# | pronouns | nouns | adverbs | verbs | adject. | particles | pre/suffix. | conjun. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | watashi | ei | sukoshi | desu | ka/no (?) | |||
anata | nihon | -masu (non-past) | wa (topic) | |||||
amerika | dict. form | ga (subject) | ||||||
jin | wakaru | |||||||
go | sumu | |||||||
2 | tenki | sou | i-i | ne/na | o- (hon) | de | ||
mata | jouzu-na | ja | ||||||
haya-i | ||||||||
3 | hayou | doumo | iya-na | demo | ||||
nichi | mada | genki-na | ||||||
yoku | ||||||||
4 | doko | eki | hanasu | ko- (this) | ||||
koko | kouen | a- (that) | ||||||
asoko | tokoro | do- (?) | ||||||
nani | -na/-ni (na-adj) | |||||||
5 | taberu | kekkou-na | -ka (some) | |||||
nomu | ||||||||
6 | itsu | ima | no (') | |||||
ato | mo (too) | |||||||
koura | de (at) | |||||||
wo (dir.obj) | ||||||||
7 | sake | hoshi-i | ga (dir.obj) | |||||
biiru | ||||||||
resutoran | ||||||||
8 | dare | hiru-gohan | suru | to (with) | -san (hon) | |||
negai | kau | ka (or) | -hon (counter) | |||||
hoteru |
adjectives
English | dict | kanji |
---|---|---|
good | i-i | いい |
skilled | jouzu(na) | 上手 |
early | haya-i | 早い |
nasty | iya(na) | いや |
vigorous | genki(na) | 元気 |
fine | kekkou(na) | けっこう |
likable | hoshi-i | 欲しい |
A short sentence to put the adjectives in context and help us memorize them:
English
It’s good weather, right?
I’m not skilled (good at it) yet
it’s early (good morning)
It’s nasty weather, right?
Are you well? (How are you?)
No (thanks), I’m fine
Sake is likable (I want sake)
romaji
i-i o-tenki desu ne?
mada jouzu ja arimasen
o-hayou gozai-masu
iya-na o-tenki desu ne?
o-genki desu ka?
iie, kekkou desu
o-sake ga hoshi-i desu
kanji
いいお天気ですね?
まだ上手じゃありません
お早ようございます
いやな天気ですね?
お元気ですか?
いいえ、けっこうです
お酒が欲しいです
verbs
The verb ‘to be’ – desu, is special. Its formal form is ‘desu’ and its casual form is ‘da’.
For the other verbs, the ‘masu’ form is formal, and the dictionary form is casual.
English | dict | kanji | masu | kanji |
---|---|---|---|---|
to understand/know | wakaru | 分かる | wakari-masu | 分かります |
to feel at ease | sumu | 済む | sumi-masu | 済みます |
to speak/talk | hanasu | 話す | hanashi-masu | 話します |
to eat | taberu | 食べる | tabe-masu | 食べます |
to drink | nomu | 飲む | nomi-masu | 飲みます |
to do | suru | する | shi-masu | します |
to buy | kau | 買う | kai-masu | 買います |
A short sentence to put the verbs in context and help us memorize them:
English
I understand Japanese
I don’t feel at ease (I’m sorry)
I’ll converse with Mr. Tanaka
I’ll eat something
I’ll drink beer
What (are you going) to do?
I’ll buy beer
romaji
nihon-go ga wakari-masu
sumi-masen
tanaka san to hanashi-masu
nani-ka tabe-masu
biiru wo nomi-masu
nani wo shi-masu ka?
biiru wo kai-masu
kanji
日本語が分かります
すみません
田中さんと話します
何か食べます
ビールを飲みます
何をしますか
ビールを買います
- sumi-masen, which is used as an expression, is always written in hiragana
- both the kanji and the hiragana versions of wakari-masu are common
- only the hiragana version of shi-masu is common
verb groups
There are three Japanese verb groups:
- group 1 – u verbs, which end in:
- u, tsu, [a/u/o]ru
- nu, bu, mu
- ku
- gu
- su
- group 2 – ru verbs, which end in:
- [i/e]ru
- group 3 – irregular verbs:
- kuru (to come)
- suru (to do)
Some -[i/e]ru verbs are exceptions and belong in group 1 instead of group 2:
English
to go home
to kick
to chat/talk
to slide
to decrease
-eru group 1
kaeru
keru
shaberu
suberu
heru
English
to need
to cut
to know
to enter
to run
-iru group 1
iru
kiru
shiru
hairu
hashiru
dict. → masu
To change the form of a verb from dictionary to masu:
- group 1 – u verbs: replace -u with -imasu
exceptions: there is no ‘tsi’ nor ‘si’, so -tsu → -chimasu, and -su → -shimasu.- hanasu → hanashimasu (exception: -su → -shimasu)
- wakaru → wakarimasu
- nomu → nomimasu
- kau → kaimasu
- aru → arimasu
- group 2 – ru verbs: -ru → -masu
- taberu → tabemasu
- miru → mimasu
- group 3 – irregular verbs: no rule, memorize them
- kuru → kimasu
- suru → shimasu
dict. → negative
To change the form of a verb from dictionary to negative:
- group 1 – u verbs: replace -#u with -#anai (e.g., -mu → -manai)
exceptions: ‘-u’ turns to ‘-wanai’ and the verb ‘aru’ becomes ‘nai’.- hanasu → hanasanai
- wakaru → wakaranai
- nomu → nomanai
- kau → kawanai (exception: -u → -wanai)
- aru → nai (exception: aru → nai)
- group 2 – ru verbs: -ru → -nai
- taberu → tabe-nai
- miru → mi-nai
- group 3 – irregular verbs: no rule, memorize them
- kuru → konai
- suru → shinai
dict. → masu/negative
With the above knowledge under our belt, let’s see the masu and casual negative forms of the verbs in units 1-8:
group | casual (dict) | casual neg | formal (masu) | formal neg |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | wakaru | wakaranai | wakari-masu | wakari-masen |
1 | sumu | sumanai | sumi-masu | sumi-masen |
1 | hanasu | hanasanai | hanashi-masu | hanashi-masen |
2 | taberu | tabenai | tabe-masu | tabe-masen |
1 | nomu | nomanai | nomi-masu | nomi-masen |
3 | suru | shinai | shi-masu | shi-masen |
1 | kau | kawanai | kai-masu | kai-masen |
Kanjis
last names
There are many common Japanese last names that use the elementary kanjis from 1st grade:
romaji
kuchi/guchi
ishi
yama
kawa/gawa
ki/gi
hayashi/bayashi
mori
mura
ta/da
ko
oo
taka
naka
mae
shita
moto
nishi
kanji
口
石
山
川
木
林
森
村
田
小
大
高
中
前
下
本
西
English
mouth, entrance
rock, stone
mountain
river
tree
grove
forest
village
rice field
small
big
tall
middle
front
under
base
west
For example:
kani | romaji | meaning | common surname |
---|---|---|---|
田中 | ta-naka | rice field-middle | 4th |
山本 | yama-moto | mountain-base | 7th |
中村 | naka-mura | middle-village | 8th |
小林 | ko-bayashi | small-grove | 9th |
山田 | yama-da | mountain-rice field | 12th |
山口 | yama-guchi | mountain-entrance | 14th |
木村 | ki-mura | tree-village | 18th |
林 | hayashi | grove | 19th |
森 | mori | forest | 22nd |
山下 | yama-shita | mountain-under | 26th |
石川 | ishi-kawa | rock-river | 27th |
前田 | mae-da | front-rice field | 29th |
西村 | nishi-mura | west-village | 43th |
中川 | naka-gawa | middle-river | 50th |
田村 | ta-mura | rice field-village | 54th |
中山 | naka-yama | middle-mountain | 58th |
石田 | ishi-da | rock-rice field | 59th |
上田 | ue-da | above-rice field | 60th |
森田 | mori-ta | forest-rice field | 61th |
高木 | taka-gi | tall-tree | 70th |
円山 | maru-yama | circle-mountain | 74th |
村田 | mura-ta | village-rice field | 79th |
本田 | hon-da | base-rice field | |
中田 | naka-da | middle-rice field | |
中西 | naka-nishi | middle-west | |
西田 | nishi-da | west-rice field | |
西川 | nishi-kawa | west-river | |
西山 | nishi-yama | west-mountain | |
小西 | ko-nishi | little-west | |
森山 | mori-yama | forest-mountain | |
川口 | kawa-guchi | river-entrance |
The stats for how common a surname is are from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2009/10/11/lifestyle/japans-top-100-most-common-family-names/#.W5U95IbjW50.
Although all the last names above can be spelled as described, most names can be spelled in many different ways. For example, ‘Tanaka’ can be spelled as 田中, as we spelled it, or as 田仲, because both 中 (middle) and 仲 (relation) are pronounced ‘naka’. We can spell most first and last names in many ways to spell. We can use a tool like that in “hi!Penpal!” to see the different spellings.
The specific kanjis in a first or last name give a meaning to the name. The following snap of the manga ‘Kimi ni todoke’, #109, shows the three spellings of the name ‘Kazehaya Shouta’ that his father had considered when Shouta was born:
- 将太 – ‘leader’
- 勝太 – ‘victory’
- 翔太 – ‘to soar’
In the end, Shouta’s father decided to spell Shouta’s name as 翔太 (‘to soar’).
All in all, the result is that knowing the name of a person doesn’t necessarily help us to write it down in kanjis; in most cases, the person would have to tell us how s/he spells his or her name. This is a particular problem when looking for someone’s address in the white pages; without knowing the kanjis the person uses to write his/her name, we cannot even search for it.