Japanese/Grammar

Word order

Japanese is a SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) language. English is typically SVO (Subject-Verb-Object). In Japanese, the verb always appears at the end of clauses and sentences. Japanese parts of speech are usually marked with words called "particles" that follow the word they modify. These particles identify the word's or phrase's function in the sentence—for example, topic, subject, direct/indirect object, location of action, etc.

Japanese is flexible in terms of word-order due to use of particles. Sentences, however, generally have the following structure:

Sentence Topic, Time, Location, Subject, Indirect Object, Direct Object, Verb.

Context sensitivity

Japanese is highly context-sensitive. Words or phrases obvious to both the speaker and listener are often omitted. It could be considered a "minimalist" language. For example, the statement: "I'm going to watch a movie." could be translated as 「映画を見る。」 (eiga o miru.); literally, "Movie watch." [I] is implied, as it is the speaker who is making the statement. Depending on the context, however, this phrase could also be translated as "s/he is going to watch a movie", "we will watch a movie", etc.

Japanese has many levels of formality and depends not only on what is said, but also on who is saying it and to whom. The language is socially striated to the point that different forms of speech exist for men and women.

Parts of speech

Japanese parts of speech, although no more complicated than those of other languages, do not fit well into typical labels such as verb, noun, and adjective. Keep that in mind over the course of your studies.

Nominals

Nouns

Nouns in Japanese are fairly immutable. They do not take definite or indefinite articles, gender, and do not change for number.

Although there is no true plural in Japanese, a small number of nouns may take one of several collective suffixes.

Tanaka-san (Mr. Tanaka), Tanaka-san-tachi (Mr. Tanaka and his group)

Certain nouns may take a prefix in polite speech. Most often, native Japanese words (和語) are preceded by "o-" ("お"), and Sino-Japanese words (漢語) are preceded with "go-" ("ご"). Both are readings of the kanji "御". Though primarily used for adding politeness or distance, some words more commonly appear with the prefix than others, and in some cases, never appear without it (e.g., お茶 [ocha], "green tea").

Many nouns may be converted into verbs simply by affixing 「する」 (suru) to the end.

"benkyō" (勉強(べんきょう)) is a noun meaning "study/studies" while "benkyō-suru" (勉強(べんきょう)する) is the verb "to study".

Nouns may also function as adjectives when the particle の (no) or な ("na") is appended.

"ki" (木) means "wood" with "ki no tatemono" (木(き)の建物(たてもの)) meaning "wooden building".

Pronouns

Unlike many other languages, Japanese has no true pronouns; since words that are clear from context are usually elided, there is less need for them. In general, natural-sounding Japanese tends to avoid the use of nouns that refer to people except when explicitly needed. This is often a point of confusion for beginners. Pronominals are not grammatically distinct from ordinary nominals: notably, they may take adjectives, which pronouns cannot.

"watashi", "boku", "ore", "watakushi" all mean "I"; and "anata", "kimi" mean "you"

Na-adjectives

A Na-adjective is a nominal that often precedes a copula (such as 'na'). Due to the common occurrence of na-adjectives, many Japanese dictionaries write nominals with the 'na' included. Na-adjectives are generally adjectival in meaning, as most cannot exist in context without a previously denoted subject; however, one might simply say "げんき　な (genki na)" to describe a subject that is understood within the current conversation's context (this situation is limited to casual or somewhat informal conversation; using full sentences is almost always necessary when speaking to anyone of higher status). Examples of na-adjectives: "heta na:" unskilled, bad at; "genki na:" healthy, energetic; "orijinaru na:" original

Verbals

Verbs

Verbs are where most of the action in Japanese sentences takes place. They are the primary means for controlling levels of politeness in speech,…

Japanese verbs inflect directly for tense, negation, mood, aspect, politeness, and honorific speech.

Unlike English, conjugation of Japanese verbs is extremely regular, with few exceptions. The system takes some getting used to, but once the kana have been learned, a uniform pattern emerges. Verbs are placed into one of three groups: 五段 (godan, aka Type I), 一段 (ichidan, aka Type II), and 不規則 (fukisoku, irregular).

Only two verbs are generally considered irregular in the modern language, 来る (kuru, to come) and する (suru, to do). Despite being such, even they are somewhat regular in their irregularity.

I-adjectives

These inflect for tense, politeness, and honorific speech as well (although not aspect or mood, as they are all stative verbs); an -i adjective will always end in -ai, -ī, -ui, or -oi. (Note that there are also stative -u verbs.)

"utsukushī": beautiful; "ī": good; "sugoi": amazing; "ureshī": happy

The copula

Although the copula is not strictly a verb, most of its forms derive from "de aru", but inflects somewhat irregularly. It retains an "attributive form", na, used to modify the noun it stands before: however, this form is almost exclusively used after na-adjectives.

Other

Particles: Also called postpositions or joshi, particles show the case of nouns in Japanese: that is, they mark nouns as being the subject, object, indirect object, etc. (English typically uses word order or prepositions for the same effect.) Particles follow the noun they modify.

wa (は): topic
ga (が): subject
o (を): direct object
no (の): possession, apposition
ni (に): indirect object, direction "to", location of existence, etc.
kara (から): direction "from"
made (まで): "until", "as far as"
de (で): means, location of an action

Some particles are used after sentences instead:

ka (か): question marker
yo (よ): marker for giving new information or showing emphasis or certainty
ne (ね): marker for seeking agreement
tte (って): informal quotation marker

Adverbs: Adverbs typically modify the entire sentence, although most Japanese quantifiers (including numbers) are actually adverbs, rather than adjectives as in English.

aikawarazu as always;
sukoshi (少し) a little, few
mō sugu soon, before long;
sō thus, so

Conjunctions: Japanese conjunctions typically either apply to nominals (like English "except") or to predicates (like English "when"), not both (like English "and").

mata wa or (n.);
soshite (そして) and then, and also (pr.);
ga but (pr.)

Interjections: Common to every language.

wā! "wow!"
are? "huh?", "wha?"
ē to "um, er"
anō "um"

Sentence examples

遅い
Osoi.
late

[You're] late.

綺麗	だ
Kirei	da.
Pretty	is

[It] is pretty.

これ	は	本	です
Kore	wa	hon	desu.
This	topic	book	is.

This is a book.

富士山	は	美しい
Fuji-san	wa	utsukushī.
Mt. Fuji	topic	beautiful

Mt. Fuji is beautiful.

今日	は	あまり	寒くない	です
Kyou	wa	amari	samuku-nai	desu.
Today	topic	very	cold-NEG-POLITE	is

It's not very cold today. / Today isn't very cold.

海	を	見ました
Umi	o	mimashita.
Sea	object	look at-past

[I] gazed out at the ocean.

お母さん	は	店	に	行きました
Okāsan	wa	mise	ni	ikimashita.
Mother	topic	store	place/method	went-PAST-POLITE

[Her] mother went to the store.

夏	が	来ました
Natsu	ga	kimashita.
Summer	subject	come-PAST-POLITE

Summer has come.