Japanese grammar for beginners seems to be simple. Certainly many times easier than in Russian, English or German. There is no change in persons and numbers, and there is also no feminine or neuter gender. Unusually for us, difficulties with these basics arise only at first.
To fully understand oral speech, it is enough to remember about three hundred popular constructions. This is a clear indication of how basic Japanese grammar is.
The biggest difficulty you will face at first will be the unusual order of words in the sentence.
What is the "Complete Guide to Japanese"?
Contrary to popular belief, Japanese is not more difficult than other languages—learning any foreign language will require significant effort. Think about it: everything that you have learned in your life, you take it and go through it again in a different way. No book can teach you the entire language, including the vocabulary that a fluent adult will accumulate over a lifetime. So what do I mean by “the complete guide to the Japanese language”?
Most Japanese language textbooks cover certain grammar and vocabulary with a handful of dialogues and readings, which is not enough to master the language. They refuse to admit that they do not provide all the necessary words and characters to become fluent in the language. This manual is aware that it does not teach everything word by word and letter by letter. Instead, it provides a strong understanding of the fundamentals with a collection of dialogues and examples, and covers techniques and tools to enable self-paced learning. This is a guide to using the Japanese language to master it.
The complete guide also doesn't shy away from the everyday, but acceptable aspects of the language. Many textbooks avoid the speech styles and vocabulary used when communicating with acquaintances, close friends and family! This guide presents aspects of the language based on practicality and usefulness in the real world - not an artificial, filtered version of what some consider "proper" Japanese.
Japanese for beginners. Grammatical construction ～は～です／~wa~des(u).
Today we will look at the first grammatical construction with which beginners usually begin to study Japanese grammar. This is the grammatical construction ～は～です/ ~ wa ~ des(u)。
Let's consider the following sentence:
わたしは イリナです。(Watashi wa Irina des(u). This phrase translates as “I am Irina”, “My name is Irina”.
わたし／watashi – means “I”, followed by the sign は／ha, but when this sign functions as a grammatical particle, then it is read as wa.
So, what does the particle は／wa mean? It is placed after a noun and shows that this noun is the topic of conversation or the subject. The particle は／wa is not translated.
Next in our sentence comes the name Irina and then – です／des(u).
です／des(u) is a connective that means “is, is, represents”, is placed at the end of a sentence and is usually not translated in the present tense.
Usually a noun followed by です is a predicate.
I would like to draw your attention to the following point.
In the sentence, in the word des(u), the letter “u” is in brackets and is not pronounced. Why? The characters of the Japanese alphabet hiragana and katakana contain 2 sounds and, accordingly, one should pronounce です／desu, also pronouncing the letter “u”.
However, often during a conversation the letter “u” is simply “swallowed” and not pronounced, that is, it is reduced. Although the full pronunciation option, of course, also exists.
So, the sentence 「わたしは イリナです。」translates as “I am Irina”, “My name is Irina”.
わたしは アンナです。(Watashi wa Anna des(u) – “I am Anna”, “My name is Anna”.
Also in this grammatical construction, instead of a name, you can use the name of your profession or your nationality, for example:
わたしは きょうしです。(Watashi wa kyoushi des(u). – I am a teacher.
わたしは ぎんこういんです。(Watashi wa ginkouin des(u). – I am a bank employee.
わたしは エンジニアです。(Watashi wa enjinia des(u). – I am an engineer.
わたしは ロシアじんです。(Watashi wa roshiajin des(u). – I am Russian / I am Russian.
Usually in Japanese texts, words in sentences are written together, without spaces, unlike European languages. But, since it will be difficult for beginners to learn Japanese to navigate such sentences, the words of the example sentences in this article are written with a space between the words.
EXERCISE.
Now try to compose sentences yourself, substituting words in Japanese instead of pictures, using the grammatical structure ～は～です／~wa~des(u).
1. わたしは * です。(Watashi wa…….des(u).
2. わたしは * です。(Watashi wa ……..des(u).
3. わたしは * です。(Watashi wa ……..des(u).
4. Leave your suggestions and write them in the comments under the article, and our teachers will check whether you made them correctly or not!
*doctor – いしゃ／ishya; engineer – エンジニア／enjinia; teacher – きょうし／せんせい／ kyoushi/sensei
You can watch a video tutorial on this topic HERE.
We wish you success in learning Japanese!
This is a useful read:
- Japanese language. Japanese verbs. Verb imasu
- Japanese language. Review of online Japanese language courses by Svetlana Bychkova
- Hiragana. Japanese writing. The order of writing the series NA-NO
Tagged Japanese grammar katakana Japanese language courses hiragana Japanese language school Japanese language Japanese language for beginners Japanese language from scratch
Ashizawa Kazuko. Mangajin. Basic Japanese through Comics
These books contain both simple words and phrases and words that are not usually considered simple at all. Illustrations from Japanese manga are presented with English translations and notes to help the novice understand the material. This book is not intended to be used as a textbook, but rather as a supplement to a more structured study of the Japanese language. There are 48 lessons in total in the book.
Rowley M. Kanji Pict-O-Graphix: Over 1,000 Japanese Kanji and Kana Mnemonics
This book is published in English. How to learn kanji? The traditional approach is rote memorization. The Japanese write kanji several hundred times, and eventually they are learned. Michael Rowley suggests another method, the method of mnemonic associations. Each hieroglyph is accompanied by an illustration explaining the meaning of the hieroglyph. Thus, the picture becomes the key to memorizing the hieroglyph. Let's give an example from the textbook. Kanji meaning "fish": 魚 (pronounced "sakana" in Japanese):
To remember the meaning, the following image is attached to the hieroglyph:
An explanation is given for the picture: “I caught 4 fish.” After such an illustration and description, you will forever remember the meaning of the hieroglyph. There are a huge number of such examples in the book. This book will make it easier for you to memorize kanji. Michael Rowley does a wonderful job combining imagination and drawing technique. The book surpasses the old mechanical method by making learning kanji attractive and accessible.
Genki
When meeting other people, the Japanese ask: “How are you?”: “O-genki desu ka?”, literally: “How are you?” The word Genki translates to “healthy, full of life, happy, vigorous.” And this word is used in the title of Genki tutorials. The textbook material was carefully created based on the needs of students. This project took more than four years to complete. This is the textbook that will allow students to easily learn Japanese. The textbook is equipped with useful and colorful illustrations.
Sentence structure
The subject is always at the beginning of the sentence (precedes the predicate), and the predicate is always at the end (or before the respectful connective desu in formal style). Functional words are written after the significant word, and secondary members of the sentence are written before the main ones. The order of words always remains clear and unchanged.
Words, connectives and particles that are clear from the context are often omitted (both in oral and written speech). You can even omit the predicate or subject if this does not affect the overall meaning of the sentence.
Use flashcards
You can purchase (or make) flashcards for each writing system to help you learn specific phrases and remember grammar basics. Flashcards can be a fun way to expand your vocabulary in all three writing systems (hiragana, kanji, or katakana).
- Place cards around the house to identify items with their Japanese names.
- You can ask a friend to ask you test questions on the cards to practice your memorization.
- You can use the cards to ask questions of yourself.
Japanese for today
The year of publication of the book is 1990. The book may seem a little old. It contains basic information about grammar. You will read texts on various topics. All texts are provided with parallel translation. Japanese for Today contains 30 lessons. First comes the text written in the Japanese Hiragana syllabary and Japanese Kanji characters. The Japanese text is followed by the Romaji text and then the English translation of the text. After reading the texts, basic information about grammar, useful phrases and expressions are given. At the end there are exercises to consolidate all the lesson material. Despite the fact that the publication is quite old, the manual will help you understand the basic grammatical structures of the Japanese language and master colloquial words and expressions.
Golovnin I.V. Japanese language textbook (in 4 books)
A fundamental textbook that has earned its reputation as a seminal work. The textbook consists of four parts (four books): “Course for Beginners” (1st, 2nd books), and “Course for Advanced Students (3rd, 4th books).
Advantages of the textbook I.V. Golovnina:
- Systematic presentation of grammatical information;
- Detailed explanation of grammar;
- Reading skills training;
- Assignments and exercises to consolidate the material covered.
Len Walsh. Japanese language tutorial
Every person can be scared by Japanese characters. Especially if you see them for the first time. Lots of incomprehensible features. And as soon as the Japanese understand them... These are exactly the thoughts that may appear in a person just starting to take Japanese classes. However, Len Walsh shows and explains the origins of the main characters of the Japanese language with simplicity. Read Len Walsh's Japanese Self-Teacher to help you understand kanji better. Japanese writing will not seem so mysterious and mysterious.
