Japanese Basic Grammar.pdf

BASIC GRAMMAR PAGE 1

BASIC WORD ORDER

T he sentence order is very different from English. In English we use Subject-Verb-

Object (SVO) but in Japanese it is usually Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) - observe:

S V O

ENGLISH I eat bread.

S O V

JAPANESE watashi wa pan o tabemasu.

D on't worry! It isn't as bad as it seems. You will get used to it.

F or more on this go here

TOP

DESU

Desu is a grammatical form that can act like to be (You know - is, are, am...) in

English in the sense of explaining who or what something / one is or equating

one thing with another . Let's take a look:

??? ? ??? ?? ?

watashi wa kurei desu .

I am Clay.

?? ? ?? ?? ?

kore wa neko desu .

This is a cat.

Most of the time you want to use the to be verb you will use desu . Later we will learn

other forms to show existence.

MAIN POINTS:

is, are, am

always at the end

It doesn't change like its English cousin (is, are, am) in the present tense

usually pronounced like "dess" HEAR IT! WAV 11 k

TOP

2 Basic verb forms ~ dictionary ?~??

T here are many ways to change verbs, but here we will focus on 2 present tense

forms "dictionary form" and " ~masu form" NOTE : These 2 mean the same thing, but

the dictionary form is a little more casual and shorter.

The dictionary form gets its name because it is what is found in the dictionary.

The dictionary form verbs ends in - u and many end in -ru

The masu form verbs always ends in -masu in the present tense

To keep this page as simple as possible, I am writing all examples (for other

grammar points) in the masu form.

EXAMPLES:

???

tabe ru

????

tabe masu

Both mean "to eat

nom u

????

nomi masu

to drink

???

hashi ru

?????

hashiri masu

to run

su ru

???

shi masu

to do (this is one of the 2

irregular verbs)

You will probably see some other letter changes between the 2 forms. I won't go into

this now. There is no need to complicate things. I think it is better to memorize the

useful verb changes and eventually once you get a feel for the verbs you can 'guess'

the correct form for unknown verb! And remember: Mistake making is memory

making!

TOP

q4Making questions ?

M aking questions in Japanese is easy! -- REALLY! Usually you can change a

statement into a question by just adding a ? ka to the end!

??? ? ????? ???

anata wa amerikajin desu.

You are an American.

??? ? ????? ?? ??

anata wa amerikajin desu ka.

Are you an American?

MAIN POINTS:

ka is added to the end of statements

Word order is not changed as in English

In Japanese (see right example) the ? (Question mark) is not required (optional)

Just like in English, the last syllable goes up in intonation

In spoken Japanese sometimes the ka can be dropped if you have the upwards

intonation at the end. But for now, let's stick to using the ka

FOR MORE ON THIS ...

TOP

Question words

B y mastering these question words, your conversational skills will be much

stronger!

?? itsu - when

?? ???? ?? itsu kimashita ka? When did you come? [lit. when came?]

?? doko - where

?? ?? ???? ?? doko kara kimashita ka? Where did you come from? [lit.

where from came?]

???? doushite - why

???? ???? ?? doushite kimashita ka? Why did you come? [lit. why came?]

?? dare - who

??? ???? ?? dare ga kimashita ka? Who came?

MAIN POINTS:

Even with the question word a ? ka is used. (Except in casual spoken Japanese)

The question word is at the beginning, but after the ? wa if there is one.

??? ? ?? ?? ??

anata wa dare desu ka?

Who are you? (the question word dare is after the wa )

FOR MORE ON THIS ...

TOP

Possessive "'s" ?

T his is another nice part about Japanese. To show relationship or possession

between 2 things just put a ? no inbetween them. The trick is knowing which goes

to the left of the no and which goes to the right...

Think of it as: ? => 's

??? ? ?? watashi no neko - My cat [I's cat]

?? ? ? nihon no kuruma - Japanese car [Japan's car]

?? ? ???? neko no omocha - Cat's toy

Also think of:

???? watashino as "my" and

???? anatano as "your"

TOP

and ?????

T here are several ways to say "and" (connecting things). Let's look at 2 of them

? to - connecting nouns

??? ? ??? ? ?? ? ????? ? ?????

watashi wa nihongo to eigo to furansugo ga hanasemasu.

I can speak Japanese and English and French.

??? soshite - connecting phrases

??? ? ??? ? ?????? ??? ????? ? ?????

watashi wa nihongo ga hanasemasu. soshite, doitsugo ga yomemasu..

I can speak Japanese and I can read German.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: