just "get" Korean grammar so much better plus i watch way too many kdramas. Anywho this will hopefully get me up to speed with Japanese i'm going to try anyway. Was tempted to forget it out of laziness and just focus on Korean but I love jpop too much *sigh* suffering of a fangirl lol!
Once again thankyouuuuuuu 고맙습니다. 잘 쓸께요 ^^
thanks for sharing nice
thanks for sharing nice info
camper
mailbox
grill
dispenser
helmet
I love this guide, I'm so
I love this guide, I'm so happy I found it because it helps me a whole bunch.
I'm hoping to successfully learn Japanese with this guide and many others so that I can one day move to Japan. I see other people wanting to learn because of anime, but I think if you learn for the culture and the ways of the Japanese, then anime can come in.
Good luck to you all ~!!
wooooooooooooooooooooooooooow
wooooooooooooooooooooooooooow !!!
I really wanna learn japanese because of anime ^^ and i think im gonna start today wish me good luck people *_^
love u all
heheh...you won't last a
heheh...you won't last a week. :D
Me too, the index of old site
Me too, the index of old site was only one page, it was much easier.
Hello! It's a great website
Hello! It's a great website for japanese grammar!
But I can't find a specific one:
You use it like this:
だんだん/しだいに(increasing) > verb-てform and きます/いきます。
or you can put どんどん before the verb-てform.
ex:
だんだん きおんが あがって きました。 これからも あがって いくでしょう。
I don't really understand the translation of the grammar, how to use it.
Can anybody help me?
Sorry I cant type JP on this
Sorry I cant type JP on this comp but.
dan dan is an adverb (more and more)
Here is a rough translation.
The temperature came up more and more. From now it should go up.
agaru is to rise/go up.
If you add kimashita/kita to the te form of the verb it means its been doing (the verb)
until now.
If you add ikimashita/itta, it means it will go and do (the verb) (from now).
You are somehow rite but ( If
You are somehow rite but ( If you add ikimashita/itta, it means it will go and do (the verb) (from now).) you sud correct this sentence......that sud be ikimasu/iku..not the past tense..
what about the word NADO?
what about the word NADO? it's used extensively yet i dont see it in the guide.
thanks
Nado means etc......
Nado means etc......
i was so amaze to see this
i was so amaze to see this
I've been also learning
I've been also learning Japanese for a long time, and I could not understand grammar properly until I started using this: http://www.humanjapanese.com/home.html
First I downloaded free trial version, and I just LOVED this tool. I bought this immidiately, and I'm in chapter 31 now. I'm going to Japan end of this year, and I have a confidence now that I can communicate in Japanese!
esse guia é otimo.. valeu
esse guia é otimo.. valeu sr.tae kim....eus estudo japonês a 2 anos e o seu guia esta sendo muito util no meu aprendizado....
this guide is very nice.. thanks mr. kim i study japanese..2 years studying japanese,, and yours guide have been helpful in my studies...
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW this
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW this is incredible suabarashiiiii
I've seen Hart-Jorden's
I've seen Hart-Jorden's lessons and, I'm sorry to say, they are abysmal. Her lesson indexing is so byzantine and confounding, it takes the student months to learn how to use her text even before learning any language, spoken or written, not to mention any introduction to grammar. Enormous amounts of pedagogy are required, which inadvertently creates an immersion environment. Japanese children learn the language more effectively in this type of environment but in a completely different, more natural and more retentive way. There are no shortcuts from immersion, and the opacity of Jorden's lessons merely distracts. She also used the worst romaji system, the one furthest from phonetic pronunciation of all, giving the student wholly unrecognizable phonemes; in a syllabary language, this is a fundamental flaw. Her text for the written language is better, but only because she was the writer who included more of the various writing and textual styles one would encounter. Why did she write as elaborate a text for the written language, dispensing with katakana and hiragana quickly as other texts do, and then spend the rest of the volume on kanji? Because she realized, despite her method, that the language is written in kanji; if a student studies the language to any proficiency in romaji, it will be necessary to almost totally relearn the language in order to be functional to any degree in its practice. Illiteracy in any language is determined by inability to read or write, not by speech. Toddlers babble in every language in the world. Her method is a laborious path to an abjectly unsophisticated juvenile level, without the vocabulary, comprehension, or compositional facility that reading and writing can only provide. There is no enjoyment in her curriculum that should accompany the exploration of the language, to engage the student and help motivate and retain the subject matter. In my opinion, her spoken language method is a prescription for failure, her superficially impressive resume notwithstanding.
wow... i should try this one.
wow... i should try this one. the arguments, i mean reviews, here are better. i hope i could learn a lot from this one. ive been studying japanese for a while now and boy its kinda hard. well, im planning to have a trip to japan so i have to learn to speak their tongue. ganbarimasu.
Learning Japanese online
Learning Japanese online doesn't seem to be great idea, because there can be some problem in catching the accent of Japanese language, i think you can just improvise in grammar skills. I have been learning Japanese language in a language institute for 2 years and now i have become able to write short Essay in Japanese language but i still don't consider myself great in it. I still have problem in speaking fluently. So, i don't think learning online could be that beneficial. But there is no harm in trying out as it is a great language in my opinion.
Hi i am from india I am
Hi i am from india
I am watcing the japanese anime last 1 year.But i learned basics of japanese language how to learn japanese language
Don't learn Japanese because
Don't learn Japanese because of anime. The real Japan is completely different than what anime-fans think. You should work on learning English first if you're going to consult in this language.
Why do you think so,..??? I
Why do you think so,..???
I think your argument is false...
Bacause javanese language is most popular in my country...
Trust me, it is not a great
Trust me, it is not a great idea to learn Japanese just because of anime. It is a really shallow reason because the truth is, as any Japanese person would tell you, anime is just TV shows and does not bring insight to the culture. Learn Japanese if you intend to interact with Japanese people, which would broaden your world more than just an easy way to watch TV.
Does it really matter what
Does it really matter what the reason is? As long as there is a genuine will to learn I think it's all right. I started out with Anime as well, and got interested in the culture later.
No offence, but there's really no need to try to stop someone from learning a language they're interested in just because you don't like the reason as to why they're interested.
Agreed. I don't know why some
Agreed. I don't know why some people think their reason for learning something is more superior than others.
i love it but i can't wait to
i love it but i can't wait to go to japan to take a tour there and meet masashi kishimoto the guy that created naruto
Post new comment