"wa" is used with a subject or a pronoun, and that means something is in a condition, or doing

something.
"watashi wa Ilze desu." = "I am Ilze/ My name is Ilze."
"watashi wa ratobia(latvia)jin desu." = "I am a latvian/ I'm from latvia."
"ratobia wa yooroppa(europe) no kuni desu." = "Latvia is en european country./ Latvia is a country in
Europe."
"kore wa ratobia no ryouri desu." = "I's a latvian dish./ I's a dish of latvia."

As you noticed, there is another particle there in the sentences I brought up, "no". "no" is "of", is set
to the end of a subject or a pronoun.
"watashi no hon" = "my book/ a book of mine"
"ratobia no shuto" = "the capital city of latvia"
"ratobia no shuto wa Riga desu." = "the captal city of latvia is Riga."

By the way, "desu" is usually used with "wa", and this combination means "am/ are /is". "desu" can be
connected with other words, but I don't mention it now.

And "ni", it means "in", "on", "at" etc, well it depends.
"watashi wa ratobia ni sunde imasu." = "I'm living in latvia."
"watashi wa uchi ni imasu." = "I'm staying at home."

"watashi no shumi wa e wo kaku koto ya piano wo hiku koto desu."
My hobbies are skeching/drawing and playing the piano.

The first thing to notice is, that the verb is set to the end of the sentence, while it is put in the second
part in english.
"desu" - are
In the technical terms you would say, the japanese words' order is SOV - subject, object, verb - , while
in englisch it's SVO.
This order also appears in a phrase with verb, llike "piano wo hiku koto".
"piano wo hiku" means to play the piano. "hiku" = play. "koto" makes a kind of gerund.
And the particles like "no" ,"wa" and "wo" in this sentence are put to the end of a noun.

1.kami-ichidan katsuyou: -i, -i, -iru, -iru, -ire, -iro, -iyou
"okiru" = get up
okinai (I don't get up)
okimasu (I will get up)
okiru (I get up)
okirutoki (When I get up)
okireba (If I get up)
okiro (Get up!)
okiyou (Shall we get up)

2.shimo-ichidan katsuyou: -e, -e, -eru, -eru, -ere, -ero, -eyou
"kangaeru" = think
kangaenai
kangaemasu
kangaeru
kangaerutoki
kangaereba
kangaero
kangaeyou

3.ka-hen katsuyou: ko, ki, kuru, kuru, kure, koi
"kuru" = come
konai
kimasu
kuru
kurutoki
kureba
koi
(koyou)

4.sa-hen katsuyou: -i, -i, -uru, -uru, -ure, -iro, -iyou
"kouzuru" = take measures
kouji(ze)nai
kokujimasu
kouzuru
kouzurutoki
kouzureba
koujiro
koujiyou

Japanese Word Order
In English sentences words are generally placed SVO (subject, verb, object). Ex: The
girl eats the apple. The girl is the subject, eats is the verb, and the apple is the object.
In Japanese sentences, however, words are generally arranged SOV (subject, object,
verb). Ex: Kore wa pen desu. Kore (this) is the subject, desu (is) is the verb, and pen
is the object. (The use of wa is explained further down this page.)
In general, the beginner can assume Japanese word order to take the form of TTOPV
- Topic/Time Object Place Verb.
Just a note on translating here. When beginning to study Japanese, people often
make the mistake of translating too literally. For example, a person will read 'Pen
desu.', which translates in English as 'It is a pen.'. But, the person will translate it as
'Pen it is.' because they don't allow for the change in word order between the
languages. It may be hard at first, but please try not to 'cut and paste' between the two
languages. That will only be difficult to unlearn later on.
Articles (a, an, the)
Japanese doesn't use any equivalent of a, an, or the. In translating from English to
Japanese these can simply be dropped. In translating from Japanese to English be
careful to put the correct article back in though. Since Japanese doesn't use them
there may be cases where more than one of the articles is OK.
For example, the sentence Inu wa koko ni iru. can mean either 'A dog is here.' or 'The
dog is here.'
Nouns and Pronouns
Most Japanese nouns do not change form as they can in English. For instance, most
nouns (with the exception of nouns referring to people) have no plural form. Thus 'cat'
and 'cats' are both the same word neko.
There are ways to show there is more than one of something if necessary. There are
counters or words like takusan (many/a lot) or samazama (various).
Pronouns also don't change form as they do in English. As an example, she, her, and
hers indicate the same person. However, in Japanese she, her, and hers are all
indicated with the word 'kanojo' and a particle is used to determine which of the
English equivalents is being used. Pronouns do usually have a plural form.
Particles
One of the first things that often throws English speakers when studying Japanese is
particles. What is a particle? Well, it's something that the English language doesn't
have that Japanese does.
Particles help you tell which part of a sentence is which. Particles always follow the
word or clause they modify. Particles really have no meaning on their own; they just
serve to modify sections of a sentence. (Some particles have a rough equivalent in
English if they are of the 'preposition' variety.)
One of the most basic mistakes when starting to learn Japanese is to 'translate' the
particles. Unfortunately there is often no good English equivalent. (For instance,
Japanese uses a spoken question mark.) Thus translating too literally will make the
English tend to come out strange. It may be difficult for English speakers who are
used to every word having meaning, but try and think of most particles more as
'function' words as opposed to 'meaningful' words.
Counters
As stated in the nouns section, most words in Japanese do not have a 'plural' form.
Instead different types of things have different counters. This is something similar to
saying 'five glasses of water' in English. You wouldn't just say 'five water'. The
difference with Japanese is that everything requires this type of qualifier. To see some
types of counters, see the Counters page.

Name Suffixes
There are several name suffixes that are generally added to the end of names in
Japanese.
-San is the usual suffix placed after names. It is a respectful term. This suffix is kind of
like Ms. or Mr. but it is gender-neutral and makes no reference to marital status. -San
should never be used after your own name.
-Sama is a more honorific form of -san. This is most often heard in the word okyaku-
sama, honored guest/customer.
-Chan is a diminutive form of -san. It is usually used after the given name of close
friends or younger family members. It is also used after the names of pets.
-Kun is a casual suffix. It is usually used after the names of peers in a casual situation.
In schools, boys will often be addressed by this suffix. In office situations, higher ups
will often address subordinates with this suffix.
All of the suffixes can be used for either sex. -San and -sama are also often used after
titles in addition to names. The example of okyaku-sama is given above.
Particles Wo, Ha, and He
When you see the character wo in a sentence, it is actually pronounced more like
o. When ha is used as a particle to mark the subject of a sentence, it is pronounced
like wa. Ha is also pronounced as wa when used in the words konnichiha and
konbanha. When he is used as a particle in a sentence it is pronounced as e.












Lesson 1: It's a...
This simplest structure in Japanese is the "..." structure. is pronounced
'dess' as the u becomes silent. Simply put, ____ means "It is", "Those are", or "I
am." ____ . It's ___.
Note: In Japanese, cat = dog = .



It's a cat. or Those are cats.
It's a dog. or Those are dogs.
I am John.
There is usually no difference between plural and singular things in Japanese. To
distinguish what is being said, one must rely on context or add an adjective to describe
how many dogs or cats or whatevers you have.
To make a sentence a question in Japanese, you add "" to the end.

Is it a cat?
Is it a dog?
Are you John? Is it John?
Note that the suffix 'san' was added to the end of John when it became a question. This is
because you are reffering to someone else, rather than yourself. It is considered polite to
add -san to people's names other than your own. Be very carefull not to add it to the end
of your own name though, as it is considered very rude and unusual.
To say "It's not a cat." or "I'm not John." you have to use the form dewa arimasen or
janai desu. Either form means the same thing, but dewa arimasen is more formal. Note:
The above romanization uses wa in dewa while the phonetic characters below use ha.
This is because the phonetic character ha in this case is pronounced as wa.





It's not a cat.
It's not a cat.
It's not a dog.
It's not a dog.
I'm not John.
Note that, in the example above, you are not John, therefore refering to him with -san is
ok.
If someone asks you "Is it a cat?" you can respond with yes () or no ().




Is it a cat?
Yes, it is a cat.
No, it's not a cat.

If you don't know what something is, you can point to it and ask "Nan desu ka?"

Nan means 'what', so the sentence means "What is it?" Do not use nan to refer to
people. It is very rude.
Examples:








What is it?
It's a dog.

What is it?
It's a cat.

Lesson 1 Vocabulary:


- polite ending for other people's names
... . It's a ...
... . It's not a ...
... . It's not a ...

yes
no
what

particle added to the end of a sentence to
make it a question

cat
dog






Lesson 2: Who is it?
First, we should establish who you are. If you want to say "I am Sally." You would say:
means 'I.' Wa (spelled with the character ha) is a particle which marks the subject of
a sentence. It roughly means 'as for' so, the sentence translates to "As for me, I'm Sally." You can
also just say "" which just means 'I am Sally.' Men and boys can also use the form "
___ " also means I, but is usually used by males. The word 'you' in Japanese is
, but be careful not to use it unless you're very familiar with someone as it is slightly personal. It's
better to just use the person's name when referring to them.






I am Hana.
I am Mr./Ms Smith.
I am Hana.
I am Mr./Ms Smith.
I am John.
I am John.

If you want to ask someone's name, you say "" means 'name'. The '
' is added to make it honorific (used only for other people, not yourself). Remember from lesson
one that '' means what is it?' So the sentence literally means "As for your honorific name,
what is it?" To tell someone your name, you can use the above replies or you can say '
' or '' (Assuming your name is Hana.) The shorter form is usually
used in less formal situations. The particle '' in this case is similar to the English " 's ". It indicates
ownership. means "my name". would be 'your name.'

Examples:










What's your name?
My name is Heather.

My name is John.
What is the dog's name?

The dog's name is Spike.

To ask "Who is it?" you say "" means 'who.' To ask "Whose is it?" you say "
"


Who is it?
Whose is it?

To indicate ownership of an object, the possessive '' particle is used.

Examples:








Whose dog is it?
It's my dog.

Whose cat is it?
It's mine.







Whose cat is it?
It's Susan's cat.

Is it yours?
No, it's Mike's.

Lesson 2 Vocabulary:

















I
I (used by males only)
you
who

subject marker particle (pronounced wa)
possesive particle ('s)

prefix added to some words to make them
honoriffic

name
dog
cat






























Lesson 3: I am Japanese.
The word for Japan in Japanese is . (Or ) means sun and means root. So,
means "origin of the sun" thus Japan is also known as the "Land of the Rising Sun."
There are several words for 'person' in Japanese. is the noun 'person.' If you wanted to say "Who
is that person?" you would say "" means 'that over there.' (This will be
discussed more in Lesson 4.) Likewise, one says for 'woman' and for
'man.' These mean 'female person' and 'male person' and are much more polite than just saying
or which sound insulting alone.
The other two ways of indicating people are the suffixes - and -. Adding the suffix - to the
name of a country makes the name of the nationality of that country. means 'Japanese
person.' We will discuss the use of - later.
Similarly, one can add the suffix - to the end of a country word and it becomes the language of the
country. Note that there are exceptions to this as some countries share common languages.
Examples:

Country People Language
Japan


The U.S.
Germany
France
Italy
Australia
Canada /
England
Mexico
Spain
Portugal
Brazil
Korea, S.
Lesson 3 Vocabulary:


Japan
person
- suffix added to country to describe nationality
- suffix added to country to describe language
Japanese language
English language


Lesson 4: Here and There
In this lesson, we will discuss identifying one's general location as well as the location of
objects being spoken about. First let's start with some general location vocabulary.




here, next to me (the speaker)
there, next to you
over there, away from us
where
From here on out 'here' will be , 'there' will be , and 'over there' will be , but
don't forget that the words are in reference to the speaker and who is being spoken to.
Now we can instert our location words into the 'X Y ' patterns.

Examples:





Where is the book?
The book's here.
Where is the pencil?
The pencil is over there.
Where is my pen.
It's here.
One can also describe objects given their location. If you want to indicate a pencil you are
holding or one near to you 'this pencil' (as opposed to a pen near someone else) you say
. If you are indicating a pencil near the person you are speaking to (and not
yourself) you say . And finally, if you are indicating a pencil away from both of
you, you say . To ask which pencil (out of more than one indicated pencil),
you say .
NOTE: , , , and must be followed by a noun that they are describing.
They cannot stand alone.
____
____
____
____
this ___ (next to me)
that ___ (next to you)
that ___ over there (away from us)
which ___
Examples:


This dog is mine.
Who is that person over there?
Whose pencil is that?
Which book is it?
To indicate ownership of an object, the possessive particle is used.

Examples:














Whose dog is it?
It's my dog.

Whose cat is it?
It's mine.

Whose cat is it?
It's Susan's cat.

Is it yours?
No, it's Mike's.
If the subject is already understood, one can simply say 'this', 'that,' or 'that over there.'
is 'this', is 'that', and is 'that over there.' is 'which' (of several things).
Examples:


What is this?
That is a book.
What is that over there?
Which is it?

Lesson 4 Vocabulary:



















here (here next to me)
there (there next to you)
over there (away from us)
where
this ___ (next to me)
that ___ (next to you)
that ___ over there (away from us)
which ___
this (next to me)
that (next to you)
that over there (away from us)
which
book
pencil
person


Lesson 5: Numbers
In this lesson, we will study Japanese numbers. Let's start with one through ten.
1 - 10
or



or


or

or


zero
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten

Note that several of the numbers have two pronunciations. Each pronunciation is
used in specific situations. Sometimes either pronunciation is acceptable.
11 - 19
The numbers from 11 to 19 are formed by putting the appropriate number after ten.
Thus 11 is + = .



or


or

or

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 - 90
The numbers from 20 to 90 are formed by putting the appropriate number before ten.
Thus 20 is + = . Think of it like saying 'two tens.'





twenty
thirty
fourty (Not )
fifty
sixty



seventy
eighty
ninety (Not )

Other numbers can be formed in ways similar to the 1-19 and 20-90 ways. For
example, 21 is formed by making twenty, then adding one. 21 = + + =
. Or, 'two tens and one' is twenty one.
Examples:






32
67
48
99
100 - 900
One hundred is . The numbers from 200 to 900 are formed like the numbers
from 20-90. Be careful as there are some exceptions in pronunciation.








200
300 *
400
500
600 *
700
800 *
900
Note the exceptions in pronunciation for the numbers with asterisks.

Larger Numbers:









thousand
ten thousand
hundred thousand
million
ten million
hundred million










Lesson 6: I don't read books.
This lesson is about the Japanese particle . Wo is pronounced 'o' and will be spelled
'o' in romanized Japanese but should not be confused with the vowel . is only used
as a particle. It is used to mark the object of a sentence. The particle comes after the
object and before the verb. Basically, you have "noun action verb" which means:
"do/does the action verb to the noun."
study Japanese
language
read a book
read a
magazine
eat meat
eat an apple
watch TV
drink cola
listen to music

One can also attach a subject to the sentence to explain who or what is doing the action.
Examples:




I read books.
Anna studies
Japanese.
Yoshi listens to music.
That cat over there
eats apples.

Well, that's all well and good, but what if you want to say you don't eat meat? or don't
drink coffee? Notice that all of the verbs above end in . That is called the masu
ending. (It's pronounced like the 'moss' that grows on the ground.) That is the positive
present (or future) form of the verb in polite form. If you want to use the negative present
form of the verb you change the to . So "I listen", " ",
becomes "I don't listen", " "
Examples:


I don't read books.

Mary doesn't eat apples.
My cat doesn't eat
bananas.
Mike doesn't study
Japanese.

Lesson 6 Vocabulary:














~
~




object marker (particle)

apple
banana
TV
cola
music
to study
to eat
to hear or listen
to read
to drink
to watch, look, or see
present positive verb
form
present negative verb
form

























Lesson 7: I go to school.
This lesson is about direction verbs. For our purposes, a direction verb is one that
indicates movement to or from somewhere. In example: I go to the store. In other words,
you are moving from somewhere to the store.
In order to say "to the store" you have to use the particle or . and mean 'to'
when they come before a direction verb. (Note that the particle is pronounced as e
though it is written with the character he.)
Examples:




to go
to come
to return home
The sentence pattern for direction verbs is as follows:
location / direction verb :=: direction verb to location
Examples:










go to school
go to the store
go to the kitchen
come to the party


Will you come to school?
Yes, I'll go to school.
No, I won't go to school.
It should be remembered that the response to "will you come?" should be "I will go." or "I
won't go." because the two people speaking are assumed to be in different locations.
One can then add time to indicate when one will go or come. This is generally more useful
information that "I will go." Recall that the basic Japanese sentence structure is TTOPV.
This stands for Topic/Time Object Place Verb. Our sentences will use T/TPV as there is no
object in these sentences.
Examples:
Today I will go to school.
I won't go to school.

Will you come to my party tomorrow?
Yes, I'll go.

Will you go to the store tonight?
Yes, I'll go to the store.
Note that the above examples are all in future tense in English. In Japanese, there is no
difference between future tense and present tense.
Lesson 7 Vocabulary:

















to go
to come
to return home

today
tomorrow
tonight

school
store/shop
party
kitchen
house

particle that means 'to'
particle that means 'to'
























Lesson 8: I didn't eat meat.
This lesson deals with past and present verb tenses.
We have already studied the present and future tense for positive and negative verbs. As
a refresher:
-
-
positive present/future
negative present/future
Examples:







I will go to the party.
I won't go to the party.
I drink cola.
I don't drink cola.
I eat meat.
I don't eat meat.

Note that is an exception to this because the negaive of desu is
or .
To change from present positive to past positive, take off the ending and replace it
with . To change from a negative present to a negative past, use the
ending and add to the end.
Examples:



I went to the park.
I didn't go to the park.


I drank water.
I didn't drink water.


I ate meat.
I didn't eat meat.


It was a book.
It wasn't a book.
Note that again is an exception. You cannot say . This rule will be
explained later.
Note also the word . means water. The is only added to be respectful.
Many words often have this 'honorific' added to the front.

Lesson 8 Vocabulary:


- positive present/future verb tense
- negative present/future verb tense
- positive past verb tense
- negative pase verb tense

is
isn't
was
wasn't

to go
to drink
to eat

party
cola/soda
meat
park
water
book

honorific added to words


















Lesson 9: I want to drink cola.
In this lesson, you will learn how to tell someone that you want to do something. Recall
that present tense verbs have the - ending. In order to change these to the 'want to'
ending, drop the - and replace it with -.
Examples:
form English form English
to eat want to eat
to drink want to drink
to go want to go
to buy want to buy
to read want to read
to write want to write
to watch/see want to watch/see
to listen/hear want to listen/hear
Examples:






I will go to the park.
I want to go to the park.
I go to school.
I want to go to school.

Now for one more twist. When you use with verbs that take , you can also change
the to for emphasis if you want.

Examples:






I eat apples.
I want to eat an apple.
I want to eat an apple.

In the above example, the second sentence just means that you want to eat apples. The
third sentence means that you want to eat apples as opposed to something else. It's not
really that important of a difference so you can stick with just if you're more
comfortable with it.


Lesson 9 Vocabulary:


- positive present/future verb tense

- 'want to' verb ending



letter

book

park

school

cola



object marker particle

particle meaning 'to'

emphatic object marker





































Lesson 10: I study every day.
The word for school is . Teachers are and students are (or
). College/university is (literally "big school"). A college student is .
In order to say what grade you are in, or whether you're a freshman-senior, you say "I'm a --
year student." Where -- is replaced with the correct year.






first year student
second year student
third year student
fourth year student
year
I'm a second year student.
To say "I am a student at the University of ----" you say: ----
or ---- This also works for other types of schools like high
schools, junior highs and elementary schools. Just insert the name of the school in place of -
--- and the type of school in place of . Note that elementary school students are not
generally called or , but (children or juveniles).
I'm a West High School student.
Recall from Lesson 6 that . means 'I study Japanese.'
Recall from Lesson 7 that the basic Japanese sentence structure is TTOPV. This stands for
Topic/Time Object Place Verb. We will now add a few more general times to our sentences.
Examples:






every day
yesterday
the day after tomorrow
Students of course also do a lot of (homework). To do homework is
The verb "to do" is . Let's try a few sample sentences now.
Examples:



Every day I practice Japanese.



I study English every day.


I will practice Japanese the day after
tomorrow.


Yesterday, I studied math.


The day after tomorrow I will do Japanese
homework.


I didn't do the math homework yesterday.

Lesson 10 Vocabulary:




freshman/first year student
sophomore/second year student
junior/third year student
senior/fourth year student

university student
student
student
teacher

year
west
university
high school

every day
yesterday
the day after tomorrow
math
homework

to study
to practice











Lesson 11: Let's go.
This lesson is about the "let's" or "" form of verbs. Recall that '' is the polite
present ending for verbs. Taking off the and replacing it with changes it to
"let's --", where the -- is replaced by whatever the verb means.
Examples:
form English form English
to eat let's eat
to drink let's drink
to read let's read
to write let's write
to go let's go
to buy let's buy
to watch/see let's watch
to listen/hear let's listen

Using the previous lessons and some vocabulary, you should now be able to say all of the
following.

Examples:












Let's go to the park.
Let's watch a movie.
Let's listen to music.
Let's write a letter.
Let's read a book.
Let's eat.
Let's drink.
Let's buy a car.
Let's study Japanese.
The mashou form is also a nice way to ask people if they want to do something with you.
Just add the particle ka to the end of the sentence to make it "shall we~?".

Examples:
Shall we go to the park?
Shall we study Japanese?
A more formal way to ask if someone will do something with you is to use the masen ka
ending. This is more like asking "Won't you do this?"
Examples:




Won't you read a magazine?
Won't you go to school?
Lesson 11 Vocabulary:
to eat
to drink
to read
to write
to listen
to watch
to buy
to study
to go

- present/future positive verb ending
- "let's" verb ending
- "shall we" verb ending
- "won't you" verb ending

movie
book
park
car
music
letter
Japanese language
magazine












Lesson 12: It's in the car.
Recall from Lesson 4 that we learned how to say that the location of something is here, there,
or over there. This is useful information if you can see something or are pointing at
something. However, what if you can't see the location you are talking about, or you want to
explain where something is in relation to something else?
First, there are two different ways of saying something exists. One is for animate things
(people and animals) and one is for inanimate things. These are the verbs and
. These both mean "to exist." is used for animate things and is used for
inanimate things.
To ask where a place or inanimate object is, one can use the form:
XX Where is XX?
For people and animals, imasu is used instead:
XX Where is XX?
Note the use of . was previously shown in Lesson 7; its meaning here is slightly
different. in this case means 'at.' means 'at what location.' Similarly, would
mean 'at this location.' The above sentences literally translate as 'As for XX, at what location
does it exist?'
In order to say where something or someone is, just replace the '' with the location.

Examples:



Where is Mike?
Mike is at school.

Where is the cat?
The cat is over there.

Where is my apple?
. It's here.

Where is the briefcase?
The briefcase is in Alaska.


OK, now we can move on to specific locations. Where exactly is the cat? Is it under the
desk? Inside of a box? Is the book in the bookshelf or on top of it? We will need some more
vocabulary in order to say these things.
front
back, behind
next to, along side
top, above
bottom, under
inside, middle
outside
between, interval
beyond
next door, neighboring
left side
right side

Now that we have more location words to work with, we can make more location sentences.
Just place the correct location word in the sentence.
Examples:






Where is the cat?
It's outside.
It's inside.
Now we need to combine the location words with objects to create such locations as 'in the
bag' etc. We do this using the particle . Recall from Lesson 2 that indicates possesion.
Examples:






on the car
under the car
in the car
outside of the car
behind the car
Note that where in English these phrases are indicated with prepositions these are more like
postpositions.
OK, now that we have our new locations, we can insert them in our location sentence as
before.

Examples:






Where is the cat?
It's on the car.
It's under the car.
Where's the bag?
It's in the car.

Lesson 12 Vocabulary:


to exist (for inanimate things)
to exist (for animate things)

particle meaning at
possessive particle

front
back, behind
next to, along side
top, above
bottom, under
inside, middle
outside
between, interval
beyond
next door, neighboring
left side
right side

bag,briefcase
Alaska
car







Lesson 13: I came by bus.
Recall from Lesson 7 that "I go to the store." is " " This means
that "I went to the store." is "() " To add a bit more information
to this, we can say how we got to the store. To do this, we need to use the particle . De
roughly means "by means of", "at" or "in" depending upon how it's used. In this lesson, we'll
be using the 'by means of' meaning.
is a particle and therefore it follows the term it modifies.
Examples:





by car
by bike
by bus
by train
Now we can insert these new phrases into our direction sentences.
Examples:
()

I went to the store by car.
I'll go to the park by bus.
Let's go to the bank by bicycle.
We came by bus.
Lesson 13 Vocabulary:
bicycle
bus
train

shop/store
bank

we/us


particle meaning 'by means of''








Lesson 14: It's red.
This lesson is about adjectives. There are two types of adjectives in Japanese. These are
adjectives and adjectives. adjectives have an extra at the end which can be used to
modify their form. adjectives usually do not have the ending and must be followed by
if they come in front of a noun. adjectives have a different way of being modified. It is
also possible to make adjectives out of other nouns as in English.
This lesson will introduce the adjective.
Examples of adjectives:











old
new

big
small

red
blue
black
white
Notice that all the adjectives above end in .
adjectives can be used like adjectives in English. They come before the noun they modify.
Examples:




old car
blue book
small cat
I adjectives can also be used in the 'X ' and 'X Y ' patterns. Recall that
means It's a book. and means I am John. Similarly, you can
use the following pattern with i adjectives:
adjective :=: it's adjective
noun adjective :=: noun is adjective
Examples:



It's blue.
It's big.
The cat is white.
My umbrella is red.
The black cat is small.
This phone is new.

Lesson 14 Vocabulary:

old
new
big
small
red
blue
black
white


umbrella

telephone (n.)

































Lesson 15: She's quiet.
This lesson is a continuation of the previous lesson about adjectives. There are two types
of adjectives in Japanese. Lesson 14 deals with adjectives.adjectives are also
called 'true' adjectives. This lesson will introduce the adjectives. adjectives are not
considered adjectives in Japanese (although in English they are in fact adjectives). This
is because they are formed from nouns. adjectives have an extra at the end
which can be used to modify their form. adjectives usually do not have the ending
and must be followed by if they come in front of a noun.
Examples:







quiet
cool/nice
healthy/energetic
easy/brief/simple
clean/pretty
strange

Note however that kirei DOES have an extra at the end. This is one of those
exceptions to the usually rule. Be careful when memorizing these types of adjectives.
The " noun adjective :=: noun is adjective" pattern still holds true for
adjectives.

Examples:




She's quiet.
The cat is energetic isn't it?
This book is simple.

adjectives differ from adjectives when they come before a noun. In this case they
require to be added to the end of the word.
Examples:


strange book
clean house
cool pencil

Now let's try a few example sentences.

Examples:




Is this strange cat his?
This simple book is nice isn't it?

A note about the words and : Although they are the words for him and her,
they are also used for the words boyfriend and girlfriend. So, if someone says 'I lived with
her' and they are not referencing a specific woman they probably mean 'I lived with my
girlfriend'.

Lesson 15 Vocabulary:
quiet
cool/nice
healthy/energetic
easy/brief/simple
clean/pretty
strange

she/her/girlfriend
he/him/boyfriend
pencil






















Lesson 16: It's not red.
This lesson is a continuation of Lesson 14. Recall that Lesson 14 dealt with '' adjectives.
First, we need to start off with a bit about one of the differences between English and
Japanese. In English adjectives usually stay in their affirmative form and 'not' is added when
changing to the negative. In Japanese, however, adjectives all have an affirmative and a
negative form. Thus, 'black' and 'not black' are both adjectives.
In order to change an adjective from affirmative to negative form, change the last i to
.
Example:












red
not red

new
not new

heavy
not heavy

light (in weight)
not light (in weight)

The " noun adjective :=: noun is adjective" pattern still holds true for the negative
form of adjectives.
Examples:




The cat is not heavy.
The car is not light.
My umbrella is not red.
This book is not new.

These adjectives can also be used to modify nouns.
Examples:


a book that's not red
a pencil that's not heavy
a car that's not new

Note that the examples above are literally ' a not-red book', 'a not-heavy pencil', and 'a not-
new car', but if you're going to translate it is always better to translate into proper English
rather than Japanese-ized English.
Examples:


I want to eat an apple that's not red.
I want to use a pencil that's not heavy
The car that's not new is blue.

Lesson 16 Vocabulary:


-







heavy
light (in weight)
negative i adjective suffix

not red
not new
not heavy
not light (in weight)
use
want to use




























Lesson 17: It wasn't red.
This lesson is a continuation of Lessons 14 and 16. Recall that Lesson 14 dealt with
adjectives and Lesson 16 dealt with negative adjectives.
Recall that in order to change an adjective from affirmative to negative form, one
changes the last to .
In order to make the past form of an adjective, change the last to . Remember
that the negative () form of i adjectives are also adjectives, so you can change
them to the past form in the same way.
Example:











red
was red
not red
was not red
interesting
was interesting
was not interesting
difficult
was difficult
was not difficult

The " noun adjective :=: noun is adjective" pattern still holds true for the past and
past negative forms of adjectives.
Examples:




The umbrella was red.
The test was difficult.
The movie wasn't interesting.
That book was not new.

These adjectives can also be used to modify nouns.
Examples:


a car that was red
a test that was difficult
a pencil that wasn't new

Note that the examples above are literally ' a was-red car', 'a was-difficult test', and 'a
wasn't new pencil', but if you're going to translate it is always better to translate into proper
English rather than Japanese-ized English.
Lesson 17 Vocabulary:



-
-


red
interesting
difficult
suffix for past tense i adjectives
suffix for past negative i adjectives
test (n.)




































Lesson 18: It wasn't quiet.
This lesson is a continuation of Lesson 15. Recall that Lesson 15 dealt with adjectives.
First let's review some adjectives.
quiet
healthy/energetic
easy/brief/simple
strange
So, for example we can make the following sentence:
. It's quiet.
Now we need to think back to Lesson 1. Recall that we introduced two forms for negating
nouns.
For example:
It's not a cat.
It's not a cat.
The way to negate adjectives is the same as for nouns.
Examples:
It's not quiet.
It's not simple.
Easy enough? Now let's go back again; this time we need to go to Lesson 8. Recall that
we introduced the way to say 'was' and 'wasn't.'
Example from Lesson 8:
It was a book.
It wasn't a book.
Again, the way to make na adjectives past tense or negative past tense is the same as
nouns.
Examples:
It wasn't quiet.
It was simple.

These adjectives can still be used to modify nouns. Recall from Lesson 15 that when na
adjectives come before a noun they need to have na after them.
Examples:
quiet room
simple problem
Now we can make our sentences as we normally would with plain nouns.
Examples:
It was a quiet room.

It was not a simple problem.


Lesson 18 Vocabulary:
quiet
healthy/energetic
easy/brief/simple
strange

room
problem

























Lesson 19: I read at the library.
This lesson builds on what we've learned about the particle . Recall from Lesson 13 that
is a particle that can be used as "by means of", "at" or "in" depending on the situation. In
Lesson 13 we used it like this: I'll go to the park by bus. Now
we will study the 'at' function.
can be used to show where an action takes place. For example, if you wanted to say 'I
study in my room.' you would use to show that you do the action of studying in your room.
Examples:
in/at the park.
in/at the pool
in/at the library
at home
in/at the movie theater
From there you should be able to make whole sentences indicating where you do things.
Examples:
I play tennis at the park.
I study in my room.
I read books at the library.
Let's do homework at my house.
I watch movies at the movie theater.
Careful! Recall from Lesson 12 that indicating where something is does not use . This
case always uses . Don't use with or .
The meeting is at the library.
The cat is in my room.

Lesson 19 Vocabulary:
library
meeting
house
swimming pool
movie theater

play tennis


particle indicating a location where an action
takes place
Lesson 20: I wanted to swim.
This lesson builds on what we've learned about expressing wants. Recall from Lesson
9 that when you say you want to do something you take the off of the form of
the verb and replace it with .
Example:
- I go to the park.
- I want to go to the park.
Next please recall Lesson 16 and Lesson 17. Here we learned about making the
negative and past forms of adjectives. To make a negative adjective you take off
the last and replace it with . To make a past form adjective you take of the
last and replace it with .
The negative and past forms of the verbs are made the same way that the
adjective forms are. To make the negative form, drop the final and add . To
make the past form drop the final and add . To make the negative past form,
drop the final and add .
Examples:
I want to eat apples.
I don't want to eat apples.
I wanted to eat apples.
I didn't want to eat apples.

I swim at the pool.
I want to swim at the pool.
I don't want to swim at the pool.
I wanted to swim at the pool.
I didn't want to swim at the pool.
To make these sentences more polite, you can add to the end of them.
Examples:
I want to eat apples.

Lesson 20 Vocabulary:
swim


particle indicating a location where an action
takes place

swimming pool

verb ending meaning 'want to'
verb ending meaning 'don't want to'
verb ending meaing 'wanted to'
verb ending meaning ' didn't want to'

















Lesson 21: I like peaches.
This lesson introduces how to express your likes and dislikes in Japanese. This can be a little
tricky as the grammar is different from English in this case. In English, one might say: 'I like
peaches.' Here like is a verb. In Japanese, an adjective is used instead. For now, it's better to
just memorize the pattern for like/dislike sentences.
First, some vocabulary:
liking/fondness - (usually pronounced as ski)
dislike/hate -
Again, these two words are not verbs. They are both na adjectives. In English, people don't
usually say "I have a fondness for peaches," but this is how it is said in Japanese.
The pattern for like/dislike sentences is as follows:
() ~ I like ~.
() ~ I hate ~.
Examples:
I like apples.
. I like peaches.
I hate lemons.
I hate watermelon.
Of course, you can change the topic or the desu at the end of the sentence as usual.
Examples:


I don't like peaches.
I don't like bananas.
I don't like watermelon.
I liked him.
I don't hate him.


I didn't hate peaches.
Do you like apples?
This cat hates dogs.
Please note that when you say you like a person in Japanese it has strong connotations that
you are interested in the person romantically, so it should not be used lightly until you are
more familiar with the language.
Saying that you don't like something, or that you hate something can be a little harsh, so you
may wish to add the modifier , which, means "very much." ( is mostly used this
way in negative sentences.) It gives the sentences a connotation of "I don't really like ~."
Examples:


I don't like watermelons very much.


I don't like bananas very much.
Here, we would like to introduce a new form of the word . Recall that the negative forms
of are and . Either form means the same thing, but
is more formal. The past tense form is . The only negative past form
introduced so far has been , but that can be quite a mouthful. Also
note that you cannot say " ." The truth is that the part of is just
like the the found in adjectives. So, to make the negative past form you change the
to . Thus, it becomes or . Adding the
makes the phrase slightly more formal.
Examples:
I like peaches.


I didn't like peaches.
That is a book.
That wasn't a book.


Lesson 21 Vocabulary:
like
hate
very much


particle marking the object of like/dislike
sentences

peach
banana
watermelon
lemon
him

negative past form of desu