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.
Other formats
- Paperback - Available on Amazon for $25, priced for free shipping!
- PDF Version - Philipp Kerling wrote an awesome script to convert the site to PDF.
- iOS app - The guide is also available as an iOS app for iPhone/iPad 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 relative 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 sentence-ending particles
- 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.
Thanks a lot for the PDF
Thanks a lot for the PDF version!!
--Eric
This guide is the best
This guide is the best anywhere in the internet. Other sites always try and sugar coat it, but here, it's straight down to business. I love it.
However, there is one thing it lacks: you're not getting enough challenge, all you're doing is reading. Without some sort of pop quiz at the end of each lesson, all the information you retained will be lost.
Reading is one thing, but if you don't put that information you learned to practice, it'll be forgotten.
I don't know if this is just me, but I'd love if this site had a small test at the end of each lesson, an exam at the end of a section and a major exam at the very end.
There is an anki deck you can
There is an anki deck you can use to review the different topics on this site, it's really good.
thanks for the guide.
thanks for the guide.
This guide is far and away
This guide is far and away the best on the internet. Is there any intention to write apps for other OS'? Android and Windows?
Great guide! I just
Great guide! I just downloaded the iOS app. It's really useful, but I notice that it's missing the practice exercises. Where can I get them for my ipad?
I JUST BOUGHT THE BOOK
I JUST BOUGHT THE BOOK BECAUSE I LOVE PHYSICAL COPIES OF THINGS.. THIS IS A GREAT GUIDE FOR GRAMMAR, I WILL WAIT FOR THE COMPLETE GUIDE, AND I'LL PROMISE I'LL BE THE FIRST, IF NOT THE 2ND OR 3RD TO BUY IT... BELIEVE IT... LOL... THANKS FOR THIS.
Sounds like a fake review.
Sounds like a fake review.
What makes you think that?
What makes you think that?
I just noticed there have
I just noticed there have been several updates of the iPhone/iPod app! (I downloaded version 1.0.x sometime last year but I mainly learn with the PDF so I never mind checking for updates.)
New features of 2.0.0 include "new content", as I read. Does this also affect the PDF version and is there also an update for the PDF? I'm getting slightly confused although I'm sure your grammar guide already covers about more than 90% of Japanese grammar!
Anyway, thank you sooo much for this awesome grammar guide!!!
I've been learning for 1-1/2 years now and I've recently covered causative and passive verbs. Although I'm no native English speaker I can understand everything.
Without this guide I think I couldn't have learned Japanese so well!
ありがとうございました！！
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