This Japanese All About lesson will help you navigate your way through Japanese grammar conventions. We will talk a little bit about how Japanese sentence order differs from that in English, how easy it is to form questions in Japanese, and all the other rules of English grammar you can throw out the window.
Japanese is what’s called an SOV language. This means the subject comes first, followed by the object, and then the verb. Remember that: the verb comes last. This is one of the biggest differences between English and Japanese grammar and one of the most important aspects to keep in mind!
- Tense
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- Japanese only has two tenses: past and non-past. It’s called non-past because Japanese uses the same tense for the present and future.
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- By adding a word like “tomorrow” or “next week” that indicates some point in the future, our present tense turns into the future tense without even changing the verb.
- Conjugation
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- Japanese only has two verbs that conjugate irregularly. The rest follow the same patterns, so they’re easy to get the hang of! Japanese verbs are divided up into three different groups according to how they conjugate, which we will refer to as Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 later on.
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- in Japanese it doesn’t matter who is doing the action, the verb will not change.
- Singulars and Plurals
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- Japanese words almost never change to reflect plurals. Nezumi, the word for “mouse,” could refer to one mouse or ten mice!
- Japanese words almost never change to reflect plurals. Nezumi, the word for “mouse,” could refer to one mouse or ten mice!
- Forming Questions
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- In Japanese, it’s extremely easy to create questions. By simply putting ka at the end of a sentence, you can turn it into a question!
- In Japanese, it’s extremely easy to create questions. By simply putting ka at the end of a sentence, you can turn it into a question!
- Formal and Informal Speech
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- Japanese uses entirely different grammar structures when it comes to polite speech. There are three politeness levels in spoken Japanese: informal, formal, and honorific.
- Japanese uses entirely different grammar structures when it comes to polite speech. There are three politeness levels in spoken Japanese: informal, formal, and honorific.
- Counters
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- Japanese has a long list of counters, or words that we use to count specific items. The corresponding counter depends on the appearance or makeup of the item. For example, there are different counters for sheets of paper and bottles because they differ in shape.
- Japanese has a long list of counters, or words that we use to count specific items. The corresponding counter depends on the appearance or makeup of the item. For example, there are different counters for sheets of paper and bottles because they differ in shape.
- Omission
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- In Japanese, the writer often omits the subject from the sentence when it’s understood who is doing the action. In fact, stating the subject every time will actually make your Japanese sound unnatural. The key is to only state the subject when it’s absolutely necessary.
- In Japanese, the writer often omits the subject from the sentence when it’s understood who is doing the action. In fact, stating the subject every time will actually make your Japanese sound unnatural. The key is to only state the subject when it’s absolutely necessary.
