Kana Quick and Dirty Guide to Japanese

かな の じんそく と きたない 日本語 めあて

by Tad Perry (1992)
html-lized version by John Teehan (1998)
Kana version by Andy Searls (2000)

The Quick and Dirty Guide to Japanese is a canonical classic of the Internet community. Posted years ago on the sci.lang.japan newsgroup, this guide appears in a multitude of pages written by folks such as myself, devoted to the learning of the Japanese language.

John Teehan provided an HTML-ized version a couple years back, which I have included in my links, but the Japanese is all romanji. Since you will rarely see romanji outside of textbooks, I decided to re-write the web page using kana. Since I am learning the language myself, there are quite possibly mistakes on this page. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you find one.

Preface/Introduction

Many students of Japanese just want to communicate. Sure, they want to say things correctly as often as possible, but they also want to get into the language quickly and start mixing it up early. This QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE TO JAPANESE was meant to help you do just that. It makes no pretense of being complete, but tries to pack the most *useful information* necessary to achieve the *goal of using Japanese* in the *shortest possible space*. This article therefore only covers *two* things: Particles (those wa, ga, wo, de, ni and he thingies) and verb conjugations.

This is my reasoning on this: you can build a vocabulary of nouns, just by looking in a dictionary or asking a native speaker. They almost never inflect (in any true meaning of the word) and are easy. Plus we won't be worrying about those strange noun-like things that can act like adjectives. So *you* can take care of the nouns yourself as you see fit.

On the other hand, the verbs and adjectives inflect so I'll try to present the most compact rules conceivable for allowing you to manipulate every verb you ever encounter and hopefully you can take it from their. The less mental overhead for remembering how to do it, the less painful it will be. After knowing the conjugation rules pat, you can get new vocabulary out of a dictionary or ask a native speaker.

Now that you have a bunch of nouns and a bunch of verbs and adjectives (that you can inflect), you need to know how to piece them together. That's where learning about the particles come in. Remember, this is a *Quick and Dirty* guide so don't expect these generalizations to *always* work, just expect them to work in as many cases as possible based on what I know.

Now, in compiling this, I noticed that the descriptions are pretty comprehensive. So why aren't these things presented this way in class? Well, an educational institution obviously has a financial stake in dragging out your language learning as long as possible (and confusing you along the way), now doesn't it? They also feel obligated to teach you every little detail so you feel like you're getting your money's worth. In the case of this guide, return comments such as: "You made generalization X, but for got to mention exceptions Y and Z." won't be appreciated very much. This is a *quick and dirty* guide, remember? So be forewarned that their are exceptions all over the place, but that I have tried to be as accurate as space allows. And space is the primary concern here. Please don't forget that.

Particles and Word Order

Word Order

Before talking about particles let's get into word order. In general, standard word order for Japanese when using an action verb is:

[SUBJECT]+TIME+PLACE/IMPLEMENT+INDIRECT OBJECT+OBJECT+ACTION VERB

"あした、がっこう で せんせい に プレゼント を あげます。" ("[I'm] going to give a present to [my] teacher tomorrow.")

For an existence verb it is:

[SUBJECT]+TIME+LOCATION+EXISTENCE VERB

"たかはし は、いま ほんしゃ に いる。" ("Takahasi is in the main office right now.")

For a motion verb it is:

[SUBJECT]+TIME+ORIGIN+ROUTE+DESTINATION+MOTION VERB

"あした、パーテイ に いく。" ("I'm going to a party tomorrow.")

SUBJECTs are put in brackets to stress that they are very often deleted. In general, if a new subject is introduced where another had been previously understood, signal the change by placing "は" after the subject. If a subject is understood, but for some reason not deleted (that's rare) use "が" or nothing. Often you can move a subject out after the verb when things start piling up before the verb. Like: "あした ぼく が こうえん で うたう。" (I'm singing at the park tomorrow.) often becomes: "あした こうえん で うたう、ぼく。" For more on SUBJECTs, see the longer description in the next section, "Subjects and Deletion". Knowing how to delete is a key to sounding natural.

TIME is usually followed by "に". In general, use "に" for specific points in time or specific spans of time. So "じゅう がつ [に]" (October), "さん がつ みっか [に]" (March 3rd) take "に". A word like "あした" (tomorrow) that can only be understood by context (it changes depending on when you say it). These types of words are called "deictic" time words and don't take "に". "あした いく" ("I'm going tomorrow."), but: "さんじ に いく" ("I'm going at 3.") Even if you have trouble making the distinction between these two types of time words, don't worry: Japanese people can understand what you mean even if you get it backwards.

PLACE/IMPLEMENT is followed by "で". By PLACE, I mean the location that a volitional *action* occurred. If you're eating at home, that's "おうち で しょくじ する". If you're eating with chopsticks, that's "おはし で だべる". The place you do something or the thing you use to do something takes "で". If you're going somewhere by car, you say "くるま で いく". It's not that hard to understand really. (See INDIRECT OBJECT for why DESTINATIONs are different.)

Verbs of motion that tell DESTINATION, or ones of existence that tell the LOCATION of something take "に". (DESTINATIONs can also take "へ".) Try to distinguish PLACE from LOCATION by thinking of it this way: PLACE is WHERE SOMETHING IS DONE, LOCATION is WHERE SOMETHING OR SOMEONE IS.

Use "から" ("from") after an ORIGIN and "を" after a ROUTE. "がっこう から、こえん を とって、 おうし に かえる。" (Lit. "I'm going home from school through the park.") There's usually an intermediate verb in this type of usage.

OBJECT is followed by "を" or nothing. "ほん を よんで いる。" (I'm reading a book.) This is a really simple one in most cases. I really don't know many Japanese learners who can't understand this.

INDIRECT OBJECT is followed by "に". By INDIRECT OBJECT, I mean a sort of secondary object that some verbs take. "この ほん を あなた に あげる。" ("I'm going to give this to you.") You have "this book" and you have "to you". The "this book" part is the OBJECT. The "to you" part is the INDIRECT OBJECT. "を" and "に" are used to distinguish these two.

VERBS don't take any particles, but they need to be inflected. There's a big section at the end on how you do that, and useful colloquial English equivalents of what those inflections mean.

To boil this section down, remember it this way:

• SUBJECT+は/が/nothing (delete subject if possible, show changes with "は")
• TIME+に/nothing (use nothing if it's a deictic time word)
• PLACE/IMPLEMENT+で (is the place where you *do* or where you *are*?)
• LOCATION+に (is the place where you *are* or where you *do*?)
• ORIGIN+から ROUTE+を (is this a place on the way to where you're going?)
• DESTINATION+に/へ (use "に" over "へ" but be aware that both are okay.)
• INDIRECT OBJECT+に (use this if you're out of choices ^_^ )
• DIRECT OBJECT+を

After understanding the descriptions given earlier, these nine lines are the key to knowing what particle to use 90% of the time. Even if these rules cause you to make a mistake you're definitely being understood.

Subjects and Deletions

Usually, you don't have to worry about whether to use は or が, because most subjects can usually be deleted. "You can't get something wrong, if you left it out in the first place." That's my philosophy. So we'll work on the parts of sentences that you can delete, starting with subjects.

If you face a Japanese person and suddenly make a statement:

"あした、パーテイ に いく。" ("[I'm] going to the party tomorrow.")

The listener will assume the subject is you. So don't bother supplying any subject. To do so, is in fact, not natural; a Japanese wouldn't normally do it.

If you face a Japanese and suddenly ask a question:

"あした、パーテイ に いく?" ("[Are you] going to the party tomorrow?")

The listener will assume the subject is himself or herself. Easy! Most one-on-one conversations where you or the listener is the subject *don't need an explicit subject*. No chance of screwing up は/が here.

If you suddenly face a Japanese and want to make a statement or ask a question about some other person altogether, use "は" after that person's name or title the first time you mention that person:

"しゃちょう は、あした パーテイ に いく?" ("Is the shachoo going to the party tomorrow?")

Let's just say the "は" introduces a change in subject. This time it signals a change from the default "you the listener" to the "しゃちょう". After you establish that you're talking about the president you can go back to dropping subjects again:

"その あと は, かえる か な?" ("Is he going home after that?"--again some vagueness added with "か な" ("I wonder"). Don't be too forward making assumptions about other people. This trick also stops the listener from thinking the question is back to being about themself. There's a strong tendency for questions to erase understood info and you have to signal that things are unchanged. Usually you play with the verb a little bit to get this across. Note that the change in time being talked about was also signaled with a "は".)

Note that this tendency to delete in Japanese parallels the point where an English native speaker would use plain pronouns like, I, you, he, she, they. When you start a comment about yourself, you use "I" (Japanese delete). When you ask about the listener, you use "you" (Japanese delete). When you've first established someone and then keep going with that person, you use "he" or "she" (Japanese delete). See? Simple.

Deleting Other Established Info

Just like with subjects any info that's been established can be deleted, and any changes in established info can be signalled using "は":

"あした パーテイ に いく?" ("[Are you] going to the party tomorrow?")

"うん, あなた は?" ("Yeah, how about you?"--info about "パーテイ に" and "いく" unchanged, therefore deleted. Subject changed to original questioner, so the change is signaled with "は".)

"うん-ん, いかない" ("No, I'm not going."--info about "パーテイ に" still deleted, "いく" comes back as "いかない" because it has changed form.)

"その あと の えいが は?" ("How about the movie afterwards?"--the established info "パーテイ" changed to "えいが" so we use "は" to establish the change in understood information. Understood info that *hasn't* changed is still left out, like the subject "ぼく" and the action "いく".)

"うんーん, いかない."

This is pretty much how deletions work whether it be subjects or something else. In general, always go for deletions if possible. This section also serves the purpose of giving you a feel for "は".

Particle が

In general, you don't need it. In the instances where you do, you can slowly build a feel for it. Basically, you need it in situations where you're not expressing a change in subject, but where you want to state the subject even though it is established info. Usually, this is to add emphasis or avoid ambiguity.

"しゃちょ は, あした パーテイ に いく?" ("Is the shachoo going to the party tomorrow?")

"うん-ん, いかない みたい." ("No, it doesn't look like it."--throw in a "みたい" because you don't want to act too sure of the actions of others in Japanese. We're not really covering that though, it's just a side note.)

"なんで?" ("Why not?")

"それ が わからない" ("I don't know why not."--there's no real ambiguity in this case, and "わからない" alone would have worked, but it is a case where you're not changing an understood subject to another, you're restating the understood subject as such for some emphasis. If you're stating an established subject, for whatever reason, use "が". But you could've deleted, and if you were following my explanation you should have. This one sentence also helps dispel the huge MYTH that "は" is for negative sentences.)

Particle も

Use "も" when you're adding more info on a list of established info. It may be used alone when marking subjects and objects, and can follow other particles (like "に", "で", and "へ"). Put it this way: if "は" clears the understood info and replaces it, "も" adds extra info on top of what's already there without clearing out anything.

"あした パーテイ に いく?" ("[Are you] going to the party tomorrow?")

"うん, いく よ." ("Yeah, I'm going, how about you?"--note what was deleted and why.)

"ぼく も いく." ("I'm going too."--add yourself to the understood subject.)

"も" is easy, so we won't waste any more time with it. Just trying to be complete and it only took a few lines to do.

Verbs and Verb Conjugation

Another thing that many Japanese learners need is an easy method of arriving at all the verb conjugations and a highly reduced set of rules for how to get them right on the different types of verbs. That's easy enough really because there are only three major verb types: -る verbs, -う verbs, and -ある verbs (a polite type not much used except for "ござる/ございます"). People really hate Eleanor Jordan for this kind of naming, but in language learning you take what's easy and go with it; there's no need to worry about theoretical linguistics here. Also note that I changed romanization styles at this point to one that makes the changes in verbs appear much more uniform.

-る verbs are those that end in -る like たべる and いれる. "-う" verbs end in う, く, ぐ, ぶ, む, ぬ, す, つ, or [あ,い,う,お]+る (rarely え+る because those are almost always -る verbs like たべる. I only know of three like that: ける/kick, へる/decrease and へる/elapse--there are probably more, but I have a feeling they would also only be two syllables like these). So the only real overlap worth worrying about is "い+る". If you memorize two forms for each of these (like: いれる/いれて and はいる/はいって) you can keep them straight.

-る Verbs

Everything's done by dropping or replacing -る with something else. Just remember the different uses of each conjugation.

-う Verbals

-る verbs are by far the easiest to conjugate: you drop -る and add something else. Simple. -う verbs aren't that easy but almost. Typically you drop -う and add something else. The problem is that there might be a phonetic change (such as when は becomes ぱ, or た becomes だ) for some of the types. See the other chart for simple-English meanings of the conjunctions, this one just tries to keep the conjunction rules clear.

First, there are some -う verbs that end in -る. We have to get that out of the way right now. Real -る verbs (where -る gets dropped) always end in "いる" or "える", if you see one that ends:

"ある" (exist) "うる" (sell) - or - "おる" (break)

It's guaranteed *not* to be a -る verb. It's probably a -う verb. (With the exception of super-polite oddballs like ござる/ございます, but effectively, you can forget about those and assume anything ending "ある", "うる" or "おる" is an -う verb.) Verbs like "いる" (exist or need depending on context) can be either type. In fact, "need" is an -う verb (gerund is いって) and "exist" is a -る verb (gerund is いて). If you hear one of these, (like "はいる") be sure to ask what the gerund ("はいって") or past tense ("はいって") is too, so you can remember what type it is. So far I've only met three verbs that ended "-える" that were -う verbs instead of -る verbs. These are: ける/けって (kick), へる/へって (decrease), and へる/へって (elapse). Except for these "いる/える" verbs, every other type of verb is obvious by hearing only one form.

Including -う verbs which might happen to end in -る, these are all the types there are:

-す
-く (these two types conjugate similarly) -ぐ
-ぶ (these three types conjugate similarly) -む -ぬ
-る (these three types conjugate similarly) -つ -vowel+う
-す is the only one that is well behaved; -す/う will change simply to -さ/あ, -し/い, -せ/え, -そ/お in all cases with no odd behavior to remember.

Here are the replacements:

Replace -う with -い to add "-ます", "-やすい", etc. (works straight across, no phonetic changes in any of the types)

Replace -う with -いて for do "X and Y" and for simple commands. (types not following the rule, but acting similarly, are grouped) はなす -> はなして (talk)

Replace -う with -いた for past tense. (types not strictly following the rule, but acting similarly, are grouped)

(In fact, I query search and replaced "e" with "a" on the gerunds to get this if that helps any. The rule breakers are breaking the rule uniformly now.) - This was pre-conversion to kana - Andy.

Replace -う with -いたら for "if". (Or, just add "ら" to the past.) (types not strictly following the rule, but acting similarly, are grouped)

Replace -う with -いたり for "do things like X". (Or just add "り" to past.) (types not strictly following the rule, but acting similarly, are grouped)

Replace -う with -えば for "if" (works straight across, no phonetic changes in any of the types)

Replace -う with -おう for "let's do X". (works straight across, no phonetic changes in any of the types)

Replace -う with -え for rude orders "do X dammit". (works straight across, no phonetic changes in any of the types)

Replace -う with -あない for negative. (This is now an adjective.) (works straight across, only one phonetic change in one type)

Replace -う with -える for "can do X". This is now a -る verb. (works straight across, no phonetic changes in any of the types)

Replace -う with -あせる for "make (someone) do X". This is now a -る verb. (works straight across, only one phonetic change in one of the types)

Replace -う with -あれる for "X is done (often to someone)". This is now a -るverb. (works straight across, only one phonetic change in one of the types)

Replace -う with -あせられる for "be made to do X by someone". Same result as just doing the two conjunctions separately but is taught in most books as a specific conjunction. This is now a -る verb. (works straight across, only one phonetic change in one of the types)

Now that was long, but it was mostly cut-and-paste because even these are well-behaved when you organize them correctly. When you boil down what needs to be done to these verbs to conjugate them correctly, the information required is really minimal--even for the oddballs. That's all you need to be able to conjugate almost every verb in Japanese. Most books say that there are only two irregular verbs in all of Japanese: する and くる. Those you have to learn separately, but they kind of make sense. In fact, though, there's a third one: いく. The reason is that unlike きいた for きく, you don't say いいた, you say いった. You don't say, いいて, you say いって. But it's regular in its irregularity because it acts like つくる for some weird reason.

A cool trick to remember する is that many of the conjugations match what you would get if you conjugated a lone "す", so it's kind of like "はなす". はなした--した. はなせる--せる. はなさせる--させる.

Adjectives

These aren't that hard. They always end in [a,i,u,o]+い. They *never* end in e+い that would be a noun. Basically you replace "い" with a form of "か" to inflect.

These inflections follow what a "か+う" verb would do. If you can conjugate "かう" (to buy) you can conjugate every Japanese adjective. Just note that you don't say: "あつかせる" for "make something hot" you say "あつく する". For a command, say: "やさしく なって" ("be nice").