h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

BASIC GRAMMAR PAGE 1

Basic word order | Desu verb | 2 Basic verb forms ～る、～ます | Making questions か | Question words | Possessive "'s" の | and と、そして | But でも | Pronouns | Fillers ええと、 | Particles | intro | if もし | Using ～さん

TO THE GRAMMAR PAGE
BASIC WORD ORDER

The 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.

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

For more on this go here

TOP
DESU VERB

The desu verb is the most important verb you will learn. Think of it for now as the to be verb. (You know - is, are, am...) Let's take a look:

わたし　は　クレイ　です。
watashi wa kurei desu.
I am Clay.

これ　は　ねこ　です。
kore wa neko desu.
That 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.

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、～ます

There 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:

たべる
taberu たべます
tabemasu Both mean "to eat"
のむ
nomu のみます
nomimasu to drink
はしる
hashiru はしります
hashirimasu to run
する
suru します
shimasu 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!
Making questions か

Making questions in Japanese is easy! -- REALLY! Usually you can change a statement into a question by just adding a か ka to the end!

あなた　は　アメリカ人　です。
anata wa amerikajin desu.
You are an American.

あなた　は　アメリカ人　です　か。
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 ...
Question words

By mastering these question words, your conversational skills will be much stronger!

いつ itsu - when
いつ　きました　か？ itsu kimashita ka? When did you come? [lit. when came?]
どこ doko - where
どこ　から　きました　か？ doko kara kimashita ka? Where did you come from? [lit. where from came?]
どうして doushite - why
どうして　きました　か？ doushite kimashita ka? Why did you come? [lit. why came?]
だれ dare - who
だれ　きました　か？ dare kimashita ka? Who came?

MAIN POINTS:

Even with the question word a か ka is used. (Except in casual spoken Japanese)
The question word is at the beginning, but after the は wa if there is one.
あなた　は　だれ　です　か？
anata wa dare desu ka?
Who are you? (the question word dare is after the wa)

FOR MORE ON THIS ...
Possessive "'s" の

This is another nice part about Japanese. To show relationship or possession between 2 things just put a の 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: の => 's

わたし　の　ねこ watashi no neko - My cat [I's cat]
日本　の　車 nihon no kuruma - Japanese car [Japan's car]
ねこ　の　おもちゃ neko no omocha - Cat's toy

Also think of:
わたしの watashino as "my" and
あなたの anatano as "your"

TOP
And と、そして

There are several ways to say "and" (connecting things). Let's look at 2 of them

と to - connecting nouns
わたし　は　日本語　と　英語　と　フランス語　が　話せます。
watashi wa nihongo to eigo to furansugo ga hanasemasu.
I can speak Japanese and English and French.

そして soshite - connecting phrases
わたし　は　日本語　が　はなせます。　そして、ドイツ語　が　読めます。
watashi wa nihongo ga hanasemasu. soshite, doitsugo ga yomemasu..
I can speak Japanese and I can read German.
But でも

But, a small word, but... There are other "buts" but demo is the most common. Learn this first and you can pick the others up later.

でも demo - but

日本語　が　好き　でも、　フランス語　は　きらい　です。
nihongo ga suki demo, furansugo wa kirai desu.
I like Japanese, but I hate French.

TOP
Pronouns

Pronouns are not used nearly as much in Japanese as they are in English. Often the pronoun is used once and then after (until the topic shifts to someone else) the pronoun is dropped. Still they are very important!

Learn watashi and anata well tachi and ra are endings that indicate plurality! Easy!
I - わたし watashi WE - わたしたち watashi tachi
YOU - あなた anata YOU - あなたたち anata tachi
HE - かれ kare
SHE - かのじょ kanojo
IT - IT isn't used but in IT's place sore (that) is often used -- Don't worry! THEY - かれら kare ra
NOTE:

Another meaning of kare (he) is actually "boyfriend" and kanojo is "girlfriend"!
When the meaning is obvious, the pronoun is usually dropped. Both of the following is clear in meaning:
watashi wa amerika kara kimashita. I came from America.
amerika kara kimashita. (I) came from America.


FOR MORE ON THIS ...

TOP
Fillers ええと

In English, we have our "um." in Japanese, they have their "eeto." This is the sound you make when you can't think of what to say, but want to say something!

何 の　動物 が　好き　です　か？
nan no doubutsu ga suki desu ka?
What animal do you like?

ええと。。。　ねこ　が　すき。
eeto... neko ga suki.
Um... I like cats.

TOP
Particles intro

In Japanese, grammatical parts of the sentence are shown very clearly by "particles." These particles are placed after the word (or phrase) they modify. The best way to learn to use them is to memorize useful examples and say them!

は wa - overall topic particle - shows the main topic of the conversation [NOTE: it is a hiragana ha but pronounced as "wa"]

あなた　は　やさしい。
anata wa yasashii.
You are nice.
[Makes "you" the main topic]

が ga - the subject particle - sometimes the difference between wa and ga are hard to tell. Sometimes they can be used interchangeably with only a slight change in meaning. Don't worry about this now!

ねこ　が　へん。
neko ga hen.
The cat is strange.
[Makes the "cat" the subject]


を o - The Direct Object particle

本　を　よみました。
hon o yomimashita.
(I) read a book.
[NOTE: it makes "book" the object. If we were to say "I" it would be watashi wa at the beginning.]


に ni - usually shows movement (to)

日本　に　いきましょう！
nihon ni ikimashou!
Let's go to Japan!
[There is movement going to Japan]

or shows time (at)

６時　に　いきましょう！
roku ji ni ikimashou!
Let's go at 6.

で de - Shows location (at, in)

日本　で　遊びましょう！
nihon de asobimashou!
Let's play (have fun) in Japan!
[Notice there is no movement]


if もし

For simplicity, I will teach you the "understandable but not totally correct" approach. To say "if..." start with もし moshi. To be "totally correct" you should also change the end of the verb to a ～ば ba, たら tara, or なら nara. I will show you the "totally correct" but for now just concentrate on adding the moshi.

SIMPLIFIED UNDERSTANDABLE ENGLISH TOTALLY CORRECT VERSION
moshi anata ga kimasu. If you come.
moshi anata ga kitara.
moshi hare. If it will be sunny.
moshi hare tara.

Special useful phrases - you can ignore this if you want...
moshi yokereba...
If it is ok with you... [let's do this...]
moshi hoshikattara,
If you want (it), - when offering something to someone
The equivalent to Mr. or Mrs. or Miss. is
USAGE: Right after the name. It is used even with friends. (Even when in English we wouldn't use "Mr.")

kurei san - Mr. Clay
yamada san - Mr. (or Mrs...) Yamada
Other name callings: (used the same way)
sama - very polite - reserved for royalty, important people, and customers of stores
chan - used for young girls (kiti-chan = Hello Kitty)
kun - used for young boys
sensei - used for teachers [クレイ先生 kurei sensei], doctors, and professionals

For now just use san. It is the most common.