When learning a foreign language, one first studies basic sentence order and practices building simple sentences with subject/verb. Once there is some comfortability with that, the next step is learning how to connect ideas either within or between sentences. This allows expression of more complex ideas and one step closer to fluency. Those who speak… Read More »
In a recent poll of mine there was many responders who said they wanted to learn more about Japanese grammar from this blog. While there are many sites and books out there that have a great deal of useful information about Japanese grammar, I thought I would write a post that looks at grammar from… Read More »
Color words in Japanese exist in two different forms: i-adjectives and nouns. Some of them are present in only one form (usually the noun form), but many are present in both. I’ll present a list of basic colors along with the different forms that color exists as, with the i-adjective form first (if present). Red:… Read More »
The other day I heard from someone that they were having difficulty learning to read Japanese, such that they had to re-read passages several times over to fully grasp the meaning, and generally had trouble thinking in Japanese when reading. This is a difficult problem indeed, one I have faced for many years myself. I have… Read More »
余裕（yoyuu) is a great word to learn in Japanese because it has no direct translation to a word in English with the same nuance, and also because you’re likely to hear in in daily life once in awhile. Generally speaking, 余裕 represents some sort of resource, and oftentimes it is used in the negative sense to… Read More »
One of the big grammatical differences between Japanese and English is the way adjectival clauses are formed, and getting familiar with this will help you on the road to better understanding of Japanese, and more advanced sentence creation. The basic use of single-word adjectives is the same in Japanese in English, and the reverse in… Read More »
As most of you studying Japanese probably know, the language has to types of adjectives: Na-adjectives (i.e. 素敵(な)）and I-adjectives (i.e. 大きい). Each of these has different rules for conjugation into various forms. There is a few words in Japanese that look like Na-adjectives that derived from a I-adjective. Here is a list of a few… Read More »
The Japanese suffix 〜的（てき）is extremely useful and will help you understand many existing Japanese words, as well as act as a tool to create your own. The simplest way to understand this suffix is to see that it turns nouns into (Na) adjectives. 劇（drama) => 劇的 (dramatic) 政治 (politics) => 政治的 (political) 教育… Read More »
In this post I’d like to discuss a few ways to express the concept of “except” in Japanese. 以外（いがい) 以外 is one of the most basic ways to say “except” in Japanese. You typically put it after a noun, pronoun, or verb. Here are a few examples: ゲーム以外のアプリはダウンロードしたことがない I’ve never downloaded an (computer/mobile) application except… Read More »
There are several verb suffixes used in Japanese which are used to represent something is easy or difficult. [verb in “pre-masu” form] + づらい => hard to do “verb” [verb in “pre-masu” form] + にくい => hard to do “verb” [verb in “pre-masu” form] + やすい => easy to do “verb”… Read More »