Lesson 1Basic grammar

Main characteristics

Before you start, let's understand the characteristics of Japanese language.

• Word order is different :
  A verb comes at the end of the sentence
• There are 2 primary tenses - present and past (no future tense)
• There is a grammatical element called
  "particle"
• Subjects
  of the sentences are
  often omitted
• There are
  no "articles"
  (a, an, the)
• There is
  no difference between
  singular and plural

Here are some more...

• Significant difference between polite and casual (plain) speaking style
• Number words vary depending on
  what you are counting
• Japanese adjectives conjugate
  (change forms)
• Many words have the same pronunciation but different meanings. etc...

2 primary tenses : present and past

There are 2 primary tenses in Japanese: "Finished" and "Not finished".

As long as it is "Not finished", Japanese language does not distinguish the present from the future. I use the terms "present tense" for "Not finished" and "past tense" for "Finished". There is no particular form for the future tense in Japanese. We use the "present tense" for future action / state.

A verb comes at the end of the sentence

Like English, the subject comes at the beginning of the sentence. But the verb comes at the end of the sentence. All other information (what, when, where...) comes in between the subject and the verb.

Equivalent of the verb "to be" → "です"

"The auxiliary verb です(desu) is the equivalent of the verb "to be". です(desu) conjugates (changes form) according to past / present tense and affirmative / negative. But, です(desu) does not conjugate according to the subject and can be used for any subject (I, you, he, they...). Just like all verbs, です(desu) comes at the end of the sentence. See the conjugation chart below.

Examples

Auxiliary verb of politeness "ます"

There is a clear distinction between the polite (when you speak to an unknown person, your superior etc) and casual speaking style (when you speak to friends, family etc) in Japanese. When you speak (or write) politely to people, the verb is always used with the auxiliary verb of politeness ます (masu). There is no direct translation of the word ます(masu) in English, but it just turns the sentence into the polite style. ます(masu) can be used for any subject (I, you, he, they…). In the Apprentice Ninja level, ます (masu) is always being used. Polite speaking style is appropriate in most situations and it would be useful for you to learn it first.

Examples

Grammatical element called "particle"

In Japanese, there is a grammatical element called "Particle" which does not exist in English. In general, the particles are 1 or 2 syllables (sounds) and indicate the role of the preceding word in a sentence. They are similar to "prepositions" (to, on, at, with, for...) in English, but particles are placed after the related word. Click here for more information and a list of frequently used particles.

How to form a question sentence

Simply add the question particle "ka" at the end of the sentence. It transforms the sentence into a question sentence. It is so easy ! The word order does not change.

For sentences using WH words, click here

Omitting the subject

Japanese sentences often omit the subject (what / who) when the subject is obvious from the contextual clues. This is hard to imagine for English speakers ! Let's understand how omitting the subject works.

1 - As long as the subject remains the same, it is often omitted in the following sentences.

2 - The subjects « It » and « I » are often omitted.

3 - In general, the implied subject is « you » in question sentences.