Groundwork: Japanese Basics
Directory
Phonetics & Phonology - sounds and how they go together
Orthography - the writing system
Morphology - word structure and formation
Nouns - parts of speech and particles
Verbs - conjugation of verbs
Adjectives - adjective use and conjugation
Adverbs - formation and usage of adverbs
Phonetics & Phonology
Vowels: a, i, u, e, o
Consonants: k, s, t, n, m, h, y, r, w (and g, z, d, b, p).
Viable syllables are V (vowel), CV (consonant-vowel), and n (a vowelized nasal)
• the syllabic n cannot begin a word
• y only combines with the vowels a, u, and o
• w only combines with the vowels a and o
Some consonants, when combined with certain vowels, undergo changes:
• s + i => shi // z + i => ji
• t + i => chi // d + i => ji (same as z + i but with a different character)
• t + u => tsu // d + u => dzu
ya, yu, and yo can combine with syllables ending in i:
• ki + ya => kya // gi + ya => gya
• shi + ya => sha // ji + ya => ja
• chi + ya => cha // ji + ya => ja
• ni + ya => nya // mi + ya => mya
• hi + ya => hya // bi + ya => bya // pi + ya => pya
• ri + ya => rya and similarly with yu and yo
Orthography
Japanese has three writing systems:
• Hiragana, used for native Japanese words, conjugations, and grammar particles
• Katakana, used for borrowed words, emphasis, and onomatopoeias.
• Kanji, used for the roots of most native Japanese parts of speech.
Hiragana and Katakana, collectively called kana, are syllabaries.
Kanji is pictographic, each kanji representing a concept or idea.
• There are usually at least two readings (called yomi) for each kanji.
• Readings borrowed from Chinese are called on yomi.
• Native Japanese readings are called kun yomi.
Roumaji is the Japanese language written in the Roman script.
Japanese can be written in two directions:
• rows reading from left to right and stacking top to bottom
• columns reading from top to bottom and stacking from right to left
The written language contains no spaces, and all three writing systems are used together.
Morphology
Nouns
Different parts of speech are denoted by postpositional particles:
• wa (written ha) は marks the topic of the sentence
watashi わたし wa は iku いく。
I (wa) go. => I go.
with kanji, 私は行く。
• ga が marks the subject of the sentence
sushi すし ga が suki すき desu です。
sushi (ga) liked is. => I like sushi.
with kanji, すしが好きです。
• no の is the genitive marker
watashi わたし no の neko ねこ
I (no) cat => my cat
with kanji, 私の猫<
• wo を (often pronounced as o) marks the direct object
sushi すし wo を taberu たべる。
sushi (wo) eat. => (I) eat sushi.
with kanji, すしを食べる。
• e (written he) へ indicates direction to or toward
kurasu クラス e へ iku いく。
class (e) go. => (I) go to class.
with kanji, クラスへ行く。
• de で indicates the location an action takes place
uchi うち de で taberu たべる。
home (de) eat. => (I) eat at home.
with kanji, 家で食べる。
• ni に has many meanings and functions:
1. indicating time at which
ku く ji じ ni に okiru おきる。
nine o'clock (ni) wake up. => (I) wake up at nine o'clock.
with kanji, 九時に起きる。
2. indicating to or into (similar to へ e)
kurasu クラス ni に iku いく。
class (ni) go. => (I) go to class.
with kanji, クラスに行く。
3. location with the state-of-being verbs aru ある and iru いる
hana はな wa は uchi うち ni に aru ある。
flowers (wa) house (ni) exist. => The flowers are in the house
with kanji, 花が家にある。
4. direct object with certain verbs
basu バス ni に noru のる。
bus (ni) ride. => (I) ride the bus.
with kanji, バスに乗る。
The general order the particles take in a sentence is:
wa は de で ni に e へ ga が wo を + Verb.
The general word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).
Verbs
Verbs have only two indicative tenses:
• Past - events that occurred in the past
• Non-Past - events occurring now or that will occur in the future
However, each tense has both an affirmative and a negative conjugation...
• Affirmative - events that did occur or are occurring
• Negative - events that did not occur or are not occurring
...and each conjugation has both a polite form and a plain form:
• the polite form can be used any time, but sounds formal
• the plain form is used in typical everyday speech among peers
The verbs listed in Japanese dictionaries are always the non-past affirmative plain form, also referred to as "dictionary form".
All verbs are divided into three classes, which differ in conjugation
procedure:
• Class One verbs use an epithetic vowel for conjugating
• Class Two verbs use no epithetic
• Class Three verbs are irregular
as well as a copula desu です for statives.
Additionally, a gerundive/conjunctive form called 'Te-Form' is formed in the following way:
Class One -u う -tsu つ -ru る => -tte って
Class One -mu む -bu ぶ -nu ぬ => -nde んで
Class One -su す => -shite して
*Class One -ku く => -ite いて
Class One -gu ぐ => -ide いで
Class Two -ru => -te て
Class Three suru する => shite して
Class Three kuru 来る => kite 来て
*Class One iku 行く is irregular => itte 行って
Te-Form for the copula desu です is rarely used => datte だって
Dictionary Form
(Non-past Affirmative Plain)
Non-past Negative Plain
Non-past Affirmative Polite
Non-past Negative Polite
Past Affirmative Plain
Past Negative Plain
Past Affirmative Polite
Past Negative Polite
Class One
---:
kiku 聞く
u=>a+nai:
kikanai 聞かない
u=>i+masu:
kikimasu 聞きます
u=>i+masen:
kikimasen 聞きません
te-form e=>a:
kiita 聞いた
u=>a+nakatta:
kikanakatta 聞かなかった
u=>i+mashita:
kikimashita 聞きました
u=>i+masen deshita:
kikimasen deshita 聞きませんでした
Class Two
---:
taberu 食べる
-ru=>nai:
tabenai 食べない
-ru=>masu:
tabemasu 食べます
-ru=>masen:
tabemasen 食べません
te-form e=>a:
tabeta 食べた
-ru=>nakatta:
tabenakatta 食べなかった
-ru=>mashita:
tabemashita 食べました
-ru=>masen deshita:
tabemasen deshita 食べませんでした
Class Three:
suru する
kuru 来る
shinai しない
konai 来ない
shimasu します
kimasu 来ます
shimasen しません
kimasen 来ません
shita した
kita 来た
shinakatta しなかった
konakatta 来なかった
shimashita しました
kimashita 来ました
shimasen deshita しませんでした
kimasen deshita 来ませんでした
Copula desu です:
da だ
dewa nai ではない
ja nai じゃない
desu です
arimasen ありません
datta だった
dewa nakatta ではなかった
ja nakatta じゃなかった
deshita でした
arimasen deshita ありませんでした
The progressive (-ing) aspect is formed with te-form+iru ~ている. Here, iru いる can be conjugated into any tense and politeness as the sentence requires. Japanese uses ~ている much less than English uses -ing; unless the verb refers to a literal ongoing action, avoid using ~ている.
Adjectives:
Adjectives precede the nouns they modify and are divided into two groups,
い-adjectives (i-adjectives) and な-adjectives (na-adjectives):
• い-adjectives precede nouns with no epithet.
akai 赤い (red) + sara 皿 (dish) => 赤い皿 akai sara (red dish)
• な-adjectives require a な (na) epithet.
genki 元気 (healthy) + hito 人 (person) => 元気な人 genki na hito (healthy
person)
The conjunctive form for adjectives is made differently for the two groups:
• い-adjectives: i=>kute ~くて
赤い => 赤くて
• な-adjectives: +de で
元気 => 元気で
Post-nominally, adjectives are conjugated in the same manner as verbs:
Dictionary Form
(Non-Past Affirmative Plain)
Non-Past Negative Plain
Non-Past Affirmative Polite
Non-Past Negative Polite
Past Affirmative Plain
Past Negative Plain
Past Affirmative Polite
Past Negative Polite
い-adjectives
---: 赤い
i=>kunai: 赤くない
+desu: 赤いです
i=>kunai+desu: 赤くないです
???????????? HALP OH HALP
i=>kunakatta: 赤くなかった
+deshita: 赤いでした
i=>kunai+deshita: 赤くないでした
な-adjectives
---: 元気
+ja nai: 元気じゃない
+desu: 元気です
+dewa arimasen: 元気ではありません
+datta: 元気だった
+ja nakatta: 元気じゃなかった
+deshita: 元気でした
+dewa arimasen deshita: 元気ではありませんでした
Adverbs
Adverbs, though usually placed immediately before a verb, can be placed anywhere in a sentence so long as they do not separate a noun from its particle. Adjectives are easily converted into adverbs:
• い-adjectives: i=>ku
赤い red => 赤くredly
• な-adjectives: +ni
元気 healthy => 元気に healthily
Phonetics & Phonology - sounds and how they go together
Orthography - the writing system
Morphology - word structure and formation
Nouns - parts of speech and particles
Verbs - conjugation of verbs
Adjectives - adjective use and conjugation
Adverbs - formation and usage of adverbs
Phonetics & Phonology
Vowels: a, i, u, e, o
Consonants: k, s, t, n, m, h, y, r, w (and g, z, d, b, p).
Viable syllables are V (vowel), CV (consonant-vowel), and n (a vowelized nasal)
• the syllabic n cannot begin a word
• y only combines with the vowels a, u, and o
• w only combines with the vowels a and o
Some consonants, when combined with certain vowels, undergo changes:
• s + i => shi // z + i => ji
• t + i => chi // d + i => ji (same as z + i but with a different character)
• t + u => tsu // d + u => dzu
ya, yu, and yo can combine with syllables ending in i:
• ki + ya => kya // gi + ya => gya
• shi + ya => sha // ji + ya => ja
• chi + ya => cha // ji + ya => ja
• ni + ya => nya // mi + ya => mya
• hi + ya => hya // bi + ya => bya // pi + ya => pya
• ri + ya => rya and similarly with yu and yo
Orthography
Japanese has three writing systems:
• Hiragana, used for native Japanese words, conjugations, and grammar particles
• Katakana, used for borrowed words, emphasis, and onomatopoeias.
• Kanji, used for the roots of most native Japanese parts of speech.
Hiragana and Katakana, collectively called kana, are syllabaries.
Kanji is pictographic, each kanji representing a concept or idea.
• There are usually at least two readings (called yomi) for each kanji.
• Readings borrowed from Chinese are called on yomi.
• Native Japanese readings are called kun yomi.
Roumaji is the Japanese language written in the Roman script.
Japanese can be written in two directions:
• rows reading from left to right and stacking top to bottom
• columns reading from top to bottom and stacking from right to left
The written language contains no spaces, and all three writing systems are used together.
Morphology
Nouns
Different parts of speech are denoted by postpositional particles:
• wa (written ha) は marks the topic of the sentence
watashi わたし wa は iku いく。
I (wa) go. => I go.
with kanji, 私は行く。
• ga が marks the subject of the sentence
sushi すし ga が suki すき desu です。
sushi (ga) liked is. => I like sushi.
with kanji, すしが好きです。
• no の is the genitive marker
watashi わたし no の neko ねこ
I (no) cat => my cat
with kanji, 私の猫<
• wo を (often pronounced as o) marks the direct object
sushi すし wo を taberu たべる。
sushi (wo) eat. => (I) eat sushi.
with kanji, すしを食べる。
• e (written he) へ indicates direction to or toward
kurasu クラス e へ iku いく。
class (e) go. => (I) go to class.
with kanji, クラスへ行く。
• de で indicates the location an action takes place
uchi うち de で taberu たべる。
home (de) eat. => (I) eat at home.
with kanji, 家で食べる。
• ni に has many meanings and functions:
1. indicating time at which
ku く ji じ ni に okiru おきる。
nine o'clock (ni) wake up. => (I) wake up at nine o'clock.
with kanji, 九時に起きる。
2. indicating to or into (similar to へ e)
kurasu クラス ni に iku いく。
class (ni) go. => (I) go to class.
with kanji, クラスに行く。
3. location with the state-of-being verbs aru ある and iru いる
hana はな wa は uchi うち ni に aru ある。
flowers (wa) house (ni) exist. => The flowers are in the house
with kanji, 花が家にある。
4. direct object with certain verbs
basu バス ni に noru のる。
bus (ni) ride. => (I) ride the bus.
with kanji, バスに乗る。
The general order the particles take in a sentence is:
wa は de で ni に e へ ga が wo を + Verb.
The general word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).
Verbs
Verbs have only two indicative tenses:
• Past - events that occurred in the past
• Non-Past - events occurring now or that will occur in the future
However, each tense has both an affirmative and a negative conjugation...
• Affirmative - events that did occur or are occurring
• Negative - events that did not occur or are not occurring
...and each conjugation has both a polite form and a plain form:
• the polite form can be used any time, but sounds formal
• the plain form is used in typical everyday speech among peers
The verbs listed in Japanese dictionaries are always the non-past affirmative plain form, also referred to as "dictionary form".
All verbs are divided into three classes, which differ in conjugation
procedure:
• Class One verbs use an epithetic vowel for conjugating
• Class Two verbs use no epithetic
• Class Three verbs are irregular
as well as a copula desu です for statives.
Additionally, a gerundive/conjunctive form called 'Te-Form' is formed in the following way:
Class One -u う -tsu つ -ru る => -tte って
Class One -mu む -bu ぶ -nu ぬ => -nde んで
Class One -su す => -shite して
*Class One -ku く => -ite いて
Class One -gu ぐ => -ide いで
Class Two -ru => -te て
Class Three suru する => shite して
Class Three kuru 来る => kite 来て
*Class One iku 行く is irregular => itte 行って
Te-Form for the copula desu です is rarely used => datte だって
Dictionary Form
(Non-past Affirmative Plain)
Non-past Negative Plain
Non-past Affirmative Polite
Non-past Negative Polite
Past Affirmative Plain
Past Negative Plain
Past Affirmative Polite
Past Negative Polite
Class One
---:
kiku 聞く
u=>a+nai:
kikanai 聞かない
u=>i+masu:
kikimasu 聞きます
u=>i+masen:
kikimasen 聞きません
te-form e=>a:
kiita 聞いた
u=>a+nakatta:
kikanakatta 聞かなかった
u=>i+mashita:
kikimashita 聞きました
u=>i+masen deshita:
kikimasen deshita 聞きませんでした
Class Two
---:
taberu 食べる
-ru=>nai:
tabenai 食べない
-ru=>masu:
tabemasu 食べます
-ru=>masen:
tabemasen 食べません
te-form e=>a:
tabeta 食べた
-ru=>nakatta:
tabenakatta 食べなかった
-ru=>mashita:
tabemashita 食べました
-ru=>masen deshita:
tabemasen deshita 食べませんでした
Class Three:
suru する
kuru 来る
shinai しない
konai 来ない
shimasu します
kimasu 来ます
shimasen しません
kimasen 来ません
shita した
kita 来た
shinakatta しなかった
konakatta 来なかった
shimashita しました
kimashita 来ました
shimasen deshita しませんでした
kimasen deshita 来ませんでした
Copula desu です:
da だ
dewa nai ではない
ja nai じゃない
desu です
arimasen ありません
datta だった
dewa nakatta ではなかった
ja nakatta じゃなかった
deshita でした
arimasen deshita ありませんでした
The progressive (-ing) aspect is formed with te-form+iru ~ている. Here, iru いる can be conjugated into any tense and politeness as the sentence requires. Japanese uses ~ている much less than English uses -ing; unless the verb refers to a literal ongoing action, avoid using ~ている.
Adjectives:
Adjectives precede the nouns they modify and are divided into two groups,
い-adjectives (i-adjectives) and な-adjectives (na-adjectives):
• い-adjectives precede nouns with no epithet.
akai 赤い (red) + sara 皿 (dish) => 赤い皿 akai sara (red dish)
• な-adjectives require a な (na) epithet.
genki 元気 (healthy) + hito 人 (person) => 元気な人 genki na hito (healthy
person)
The conjunctive form for adjectives is made differently for the two groups:
• い-adjectives: i=>kute ~くて
赤い => 赤くて
• な-adjectives: +de で
元気 => 元気で
Post-nominally, adjectives are conjugated in the same manner as verbs:
Dictionary Form
(Non-Past Affirmative Plain)
Non-Past Negative Plain
Non-Past Affirmative Polite
Non-Past Negative Polite
Past Affirmative Plain
Past Negative Plain
Past Affirmative Polite
Past Negative Polite
い-adjectives
---: 赤い
i=>kunai: 赤くない
+desu: 赤いです
i=>kunai+desu: 赤くないです
???????????? HALP OH HALP
i=>kunakatta: 赤くなかった
+deshita: 赤いでした
i=>kunai+deshita: 赤くないでした
な-adjectives
---: 元気
+ja nai: 元気じゃない
+desu: 元気です
+dewa arimasen: 元気ではありません
+datta: 元気だった
+ja nakatta: 元気じゃなかった
+deshita: 元気でした
+dewa arimasen deshita: 元気ではありませんでした
Adverbs
Adverbs, though usually placed immediately before a verb, can be placed anywhere in a sentence so long as they do not separate a noun from its particle. Adjectives are easily converted into adverbs:
• い-adjectives: i=>ku
赤い red => 赤くredly
• な-adjectives: +ni
元気 healthy => 元気に healthily