A Japanese guide to Japanese grammar

Summary

This site explains Japanese grammar in a systematic step-by-step process and is released under the Creative Commons License. It 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. To learn more about this guide, go to the introduction page and start learning this intriguing and unique language!

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Have anything to say about the guide? Go to the Grammar Guide Forum! Or maybe you want to work on it yourself? Then go to the Grammar Guide Wiki!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Writing System
   • Hiragana
     • Hiragana Practice Exercises
   • Katakana
     • Katakana Practice Exercises
   • Kanji
3. Basic Grammar
   • Expressing State-of-Being
     • State-of-Being Practice Exercises
   • Introduction to Particles （は、も、が）
     • 「は、も、が」 Particle Exercises
   • Adjectives
     • Adjective Practice Exercises
   • Verb Basics
     • Verb Practice Exercises
   • Negative Verbs
     • Negative Verb Practice Exercises
   • Past Tense
   • Past Verb Practice Exercises
   • Particles used with verbs （を、に、へ、で）
   • Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
   • Descriptive Subordinate Clauses and Sentence Order
   • Noun-related Particles （と、や、とか、の）
   • Using Adverbs and Gobi
4. 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
   • Wrapping up section 4 and more gobi
5. 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）
6. 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）
7. Miscellaneous
   • Casual Patterns and Slang
   • Kansai Dialect
   • Various Conjugation Charts

Last Update: 2006/9/18

Updates

• All future updates will be posted on the News and Update Forum which you can also subscribe to.
• To see the old update history and the TODO list, go here.

Links

My Links

• Japanese Grammar Guide Forum - If there is anything you would like to see addressed or added to the guide, go to the forum to post your ideas!
• Japanese Grammar Guide Wiki - If you want to add to or revise the guide, please feel free to do so at the (yet incomplete) wiki guide.
• 3yen - I write random and hopefully informative stuff about things related to learning Japanese here.

Other Links

• Yahoo!辞書 - My new favorite dictionary. You can search multiple dictionaries and it has many examples as well.
• Jim Breens' WWWJDIC - The best Japanese online dictionary with an English interface. A great tool for Japanese learners.
• 英辞郎 - Another great dictionary that I use when WWWJDIC lets me down
• Charles Kelly's Online Japanese Language Study Materials - These are free-to-use online materials developed to help people study Japanese.
• Jgram.org - A dictionary-style approach to grammar. Covers more grammar than any book I've seen in the US.
• frezell.org - Contains links to free programs to learn hiragana and katakana.
• Yahoo!チャット - Chat in Japanese! Even has voice chat, even though I don't know how well it'll work in the US.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Copyright © 2003-2007 Tae Kim (taekim.japanese AT gmail.com)

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