Japanese/Print version

Japanese

The current, editable version of this book is available in Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection, at
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese

Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

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Japanese

Introduction/About

Introduction - Welcome to the Japanese Wikibook

Development of this Wikibook began on August 11, 2003. It is an ongoing project that will evolve as users contribute to the content and layout of pages. The end goal of this project is to create an online resource for those wishing to learn Japanese. We will attempt to encompass all aspects of the Japanese language, including pronunciation, reading, writing, and grammar.

Many textbooks and travel guides make use of 'rōmaji' (Romanisation of Japanese characters) to bypass the need for learning the Japanese characters. This Wikibook, however, aims to develop a well rounded student, and as such, will make minimal use of 'rōmaji' except in introducing pronunciation.

Current work

In the first five years, this Wikibook went through several rewrites. Seeing all too few contributors keen on picking up the torch where past editors left off, the book had amassed several layers of rewritten material that did little to provide a clear path through the material. Waking to that reality after considerable discussion, we came up with the categorisation scheme now present on the main page. The Japanese/Contents page does not conform with that scheme as it is more an inventory for editors looking for existing material to work with (be it merging, re-factoring, deleting, or rewriting), rather than an index for learners.

Since June 2008, a good deal of merges and rewrites have been done. As a result we've managed to delete over a hundred pages of unnecessary or duplicate material, navbars, printable versions, and templates. See Removal Suggestions for deletion proposals and discussions. For pages to be merged, see the Books to be merged category for a list of pages in this book that have been suggested be merged and Category:Japanese/todo for pages with specific work to be done.

There hasn't been much discussion lately on the actual content since active editors (currently Retropunk and Swift) have been working on somewhat separate aspects of this book. We have a section on pages on structure, lesson plans and syllabus. How much to teach and Levels might also be of interest for those so inclined. For development of a consistent curriculum see User:Retropunk/Japanese Curriculum and Sugu ni Hajimemashō.

Finally; every contributor seems to have a different take on the purpose of this book. In your work, remember that learners have vastly different learning styles and diverse approaches to lesson plans will benefit readers and contributors alike. Until we have fully functioning learning paths, the categorisation scheme on the front page will make the existing material accessible to readers while allowing users to contribute without having to conform to a predefined form.

That said; pick your path and be bold.

Study methods

As with the study of any subject, you need to have self-discipline. Set a certain amount of time that will be devoted to the study of Japanese, and try to make a regular schedule. Don't rush yourself and set yourself achievable goals. The ideal method to study a language is to be exposed to the native environment with access to native speakers and have your own personal tutor. These are, however, not necessary and self-study can be rewarding in itself.

Setting Goals

Setting goals is vital.

Kana

If you are serious about learning to read and write Japanese, you must first master kana (hiragana & katakana). These are the two syllabaries, and are phonetic just like the English alphabet. Unlike English, however, Japanese pronunciation is almost perfectly regular, meaning that for the most part, one symbol stands for one sound, and there are very few pronunciation rules to learn. As a result, hiragana and katakana can easily be mastered, though fluency in reading will take longer.

The kana are few enough that one can learn them by rote. To reach fluency, one eventually has to drop mnemonic devices anyway. For that transition period, or even for the few that prove difficult to memorise, mnemonics can come in handy.

Once you have mastered the kana, you will be able to pronounce all the kana characters you come across, even if you don't know the meaning. Not to worry, though, once you build up your vocabulary, you'll be amazed how much more you can comprehend.

Kanji

You should begin to learn kanji immediately, as it is very time-consuming. The sooner you start, the sooner you will become proficient.

There are a number of ways to learn the kanji.

• In Japanese skills, they are taught by rote.
• One can learn the radicals.
• There are etymology-based mnemonics, and
• pictorial-based mnemonics.
• Calligraphy (書道 shodō) can be a mnemonic and pleasurable way to practice kanji.

To learn via radicals (the pieces that make them up), you only need to learn the relatively few components (approximately 200), and pretty soon you will be able to guess the meaning and pronunciation of a new character with some accuracy just by looking at it.

Writing kanji is an entirely different business; think of kanji as something elegant, an art. Calligraphy is commonly studied and a highly revered art in Japan. Skillfully written characters and proverbs are often hung on walls or displayed in museums, and sell for as much as paintings do in the West.

A good strategy to learning all of these characters is to realize that it isn't anything like English, Spanish, or other European languages. When memorizing the sounds of a character, try to forget your native language, and think phonetically, rather than in your native alphabet.

Note: As mentioned earlier, it is important not to rush yourself. The more you try to learn in one go, the easier it is for you to forget.

See also

• How to Learn a Language
• Lang Infinity; Write in Japanese, or any language, and get your entries critiqued by natives.

Contributor's Guide

This page aims to help potential contributors better understand the principles behind the current work and give ideas for how best to add new material.

Structure to follow

This book has been restructured so many times but there is an effort under way to merge some of the duplicate material.

A syllabus and lesson plan was created for the so-called "Practical Lessons". This may be useful for future contributors, but never turned out any lessons.

User:Retropunk sorted the JLPT 4 grammar list. This is now up at Sugu ni Hajimemashō where it is being sorted into a lesson plan.

Lessons

There are many ways to organise a lesson, this is one:

1. Dialogue (by posters, conversations, or whatever.)
2. Discussion of Vocabulary in Dialogue
   • Discuss various uses of vocabulary if necessary (e.g., politeness)
   • Optional links to dialogues for previously learned vocabulary
3. Grammar
   • Discuss grammar points, giving more examples if necessary.
   • Link to previous grammar points (maybe by categories)
4. Optional Quick Review
5. Optional link to Wikiversity for practice work.

Reading material

1. Text (poster, conversation, literary text or anything fitting the level)
2. Vocabulary
   • List new vocabulary.
   • Discuss various uses of vocabulary where appropriate (e.g., politeness)
3. Grammar
   • Discuss grammar points, giving more examples if necessary.
   • Link to previous grammar points (maybe by categories)
4. Optional Quick Review
5. Optional link to Wikiversity for practice work.

Style guide

Romanisation

Learning the Japanese scripts will give the student useful insight into the language that the simple (and limited) romanisations cannot offer. Romanisation (rōmaji) should, therefore, only be used in introductory lessons to assist with the learning of the kana, and in the reference guides. Kana and kanji should be used in all subsequent lessons.

Please use the Wikipedia:Manual of Style for Japan-related articles. Specifically:

• Consonants will be written using the Revised Hepburn system (s, sh, z, j, t, ts, ch, f)
• "n" mora will be written n' before a vowel, or "y" (zen'aku, kon'yaku)

Examples:

• しつ: shitsu
• どうぞ: dōzo
• えいご: eigo
• せんぱい: senpai
• せんや: sen'ya (as different from せにゃ senya)
• 東京(とうきょう): Tōkyō

The macrons (Ā,ā,Ē,ē,Ī,ī,Ō,ō,Ū and ū) are easily added through the edit interface by choosing "Romaji" in the drop-down list below the "Save page" button.

Furigana

The lessons make extensive use of furigana. Please use the following templates to insert furigana:

• {{furi|楽|たの|しい}}: 楽(たの)しい

Conversations

For conversations with Japanese and English side by side, use {{Japanese conversation}}.

Patterns and examples

Sentence patterns and examples can be highlighted using the {{Japanese pattern}} and {{Japanese example}} templates.

Related modules

Linking to related modules makes it easier for readers to refer to past lessons (e.g. to brush up on topics), vocabulary lists (e.g. when practicing new sentence patterns) or other useful content (such as the Verb conjugation table). The {{Japanese related}} template can be used to consistently style these links.

Vocabulary pages

Please place vocabulary lists on subpages of Japanese/Vocabulary and use {{Japanese vocabulary entry}} to structure them. The {{Japanese related|vocabulary}} can be used to conveniently link to the list from lesson pages.

Stroke order

Black to red fade

Gif animations

There is a project on the Wikimedia Commons to upload images and animations of the stroke order for characters. There are directions on how to contribute. It's easy with the use of some free programs. Please contribute so that we'll have a standardized reference for our Wikibook users.

See also

• Wikibooks:Manual of Style
• Authoring Foreign Language Textbooks

Introduction

Japanese is spoken by 130 million people. This makes it the ninth most spoken language by native speakers. Linguists debate over the classification of the Japanese language, and one general theory asserts that Japanese is an isolated language and thus a language family of its own, known as Japonic languages. Another major theory includes Japanese as part of a hypothetical Altaic language family which spans most of Central Asia and would also include Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and Korean languages. Neither of these theories has yet been generally accepted.

Japan is the only country where Japanese is the sole official language (though the island of Angaur has Japanese as one of three official languages). There are, however, numerous speakers in other countries. These are largely due to emigration, most notably to the United States of America (California and Hawaii, in particular), Brazil and the Philippines. Furthermore, when Japan occupied and colonized much of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, the locals were educated in the Japanese language. Many elderly locals in Korea, Taiwan, and parts of China still speak Japanese.

Japan has steadily developed for many centuries and, unlike many other cultures, has not been seriously affected by any major invasions until recent times. A substantial part of the vocabulary, though, has been borrowed over the years from Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, German, French, and most recently English.

Grammar

Further information: Grammar

While Japanese grammar is very regular, it is markedly different from English. Japanese has been deemed a subject–object–verb (SOV) and topic-prominent language, whereas English is a subject–verb–object (SVO) and subject-prominent language.

To illustrate, the English sentence “Cats eat mice” contains a subject (cats), a verb (eat), and an object (mice), in an SVO order, where the “-s” is a plural marker, and “mouse” → “mice” is a plural marker by ablaut, but only the word order indicates which is the subject and the object—i.e. which is dining and which is the meal.

猫(ねこ)	は	鼠(ねずみ)	を	食(く)う
Neko	wa	nezumi	o	kū
Cat		mouse		eat

The topic-prominence is not obvious in this example; “cat” is the subject (the agent) in English, but it is the topic (what the sentence is about) in Japanese. In the above example, “猫(ねこ)は” is the topic, and “鼠(ねずみ)を食(く)う” is the comment.

The verb “kū” means “eat” in the sense of one animal consuming another. To speak about a person eating, it would make more sense to use the word “taberu” which means “eat,” as in to consume a meal.

Japanese does not have articles (the words, “a” or “an”, or “the”), nor is it mandatory to indicate number (singular versus plural). In the sentence above, “猫(ねこ)” could mean either “cat” or “cats.” The “mouse/mice” ablaut does not occur in Japanese, which is an agglutinative language (inflecting by appending) and highly regular. In Japanese, the plural is formed by adding the ending “-tachi,” or “-ra.” Thus, the word, “cats” would be “nekotachi,” and is always plural, but the word “neko” can be either singular or plural. “Nekora,” however, would sound rather strange, as “-ra” and “-tachi” are not necessarily interchangeable. For the beginner, therefore, it is best not to worry about learning plural endings.

For the English speaking student of Japanese grammar, the greatest hurdles to cross are probably the thought process of the Japanese sentence and learning the seemingly endless variety of endings available for modifying verbs and the order in which they can be strung together.

The grammatical paradigm of SVO or SOV is completely irrelevant in the study of Japanese and other languages outside the Indo-European family of languages. In truth, it is not only unimportant, it is untrue, and will cause the student of the language to fail in acquiring fluency, because it is an artificial imposition of an Indo-European construct on a non-Indo-European language. Japanese, like Tagalog and many other languages, uses affixes to explicitly demonstrate grammatical relationships instead of using syntax. In Japanese, word order will not change the meaning of the sentence. However, it will change the emotional character. An SVO word order is not incorrect in Japanese, and native speakers use it frequently, as a matter of fact to heighten the emotional charge. Thus, “あれは何だ” is a simple question: “What is that?” But “何だあれは” should receive an exclamation point at the end because the word order indicates that the speaker is clearly upset or at least annoyed by whatever “that” is.

Japanese sentences thus are not SOV. They are TV: T stands for topic and V for verb. Verbs are really the secret to success in acquiring fluency in Japanese. Thus, greatest attention should be given to learning the verb forms.

There are two tenses of time: past and present. The present tense is used to describe future events. All past tense verbs have the ending “-た” (“-ta”) or “-だ” (“-da.”) The present tense always ends in the vowel “-u” in the positive and “-nai” in the negative. There is only one exception: the word, “だ” (“da”), which is the present tense of “be” (“am,” “are,” “is.”) As in probably all languages, this verb is highly irregular in Japanese and its usage must simply be memorized. For the English speaker the two time tenses should be quite easy to remember because in English the past tense is usually indicated by a final “-t” or “-d,” and the present tense of the basic positive present tense verb “do” ends in the “u” sound. The “-nai” ending sounds similar to “nay” in English. In conversational Japanese, a complete sentence will end in a present tense or past tense verb. As indicated earlier, there are many other possible endings, but they are not used in the final position to complete a sentence, nor are they used at the end of the active verb.

Beyond the verb, there are words that indicate the function of words and phrases as they relate to the verb. The most important of these are “は” (“wa”), “が” (“ga”), “に” (“ni”), “の” (“no”), “を” (“o”), and “で” (“de.”) “は” marks what is being discussed. “が” follows the word that is the agent of the verb. This means who is doing something is the active tense, and who is receiving the action of a passive verb. In both cases, they mark “the who.” “に” indicates the direction toward and is usually translated as “in,” “to,” “at.” “の” indicates possession or source and usually is translated as “-’s” or “of.” “を” is only appropriate with active transitive verbs because it marks the direct object. Finally, “で” at the end of a place word indicates where a verb happened. It is usually translated “at,” “on,” or “in.” Added to the end of word that represents an object, it marks the instrument of the verb, what was used to perform the verb. It is translated, “with.”

The example

猫 [Cats]は (WA)、ピッちゃん [Pitchan] が (GA)家 [house]に (NI)帰ってきて [came and]、台所 [kitchen]で (DE)犬 [dog]の (NO)えさ [chow]を (O)食った [ate]。

translates to "Speaking of cats, Pitchan came home and ate the dog’s food in the kitchen." (The “て” verb ending indicates incompletion.)

Thus, every word or phrase in a Japanese sentence takes an ending that explicitly denotes the function of that word or phrase and how it relates to the verb.

Levels of politeness

Further information: Politeness

Japanese culture and society is based on a hierarchy of higher status (目上 meue) and lower status (目下 meshita). As such, there are three varying levels of politeness. Because Japanese is primarily a "vertical" society, all relationships contain an element of relative station. For example, a student is a lower station than a teacher, and therefore a student would use polite language when speaking to a teacher, but the teacher would use plain language when speaking to a student. A salesperson talking to a customer would place themself far below the customer, and would therefore use honorific language, whereas the customer would use either plain or polite language.

Honorific language is not a separate category from plain and polite language, but a separate concept that uses different rules. When using honorific language, a Japanese speaker modifies nouns, verbs, and adjectives to either lower themself and their associates, or exalt someone else and that individual's associates. Whereas the use of plain or polite language is determined by the relative station of the person to whom you are speaking, the use of honorific language is determined by the relative station of the person about whom you are speaking. Exalted language is applied when you are speaking about someone who is due respect, such as a professor, an executive, a political official, or a customer. Exalted language is only applied to other people, never to oneself. Humble language, however, is only applied to oneself and people associated with oneself. It would be inappropriate, for example, to use humble language to describe a beggar, even though they would be extremely low on the social ladder.

The Japanese writing system

Further information: Japanese writing system

Japanese is written mostly using three writing scripts, kanji, hiragana and katakana. Kanji are Chinese characters that were first introduced to Japan in the 4th century. Unlike Chinese, Japanese is a highly inflected language with words changing their ending depending on case, number, etc. For this reason, the hiragana and katakana syllabaries were created. The hiragana serve largely to show the inflection of words, as conjunctions and such. The katakana are mainly used for loan-words from other languages.

Kanji

Further information: Kanji

The Japanese writing system is derived from the Chinese ideographic character set (Japanese: 漢字 kanji, Mandarin: 汉字 hanzi). They are usually very similar to Traditional Chinese characters. Though kanji are Chinese in origin their use is dictated by Japanese grammar. Each character may be read in different ways depending on the context it is in.

The number of existing Chinese characters has been variously estimated at between 40,000 and 80,000; however, only a small subset is commonly used in modern Japanese. An educated Japanese person will generally be able to read between 2,000 and 4,000 characters. In order to be literate in the Japanese language, the student should strive to master at least the 2,136 general-use characters (常用漢字 – jōyō kanji) established by the Ministry of Education.

Hiragana and katakana

Further information: Kana

The syllabaries, known as kana (仮名(かな)), were developed around 900 AD by simplifying kanji to form the hiragana (ひらがな, or 平仮名) and the more angular katakana (カタカナ, or 片仮名). Hiragana can be recognized by the characteristic curved shapes, while katakana are identifiable by their sharp edges and straight lines. The creation of one of the scripts has been attributed to Kūkai (774-835, alias Kōbō Daishi) the famous monk who introduced Shingon Buddhism to Japan.

Hiragana and katakana are almost completely phonetic—much more so than the English alphabet. Each set, however, is referred to as a syllabary rather than an alphabet because each character represents an entire syllable with only a single consonant (which is a more recent addition) (see Pronunciation for more). The syllabary charts in Japanese are referred to as the gojūon (五十音(ごじゅうおん)), meaning "fifty sounds" because they are written in a five by ten chart. However, there are a few gaps in the table where certain sounds have fallen out of use. Modern Japanese can be written using 46 kana.

In practical use, hiragana is used to write, for example, inflectional endings for adjectives and verbs (送り仮名 okurigana), grammatical particles (助詞 joshi) and auxiliaries (助動詞 jodōshi), Japanese words that have no kanji (or not commonly known kanji), and annotations to kanji to indicate pronunciation (振り仮名 furigana). Katakana is used to write, for example, foreign words and names, onomatopoeia, emphasized words (somewhat like italicized words in English text), and technical and scientific words, such as plant, animal, and mineral names.

Contents

Practical Lessons

Lesson Plan

A Syllabus exists for this lesson plan.

Lesson Structure

Each lesson should have the following sections specified:

1. Lesson: Lesson name.
   1. Function: One or more functions, appropriate to the stage of learning, chosen from the Syllabus.
   2. Topic: A topic, appropriate to the stage of learning, chosen from the Syllabus.
   3. Vocabulary: Number of new words covered in the lesson, chosen from the Syllabus.
   4. Kanji: Number of new Kanji covered in the lesson, chosen from the Syllabus.
   5. Grammar: One or more grammar topics covered in lesson, chosen from the Syllabus.

Stage I Lessons

Reading and Writing Hiragana

1. Lesson: Hiragana overview
   1. Voiced Consonants
   2. Long vowel sounds
   3. Consonant doubling: small つ
   4. small や、ゆ、よ
2. Lesson: Hiragana vowels
   1. あいうえお
   2. Long vowel sounds
3. Lesson: Hiragana k row
   1. かきくけこ
   2. Voiced Consonants
   3. がぎぐげご
4. Lesson: Hiragana s row
   1. さしすせそ
   2. ざじずぜぞ
5. Lesson: Hiragana t row
   1. たちつてと
   2. だぢづでど
   3. Consonant doubling: small つ
6. Lesson: Hiragana n row
   1. なにぬねの
7. Lesson: Hiragana h row
   1. はひふへほ
   2. ばびぶべぼ
   3. ぱぴぷぺぽ
8. Lesson: Hiragana m row
   1. まみむめも
9. Lesson: Hiragana y row
   1. や、ゆ、よ
   2. small や、ゆ、よ
10. Lesson: Hiragana r row
    1. らりるれろ
11. Lesson: Hiragana wa, wo, n
    1. わをん
12. Lesson: Historical Hiragana
    1. ゐゑ

Reading and Writing Katakana

1. Lesson: Katakana overview
   1. Voiced Consonants
   2. Long vowel sounds
   3. Consonant doubling: small つ
   4. small ヤユヨ
2. Lesson: Katakana vowels
   1. アイウエオ
   2. Long vowel sounds
   3. small アイウエオ
3. Lesson: Katakana k row
   1. カキクケコ
   2. ガギグゲゴ
4. Lesson: Katakana s row
   1. サシスセソ
   2. ザジズゼゾ
5. Lesson: Katakana t row
   1. タチツテト
   2. ダヂヅデド
6. Lesson: Katakana n row
   1. ナニヌネノ
7. Lesson: Katakana h row
   1. ハヒフヘホ
   2. バビブベボ
   3. パピプペポ
8. Lesson: Katakana m row
   1. マミムメモ
9. Lesson: Katakana y row
   1. ヤユヨ
   2. small ヤユヨ
10. Lesson: Katakana r row
    1. ラリルレロ
11. Lesson: Katakana wa, wo, n
    1. ワヲン
12. Lesson: Historical Katakana
    1. ヰヱ
13. Lesson: Differences between Katakana and English

Dialogue Lessons

1. Lesson: Will you be my friend?
   1. Topic: Friends
   2. Function: Greet and respond to greetings
      1. "Good morning/afternoon/evening." (Goodstuff: Unnecessary?)
      2. "How are you?" (Goodstuff: Unnecessary?)
   3. Function: Introduce and respond to introductions
      1. "Nice to meet you." (Goodstuff: Unnecessary?)
   4. Vocabulary: 20 Words
   5. Kanji: 10 Kanji
   6. Grammar: (Goodstuff: grammar topic chosen from syllabus, need help here!)
      1. The declarative 「だ」
      2. The copula 「です」
         1. Negative Tense
      3. The question marker 「か」
      4. Introduction to particles
         1. Topic Particle 「は」
         2. Inclusive Topic Particle 「は」
2. Lesson: Hobbies
   1. Topic: Hobbies
   2. Function: Express like and dislike
      1. "What are your hobbies?"
      2. "What kind of [noun] do you like?"
   3. Vocabulary: 25 Words
   4. Kanji: 10 Kanji
   5. Grammar: (Goodstuff: grammar topic chosen from syllabus, need help here!)
      1. Na-adjectives and i-adjectives
         1. Negative Tense
      2. Identifier Particle 「が」
3. Lesson: Sports
   1. Topic: sport
   2. Function: expressing action
   3. Vocabulary: 20 Words
   4. Kanji: 10 Kanji
      1. 音読み and 訓読み
      2. Stroke Orders
   5. Grammar
      1. Ru-verbs（一段動詞）/u-verbs（五段動詞）/exception verbs
         1. Negative Verbs Tenses
         2. Polite conjugations （～ます）
      2. Object Particle 「を」
      3. Target Particle 「に」
      4. Directional Particle 「へ」
      5. Context Particle 「で」
      6. Specifying Time and Date
         1. Numbers and Counters
      7. Using 「から」 and 「まで」
4. Lesson: I'm a Cat Person
   1. Topic: Pets and Animals
   2. Function: Expressing Ownership
      1. "Whose cat is this?"
      2. "This is my cat"
   3. Grammar
      1. The 「の」 particle
         1. Nominalizing subordinate clauses （のが／のは）
         2. Numbers and Counters
5. Lesson: Not Today
   1. Topic: health
   2. Function: obtain information, begin to provide information
      1. "What did you do yesterday?"
      2. "I didn't feel good last night."
   3. Grammar
      1. Past tense conjugations
         1. Nouns/Adjectives
         2. Verbs

Japanese writing system

The Japanese language uses three different systems for writing. There are two syllabaries—hiragana and katakana—which have characters for each basic mora (syllable). Along with the syllabaries, there are also kanji, which is a writing system based on Chinese characters. However, kanji have changed since their adoption, so it would not be recommended to learn both Chinese and Japanese writing at the same time.

Kanji

Further information: Kanji

The kanji are logograms (pictures representing words), or symbols, that each represent a morpheme (words or parts of words). Usually, each kanji represents a native Japanese morpheme as well as a loaned Chinese morpheme. This means that each kanji usually has two or more different pronunciations. The different pronunciations of a particular 漢字(かんじ)　(kanji) are called “readings.” It may seem daunting at first, but with extensive practice, knowing when to use which pronunciation will become second nature.

A 漢字 usually has two types of readings:

• 音読み(おんよみ) (on'yomi)
• 訓読み(くんよみ) (kun'yomi)

音読み readings are approximations of the Chinese pronunciations of that particular 漢字. This reading is mostly used for multi-kanji compound words, except for peoples' surnames where 訓読み-reading is used. A kanji may have multiple 音読み. Some kanji are of Japanese origin and thus do not have on-reading. 訓読み readings are the native Japanese sound(s) associated with that 漢字. There can be multiple or no kun readings for the same kanji.

Although there are over 50,000 漢字, the Japanese government has approved 2,136 so-called “daily use” 漢字, known as 常用漢字(じょうようかんじ) (jōyō kanji) for publications, but usually about 3000 are recognized by an average adult.

Kana

The Chinese characters from which the modern hiragana characters are derived. At the top of every triplet is the original Chinese character, in the middle is a simplified cursive form, and at the bottom is the modern day hiragana.

Further information: Kana

While Chinese characters are useful for writing a language with so many homophones, the inflections of the Japanese language make it necessary to have a phonetic script to indicate the inflection. A set of Chinese characters, the man'yōgana, were used to represent pronunciation and write words that lacked Chinese characters. Around 800 A.D. these had developed into the cursive hiragana script.

This method of writing was used primarily for poetry or by women, and did not gain recognition as an acceptable way to record historical records or scholarly works.

Another script, the katakana also developed from Chinese characters, some from the same source as the hiragana, but others from different ones. This explains the similarities between some hiragana and katakana, while others are completely different. The katakana is primarily used for foreign loan-words. In other words, the katakana syllabary can be said to be the Japanese writing equivalent of writing in italics.

The two are collectively known as the kana (仮名(かな), e. false name). Both are syllabaries, so there are no isolated consonants, with one exception; the moraic nasal, which sounds similar to most pronunciations of the latin character “n.” Each of the kana contains 45 characters and are typically listed in a table formation called gojūonzu (五十(ごじゅう)音図(おんず), e. fifty sounds illustration) but the yi, ye, wi, wu, we sounds are obsolete in modern Japanese, so in fact only 45 sounds exist.

Punctuation

Related vocabulary

• Japanese/Vocabulary/Punctuation

Common punctuation marks are the comma "、" which connects two sentences, and the full stop "。" which indicates the end of a sentence. To separate words that the reader might not otherwise know how to read (most often in the case of foreign words written consecutively in katakana), a middle point "・" is used. Instead of quotation marks, the brackets "「" and "」", and "『" and "』" (for quotes inside of quotes) are used.

Examples

「ウィキペディアは、オンライン百科事典である。」	(Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia.)
「キャント・バイ・ミー・ラヴ」	(Can't buy me love) (Kyanto·bai·mī·ravu)

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet (ローマ字, rōmaji) is not part of the Japanese language but it is used as a fashionable way of writing words, mostly nouns such as the name of a company, business, sports team, etc. Rōmaji is also used for the transliteration of Japanese and to input Japanese text online and in word processors. There are two competing transliteration methods: the Kunrei-shiki developed by the Japanese government in the mid-20^th century and taught in elementary school; and the more widely used Hepburn-shiki developed by Reverend James Curtis Hepburn in the late 19^th century.

Stroke order

Japanese characters were originally written by brush, and later by pen and pencil, so the stroke order is important. When writing by hand, and particularly in cursive or calligraphic styles, using proper stroke order is crucial. Additionally, some characters look very similar but are written differently. Students who practice both reading and writing can easily distinguish these characters, but students who only practice reading may find it difficult.

The East Asian Calligraphy wikibook has some material on stroke orders.

Mixed usage and notes of interest

There are instances where kanji, hiragana, and katakana may be replaced by another writing style. Frequently, words that have kanji are written in hiragana. Some kanji are simply rarely used but their reading is known. The swallow is called tsubame and has the kanji "燕", but since it is obscure, the word will generally be written out with hiragana: "つばめ".

Reading given on top of kanji.

When writing for an audience that isn't expected to know certain kanji (such as in texts aimed at young people or kanji outside the standard set), their reading is often added on top of, or to the right of the characters, depending on whether they are written horizontally or vertically, respectively. This form of writing is called furigana (振り仮名) or yomigana (読み仮名).

Since kanji can have several different readings, it may not be straightforward to determine how to read a certain word. This problem is particularly pronounced in place names where readings may be highly irregular and archaic.

Though katakana are principally used for loan words from other languages, it can be used for stylistic purposes. Either to highlight a certain word, or give it a different feel (e.g. make it look more hip). Furthermore, since some personal names don't have kanji, but are written in hiragana, personal name readings are generally written in katakana to indicate that these are not the name itself, but simply the pronunciation.

Ateji

The word "club", as it is borrowed from English, will typically be written in katakana as クラブ; however, the kanji 倶楽部 kurabu will also sometimes be used; this use of kanji for phonetic value is called 当て字 ateji. Other times, typically in older texts, grammatical particles are also written in kanji, as in 東京迄行く Tokyo made iku ([I] go to Tokyo), where まで made (to/till) is written in kanji (迄) instead of hiragana.

Numerals

The Arabic numerals, called Arabia sūji (アラビア数字) or san'yō sūji (算用数字) in Japanese, are used in most circumstances (e.g. telephone numbers, pricing, zip codes, speed limit signs and percentages). Kanji numerals can still be found, however, in more traditional situations (e.g. on some restaurant menus, formal invitations and tomb stones).

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
一	二	三	四	五	六	七	八	九	零 or 〇

Vertical and horizontal writing, and page order

Traditionally, Japanese is written in a format called 縦書き tategaki, or vertical writing. In this format, the characters are written in columns going from top to bottom. The columns are ordered from right to left, so at the bottom of each column the reader returns to the top of the next column on the left of the preceding one. This copies the column order of Chinese.

Modern Japanese also uses another writing format, called 横書き yokogaki, or horizontal writing. This writing format is identical to that of European languages such as English, with characters arranged in rows which are read from left to right, with successive rows going downwards.

There are no set rules for when each form has to be used, but usage tends to depend on the medium, genre, and subject. Tategaki is generally used to write essays, novels, poetry, newspapers, comics, and Japanese dictionaries. Yokogaki is generally used to write e-mails, how-to books, and scientific and mathematical writing (mathematical formulas are read from left to right, as in English).

Materials written in tategaki are bound on the right, with the reader reading from right to left and thus turning the pages from left to right to progress through the material. Materials written with yokogaki are bound on the left and the pages are turned from right to left, as in English.

Background reading

• Okurigana Kana used as suffixes to kanji stems for verb conjugations. Historically, katakana was used. Nowadays, hiragana is used.
• Man'yōgana Kanji used for their phonetic value to write Japanese, especially for poetry.
  • Kana The simplification of Man'yougana into Katakana and Hiragana
    • Katakana Angular script simplified down to constituent elements from kanji by monastary students. Historically used as okurigana by the educated and government. Nowadays used mainly for writing foreign words.
    • Hiragana Cursive script historically used for informal writing and literature. It became popular among women since they were denied higher education. Hence it also became known as 女手(おんなで) "onnade" (female hand -> women's writing). Nowadays, it has replaced katakana as okurigana and for writing native japanese words.
    • Hentaigana These are the remaining variants of hiragana that were not accepted as part of the standardized hiragana syllabary.
  • Iroha poem This famous poem is written using each mora (syllable) just once. It became the system used to organize the kana syllabary prior to reforms in the 19th century Meiji period, when it became reorganized into its current arrangement. ("n" was not part of the syllabary at the time. It was added later, and interestingly it's actually a hentaigana for "mu")
• Rōmaji Roman characters (including Arabic numerals) There are three different systems.

Kana

See also: Japanese/Pronunciation.

There are two aspects to learning the Japanese characters. Recognising the shapes and learning to write them. These are further separated by the fact that the strokes that comprise a specific character have a certain order.

In addition to the base characters, there are special symbols to denote nuanced pronunciation, such as voiced and double consonants.

Stroke order

Hiragana: [ a ] [ ka ] [ sa ] [ ta ] [ na ] [ ha ] [ ma ] [ ya ] [ ra ] [ wa, wo, n ] [ ゐ and ゑ (ancient hiragana in disuse) ]
Katakana: [ a ] [ ka ] [ sa ] [ ta ] [ na ] [ ha ] [ ma ] [ ya ] [ ra ] [ wa, wo, n ] [ ヰ and ヱ (ancient katakana in disuse) ]

In the pages linked to from the tables below, you will find stroke order diagrams for each of the hiragana and katakana characters. The voiced and plosive variants of the same row/group are listed on the same page.

Hiragana

Clear							Voiced							Plosive
	a	i	u	e	o			a	i	u	e	o			a	i	u	e	o
	あ	い	う	え	お
k	か	き	く	け	こ		g	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご
s	さ	し	す	せ	そ		z	ざ	じ	ず	ぜ	ぞ
t	た	ち	つ	て	と		d	だ	ぢ	づ	で	ど
n	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
h	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ		b	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ		p	ぱ	ぴ	ぷ	ぺ	ぽ
m	ま	み	む	め	も
y	や		ゆ		よ
r	ら	り	る	れ	ろ
w	わ				を
	ん

• ゐゑ (ancient Hiragana in disuse)

Katakana

Clear							Voiced							Plosive
	a	i	u	e	o			a	i	u	e	o			a	i	u	e	o
	ア	イ	ウ	エ	オ
k	カ	キ	ク	ケ	コ		g	ガ	ギ	グ	ゲ	ゴ
s	サ	シ	ス	セ	ソ		z	ザ	ジ	ズ	ゼ	ゾ
t	タ	チ	ツ	テ	ト		d	ダ	ヂ	ヅ	デ	ド
n	ナ	ニ	ヌ	ネ	ノ
h	ハ	ヒ	フ	へ	ホ		b	バ	ビ	ブ	ベ	ボ		p	パ	ピ	プ	ペ	ポ
m	マ	ミ	ム	メ	モ
y	ヤ		ユ		ヨ
r	ラ	リ	ル	レ	ロ
w	ワ				ヲ
	ン

• ヰヱ (ancient Katakana in disuse)

Long vowels

A long vowel is written in hiragana with an extra "あ", "い" or "う" depending on the vowel. In most cases あ follows あ; い follows い or え and う follows う or お.

There are rare exceptions where an え vowel is extended by adding え. Much less rare is an お vowel extended by お. Some examples of this include:

• "おねえさん", "おおい", and "おおきい".

In katakana, it's written with a chōonpu: "ー".

• "データ" (e. data) Ja-deeta-data.ogg

Voiced and plosive sounds

The turbid sound symbol, dakuten (濁点(だくてん)) which looks like two slash marks from the left to right ( ゛) just at the top-right-hand corner of a character indicate that the preceding consonant is voiced. This symbol is also known as tenten 点々(てんてん), meaning "two marks."

The half turbid sound symbol, handakuten (半濁点(はんだくてん)) which looks like a circle ( ゜) located to the top-right-hand corner of a syllabary indicates the preceding consonant is plosive.

Double consonants

The double consonant is written by adding a small "tsu" ("っ" or "ッ") in front of the doubled consonant syllable. This is called the sokuon (促音(そくおん)).

The sokuon cannot be at the beginning of a word. In hiragana, the sokuon can only appear before the "か", "さ", "た" and "ば" groups/rows.

Examples:

• "どっち" (e. which) Ja-docchi-which.ogg
• "ポッキー" (e. Pocky snacks) Ja-Pocky.oga

Yōon

In addition to those represented by the syllables in the kana, Japanese has sounds with a palatal or labio-velar semivowel between the consonant and the vowel. The sound is somewhat like that of the "j" between the "f" and the "o" in "fjord". This is written by appending smaller versions of "ya", "yu" and "yo" to the syllables from the "i" columns ("ki", "shi", "chi", "ni", "hi", "mi", "ri" and their variations). In this case, the two kana are not pronounced individually, but rather as one sound. These are called yōon (拗音(ようおん)).

Clear compounds				Voiced compounds				Plosive compounds
(ゃ ya ャ)	(ゅ yu ュ)	(ょ yo ョ)		(ゃ ya ャ)	(ゅ yu ュ)	(ょ yo ョ)		(ゃ ya ャ)	(ゅ yu ュ)	(ょ yo ョ)
きゃ kya キャ	きゅ kyu キュ	きょ kyo キョ		ぎゃ gya ギャ	ぎゅ gyu ギュ	ぎょ gyo ギョ
しゃ sha シャ	しゅ shu シュ	しょ sho ショ		じゃ ja ジャ	じゅ ju ジュ	じょ jo ジョ
ちゃ cha チャ	ちゅ chu チュ	ちょ cho チョ		ぢゃ ja ヂャ	ぢゅ ju ヂュ	ぢょ jo ヂョ
にゃ nya ニャ	にゅ nyu ニュ	にょ nyo ニョ
ひゃ hya ヒャ	ひゅ hyu ヒュ	ひょ hyo ヒョ		びゃ bya ビャ	びゅ byu ビュ	びょ byo ビョ		ぴゃ pya ピャ	ぴゅ pyu ピュ	ぴょ pyo ピョ
みゃ mya ミャ	みゅ myu ミュ	みょ myo ミョ
りゃ rya リャ	りゅ ryu リュ	りょ ryo リョ

Note: The grayed compound characters are rarely used.

Compounds with "yu" and "yo" are often followed by an "u", making it a long vowel.

Special yōon for transliteration

There are certain kinds of special yōon which primarily represent pronunciations imported from foreign languages. They commonly appear as parts of names of foreign people or foreign places. Although they were originally considered to be unauthorized, they are nowadays widely accepted even by conservative media such as newspapers. See the table below for commonly used ones among such compounds.

Compounds used for transliteration
(ぁ a ァ)	(ぃ i ィ)	(ぅ u ゥ)	(ぇ e ェ)	(ぉ o ォ)
	うぃ wi ウィ		うぇ we ウェ	うぉ wo ウォ
ゔぁ va ヴァ	ゔぃ vi ヴィ	ゔ vu ヴ	ゔぇ ve ヴェ	ゔぉ vo ヴォ
	てぃ ti ティ	とぅ tu トゥ
	でぃ di ディ	でゅ du デュ
ふぁ fa ファ	ふぃ fi フィ		ふぇ fe フェ	ふぉ fo フォ

Practice

Learning the kana takes some work and is best done by memorisation and drilling. Practice by writing up the table, speaking out the characters and drill yourself on the readings.

There are several online resources that can help you with these:

• Henrik Theiling's Script Teacher

— A site that drills on many different scripts, including hiragana and katakana.

• Hiragana Quiz at languageguide.org — A Kana Quiz that tests you with one small group of kana at a time.
• Kanji Game

— An online multiple choice kana and kanji game.

• Real Kana — A highly customisable page which drills the user on kana readings.
• Kana Copybook (PDF) — Memorize the Kana through handwriting.

GNU/Linux users may also download the Kanatest software, and Anki.

Kanji

Kanji (漢字(かんじ)) characters are based on Chinese characters transmitted to Japan during the spread of Buddhism in the 5th century. A large percentage (approx. 70%) of Japanese vocabulary comes from Chinese or Chinese-derived words. While the meaning of individual characters is fairly consistent between the languages, compound words often have different meanings.

Kanji are inflected by hiragana that follow and particles give the case. Most words are written using kanji, though some have none and loan-words from other languages are generally written in katakana. The large number of homophones makes it highly desirable to use kanji and knowing them can help with memorising new words.

Note that writing kanji skillfully is significantly harder than reading kanji skillfully, since one must recall characters, not simply recognize them. Further, with Input Methods allowing one to write Japanese on a computer phonetically (by recognizing the kanji, not needing to produce them), the practical need for kanji writing skills is lower than in the past, but it is still fundamental to mastery of Japanese.

Study methods

Kanji can form a difficult hurdle for some in their study of Japanese. Their nature as graphic representations of concepts translating to sounds gives rise to the particularly diverse methods employed for the study of kanji.

Fundamentally, one’s goal is to learn Japanese, not kanji per se and this has two main implications. Firstly, as many words are written as compounds of multiple kanji it is not sufficient learn the individual two thousand odd characters, but also their combinations. Furthermore, just as learning vocabulary in any language, these must be learnt in the context of the language. Not only does it aid memorisation of terms, but enforces the understanding of their nuance. It is finally worth mentioning that one can learn to speak Japanese without learning to read or write it, just as with any language. If one is, however, ever to learn to read, it is advisable to start right away and learn the characters in parallel with vocabulary and phrases.

Throughout, understand that one’s mastery of any skill is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete (see 侘寂, wabi-sabi) – while perfection is a worthy goal, it should not be expected nor demanded – mistakes should be expected, and accept that there are further levels of mastery: not 300 people a year pass the Kanji kentei level 1.

Basic issues, regardless of study methods:

start early

Kanji take a long time to learn; if you start early, kanji will not be the limiting factor, but if you start later in your studies, there will be a dispiriting quantity of catch-up to do.

It is not simply an issue of memorizing 1,945 characters (or more for names) – the same character is pronounced in different ways and used in different contexts. Kanji are simply a large amount of data, and this is best learned over a long period of time.

review regularly

Kanji are easily forgotten, and subtle details and differences fade without review. Regular review, particularly via electronic flashcard programs such as Anki or Mnemosyne, are essential to mastery.

make connections

Rather than learning characters in isolation, drawing connections helps memory. For example, learning a character as part of several words, or learning graphically similar or etymologically related characters can help make them more easily remembered.

detail

It is easy to make minor mistakes with kanji, be it missing a stroke or forgetting a rarely used kanji. A high level of mastery requires attention to detail, as detailed below.

Because there are so many kanji, and they are relatively sparse (of 1,945 kanji, most will not be used and reinforced in any sample of text, unlike kana) simply memorizing the forms and pronunciations (as one does for the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet or the 46 kana, twice) is less practical and effective, and one instead uses more structured mnemonic methods.

There are three aspects to a particular kanji:

form

The character shape – the strokes.

sound

The pronunciations, of which there are generally many.

meaning

The meanings, both of the individual kanji and its combinations.

There are a number of ways to learn the kanji. Rather than pick one, try to see how each of these works for you and combine them in your study.

Rote

The most straightforward way of learning kanji is by rote. While few will succeed in retaining even a portion of the two thousand basic characters — not to mention their compounds — rote learning is a good way to practice mnemonic devices such as those mentioned in the following sections. Writing reinforces character details, builds muscle memory and improves handwriting. Thus, regardless of learning system, practicing writing the kanji is a valuable aspect of learning.

Related software

• Anki
• Mnemosyne

Make flash-cards with one or more characters on one side, the meaning and reading on the other and drill yourself. Make another set of cards with the meaning on one side and the characters and readings on the other and drill yourself on writing the kanji. There are several programs and website applications that offer kanji drilling. Notable spaced recognition software include Anki and Mnemosyne.

Forgetting a rarely used kanji is easy so it is important to regularly review these.

Handwriting

Related product

• Practice notebook from The Japan Shop.

Note that characters have a generally accepted stroke order. While this may seem an extra burden at first, the order is highly regular and will vastly improve your ability to read other people's handwriting, not to mention make yours more intelligible.

As with the handwriting of most scripts, Japanese calligraphy has a long history and is greatly revered to this day. As kanji are somewhat more intricate than Latin characters, the quality of handwriting and the order the strokes are written in matter a great deal. In fact, without a commonly accepted system, cursive styles and hurried handwriting would be illegible, indeed.

There is, of course, only one way to practice handwriting: By writing. Get yourself a nice notebook, preferable one with good sized squares, and practice, practice, practice.

Context

The Kanji in Context texts from the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies emphasizes the value of learning not so much kanji characters in isolation, but kanji-based vocabulary, particularly as part of phrases or idioms. In this approach, when learning a kanji, one learns important words that it is part of. Further, one will learn kanji that make up a given word at the same time – for example, one will learn the word 日本 (Nihon, Japan) and, at the same time, the characters 日 (nichi, ni, sun) and 本 (hon, root).

Recognising the constituent parts

Related on-line resources

• Kanji ABC
• Reviewing the Kanji
• Genki [Japan Times]

As you progress in learning kanji, you'll start to see patterns emerge; constituent parts of characters that are common among many characters. Recognising these will allow you to see the characters as made up of shapes rather than just strokes and thus simplify retaining them. The general method is to systematically break up characters into graphical components, some of which may not be used as separate characters. Next, one systematically maps these elements to some mnemonic, and then builds a picture or story combining these.

The principles at work are:

analytic

Break up a complex character into simple components.

Example: The character 認 which means to notice or to judge is made up of 15 strokes but may be a little bit easier to remember it as a combination of 言, 刃 and 心; word, blade and heart, respectively.

associative

Associate components across characters.

Example: 売 means "to sell", but along with "word", 読, it becomes "to read" and along with "thread", 続, it becomes to continue. This further builds links between characters that share graphical elements or compositional similarities.

narrative

Associating stories with characters is a powerful method to remember which components it is made up of.

Example: The character 暖 means "warm weather" and can be broken down into the components 日, 爫, 一 and 友 meaning "sun", "caress", "one" and "friend". This can then be memorised as warm weather being when "the sun caresses a friend".

Useful resources for diagnosing these constituent parts are the book and online version of Kanji ABC. James Heisig's well-known series Remembering the Kanji is the best known study aid that uses this method. Alternatives include Smart Kanji Book which only includes common kanji and the primitives that form them and the Kanji Pict-o-graphix which uses a graphic approach instead of mnemonic stories. A further such resource is Genki’s Kanji Look and Learn. These may not be sufficient in themselves, as they focus purely on the characters, but can be valuable components of one’s learning, helping with remembering character forms and especially minor details.

Chinese-derived reading

The vast majority of Chinese characters are composed as phono-semantic compounds: one component (generally the radical) is semantic (about the meaning), and the other component is used for its phonetic value (sound). Note that this is how the character as used in Chinese is composed. As kanji usually have several readings, including a Chinese-derived one, this can be used to remember the character and one of its readings.

Understanding this, and decomposing characters into Phonetic + Semantic components and relating them to similar characters using either of these components helps with remembering the character’s form, its meaning, and a Chinese-derived pronunciation (on'yomi, 音読み).

For example, the character for small is 小 which has the Chinese-derived reading shō. The characters 少, 炒, 抄, 省, 称, 鈔 and 渉 all share that same Chinese reading. Again, keep in mind that these are only the Chinese readings and the each of these has other different readings as well.

Attention to detail

It is easy to make minor mistakes with both recognizing and writing kanji. A high level of mastery requires attention to detail and continual polish (see 改善, kaizen). Even at lower levels, attention to detail yields overlearning and deepens understanding; if you are worrying about the stroke order, you are likely not forgetting the character outright.

Minor errors can be made in writing (e.g. incorrect strokes, strokes touching when they should not, or incorrect stroke order) and pronunciation (e.g. incorrect voicing; especially rendaku/euphonic changes). To achieve a high level requires detecting and correcting such errors. Realizing that one has forgotten a kanji is easy enough. For other errors, one may not notice them, or one may feel a lack of confidence reflecting imperfect mastery. To detect such errors one must review regularly and ensure that all these details are correct.

Particularly useful in subtle errors is to study the character in question with various related characters (both graphically, as in Wiktionary:Appendix:Easily confused Chinese characters, and etymologically), and in the context of various words: this allows one to contrast the character, rather than trying to retain it in isolation.

Readings

A single Kanji letter can be read (pronounced) in many different ways, depending on its context. These readings are categorized into two main groups - that of Chinese origin (on'yomi, 音読(おんよ)み) and Japanese origin (kun'yomi, 訓読(くんよ)み). A third group, the nanoriyomi, is used for the names of people and places.

It is often the case that a Kanji letter has more than one reading of Chinese origin. This is because the importing of Chinese letters (with their readings) did not occur just at one time from one region.

Onyomi

Onyomi (音読み) is the Chinese-derived reading, which is most commonly used in compound words and for the numbers.

It may be useful to note that in most kanji databases, the on reading is written in katakana instead of hiragana.

一 (イチ), 二 (ニ), 三 (サン), 四 (シ) are the first four numbers and all are onyomi.

Kunyomi

Kunyomi (訓読み) is the Japanese reading, which can be read as a separate word or can be used in compounds.

This reading is generally written in hiragana in kanji lists.

月 (つき, tsuki) and 日 (ひ, hi) are the moon and sun and are in kunyomi.

Nanoriyomi

Nanoriyomi (名乗り読み) is the name reading, which is used for people's names and for places.

Both "康", read as "やす" (e.g. 徳川家康), and "信", read as "のぶ" (e.g. 織田信長), are written in nanoriyomi.

Kanji Repetition

The noma: (々), symbol indicates the repetition of a Kanji. The word われわれ indicates "us" or "our group" and is written as "我々" instead of "我我", although they are both the same. The same is true with "人々" (ひとびと), meaning people).

JLPT

Related on-line resource

• Kanji Project lets you look up compound words.

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (日本語(にほんご)能力(のうりょく)試験(しけん)), or JLPT, is a standardized test to evaluate and certify the language proficiency of non-native Japanese speakers. The JLPT has five levels beginning at level N5 and progressing to level N1 - the most difficult. Each level has a certain set of kanji.

For the time being, the completion index is as follows:

• : Some characters are missing.
• : All characters are there, but there are readings missing.
• : All characters have both onyomi and kunyomi readings, but not all have example words.
• : All characters have example words, but a template or a stroke order image is missing.
• : All characters have all their information set up in the template.

JLPT level N5

N5 tests students' recognition of 79 kanji and 482 words.

• Lesson 1 : 一・二・三・四・五
• Lesson 2 : 六・七・八・九・十
• Lesson 3 : 百・千・万・父・母
• Lesson 4 : 友・女・男・人・子
• Lesson 5 : 日・月・火・水・木
• Lesson 6 : 金・土・本・休・語
• Lesson 7 : 年・午・前・後・時
• Lesson 8 : 間・毎・先・今・何
• Lesson 9 : 上・下・左・右・北
• Lesson 10 : 南・東・西・外・名
• Lesson 11 : 高・小・中・大・長
• Lesson 12 : 半・分・学・校・生
• Lesson 13 : 山・川・白・天・雨
• Lesson 14 : 電・気・車・国・円
• Lesson 15 : 話・聞・食・読・来
• Lesson 16 : 書・見・行・出・入
• Lesson 17 : 目・耳・口・手・足
• Lesson 18 : 新・古・多・少・空
• Lesson 19 : 店・社・買・立・安
• Lesson 20 : 会・道・飲・駅・魚
• Lesson 21 : 週・花・言

JLPT level N4

N4 tests students' recognition of 166 kanji and 453 words.

JLPT level N3

N3 tests students' recognition of 367 kanji and 1555 words.

JLPT level N2

N2 tests students' recognition of 367 kanji and 1481 words.

JLPT level N1

N1 tests students' recognition of 1231 kanji and 2773 words.

Reader

Children's texts

• Issunboushi
• The Tongue-Cut Sparrow
• Kasa Jizo
• Cracking Mountain
• The Crab and The Monkey
• Momotaro
• Urashimataro
• Yamamba
• Tanabata
• Aesop's Fables - The North Wind and the Sun (イソップ童話: 北風と太陽)
• Pocket Watch (懐中時計)

Simple texts

• 夢十夜 (w:Ten Nights of Dreams by w:Natsume Sōseki)
  • 第三夜 (The third night)
  • 第七夜 (The seventh night))
• Aesop's fables translated and read

Advanced texts

• Under the Cherry Trees (桜の樹の下には)
• Run, Melos! (走れメロス)
• Be not Defeated by the Rain (雨ニモマケズ)
• The Restaurant that Has Many Orders (注文の多い料理店)
• Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜)
• I Am a Cat (吾輩は猫である)
• Rails (線路)
• Bring into focus (焦点を合せる)
• Girl's Hell (少女地獄)

Other texts

• Japanese Wikipedia
• Soseki's Merits and Demerits of isms
• Soseki's Botchan
• Japanese Text Initiative Fully searchable premodern texts with English or Japanese interface
• Aozora Bunko Texts whose copyright has expired
• Noh Plays

Rakugo

• ...

Philosophy/Political science

• 貝原益軒 (Kaibara Ekiken, 1630-1714)
  • 養生訓 (Yōjōkun: Precepts for the preservation of health)
  • 和俗童子訓 (Wazoku dōjikun: Precepts for Japanese common children)
• 山本常朝 (Yamamoto Jōchō, 1659-1719)
  • 葉隠 (Hagakure: Hidden by the Leaves) - The book of Samurai in Saga Domain
• 福沢諭吉 (Yukichi Fukuzawa, 1835-1901)
  • 学問のすすめ (Encouragement of Learning)
• 五来欣造 (Gorai Kinzō, 1875-1944)
  • 儒教の独逸政治思想に及ぼせる影響 (How did confucianism affect to German political philosophy)
  • ファッショか共産主義か (Fascism or Communism)

Memoirs

• 久保田栄吉 (Ōkubo Ēkichi, 1887-)
  • 赤露二年の獄中生活 (Prison Life in Red Russia for two years)

Old Songs

• Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms (さくら さくら) さくら　さくら　やよいの空は
• Soap Bubbles (シャボン玉) シャボン玉飛んだ 屋根まで飛んだ
• The Red Shoes (赤い靴)　赤い靴　はいてた　女の子
• 10,000 Feet up the Alps (アルプス一万尺)　アルプス一万尺　小槍の上で
• The glow of a firefly (蛍の光) 蛍の光 窓の雪
• The Gondola Song (ゴンドラの唄) いのち短し、恋せよ乙女
• Katyusha's song (カチューシャの唄) カチューシャかわいや わかれのつらさ
• The Boatman Ballad (船頭小唄) おれは河原の 枯すすき

National Song

• Kimigayo (君が代) 君が代は 千代に八千代に

War Songs

• Patriotic March (愛国行進曲) 見よ東海の空あけて
• Umi Yukaba (海行かば) 海行かば 水漬く屍

Hymn

• Stand Up! Stand Up for Jesus! (立てよいざ立て)

Warabe Uta

• Kagome Kagome (かごめ　かごめ) かごめかごめ 籠の中の鳥は
• Hana Ichi Monme (はないちもんめ) 勝ってうれしい花いちもんめ、負けて悔しい花いちもんめ
• Tōryanse (通りゃんせ)　通りゃんせ　通りゃんせ　ここはどこの　細通じゃ
• ずいずいずっころばし ずいずいずっころばし ごまみそずい
• Where are you from? (あんたがたどこさ) あんたがたどこさ 肥後さ 肥後どこさ 熊本さ
• Snow (雪) 雪やこんこ 霰やこんこ。

Old Japanese texts

• The Pillow Book (枕草子) - 春はあけぼの
• Tsurezuregusa (徒然草) - つれづれなるままに
• The Tale of the Heike (平家物語) - 祇園精舎の鐘の声 諸行無常の響きあり
• Matsuo Basho's Haiku
• The Tosa Diary (土佐日記) - 男もすなる日記といふものを、女もしてみむとてするなり。

Old Japanese texts written in Classical Chinese

• Manyoshu (万葉集)

Transcription of Classical Chinese into Japanese

Classical Chinese was communication language between Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam until WWII.

• Shunbou (春望) - 国破れて山河在り (国破_レテ山河在_リ)
• Shungyou (春暁) - 春眠暁を覚えず (春眠不_ず^レ覺_エ^レ曉_ヲ)

Weird Books

• native Japanese reading with annotations of Water Margin (標註訓訳　水滸伝　一) - Transcription of Written Vernacular Chinese into Japanese
• Mix-up Secret plan (混同秘策) - agricultural book for world domination plan written in Sakoku period

Travel guide

• South Manchu travel guide, 1917 (南満洲鉄道旅行案内)
• Taiwan train travel guide, 1927 (台湾鉄道旅行案内)
• America travel guide, 1927 (米国旅行案内)
• Sakhalin train travel guide, 1928 (樺太の鉄道旅行案内)
• Korea travel guide, 1934 (朝鮮旅行案内記)
• The Trans-Siberian Express - Shortest route from the Far East to Europe, 1933 (欧州旅行の最短距離 シベリヤ急行鉄道)

Transcribing English to Japanese

The transcription of English to Japanese has been done since the earliest cultural contacts between English speakers and Japanese. During the Edo period, kanji were used phonetically to write English and other foreign words, but in the modern period katakana have become the principal target script. Unlike the systems for romaji, there is no standard for transcribing into katakana, and methods vary. However, generally all methods attempt to preserve the pronunciation of English, not the spelling. That is, transcription not transliteration is done.

This article deals with transcription of English words into the nearest phonetic equivalent in Japanese.

Reasons for transcribing

The purpose of the transcription partly determines how it is done. There are reasons why one would want to transcribe an English word to Japanese: Many legal documents, such as company registrations, require that only Japanese script is used. A computer database may need entry in Japanese script for the purpose of sorting and collation. Educators want to explain the pronunciation of English words by transcribing. Loan words from English are usually written in a transcribed form. Or one may simply be interested in how one's name looks in Japanese.

Accordingly, there are different priorities for the transcriber. The educator might want to indicate many of the subtleties of English pronunciation whereas a person naming a new product might be more concerned with the ease of pronunciation for native speakers of Japanese.

Difficulties

Japanese distinguishes fewer sounds than English. For example, Japanese does not distinguish the vowel sound of "run" and "ran", or the consonant sound of "row" and "low". Moreover the rules by which sounds can be combined in Japanese are generally more restrictive than the English rules. As a result, the pronunciation of the transcribed word can differ quite considerably from the original word in English.

If writing for a Japanese audience, it is worth checking whether there is already an accepted transcription into Japanese, and whether the meaning of the new word has changed in Japanese. The word mishin illustrates both pitfalls: not only is this an unexpected rendering of the English word "machine", but the Japanese word's meaning is limited to sewing machines. It is also worth noting that some terms which may at first glance appear to be mangled English loanwords are, in fact, loans from other languages: koppu (drinking glass) is not a version of the English "cup" but a loan of Dutch kop, and tabako is from Portuguese tabaco, not from "tobacco".

Procedure for transcription

Most Japanese people do not use a systematic procedure for transcription; instead they transcribe according to their perception of the English pronunciation, albeit significantly influenced by the spelling. However, the process can be represented formally as a set of transformations, which is presented in one possible order below. Proficient Japanese speakers internalize the transformations and perform them all simultaneously when inserting English words into written or spoken Japanese.

Step 1: Transcribe the English phonetically

The first step is to start with a phonetic representation of the English word, as distinct from the spelling. The phonetic transcription should reflect the careful pronunciation of the word. Spelling can often mislead as to what the pronunciation is. If there is any doubt, a dictionary will provide an accurate indication of what the sounds are. The letter x typically corresponds to two sounds (ks) and the digraphs sh, ch, and th each correspond to a single sound. The English sounds in the examples below are in the International Phonetic Alphabet. (See International Phonetic Alphabet for English and IPA chart for English for explanation of these symbols used for transcribing English.)

Step 2: Transform the vowels from English to Japanese

Japanese has a different and smaller sound set than English, so many sounds have to be changed to equivalent or similar sounds in Japanese. The Romanization system used here is a variation of the Hepburn system, where long vowels are represented by doubled letters (ii, ee, aa, oo, uu) and the moraic nasal is represented with capital N.

Vowels need to be changed to correspond to use the five Japanese vowels. Typically, the vowels used in a British Received Pronunciation are used as the base English vowels for transcription, using the following system, where doubled vowels mean long (2-mora) vowels:

English	Japanese	Example word	Japanese transcription
ɑː	aa, a	father, arm, commander	fazaa, aamu, komaNdaa
iː	ii	she	shii
ɪ	i	pig	piggu
ɛ	e	bed	beddo
ɜː	aa, a	bird	baado
æ	a	hamburger	haNbaagaa
æ after k	kya (yōon)	cat	kyatto
æ after g	gya (yōon)	gamble, gal	gyaNburu, gyaru
ʌ	a	country	kaNtorii
ʌ spelt with an "o"	o	monkey, front, London	moNkii, furoNto, roNdoN
ɒ	o	box	bokkusu
ɔː	oo	straw, port	sutoroo, pooto
ʊ	u	book	bukku
uː	uu	balloon	baruuN
non-final ə	not fixed, based on spelling.	about, pilot, London	abauto, pairotto, roNdoN
final position ə spelt as "-r"	aa	winner, hamburger	uinaa, haNbaagaa
final position ə spelt with an "a"	a	mama, puma	mama, pyuuma
eɪ	ei, ee, e	day, David	dei, debiddo
aɪ	ai	my	mai
ɔɪ	ooi, oi	boy, toy	booi, toi
əʊ	o, oo	phone, no	foN, noo
aʊ	au	now	nau
ɪə	ia, iaa	queer	kuia, kuiaa
ɛə	ea, eaa	hair	hea, heaa
ʊə	uaa	tour	tsuaa
juː	yuu	cube	kyuubu

In rhotic dialects of English, like American English, the letter r sounds at the end of syllables, but for the purpose of transcription into Japanese, this sound transcribes into a vowel sequence ending in a, except for the sequence [ɔɹ], which corresponds to Received Pronunciation [ɔː], and is transcribed as oo. That is, car becomes kaa not karu, and pork becomes pooku not poruku.

Step 3: Transform consonants

Some consonants require changing during transcription into Japanese. This process has three substeps:

Transform non-Japanese sounds to closest Japanese equivalents

First, English has a few consonant sounds that Japanese lacks or only contains in certain contexts, so they must be transcribed into other sounds that Japanese has.

English	Japanese	example
θ	s	thin → siN
ð	z	that → zatto
l	r	left, milk → refuto, miruku
ŋ (when spelled "ng")	Ng, N	song, darling → soNgu, daariN
j (before the sounds i, ɪ, or e)	i	yeast, yes → iisuto, iesu
h (before the sounds u or ʊ)	f	hoop → fuupu
w (before the sound u)	u	woods → uzzu
v *	b	David → debiddo

There are other English consonants that Japanese lacks, such as /ʃ/, the closest equivalent being /ɕ/. And though both languages contain /h/, in Japanese it assimilates to /ç/ before /i/. However these differences in pronunciation are small enough that they need not be considered different sounds for the purpose of transcription.

* It is possible to notate /v/ in Japanese kana, and it is done in the Japanese spellings of "Vietnam" (ヴェトナム vetonamu) and "Vicks" (ヴィックス vikkusu), but the sound does not exist in native Japanese phonology and is usually changed to "b" when transcribing English words.

Palatalize coronal obstruents

Next, Japanese requires coronal obstruents "s", "z", "t", "d" to be palatalized when they occur before the vowel i, so if these consonants occur before "i", either they change to their palatalized form or the vowel "i" changes to "e":

• "si" changes to "shi" (Remember "si" might come originally from "thi", as in thick).
• "ti" changes to "chi" or "te"
• "di" changes to "ji" or "de"
• "zi" changes to "ji"

In recent loanwords, "ti" and "di" are often preserved. In kana, this sound is represented by a full-sized "te" or "de" and a small-sized "i": ティ (ti), ディ (di).

Double voiceless obstruents after short vowels

In Japanese, the voiceless obstruents "p", "t", "k", "s", "ch", and "sh" have geminate (doubled) forms, written using a sokuon (small tsu) character, and in English transcription these geminates are used after short vowels. Short vowels are vowels which are transcribed using the vowel table above using a single vowel ("a", "e", "i", "o", or "u"). This transformation is usually but not always applied in the middle of a word. Also, sometimes syllable-final "t" is transformed to "ts" instead of "tt".

single	double	example
p	pp	pop → poppu
t	tt	cut → katto
k	kk	pack → pakku
s	ss	kiss → kissu
ch	tch	patch → patchi
sh	ssh	mesh → messhu

Step 4: Add epenthetic vowels

Japanese has strict constraints on the structure of syllables, and any syllables that violate these constraints have vowels inserted until the constraints are met. These are called epenthetic vowels.

• The only consonant clusters (sequences of consonants with no intervening vowels) allowed in Japanese are the geminate (doubled) consonants cch, mm, nn, ss, ssh, tch and tt. However, the sounds represented by the English digraphs ch, sh, and ts are considered single sounds for the purpose of transcribing into Japanese.
• Japanese syllables can only end in vowels and N.

Any sequence of sounds that does not obey these rules must have epenthetic vowels inserted. The epenthetic vowel is usually "u", but there are a few exceptions:

• "m" does not take an epenthetic vowel when followed by "b" or "p", but is instead replaced by "N" (which is pronounced the same as "m" in those contexts). For example, computer becomes "コンピュータ" (koNpyuuta). "N" is also pronounced as /ŋ/ before "k" or "g", requiring no epenthesis after the "n" in words such as "ink", which becomes "インク" (iNku).
• "t" and "d" take "o" as an epenthetic vowel. "t" can also take "u" in which case the "t" is affricated to "ts" (i.e. "tsu").
  • The rule for "tsu" described above is sometimes replaced by one where "tu", written in kana with a full-sized "to" followed by a small "u": トゥ, is used. This is more common in more recent innovative Japanese dialects. For example, the name of the film "The Truman Show" in Japanese is "トゥルーマン・ショー" (turuumaN shoo)
• "ch" and "j" take "i" as an epenthetic vowel.
• "k" and "sh" usually takes "u" as an epenthetic vowel, but sometimes it takes "i" or may vary between "u" and "i". "i" is the more conversative pattern.

Step 5: Break into morae

Japanese is divided into morae, with each mora containing one of the following:

• A consonant and a single vowel (CV)
• A consonant, "j" and a single vowel (CjV)
• A single vowel (V)
• Moraic (final) "n" (N) ン
• Doubled (geminate) consonant ッ

Step 6: Transcribe rōmaji into katakana

Each mora corresponds to one or sometimes two katakana characters. The second mora of a long vowel is uniformly transcribed as ー in katakana. Moraic "n" (transcribed here as "N") is ン in katakana.

Examples

English	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Step 4	Step 5	Step 6
Amazon	/æməzɒn/	amazon	amazon	amazoN	a.ma.zo.N	アマゾン
boxing	/bɒksɪŋ/	boksiŋ	bokshiNg	bokushiNgu	bo.ku.shi.N.gu	ボクシング
Brisbane	/bɹɪzbən/	brizben	brisbeN	burisubeN	bu.ri.su.be.N	ブリスベン
church	/tʃɜ:tʃ/	chaach	chaach	chaachi	cha.a.chi	チャーチ
Cornell	/kɔːnɛl/	koonel	kooner	kooneru	ko.o.ne.ru	コーネル
craft	/kɹæft/	kraft	kraft	kurafuto	ku.ra.fu.to	クラフト
Crawford	/kɹɔːfɔːd/	kroofood	kroofood	kuroofoodo	ku.ro.o.fo.o.do	クローフォード
earthling	/ɜːθlɪŋ/	aaθliŋ	aasriNg	aasuriNgu	a.a.su.ri.N.gu	アースリング
elevator	/ɛləveɪtə/	eleveeta	erebeeta	erebeeta	e.re.be.e.ta	エレベータ
exit	/ɛkzɪt/	ekzit	ekjitt	ekijitto	e.ki.ji.t.to	エキジット
exotic	/ɛkzɒtɪk/	ekzotik	ekzochikk	ekizochikku	e.ki.zo.chi.k.ku	エキゾチック
fox	/fɒks/	foks	fokks	fokkusu	fo.k.ku.su	フォックス
Google	/guːgəl/	guugul	guugur	guuguru	gu.u.gu.ru	グーグル
Harvard	/hɑːvɜ:d/	haavaad	haabaad	haabaado	ha.a.ba.a.do	ハーバード
hotel	/həʊtɛl/	hotel	hoter	hoteru	ho.te.ru	ホテル
Liverpool	/lɪvəpuːl/	livapuul	rivapuur	rivapuuru	ri.va.pu.u.ru	リヴァプール
Massachusetts	/mæsətʃuːsəts/	masachuusets	masachuusetts	masachuusettsu	ma.sa.chu.u.se.t.tsu	マサチューセッツ
McDonald	/mækdɒnəld/	makdonald	makdonard	makudonarudo	ma.ku.do.na.ru.do	マクドナルド
Mexico	/mɛksəkəʊ/	meksiko	mekshiko	mekishiko	me.ki.shi.ko	メキシコ
Microsoft	/maɪkɹəʊsɒft/	maikrosoft	maikrosoft	maikurosofuto	ma.i.ku.ro.so.fu.to	マイクロソフト
nation	/neɪʃən/	neishon	neishoN	neishoN	ne.i.sho.n	ネイション
New Orleans	/njuːɔːlɪnz/	nyuuoolinz	nyuuooriNz	nyuuooriNzu	nyu.u.o.o.ri.N.zu	ニューオーリンズ
Pentium	/pɛntiəm/	pentiam	peNtiam	peNtiamu	pe.N.ti.a.mu	ペンティアム
Phillip	/fɪlɪp/	filip	firipp	firippu	fi.ri.p.pu	フィリップ
robot	/rəʊbɒt/	robot	robott	robotto	ro.bo.t.to	ロボット
Sydney	/sɪdniː/	sidnii	shidnii	shidonii	shi.do.ni.i	シドニー
taxi	/tæksiː/	taksi	takshii	takushii	ta.ku.shi.i	タクシー
Texas	/tɛksəs/	teksas	teksas	tekisasu	te.ki.sa.su	テキサス

Inconsistencies

Though commonly used katakana spellings tend to be consistent with the above system of transcription, there are also many exceptions. Some transcriptions are apparently based on misinterpretations of the word's pronunciation based on its spelling. For example, the "u" in "studio" seems to have been interpreted as if it were /ʌ/ (as in the word "study"), not /uː/, resulting in the transcription "スタジオ" (sutajio).

Though the basis for English to Japanese transcription is usually British Received Pronunciation, with its different short "o" sound and unpronounced rhotic "r"s, there are also exceptions. The words "cocktail" and "soccer" are transcribed as "カクテル" (kakuteru) and "サッカー" (sakkaa), and the Japanese name of the English letter "r" is "アール" (aaru), which corresponds more closely to a rhotic accent.

The final t sound in English words is usually transcribed as "ト" (to), but it in some words such as "fruit" and "suit" it is transcribed as "ツ" (tsu), making the pronunciation of some singular nouns sound more like their plural forms, even though plural "s"s tend to be ignored when transcribing English nouns into Japanese.

Transcribing using the steps outlined above results in the English short "i" sound becoming the Japanese i sound, but there are also cases in which it becomes the Japanese e sound. Examples include "digital" and "sticker" becoming "デジタル" (dejitaru) and "ステッカー" (sutekkaa). Also, the "re" in the English words "report" and "reporter", which is pronounced as /rɪ/ in Received Pronunciation, becomes re in "レポート" (repooto) and "レポーター" (repootaa), though they are sometimes alternately transcribed as "リポート" (ripooto) and "リポーター" (ripootaa)

Even within the common system of transcriptions, there are multiple possible ways in which a certain sound can be transcribed. This can result in multiple transcriptions of a single word, such as the name "David", which is written a number of ways in Japanese. Different pronunciations of the same word are sometimes used to show what meaning of the word is being used. For example, "ストライク" (sutoraiku) refers to a strike in baseball or bowling, while "ストライキ" (sutoraiki) refers to a workers' strike. Also, "ポンチ" (poNchi) refers to fruit punch while "パンチ" (paNchi) is used for other meanings of the word.

As mentioned above, many transcriptions (particularly those involving a non-final schwa) are non-fixed and are often based more on spelling than actual pronunciation. This often leads to words which sound similar to each other in English sounding radically different from each other in their Japanese pronunciations. While the pronunciations of the English words "pirate" and "pilot" differ only in the "l" and "r", the two words are transcribed respectively into Japanese as "パイレーツ" (paireetsu) and "パイロット" (pairotto), with the only difference between the original pronunciations disappearing and some new differences appearing in other places.

There are also some inconsistencies in Japanese between the way English words are transcribed, and the way words from some other languages containing the same sounds are transcribed. A final velar nasal consonant in an English word (spelled "ng") is usually transcribed as "ング" (Ngu), but the same sound in Korean and Chinese words is transcribed as "ン" (N). For example "Hong Kong" and "Kung-Fu" become "ホンコン" (hoNkoN) and "カンフー" (kaNfuu) respectively, and the "Yong" in Korean actor Bae Yong Joon's name becomes "ヨン" (yoN).

Exceptional transcriptions

The following are commonly used transcriptions which do not conform to the common system of transcription. This does not include Japanese abbreviations of English words or words which resemble English, but came into Japanese directly from other languages.

English	katakana	romanization	non-conforming element(s)
archaeology	アーケオロジー	aakeorojii	/i/ becomes e
archiver	アーカイバ	aakaiba	final /ə/ becomes a, despite being spelled "er"
anal	アナル	anaru	/eɪ/ becomes a
California	カリフォルニア	kariforunia	/kæ/ becomes ka, rhotic /r/ becomes ru
Canada	カナダ	kanada	/kæ/ becomes ka
casual	カジュアル	kajuaru	/kæ/ becomes ka
cocktail	カクテル	kakuteru	/ɒ/ (Received Pronunciation) but based on American a
cocoa	ココア	kokoa	/əʊ/ becomes oa
color	カラー	karaa	/ʌ/ becomes a, despite being spelled with an "o"
curry	カレー	karee	/i/ becomes ee
digital	デジタル	dejitaru	/ɪ/ becomes e
fast	ファースト	faasuto	/æ/ becomes aa
foul	ファール	faaru	/aʊ/ becomes aa
foundation	ファンデーション	faNdeeshon	/aʊ/ becomes a
fruit	フルーツ	furuutsu	final /t/ becomes tsu
Hepburn *	ヘボン	hebon	/p/ is omitted and /ə/ becomes o, despite being spelled "ur"
Hollywood **	ハリウッド	hariuddo	/ɒ/ (Received Pronunciation) but based on American a
hood	フード	fuudo	/ʊ/ becomes uu
idea	アイデア	aidea	/i/ becomes e
label	ラベル	raberu	/eɪ/ becomes a
Ladies/Lady's	レディース	rediisu	/z/ becomes su
loose	ルーズ	ruuzu	/s/ becomes zu
(sewing) machine	ミシン	mishiN	/ə/ becomes i, despite being spelled with an "a"
margarine	マーガリン	maagariN	/dʒ/ becomes g
meter	メーター	meetaa	/iː/ becomes ee
money	マネー	manee	/ʌ/ becomes a, despite being spelled with an "o" and /i/ becomes ee
n (letter)	エヌ	enu	final /n/ becomes nu
Narnia	ナルニア	narunia	rhotic /r/ becomes ru (based on American)
Neptune	ネプチューン	nepuchuun	/tu/ becomes chuu rather than tsuu
news	ニュース	nyuusu	/z/ becomes su
penis	ペニス	penisu	/iː/ becomes e
pirate	パイレーツ	paireetsu	final /t/ becomes tsu
pouch	ポーチ	poochi	/aʊ/ becomes oo
propane	プロパン	puropaN	/eɪ/ becomes a
pudding	プリン	puriN	/d/ becomes r
punch	ポンチ	poNchi	/ʌ/ becomes o, despite being spelled with an "u"
r (letter)	アール	aaru	rhotic /r/ becomes ru (based on American)
radio	ラジオ	rajio	/eɪ/ becomes a
report	レポート	repooto	/ɪ/ becomes e
reporter	レポーター	repootaa	/ɪ/ becomes e
revolution	レボリューション	reboryuushon	/luː/ becomes ryuu
sales	セールス	seerusu	/z/ becomes su
smooth	スムース	sumuusu	/ð/ becomes su
soccer	サッカー	sakkaa	/ɒ/ (Received Pronunciation) but based on American a
sport	スポーツ	supootsu	final /t/ becomes tsu
sticker	ステッカー	sutekkaa	/ɪ/ becomes e
studio	スタジオ	sutajio	/uː/ becomes a
suit	スーツ	suutsu	final /t/ becomes tsu
sweater	セーター	seetaa	/wɛ/ becomes ee
Uranus	ウラナス	uranasu	/yʊ/ becomes u
video	ビデオ	bideo	/ɪ/ becomes e
volleyball	バレーボール	bareebooru	/ɒ/ (Received Pronunciation) but based on American a, and /i/ becomes ee
Washington	ワシントン	washiNtoN	/ɒ/ (Received Pronunciation) but based on American a
Yankees	ヤンキース	yaNkiisu	/z/ becomes su
yogurt	ヨーグルト	yooguruto	rhotic /r/ becomes ru (based on American)

* in the case of James Curtis Hepburn, but not Katharine Hepburn or Audrey Hepburn, whose last name is transcribed as "ヘップバーン" (hepubaaN).

** "Holly" on its own is transcribed as "ホリー" (horii).

Transcribing multiple words

In some instances, such as language textbooks or song lyrics, phrases or entire sentences may be transcribed into Japanese.

Multiple word transcription is typically done on a word-by-word basis, with no account being taken of word linking. For example, "an engineer" would most commonly be transcribed into Japanese as "a.N.e.N.ji.ni.a" rather than "a.ne.N.ji.ni.a", with the linking between the "n" and "e" represented by the Japanese mora "ne". In some set phrases, such as "kaman" for "come on", this general trend is broken.

Example of transcribing a whole sentence

English: "My hovercraft is full of eels."

Step 1: maɪ hɒvəkrɑːft ɪz fʊl ɒv iːlz

Step 2-3: "mai hobaakraft iz ful ob iirz"

Step 4: "mai hobaakurafuto izu furu obu iiruzu"

Step 5 "ma.i ho.ba.a.ku.ra.fu.to i.zu fu.ru o.bu i.i.ru.zu"

Step 6 「マイ　ホバークラフト　イズ　フル　オブ　イールズ」

Pronunciation

Japanese is characterised largely by its small number of vowels and consonants (five and fourteen, respectively). Pronunciation of each syllable is highly regular with the written system and there are only a few exceptions such as vowel devoicing. This is in stark contrast to English where the written and spoken language can differ a great deal (e.g. the vowel digraph "ou" in "noun" and "cough" and the consonant "g" in "goat" and "giraffe").

Apart from a single isolated consonant (the moraic nasal, "n") and double consonants (e.g. "itte" and "kekkon") all consonants must be followed by a vowel to form syllables. Double consonants are always a pair of the same consonant, though vowel devoicing sometimes makes different consonants sound one after the other (e.g. "suki" and "suteki").

Japanese has a great deal of homophones that make correct pronunciation quite important. While language learners may have difficulty hearing the difference between nuances like long and short vowels, native speakers are used to these and might not understand incorrectly pronounced words.

The syllabary

There are five vowels in Japanese, normally transcribed into the English alphabet as: "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o".

Vowel	a	i	u*	e	o
Approximate sound	father	meaty	food	egg	old

*This sound is pronounced compressed, for which there is no approximation in English. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel#Close_back_compressed_vowel

Spanish and Italian speakers may note that Japanese vowels produce the same sounds as their Spanish and Italian equivalents.

Japanese vowels always represent distinct phonemes and don't form digraphs — i.e. they don't blend together or sound differently when joined. When one vowel follows another they are pronounced separately. Examples are the names Sae (sa.e) and Aoi (a.o.i)

The rest of the syllabary is formed by combining the above vowels with a consonant.

Clear							Voiced							Plosive							Clear medial y					Voiced medial y					Plosive medial y
	a	i	u	e	o			a	i	u	e	o			a	i	u	e	o			ya	yu	yo			ya	yu	yo			ya	yu	yo
k	ka	ki	ku	ke	ko		g	ga	gi	gu	ge	go									ki	kya	kyu	kyo		gi	gya	gyu	gyo
s	sa	shi	su	se	so		z	za	ji	zu	ze	zo									shi	sha	shu	sho		ji	ja	ju	jo
t	ta	chi	tsu	te	to		d	da	ji	zu	de	do									chi	cha	chu	cho		ji	ja	ju	jo
n	na	ni	nu	ne	no																ni	nya	nyu	nyo
h	ha	hi	fu	he	ho		b	ba	bi	bu	be	bo		p	pa	pi	pu	pe	po		hi	hya	hyu	hyo		bi	bya	byu	byo		pi	pya	pyu	pyo
m	ma	mi	mu	me	mo																mi	mya	myu	myo
y	ya		yu		yo
r	ra	ri	ru	re	ro																ri	rya	ryu	ryo
w	wa				o

Note that the sound which is written with a "y" is not considered a vowel, but a consonant. This will come as little surprise to German speakers where the same sound is written with a "j".

The -i line (ki, gi, shi, ji, chi, ni, hi, bi, pi, mi, ri) can be combined with the y- line (ya, yu, yo) to create the medial y combinations. These are just like regular consonant + vowel syllables, in that they should be pronounced as one mora (syllabic sound).

From this table one can see that the Japanese syllabary is highly systematic. There are a few exceptions, though, and these have been bolded in the table:

• "si" becomes "shi"
• "ti" becomes "chi" and "tu" becomes "tsu"
• "zi" and "di" become "ji", and "du" becomes "zu"
• "hu" becomes "fu"
• "wo" becomes "o"

Mora

Japanese is quite regular in the timing and stress of its syllables. The basic timing unit is called mora. Each mora is pronounced with equal stress and should take about the same amount of time. Two morae should sound twice as long as a single one.

The following take up one mora:

• a short vowel
• a consonant followed by a short vowel
• a medial y
• a moraic nasal

Whereas these take up two morae:

• a long vowel
• a double consonant

Examples

• a-o-i / あおい (e. blue): three morae, each vowel is short
• mi-do-ri / みどり (e. green): three morae.
• sha-shu / しゃしゅ (e. car model): two morae.
• ni-n-ji-n / にんじん (e. a carrot): four morae.
• ī-e / いいえ (e. no): three morae (note the long vowel "i", denoted by a macron)
• a-k-ka / あっか (e. to worsen): three morae (note that the double consonant isn't pronounced twice, just twice as long).

The medial y often takes a long vowel.

• gyūnyū / ぎゅうにゅう (e. milk): four morae.

Long vowels

A long vowel takes two morae. In rōmaji it's written with a macron: ā, ī, ū, ē and ō.

In hiragana, it's written with an extra "あ" (a), "い" (i) or "う" (u) depending on the vowel. In katakana, it's marked by appending a dash-like symbol "ー".

Word	Japanese	Meaning	Soundbyte
Ōsaka	大阪	Osaka city	Ja-Osaka.ogg
Tōkyō	東京	Tokyo city	Ja-Tokyo.ogg
dēta	データ	data	Ja-deeta-data.ogg
gyūnyū	牛乳	milk	Ja-gyuunyuu-milk.ogg
hō	頬	cheek	Ja-hoo-cheek.ogg

Devoicing

In standard Japanese the vowels i and u are not usually voiced when they occur between voiceless consonants (k, s, sh, t, ch, h, f). The phenomenon seems to have developed to facilitate the falling pitch intonation in the Kanto dialect. The mouth forms shape of the vowel and lasts for one mora, but the sound is not voiced. For final [su] in 'desu' and '-masu', all vestiges of the vowel have disappeared in standard Japanese, leaving a naked sibilant. Devoicing is not otherwise standard for word terminal i or u. Consecutive devoicing is rare, although exceptions exists (e.g. futsuka, 2nd day of the month, pronounced f-ts-ka). Devoicing can depend on context. E.g. 'Suzuki' has no devoicing; 'Suzuki-san' has a devoiced i: Suzuk-san. Some dialects do not demonstrate devoicing, notably Kansai.

Some examples:

Spelled	Pronounced	Meaning
kushi	k-shi	comb
ta-be-ma-shi-ta	tabemash-ta	ate (to eat, past tense)

Consonant variation

There are a couple of consonants that are pronounced differently from English:

Consonant	Approximate sound	Notes
g	give or sing	approximately halfway between these sounds, it is made almost like ng depending on the age of the speaker and, in certain cases, dialect. Nowadays, it is beginning to sound more like our guttural g, but the older folks may still say ng, which was also taught in many Japanese grammar classes.
sh, ch, j		sound is made further back along the tongue than in English
ts	bats	try saying "fatso" without the "fa"
f	who (in British English)	blown between the lips, not between the lips and teeth; as if it were a combination of both H+F
r		similar to a rolling r, but only trilled once making it sound deceptively like a D to untrained listeners. The sound is often described as being between "r" and "l".

Except for the doubled consonants and the n (which we will cover later), consonants can never end a syllable. They can only begin it.

Moraic nasal

Normally, Japanese consonants must be followed by a vowel except where they double. There is an exception to this: the moraic nasal which is transliterated as n. It is usually found at the end of words, but can be found in the middle of composite words.

The difference between the moraic nasal and the syllables "na", "ni", "nu", "ne" and "no" can be difficult for language learners to spot, while native speakers may have difficulty understanding incorrect pronunciation.

• kin'en (ki-n-e-n) no smoking vs. kinen (ki-ne-n) commemoration.
• hon'ya (ho-n-ya-) bookstore (not ho-nya)

The pronunciation of the moraic nasal changes depending on what sound follows it. This is not so much an irregularity as a shortcut to bridge the sounds between the two morae. When followed by the bilabial plosives, "b" and "p", the moraic nasal is pronounced like an "m". An example:

• "shinbun" is read as: shimbun

Listen to the audio (OggVorbis, 151 KB)

1. At the end of a word:
   • dan 段 "level"
   • kin 金 "gold"
   • fun 糞 "dung"
   • zen 善 "goodness"
   • hon 本 "book"
2. Directly before a consonant:
   • banzai 万歳 "hurrah", "long live (the Emperor)"
   • kingyo 金魚 "goldfish" (pronounced like "ng")
   • kunrei 訓令 "directive"
   • zenchi 全知 "omniscience" (pronounced like "n")
   • honten 本店 "main office" (pronounced like "n")
3. Before m, b, p
   • genmai 玄米 "unmilled rice"
   • honbu 本部 "headquarters"
   • tenpura 天ぷら (battered and fried vegetables or fish)
4. Before a, i, e, y
   • zen'aku 善悪 "good and evil"
   • ken'i 権威 "authority"
   • han'ei 反映 "reflection"
   • sen'you 専用 "exclusive use"
5. Note that before a, i, e, and y, moraic n is written n' (with an apostrophe). This is to distinguish it from the regular consonant n, which is pronounced differently and can produce different words. Some examples of cases where this becomes important are:
   • kani 蟹 "crab" vs. kan'i 簡易 "simplicity"
   • kinyuu 記入 "fill in" vs. kin'yuu 金融 "finances"
   • konyakku コニャック "cognac" vs. kon'yaku 婚約 "engagement (to be married)"

Consonant doubling (gemination)

There are four consonants that can become geminates (get doubled) in native Japanese words: /p/, /t/, /k/, and /s/. The geminate (represented linguistically as "Q") takes up an extra mora, with the general effect being to insert a pause that sounds as long as a regular syllable with a short vowel. The geminate is /t/ before ch and ts, /s/ before sh.

Word	Meaning	Soundbyte
takkyū	table tennis	Ja-takkyuu-table_tennis.ogg
Hokkaido	Hokkaido prefecture	Ja-hokkaido.ogg
makka	bright red	Ja-makka-bright_red.ogg
gakkō	a school
dotchi	which (informal)	Ja-docchi-which.ogg
kuttsuku	to stick	Ja-kuttsuku-to stick.ogg }
settei	setting	Ja-settei-setting.ogg
chotto	a little
kissaten	a tea house
hissori	quiet(ly)	Ja-hissori-quiet(ly).ogg
juppun	ten minutes
Sapporo	Sapporo city	Ja-Sapporo.ogg

In the Japanese pronunciation of foreign loan words, the voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /g/, and /z/ can also be doubled.

Word	Meaning
gubbai	goodbye
guddo	good
doggu	dog
kizzu	kids

Practice

Simply words

• audio for practice 1 (OggVorbis, 75 KB)

Word	Japanese	Meaning
akai	赤	red
iro	色	color
egaku	描く	draw (a picture)
utsu	打つ	hit, beat
osameru	治める	govern
oya	親	parent(s)
wabi	侘び	(the Japanese aesthetic of subdued refinement)
pari	パリ	Paris (France)
tomodachi	友達	friend
hana	花	flower
shiji	指示	instruction
hiza	膝	knee
tsumori	積もり	intention

Long and double vowels

audio for practice 2 (OggVorbis, 125 KB) Note in particular that "deiri" and "koushi" are not long vowels since the vowels are split between composite words.

Word	Japanese	Meaning
sā	さあ	come now
ai	愛	love
au	会う	meet
hae	蠅	fly (insect)
aoi	青い	blue, green
ī	いい	good
iu	言う	say
ie	家	house
shio	塩	salt
shurui	種類	type, kind
nū	縫う	sew
ue	上	above
uo	魚	fish
rē	例	example
supein	スペイン	Spain
urei	憂い	grief
deiri (de + iri)	出入り	coming and going
dēta	データ	data
oi	甥	nephew
sō	そう	that way, so
omou	思う	think
koushi	仔牛	calf (baby cow)
moeru	燃える	burn
hō	頬	cheek (facial)

Compound consonants

Audio missing

Word	Japanese	Meaning
toukyou	東京	Tokyo
gyouza	餃子	pot-stickers (Chinese dumplings)
gyuunyuu	牛乳	milk (from a cow)
hyou	表	chart
byouin	病院	hospital
denpyou	伝票	voucher
myou	妙	strange
muryou	無料	free (as in beer)
ryuu	龍	dragon
takkyuu	卓球	table tennis
happyou	発表	announcement

Moraic nasal

• audio for practice 5 (OggVorbis, 91 KB)

Word	Japanese	Meaning
tenki	天気	weather
renshuu	練習	practice
zangyou	残業	overtime (work)
anshin	安心	relief
sunnari	すんなり	slender
denpa	電波	reception (cell phone, etc.)
senbei	煎餅	Japanese hard rice cake
genmai	玄米	unprocessed rice
sen	千	thousand
hon	本	book
sen'you	専用	exclusive use
hon'ya	本屋	bookstore
san'en	三円	three yen
tan'i	単位	unit, (course) credit

Comparisons of similarly pronounced words

audio for practice 6 (OggVorbis, 190 KB)

1. yuki 雪 "snow" and yuuki 勇気 "courage"
2. soto 外 "outside" and souto 僧徒 "Buddhist disciple"
3. soto 外 "outside" and sotou 粗糖 "unrefined sugar"
4. soto 外 "outside" and soutou 相当 "suitable"
5. soto 外 "outside" and sotto そっと "softly"
6. sotto そっと "softly" and sottou 卒倒 "fainting"
7. maki 巻 "scroll" and makki 末期 "last period"
8. hako 箱 "box" and hakkou 発行 "publish"
9. issei 一斉 "all at once" and isei 異性 "opposite sex"
10. tani 谷 "valley" and tan'i 単位 "unit", "(course) credit"
11. san'en 三円 "three yen" and sannen 三年 "three years"
12. kinyuu 記入 "fill out" and kin'yuu 金融 "finances"
13. kinen 記念 "commemoration" and kin'en 禁煙 "no smoking"

Normal speech

The narration of the following excerpt of Natsume Soseki's classic novel Botchan is spoken at a natural pace which may be difficult to follow for unaccustomed listeners.

• Listen to the audio (OggVorbis, 674KB)

Oyayuzuri no muteppou de kodomo no toki kara son bakari shite iru. Shougakkou ni iru jibun gakkou no nikai kara tobiorite isshuukan hodo koshi o nukashita koto ga aru. Naze sonna muyami o shita to kiku hito ga aru kamoshirenu. Betsudan fukai riyuu demo nai. Shinchiku no nikai kara kubi o dashite itara, doukyuusei no hitori ga joudan ni, "Ikura ibatte mo, soko kara tobioriru koto wa dekimai. Yowamushi yaai," to hayakashita kara de aru. Kozukai ni obusatte kaette kita toki, oyaji ga ookina me o shite "Nikai gurai kara tobiorite koshi o nukasu yatsu ga aru ka," to itta kara, "Kono tsugi wa nukasazu ni tonde misemasu," to kotaeta.

Shinrui no mono kara seiyousei no naifu o moratte kirei na ha o hi ni kazashite, tomodachi ni misete itara, hitori ga "Hikaru koto wa hikaru ga, kiresou mo nai," to itta. "Kirenu koto ga aru ka, nandemo kitte miseru," to ukeatta. "Sonnara, kimi no yubi o kitte miro," to chuumon shita kara, "Nan da yubi gurai kono toori da," to migi no te no oyayubi no kou o hasu ni kirikonda. Saiwai naifu ga chiisai no to, oyayubi no hone ga katakatta node, imadani oyayubi wa te ni tsuite iru. Shikashi kizuato wa shinu made kienu.

Pitch accent

Japanese uses pitch accent, where every mora can either be pronounced with a high or low pitch. Not all dictionaries will indicate this, but pitch accent is certainly important, because it can make the difference between different words.

For example, using bold for high pitches:

いま (今) - "now"
いま (居間) - "living room"

Pitch is, however, to some extent a characteristic of regional accents, so a Kanto speaker may be using the opposite pitches to a Kansai speaker. Where pitch is taught, it will be standard Japanese (essentially the Tokyo dialect). Pitchless Japanese is easily understood by native speakers and incorrect pitch will at most sound somewhat odd. Studying pitch, therefore, isn't essential to the learning Japanese and is perhaps best picked up by conversing with native speakers.

Linguists, however, tend to classify Japanese as having a falling pitch following what is considered the stressed vowel.

Mora Counting

A common misconception is that moras in Japanese are the same as syllables in English. Moras differ from syllables because of how they are counted.

Consonant-Vowel Combinations written as Digraphs count as 1 mora. These are cases where you have き、ぎ、し、じ、ち、に、ひ、び、ぴ、み、り combined with や、ゆ、and よ to form Digraphs like きゃ, しゅ, ちょ, etc.

So, the ちゅ in 中国[ちゅうごく] accounts for 1 mora. The whole word is 4 moras.

A vowel combination counts as 2 moras. Combinations like おう、えい are 2 moras. This also includes a vowel being written or said twice, like おお、いい, etc.

Ex. the せい in the word 人生[じんせい] or the おう in だろう would count as 2 moras.

The mora ん counts as 1 mora

Ex. The ん in 先生[せんせい] is the 2nd mora in the word, and the whole word has 4 moras.

The small tsu (っ) which doubles a consonant adds 1 mora.

Ex. the word 学校(がっこう) has 4 moras.

There is a unique set of mora known as "special mora" (特殊拍) which consist of small tsu "っ", the kana "ん" and long vowel symbol "ー", the last high pitch can not occur on any of these "special mora".

This is all important information to know when reading pitch accent, and counting Japanese moras.

Pitch classification

When dictionaries give pitch accent, they'll usually indicate it with a number. The number tells you the mora where the last high pitch is. To figure out the pitch pattern, put a low onto the first mora (unless the last high pitch is on that mora), put high pitches onto all the mora that follows, until you hit the last high pitch. After that, put low pitches.

Even more helpful dictionaries will do all of this work for you, by telling you exactly where all the pitches rise or fall.

So, to give some examples.

low HIGH HIGH... (0)
こども	子供	child
わたし	私	I
ともだち	友達	friend
ざっし	雑誌	magazine
あかい	赤い	red
がっこう	学校	school
HIGH low low... (1)
ちゅうごく	中国	"China"
じしょ	辞書	dictionary
なに	何	what
はし	箸	chopsticks
パンフレット	パンフレット	pamphlet
low HIGH low low... (2)
こころ	心	heart
じてんしゃ	自転車	bicycle
プレゼント	プレゼント	present
low HIGH HIGH low low... (3)
せんせい	先生	teacher
おおきい	大きい	big
たくさん	たくさん	many
low HIGH HIGH HIGH low low... (4)
あたらしい	新しい	new
うつくしい	美しい	beautiful
おとうと	弟	(one's) younger brother

Notice how ともだち (0) and おとうと (4) look as though they have the same pitch pattern despite the different numbers. The difference is based on the grammatical pattern like -は added afterward. Therefore, the continuation of both pitch pattern becomes ともだちは and おとうとは.

Dialects

Related vocabulary

• Japanese/Linguistic Terminology

A map of Japanese copula.

Many learners of Japanese begin their studies thinking that the language is a single standard, spoken across the whole nation. While it is true that nearly all Japanese nationals can speak the standard language, it is by no means their every day language. This long and mountainous archipelago has over the centuries given rise to a great number of dialects with their own distinct accent, intonation and vocabulary.

Before the Tokugawa Shogun (徳川将軍) moved to Edo (江戸, modern day Tokyo) in 1603, the main place of government was Kyoto (京都), and standard Japanese was the ancestor of today's Kyoto dialect. Modern standard Japanese, hyōjungo (標準語) is basically the dialect of Tokyo. This is used in schools and media throughout the country. Other varieties of Japanese are often considered provincial and like in every language, each bears connotations of archetypes.

A map of Japanese dialects.

Eastern Japanese

• Hokkaidō Dialect
• Tōhoku Dialect
  • Northern
    • Tsugaru Dialect
  • Southern
• Kantō Dialect
  • (Japanese/Dialects/Yokohama?)
• Tōkai Dialect
  • (Japanese/Dialects/Mikawa)
• Hokuriku Dialect
  • Japanese/Dialects/Ishikawa
  • Japanese/Dialects/Toyama

Western Japanese

• Hokuriku Dialect (Talk:Japanese/Dialects/Ishikawa?)
  • (Japanese/Dialects/Toyama)
• Kinki (Kansai) Dialect
  • Japanese/Dialects/Osaka
• Chūgoku Dialect
• Umpaku Dialect
• Shikoku Dialect
• Kyūshū
• Hōnichi Dialect
• Hichiku Dialect
• Satsugū Dialect

Hachijō Island

• Hachijō Dialect

Ryūkyū

• (Japanese/Dialects/Okinawa?)

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

Further information: 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

Further information: Personal 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

Further information: 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

Further information: 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

Further information: 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

Further information: Basic Particles

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.

Phrase

• Japanese Phrasebook
• Everyday Phrases

Introductions

• Japanese/Cover
• Japanese/Introduction
• Japanese/Introduction/About
• Japanese/Study methods
• Japanese/Contributor's Guide

Linguistics

• Japanese/Pronunciation
• Japanese/Pitch accent
• Japanese/Dialects
  • Special:PrefixIndex/Japanese/Dialects
• Japanese/Grammar

Reading and writing

• Japanese/Japanese writing system
• Japanese/Kana Chart
• Japanese/Kana
• Japanese/Kanji
  • Special:PrefixIndex/Japanese/Kanji

Reading practice

• Japanese/Reader

Vocabulary

Special:PrefixIndex/Japanese/Vocabulary

• Japanese/Vocabulary
• Category:Book:Japanese/Vocabulary
• Japanese/Vocabulary/Everyday Phrases

Grammar

Nouns

• Japanese/Grammar/Nouns

Verbs

• Japanese/Grammar/Verbs — An overview of classes and forms.
• Japanese/Verb conjugation table.
• Japanese/Grammar/Verbs/te form
  • Japanese/Grammar/Verbs/te form/iru
    • Japanese/Lesson Progressive/Answers - should probably be deleted. Quiz is trivial.
• Japanese/Grammar/Transitivity
• Japanese/Lesson Conditional
• Japanese/Lesson/Simultaneous action
• Japanese/Grammar/~あげく（に）

Adjectives

• * Japanese/Grammar/Adjectives Still a bit rough, but good enough to put on the front page.

Pronouns

• Japanese/Lessons/Personal pronouns

Particles

• Japanese/Grammar/Basic Particles は, が, を, に, へ, か, の, と や, も, で, から, まで, より
• Japanese/Grammar/Sentence ending particles か, の, ね, よ, ぞ, な, な, かな & かしら, ぜ, わ, さ
• Japanese/Lessons/Other uses of particles Combining particles, simple clauses and various other little bits.

Counters

• Japanese/Grammar/Counters

Pro-forms

• Japanese/Grammar/Pro-forms

Others, Sentence Patterns

• Japanese/Lesson Relative Clauses
• Japanese/Lesson/Where is it?
• Japanese/Grammar/Grammar Assorted
• Japanese/Grammar/~ほど
• Japanese/Lessons/Assembling simple sentences (lists a few sentence structures in an introductory fashion)

Giving and receiving

• Japanese/Lesson Giving and Receiving

Time and day

• Japanese/Lessons/Days Maybe rename as "Days of the month" or "Dates"
• Japanese/Lesson/Telling time

Formality and honorifics

• Japanese/Grammar/Honorifics — includes formal/informal verb forms.
• Japanese/Grammar/Honorific prefixes — includes prefixes attached to nouns to show respect.
• Japanese/Grammar/Politeness — word choices in different levels of formality.
• Japanese/Grammar/Writing
• Japanese/Lessons/Personal suffixes and name usage

Comparisons

• Japanese/Grammar/Comparisons

Lessons

• Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Ogenki desu ka/Yes and no
• Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Ogenki desu ka/Questions using ka — Very short. Only discusses the question marker "か".

Copula, existence and predicates

• Japanese/Elementary Japanese/Lesson 2 (undeveloped) AはBです
• Japanese/Lesson/What is that?
  • Japanese/Basic Japanese/Answers/Lesson 2
• Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Konnichiwa/Noun predicates
• Japanese/Existence and Copula
• Japanese/Lesson/Existence

Introductions and greetings

• Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Konnichiwa/Formal salutations answers answers

Adjectives

• Japanese/Lessons/I-adjectives — Needs more examples to match the な-adjectives.
• Japanese/Lessons/Na-adjectives
• Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Ii tenki desu ne/Talking about the weather — Undeveloped; discusses describing the weather ((<time> は) <adjective>天気 ですね。) and "ね".

Numbers

• Japanese/Numbers
• Japanese/Lessons/Lesson 3 Inquiring about phone numbers and age.

Miscellaneous

• Japanese/Lesson/Asking for something
• Japanese/Lesson/Giving directions
• Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Konnichiwa/Formality — Informal greetings and discussion on when these are acceptable.
  • Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Lesson 1/Unit 1-4/Answers
• Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Amerika-jin desu ka/Foreign loan words
• Japanese/Lessons/Word list 1 "This is the list of words you should have learned during the first five weeks of this course."
• Japanese/Mini-tutorial lesson — Phrases and conversation at a restaurant.

Structure/Lesson Plans/Syllabus

• Japanese/Practical Lessons
• Japanese/Practical Lessons/Syllabus
• Japanese/Lessons/Basic (content for about ten lessons)
• Sugu ni Hajimemashō

Users

• User:Balloonguy/Japanese — A discussion about the rearrangement of contents. (precedes this overhaul and is somewhat outdated by it)
• User:Telamon~enwikibooks/Japanese — A single page with greetings.
• User:Helpfulstuffnz/Japanese — A restructuring of the old main page.
• User:Mkn/Japanese — A new book, never got past an introduction and a page on Japanese scripts.
• User:Retropunk/Japanese_Curriculum (in active development 01:20, 14 November 2008 (UTC))
• User talk:Nesnad/sandbox Nesnad's Quick Start Japanese.

Links and resources

These should be found place on pages where are relevant.

• w:Category:Japanese language tests)
• Japanese/Internet Links
• Japanese/Software

Commons

• commons:Category:Japanese pronunciation
• commons:Commons:CJK stroke order project

Meta

• Japanese/Discussion
• Japanese/Discussion/Archives:December, 2005
• Japanese/Discussion/Archives:September, 2005
• Japanese/Q&A
• Japanese/Q&A/Archive 1

Templates

Category:Book:Japanese/Templates

• Template:Furi
• Template:Japanese example
• Template:Japanese vocabulary entry
• Template:Japanese related
• Template:Japanese kana
• Template:Japanese kanji readings

Just an idea...

... tell me what you think.

• Template:Japanese verb style

Navigation

• Template:Janav (There is nothing on this, so far, but the look is nice and we might as well base a book-wide navigation on this ... if we choose to use a book-wide navigation template at all.)
• Template:Japanese kana navigation
• Template:第三夜Nav

Meta

• Template:Japanese obsolete
• Template:Japanese todo

Ruby

These are out-dated and should be replaced with {{furi}} when used in Japanese text, but kept for general use elsewhere on Wikibooks.

• Template:Ruby (should be kept)
• Template:Ruby-2 (not really that useful. Delete)

Not sure what to do about these:

• Template:Rubywikt
• Template:Rubywikt-2

Not Japanese language

• Japanese/Background Japan (should be a separate book or merged introduction)

Grammar/Nouns

Since Japanese nouns (名詞; めいし) don't inflect they are fairly simple to master. They do, however, take particles to indicate their place in sentences.

Some commonly used particles for nouns are: "は", "が" and "を".

Plurals

The Japanese language lacks plurals in the English sense. Plural words are usually either preceded with a number and a counter, or simply made understood through context.

A few nouns can also suffix a pluralizing word, such as "たち" or "ら". When referring to a person, "たち" indicates company. For example, めぐみたち can mean "Megumi and more".

Yet others indicate plurality by repetition (e.g., ひと means person and ひとびと means people.) Written in kanji, the repetition mark, 々, is used (e.g., 人, 人々).

Noun-phrase particles

Japanese word structure, unlike Western languages which allow declensions depending on gender, tense, and many other aspects, maintains constant word forms, which are inflected by particles.

Note that particles always follow the nouns that they mark.

Grammar/Verbs

Japanese verbs, (動詞; どうし), inflect heavily to indicate formality, tense or mood, primarily in their ending. There are two tenses, several levels of formality and three classes of verbs, depending on their inflection. The two tenses are perfective (often considered past tense) and present (or technically, non-past, as the future tense is not indicated). Out of the several levels of formality, two are the most common: plain and polite.

Japanese verbs are officially categorised into five classes, but as two of these inflect much the same and another two only contain one verb each, these are usually merged into three when Japanese is taught as a foreign language. These are the consonant stem-, vowel stem- and irregular classes.

Dictionaries use the plain present positive form (commonly known as dictionary form) as the headword for verbs.

Verbs are classed based on their conjugations. Their endings don't determine the class, but are a general indicator.

Form	Endings
vowel-stem verbs (ichidan)	All of these end with (い)る or (え)る, but some with that ending are consonant stem verbs.
consonant-stem verbs (godan)	End in う, く, ぐ, す, つ, ぬ, ぶ, む or る.
irregular verbs	Only two verbs: する (e. to do) and 来(く)る (e. to come).

Different inflections can also have suffixes. These may also be verbs with their own conjugations. Not all suffixes can be used on all verb inflections and others may only follow the verb stem. Examples are conjunctive + いる, せる・させる (causative), and られる (potential).

Ignoring the formality and the negative conjugations, the following is a list of verb conjugations

• non-past
• past
• causative
• causative-passive
• conjunctive
• conditionals
• passive
• potential
• imperative
• volitional
• provisional

Ichidan class

Vowel-stem verbs end on a full syllable (hence the term: vowel-stem). In a sense, the final "る" of the dictionary form is dropped and the respective endings just added on.

The Japanese term "一(いち)段(だん)" refers to the fact that the stem ending occupies only one row in the kana chart.

The following table shows a few forms of the verb "食べる" (たべる, e. to eat):

Form	Word
Plain present positive	食べる
Plain past positive	食べた
Plain present negative	食べない
Plain past negative	食べなかった
Imperative	食べろ or 食べよ
Volitional	食べよう
Conjunctive	食べて
Conditional	食べれば

Godan class

Consonant-stem verbs end in the middle of a syllable (hence the term; consonant-verb). That syllable changes depending on the form. The plain form has an う u sound (u, tsu, ru, ku, gu, bu, mu, su), the ～ます -masu form has an い i sound (i, chi, ri, ki, gi, bi, mi, shi), and the negative form has an あ a sound (wa, ta, ra, ka, ga, ba, ma, sa). The potential form has an え e sound (e, te, re, ke, ge, be, me, se) and the volitional form has an おう ō sound (ō, tō, rō, kō, gō, bō, mō, sō), so putting these together with the sounds above shows that verb conjugations follow the vowel syllabary of the Japanese character set:　あ a, い i, う u, え e and お o.

The Japanese term "五(ご)段(だん)" comes from the fact that the stem's last syllable spans all five rows of the kana chart in at least one form.

The following table shows a few forms of the consonant-stem verb "話す" (はなす e. to speak).

Form	Word	Row	Syllable Morph	Conjugation Suffix
Plain present positive	話す	う
Plain past positive	話した	い	す -> し	た/った/いた/んだ
Plain present negative	話さない	あ	す -> さ	ない
Plain past negative	話さなかった	あ	す -> さ	なかった
Imperative	話せ	え	す -> せ
Volitional	話そう	お	す -> そ	う
Conjunctive	話して	い	す -> し	て/って/いて/んで
Conditional	話せば	え	す -> せ	ば

The て-form (conjunctive) and past positive form of a consonant-stem verb change the root for euphony according to the last syllable of the root (example in parentheses):

stem	て-form	past		example	て-form	past	reading (meaning)
〜う	って	った		買う	買って	買った	かう (to buy)
〜く	いて	いた		書く	書いて	書いた	かく (to write)
〜ぐ	いで	いだ		泳ぐ	泳いで	泳いだ	およぐ (to swim)
〜す	して	した		話す	話して	話した	はなす (to speak, to talk)
〜つ	って	った		勝つ	勝って	勝った	かつ (to win)
〜ぶ	んで	んだ		学ぶ	学んで	学んだ	まなぶ (to study)
〜ぬ	んで	んだ		死ぬ	死んで	死んだ	しぬ (to die)
〜む	んで	んだ		佇む	佇んで	佇んだ	ただずむ (to stand still)
〜る	って	った		去る	去って	去った	さる (to leave)

行く (いく) (to go) has an exceptional て-form 行って (いって).

If the verb stem ends on "う" such as in the verb 買う(かう, e. to buy) then its negative stem becomes -わ as in 買わない ("to not buy"). This is because the root is treated as kawu (despite the "wu" syllable not existing in modern Japanese).

Irregular verbs

Two common verbs do not share a conjugation pattern with any other verb. They are therefore commonly classed as "irregular" verbs. Formally, they are called "変格" (へんかく) verbs, as opposed to the regular "正格" (せいかく) verbs. This construction is made to use verbs and nouns of Chinese origin, for instance, from Chinese "確認"　(què rèn, confirmation) is formed in Japanese the verb "確認する" (かくにんする), or "約分" (yuē fēn, simplify a fraction (math.)) which derives into "約分する"　(やくぶんする). The forms are "する" (e. to do, as in the examples) and "来(く)る" (e. to come). The following table shows some of their conjugation forms.

Form	する	来る
Plain present positive	する	くる
Plain past positive	した	きた
Plain present negative	しない	こない
Plain past negative	しなかった	こなかった
Imperative	せよ or しろ	こい
Volitional	しよう	こよう
Conjunctive	して	きて
Conditional	すれば	くれば

Many verbs end on "〜する" and can be grouped in three categories:

• Verbalised nouns. These are nouns which form verbs by appending "〜する". Examples: 勉強(べんきょう)する, 注意(ちゅうい)する, "過労死(かろうし)する, 長生(ながい)きする and 値(あたい)する.
• Verbs that cannot stand alone without the "する" suffix. Examples: 発(はっ)する, 接(せっ)する and 達(たっ)する.
• Verbs that cannot stand alone, end on an "ん" and therefore take the voiced "ずる". Examples: 存(ぞん)ずる, 感(かん)ずる, 先(さき)んずる and 重(おも)んずる. These verbs are commonly inflected the same as the ichidan forms, with "ずる" being replaced by "じる" thus: 存(ぞん)じる, 感(かん)じる, 先(さき)んじる and 重(おも)んじる.

The only commonly-used combination with "来る" is "やってくる", meaning "to come".

Polite forms

The polite (or formal) forms are simple as all of the consonant-stem verbs sit in the い-line (行く→行き) and the inflections are the same for consonant- and vowel-stem verbs.

The following table shows the polite forms for "行く" (いく, e. to go):

Form	Word
Polite present positive	行きます
Polite past positive	行きました
Polite present negative	行きません
Polite past negative	行きませんでした
Polite volitional	行きましょう
Polite conjunctive	行きまして
Polite conditional	行きますれば

The imperative (〜ませ) is not used in formal forms except for a few polite verbs (see below).

Other irregularities

A small number of verbs tend to be conjugated differently from the groups that they are normally placed in.

Polite language

The verbs below are all consonant stem verbs but conjugate differently. While the regular forms also exist, they are seldom used.

Verb	polite present positive	Imperative
くださる	くださいます	ください
なさる	なさいます	なさい
いらっしゃる	いらっしゃいます	いらっしゃい
おっしゃる	おっしゃいます	おっしゃい

The conjunctive and past forms of the first two verbs, "くださる" and "なさる", also have the alternative forms "くだすって／くだすった" and "なすって／なすった", in addition to the normal regular conjugations "くださって／くださった" and "なさって／なさった". These alternative forms have, however, fallen into disuse. While they are often encountered when reading texts from a few decades ago, the regular conjugations are usually used today.

The first three of the above verbs are also the only ones where the imperative form "ませ" of the auxiliary verb, "ます", is used to add an extra level of politeness:

くださいませ, なさいませ, いらっしゃいませ

Additionally, ございます, which originally came from the now-defunct yodan (四段, e. four-row) classical Japanese verb "ござる", is also used, although in modern usage, it is always used with the ます auxiliary verb ending. There is no imperative form (i.e. you cannot use ませ like above).

得る

得る (うる/える, e. to get, or to be able to) is the only surviving nidan (二段, e. two-row) class verb in modern Japanese. It has conjugations as in the below table:

Form	Word	Reading
Non-past	得る	うる／える
Past	得た	えた
Negative non-past	得ない	えない
Negative past	得なかった	えなかった
Imperative	得ろ	えろ
Volitional	得よう	えよう
Conjunctive	得て	えて
Conditional	得れば	うれば

"得る" can be read both as "える" in its terminal form (at the end of the sentence, or in situations such as attaching to べき). The "うる" reading is also used in those situations and in the attributive form (e.g. when attached to nouns). It is therefore incorrect to say "えるもの" as the correct form would be "うるもの". The combination "あり得る" is normally read "ありうる" in the present forms. All other conjugations follow the table above.

Miscellaneous irregularities

The vowel stem verb "呉れる" (くれる e. ) imperative form "くれ" (rather than the expected "くれろ"). Other "くれる" verbs of other unrelated meanings conjugate to the usual "くれろ".

The consonant stem verb "ある" expresses existence, but absence is expressed with the adjective "ない". Note that many textbooks also treat "ない" as a verb. The reader may also wish to be aware that more formal "ぬ" negative form and its conjunctive form, "ず", are still used: "あらぬ"/"あらず".

Summary of verb conjugations

辞書形 dictionary form ます形 polite form 否定形 negative form て形 "te" form た形 perfective form ～う -u ～います -imasu ～わない -wanai ～って -tte ～った -tta ～つ -tsu ～ちます -chimasu ～たない -tanai ～る -ru ～ります -rimasu ～らない -ranai ～く -ku ～きます -kimasu ～かない -kanai ～いて -ite ～いた -ita ～ぐ -gu ～ぎます -gimasu ～がない -ganai ～いで -ide ～いだ -ida ～ぶ -bu ～びます -bimasu ～ばない -banai ～んで -nde ～んだ -nda ～む -mu ～みます -mimasu ～まない -manai ～す -su ～します -shimasu ～さない -sanai ～して -shite ～した -shita (～い)る -iru ～ます -masu ～ない -nai ～て -te ～た -ta (～え)る -eru する suru します shimasu しない shinai して shite した shita くる kuru きます kimasu こない konai きて kite きた kita ^a Since the polite ～ます -masu form ends with ～す -su, the polite past form mostly follows the ～す -su rules. So for example the polite form of 話す hanasu is 話します hanashimasu, and the polite past form is 話しました hanashimashita, but the polite negative form is 話しません hanashimasen. See other examples of the polite form at the Japanese grammar Wikipedia entry. ^b Since the negative ～ない -nai form ends with ～い -i, any further inflection of the negative form will behave as an i-adjective. For example, 話さない hanasanai "not talking" becomes 話さなかった（です） hanasanakatta(desu) "didn't talk". ^c Two exceptions are 問う tou "to question" which conjugates to 問うて toute and the even less common 請う kou "to request" which conjugates to 請うて koute. ^d The only exception is 行く iku which conjugates to いって itte. ^e Not all verbs ending with いる iru or える eru are vowel stems, some are consonant stems instead like 走る hashiru "run" and 帰る kaeru "return". A full list of the many exceptions can be found at the Japanese consonant and vowel verbs Wikipedia entry.

辞書形 dictionary form 可能形 potential form 条件形 conditional form 意向形 volitional form ～う -u ～える -eru ～えば -eba ～おう -ō ～つ -tsu ～てる -teru ～てば -teba ～とう -tō ～る -ru ～れる -reru ～れば -reba ～ろう -rō ～く -ku ～ける -keru ～けば -keba ～こう -kō ～ぐ -gu ～げる -geru ～げば -geba ～ごう -gō ～ぶ -bu ～べる -beru ～べば -beba ～ぼう -bō ～む -mu ～める -meru ～めば -meba ～もう -mō ～す -su ～せる -seru ～せば -seba ～そう -sō (～い)る -iru ～られる -rareru ～れば -reba ～よう -yō (～え)る -eru する suru できる dekiru すれば sureba しよう shiyō くる kuru こられる korareru くれば kureba こよう koyō ^a All of the potential forms end in える eru or いる iru so they follow the vowel-stem (一段動詞 ichidandoushi) rules. 話せる hanaseru becomes 話せます hanasemasu. ^b Conditional form is like saying "if ..." or "when ...". ^c Also called the conjectural/tentative/presumptive form, it is the plain form of ～ましょう -mashō. ～ましょう -mashō is used as an inclusive command ("let's ..."), but becomes an inclusive query ("shall we ...?") when ka is added (食べましょうか tabe mashō ka "Shall we eat?"). -ō to omoimasu indicates the speaker's conjecture ("I think (I will)") and -ō to omotte imasu indicates the speaker's current intentions ("I'm thinking (I will)"). -ō to suru/-ō to shite iru/-ō to shite imasu indicates intention ("(be) about to"). ^d The exception is 分かる wakaru "to understand" which already expresses ability innately without a conjugation.

Example dictionary word Example polite form Example negative form Example "te" form Example perfective form あらう arau "wash" あらいます araimasu あらわない arawanai あらって aratte あらった aratta まつ matsu "wait" まちます machimasu またない matanai まって matte まった matta とる toru "take" とります torimasu とらない toranai とって totte とった totta かく kaku "write" かきます kakimasu かかない kakanai かいて kaite かいた kaita いそぐ isogu "hurry" いそぎます isogimasu いそがない isoganai いそいで isoide いそいだ isoida しぬ shinu "die" しにます shinimasu しなない shinanai しんで shinde しんだ shinda よぶ yobu "call out" よびます yobimasu よばない yobanai よんで yonde よんだ yonda のむ nomu "drink" のみます nomimasu のまない nomanai のんで nonde のんだ nonda はなす hanasu "speak" はなします hanashimasu はなさない hanasanai はなして hanashite はなした hanashita みる miru "see" みます mimasu みない minai みて mite みた mita たべる taberu "eat" たべます tabemasu たべない tabenai たべて tabete たべた tabeta する suru "do" します shimasu しない shinai して shite した shita 勉強 benkyou "study" 勉強します benkyoushimasu 勉強しない benkyoushinai 勉強して benkyoushite 勉強した benkyoushita くる kuru "come" きます kimasu こない konai きて kite きた kita ^a The only example of this form. See the Wikipedia entry on Japanese irregular verbs for more.

辞書形 dictionary form 受身･尊敬 passive verb 使役 causative verb 禁止形 prohibitive form 命令形 imperative form ～う -u ～われる -wareru ～わせる -waseru ～うな -u na ～え -e ～つ -tsu ～たれる -tareru ～たせる -taseru ～つな -tsu na ～て -te ～る -ru ～られる -rareru ～らせる -raseru ～るな -ru na ～れ -re ～く -ku ～かれる -kareru ～かせる -kaseru ～くな -ku na ～け -ke ～ぐ -gu ～がれる -gareru ～がせる -gaseru ～ぐな -gu na ～げ -ge ～ぶ -bu ～ばれる -bareru ～ばせる -baseru ～ぶな -bu na ～べ -be ～む -mu ～まれる -mareru ～ませる -maseru ～むな -mu na ～め -me ～す -su ～される -sareru ～させる -saseru ～すな -su na ～せ -se (～い)る -iru ～られる -rareru (～い)るな -iru na ～ろ -ro (～え)る -eru (～え)るな -eru na する suru される sareru させる saseru するな suru na しろ shiro くる kuru こられる korareru こさせる kosaseru くるな kuru na こい koi ^a All of these verbs end in える eru so conjugation from here follows the vowel-stem (一段動詞 ichidandoushi) rules. る ru can simply be replaced with ます masu to make it polite. ^b Used to command someone not to do something. An example is 入るな hairu na "Do not enter." ^c The imperative form can be used as a command, e.g. 黙れ damare "shut up!", やめ yame "stop!" or 止まれ tomare "Stop (sign)". Non-volitional verbs (e.g. ある aru, わかる wakaru, できる dekiru) have no imperative form and くれる kureru "to give" is an exception that conjugates to くれ kure (the plain form of ～てください -te kudasai "Please (do)..."). A politer way of telling someone to do something is to use (masu stem)～なさい -nasai instead (e.g. 飲みなさい nominasai "Drink up.", しなさい shinasai "Do (what was said)."), or more informally, (masu stem)～な -na. Imperative form: たくさん食べな takusan tabena "Eat a lot." Prohibitive form: たくさん食べるな takusan taberu na "Don't pig out!"

See the adjective inflection Wikipedia page for present negative, past and past negative forms of i and na adjectives.

Grammar/Adjectives

Japanese has two main classes of words that function the same as adjectives in English.

Pure adjectives (形容詞; けいようし)

Also known as い-adjectives these are distinctive as their attributive form always ends with the syllable "い". Many nouns (such as 白 (しろ e. the colour white) become pure adjectives when appended with an い: 白い (しろい, e. white). Learners must beware, though, because several な-adjectives also end with the same い when rendered in kana (e.g. きらい, きれい).

Examples of pure adjectives are the colours 赤い (あかい, e. red) and 青い (あおい, e. blue), 高い (たかい, e. high, tall) 小さい (ちいさい, e. small), 重い (おもい, e. heavy) and 軽い (かるい, e. light).

Adjectival nouns (形容動詞; けいようどうし)

Also known as な-adjective these are grammatical nouns that form adjectives when affixed with "〜な". Technically, the な pseudoparticle comes from a contraction of "なる", the attributive form of the classical Japanese copula "なり".

Examples of adjectival nouns are 綺麗 (きれい, e. pretty), 静か (しずか, e. quiet) and 素敵 (すてき, e. lovely).

Basic conjugations

Like verbs, we can enumerate some common conjugations of adjectives.

It should not come as a surprise that the な-adjectives — being grammatical nouns — "conjugate" by having the copula added. Exceptions are the plain present positive, where the copula is omitted, and the polite past negative which has an alternative reading.

	present positive	past positive	present negative	past negative
plain	〜	〜だった	〜ではない	〜ではなかった
polite	〜です	〜でした	〜ではありません	〜ではありませんでした 〜ではなかったです

The い-adjectives have a somewhat simple conjugation pattern. The politeness is only determined by whether the (polite present positive, in all tenses) copula is added.

	present positive	past positive	present negative	past negative
plain	〜い	〜かった	〜くない 〜くはない	〜くなかった 〜くはなかった
polite	〜いです	〜かったです	〜くないです	〜くなかったです

More forms

It can be useful to define a few stem forms for adjectives as these form building blocks for other forms.

	Pure Adjectives	Adjectival Nouns
Stem	〜	〜
Attributive form (連体形)	〜い	〜な
Terminal form (終止形)	〜い	〜だ
Continuative form (連用形)	〜く	〜で
Imperfective form (未然形)	〜かろ	〜だろ
Hypothetical form (仮定形)	〜けれ	〜なら
Imperative form (命令形 )	〜かれ	〜なれ

These then form the following derived forms:

	Pure Adjectives		Adjectival Nouns
て-form	cont. + て	〜くて	cont.	〜で
conditional	hyp. + ば	〜ければ	hyp. + ば	〜なら(ば)
provisional	inf. past + ら	〜かったら	inf. past + ら	〜だったら
volitional	imperf. + う	〜かろう	imperf. + う	〜だろう
adverbial	cont.	〜く	cont.+に	〜に
degree (-ness)	root + さ	〜さ	root + さ	〜さ

Adjectives too are governed by euphonic rules in certain cases. For the polite negatives of adjectival nouns, see also the section below on the copula.

Imperative

The imperative form is extremely rare in modern Japanese, restricted to set patterns like 遅(おそ)かれ早(はや)かれ (e. sooner or later) where they are treated as adverbial phrases! It is impossible for an imperative form to be in a predicate position.

Hypotheticals

The conditional and provisional forms are used to make conditional statements. There is a slight nuance to the two which is discussed further in the conditionals lesson.

Grammar/Pro-forms

Related lesson

• Japanese/Lesson/Where is it?

Japanese has demonstratives (words for pointing to the subject of discussion) much in the same way that many other languages do. Japanese demonstratives are highly regular and take four standard prefixes:

• こ〜, for objects close to the speaker;
• そ〜, for objects closer to the listener;
• あ〜, for objects far from either; and
• ど〜, for question forms.

どれがあなたのものですか？ — Which is yours?

これです。 — (It) is this.

それです。 — (It) is this.

あれです。 — That over there (yonder).

These are suffixed with various pronoun indicators that are listed in the table below.

Japanese also makes a distinction between a prenominal form and regular form, meaning that the prenominal form must describe a noun that follows. For example, in the sentence "This cat" the word "this" describes the cat. The prenominal form replaces the れ with a の. In that way, "あの", "その" and "この" are the prenominal forms of "this" and "that".

あのねこはわかいです。 - That (distant) cat is young.

Here (こ〜)	There (そ〜)	Distant (あ〜)	Question (ど〜)	Suffix	Usage
これ this	それ that by you	あれ that	どれ which	[〜れ]	Objects (normal); a demonstrative pronoun to replace naming objects. For example, you can name a thing that the listener is holding in his hands, or a house that the listener is standing by just "それ sore".
この this ~	その that ~ by you	あの that ~	どの which ~	[〜の]	Objects (prenominal); indicates objects located somewhere. Must be followed by a noun. For example, "あの　ひと ano hito" means "some person" or "a certain person" distant (but known) from both speaker and listener. The [〜の] suffix is used not only with the こ, そ, あ and ど stems, but also with other pronouns and nouns to indicate genitive.
ここ here	そこ there by you	あそこ there	どこ where	[〜こ]	Location. Refers to a place. Note that "あそこ asoko" is the correct way of saying "that place over there", not "あこ ako".
こちら this way	そちら that way by you	あちら that way	どちら which way	[〜ちら]	Direction Direction or point of origin. There is also a shortened form of "〜ちら chira" - "〜っち tchi", which is almost as polite as the full form and is rather widely used, although should be avoided when speaking at formal events. In some translations. it may seem rather similar to the 〜う u group, but in reality it is different, as the 〜ちら chira group means direction, way to go somewhere, or sometimes place, but the 〜う u group means ways or methods to do something. Words belonging to the 〜ちら group are also a formal replacement for the 〜こ group.
こんな this kind of	そんな that kind of	あんな that kind of	どんな what kind of	[〜んな]	A kind of. Indicates a class of things, and is usually translated as "such a" or "kind of". For example, "どんな　いろ" means "what kind of color". "〜ういう" may be used instead of "〜んな nna". Note that the あ a-form of the "〜ういう uiu" is "ああいう aaiu".
こう in this way	そう in that way	ああ in that way	どう in which way	[〜う]	A way. Expresses a way of doing something (method). For example "どう dou" can be translated as "how", and "そう sou" can be translated as "that way" or "so". Note that the あ a-form is "ああ aa", not "あう au".
こいつ this person	そいつ that person by you	あいつ that person	どいつ which person	[〜いつ]	A person. Nowadays this is a rather rude way to name persons. For example, speaking of a person you do not respect and/or who is lower than you in social hierarchy, who is not there when you are speaking of him, you may use "あいつ aitsu" meaning "that guy". This is only to be used informally. An acceptable way to express the same meaning is using a word from the 〜の group followed by ひと (人), e.g. "あの ひと", meaning "that person".
こなた you	そなた you	あなた that person, you	どなた who	[〜なた]	A person. While 〜いつ itsu is just rude, this one is trickier. Originally, あなた anata was rather honorific, but now it is either neutrally formal when addressing strangers (it is a standard way of telling "you" taught in most Japanese language courses), or intimate (this is what a wife uses when talking to her husband to address him). Like all pronouns, you should avoid using あなた if possible. A more common way to refer to someone is by their name with the appropriate suffix (さん, くん, ちゃん) and not to use other pronouns of this group unless you know what you are doing. こなた konata and そなた sonata are rare nowadays, although you may still encounter them in classic literature or in movies about historical events. どなた donata is a polite word for "who?".

Note that the 〜ちら chira group may be used instead of the 〜こ ko group and also may be appended with の no instead of the 〜の no group in some cases in more official (formal) expressions. For example, "こちらの kochira no" can also mean "this (object/thing)".

Which which

There are several ways to say which depending on the number and item being asked about.

While these are by no means hard rules, "どちら" is more used particularly for two objects while "どれ" is mainly used for three or more items. For a particular item one can use "どの〜" (for whatever number) though "どちらの〜" is also common.

どちら の 道(みち) を 行(い)きます か 。	Which way will you take?
鉛(なまり) と 金(きん) と で は 、 どちら が 重(おも)い か 。	Which is heavier, lead or gold?
どっち が 勝(か)って も 嬉(うれ)しい 。	Which ever wins, I'll be happy.
どの 電車(でんしゃ) に 乗(の)る の です か 。	Which train are you catching?
どの 犬(いぬ) が あなた の もの です か 。	Which dog is yours?
どの 靴(くつ) を はく つもり です か 。	Which shoes are you going to put on?
どの チーム が 勝(か)つ だろ う か 。	Which team will win?
大中小(だいちゅうしょう) あります が どれ に します か 。	We have large, medium, and small, what size do you want?

Also...

どのくらい, どれぐらい

"どのくらい" or "どれくらい" is a phrase for listening to the "at degree" or "grade" like "How many?" or "How much?" in English.

In Japanese, “くらい” or “ぐらい” means "at degree" of English. And "くらい" is one of noun.

"ぐらい" is the euphonic change of "くらい" .

どれほど

There are two meanings of "How many " or "How much".

One meaning is a phrase to listen to the "at degree", as in “どのくらい” above.

Another meaning is an expression used as an antonym question when you want to emphasize that the degree is high or low.

:どれほど、あるいた か！

How much have I (or he or she) walked! (I walked very much!)

In form, above sentence is a question form, But the meaning is not question.

The meaning is “I walked very much”, and I emphasize that.

Unlike English antonym questions, Japanese antonym questions give a somewhat high-pressure impression, so be careful when using them.

どれだけ

None, all, some

どれか

"どれか" is used to mention one or few from a plurality of items.

どれも、どれでも

"どれも" and "どれでも" is used when everything introduced in topic is matched to the topic theme.

A note on kanji

The prefixes have kanji, but these are written in kana in modern Japanese. They are:

• こ〜: 此
• そ〜: 其
• あ〜: 彼
• ど〜: 何

Some of the suffixes similarly have kanji:

• 〜こ: 処
• 〜ちら: 方
• 〜いつ: 奴

Lesson/Telling time

Related vocabulary

• Japanese/Vocabulary/Time

Expressing time uses "時" (じ, e. hour) and "分" (ふん, e. minute). Note that the reading of "ふん" depends on the sound before it. See the time vocabulary page for a list of the possible readings.

Conversationally, the Japanese use 12-hour time. When it's not clear from context, "午前" (ごぜん) and "午後" (ごご) are used for before and after noon, respectively.

午前 午後

〜

時

〜分 半

To ask for the time, use:

今(いま)、何時(なんじ)ですか。

Then, if HH is the hour and MM are the minutes (you see HH:MM at the clock), a possible answer cloud be:

Before noon	After noon
午前(ごぜん)のHH時(じ)MM分(ふん)です。	午後(ごご)のHH時(じ)MM分(ふん)です。

For example:

何時ですか？ — What time is it?

午後の７時２０分です。 — It's 7:20 in the afternoon.

When "何" means "what", it's pronunciation is either "なに" or "なん", depending on what sound follows it.

When used to represent the hour of the day, the numbers, "four", "seven", and "nine" are pronounced differently from normal.

• ４時 (よじ)
• ７時 (しちじ)
• ９時 (くじ)

There are two ways of pronouncing "１０分"; "じっぷん" and "じゅっぷん". The former is taught as "correct" in school, but the latter is more common.

• "7時" (しちじ) , "1時" (いちじ)

The pronunciation of "7時" (しちじ) and "1時" (いちじ) is similar, so it is unofficial but in Japan school education, "7 o'clock" may be pronounced as "Na-Na-Zi" to distinguish pronunciation as necessary.

However, a few exceptional organizations such as the Japanese military, dislike the confusion caused by the similar -pronunciation, so the military formally pronounce 7 of 7 o'clock as “Na-Na” contrary to the Japanese custom pronunciation of time.

The pronunciation of "分" is "ふん" when it stands alone, but changes to "ぷん" in certain cases.

Grammar/Basic Particles

Related resources

• Particles quiz at the Toyama International Student Center Self Japanese Learning Support Site.
• w:Japanese particles

Related content

• Sentence ending particles

The Japanese language uses post-position particles (助詞; じょし) to denote the direction of an action and who is performing the action. They consistently come after the word that they modify.

There are three particles used very frequently in the language: は, を and が. This module covers these along with a few other common ones but an exhaustive list would run very long.

The topic and subject markers は and が

The particle "は" (pronounced as "わ" when used as a particle) is the topic marker denoting topic of discussion, while "が" is the subject marker and marks a noun that performs an action. The difference between the two tends to cause confusion among beginners but their usage can be summed up as matter of focus.

The topic particle "は" is used when introducing a topic and gives focus to the action of the sentence (i.e., the verb or the adjective). The subject marker "が" is used when emphasising the subject giving focus to the subject of the action.

One can also think of it as replacing "~は" with the phrase "as for ~", "on the topic of ~" or "regarding ~" to distinguish it from "が". While these phrases aren't common in English we can use these expressions here to better show the main difference between "は" and "が".

ねこは たべて います。	The cat is eating (or: Regarding the cat, it is eating.)
ねこが たべて います。	The cat is eating (as opposed to someone else).
きみ は つよい。	You are strong.
きみ が つよい。	You are strong (only you and not anyone else)
あれ は でんわ だ。	That's the telephone.
あれ が でんわ だ。	That's the telephone (and not anything else)

The difference can also be displayed by using both subject and topic markers in one sentence:

わたしは あなたが すき です。	I like you. (Or literally: as for me, like you.)
わたしは わさびが きらい です。	I dislike/hate wasabi. (Or: As for me, hate wasabi.)
あなたは えいごが じょうず です。	Your English is good! (Or: As for you, English good!)

One has to be careful using both "は" and "が" in one sentence. If a verb is actually acting on the (direct) subject, usually a different particle (like を) has to be used.

"は" is generally more flexible, because the "it" can be assumed, and is therefore recommended to novices who have not grasped the difference between the two.

"は" also has the specialized function of being used for comparisons as well.

ねこが います。	There is a cat.
いぬが います。	There is a dog.
ねこは たべて います けど, いぬは たべて いません。	The cat is eating, but the dog is not.

Often the grammatical subject may also be the topic. In this case, "は" normally replaces "が". However, if the subject is never known, you cannot use "は" and must use "が". This is similar to using pronouns: You can't state, "It is over there", without first stating what "it" may be.

The direct object marker を

The particle "を" (predominantly pronounced "お") is the direct object marker and marks the recipient of an action.

おさけ を のむ。	To drink sake.
ざっし を よむ。	To read a magazine.
ねこ が みず を のんで います。	The cat is drinking water.

It also indicates the place through which the action occurs:

そら を とぶ。	To fly through the sky
みち を あるく。	To walk down the street

As with much of the language, parts of a sentence that can be assumed from context are often omitted and the direct object particle is commonly dropped in conversational (colloquial) Japanese. を is commonly used to identify the object in which the verb is affecting. For example, in the sentence "I drink juice" (わたし は ジュース を のむ), を is identifying the word "ジュース" as the object in which のむ's action is taking place. "のむ" means "drink / to drink". In simpler terms, を tells us that the word (ジュース) is the object which the verb (のむ) is interacting with.

The indirect object marker に

"に" marks the verb's indirect object (i.e. the destination of a targeted verb action) translating as "to", "in", "at" or "by". It also indicates the location touched or affected by an event or action:

友だちに プレゼントを あげる。	Give a present to a friend.
せんせい に いう。	To tell (something) to the teacher.
学校に いる。	To be at school.
うち に いる。	To be at home.
どようび に あう。	To meet on Saturday

"に" can also be used as an "object of a preposition" marker when found in prepositional phrases like の前に (no mae ni), which means "in front of" or "before" depending on the context of the sentence. The particle "へ" described below is used exclusively for marking the destination.

The destination marker へ

へ (pronounced "え" when used as a particle) indicates the direction of an action, roughly the equivalent of "to" or "toward" in English.

おかあさんはみせへ いく。	Mother is going to the store.
東京へ いく。	(somebody) To go to Tokyo.
ほしへ とんでいく。	Fly to the stars.

The question marker か

Placing か at the end of a sentence changes a statement into a question. Use it at the end of a verb to make it a question, or at the end of an interrogative pro-form to make it into a demonstrative pronoun.

私は男ですか。	Am I a man?
これは どういうもの です か。	How do you describe this?
ねこは います か。	Is there a cat?
どこ か いきました か。	Did you go somewhere?

For more on the question marker, see: Sentence ending particles.

The possessive marker の

"の", is most commonly used as a possessive marker (similar to the English " 's ").

せんせいのりんご。	The teacher's apple
わたし の かばん。	My bag.
かれ の とけい。	His watch.

The particle can also function as a noun link, indicating that the preceding noun (or adjectival noun) modifies the following noun.

とうきょうの たてもの。	Buildings in/of Tokyo.
みどり の ほん。	A green book.

It can also be used for nominalisation, converting verbs and (proper) adjectives into nouns.

よむ の が いい。

Reading is good.

Note that in this last example two particles are used together: の and が: the first makes the action a noun, and the second tells that this action is what the sentence is all about.

The exhaustive list conjunction と

This particle acts as a conjunction on the words it separates. Unlike conjunctions of more than two words in English, where only the last two are separated with an "and" and the rest with commas, the Japanese conjunction separates each word and commas are not used.

これ と それ が みどり です。	This and that are green.
ほん と ざっし。	A book and a magazine.
かばんに ペン と えんぴつ と 消しゴム と 定規がある。	There is a pen, a pencil, an eraser and a ruler in the bag.

This applies to exhaustive lists, i.e. when all objects are explicitly mentioned.

The particle is used to indicate parallelism with the subject, often meaning "with":

彼 と 話をしました。	I spoke with him.
彼女 と いった。	{I/He/She/They} went with her.
スミスさん と テニス を しました。	(I) played tennis with Smith"
わたし は あなた と けっこん する。	I will marry you. (I will get married with you)

The incomplete list marker や

This particle is used to connect various words implying that the listing is not exhaustive. The particle "など" may be added after the list to emphasise that the list is incomplete.

Noun

Particle

Noun

...

など

ほん や ペン があります。	There are books and pens (among other things).
ほん や ざっし。	A book and a magazine (among other things).
卵 や サラダ や 鳥肉 など が必要だ。	(I) need eggs, salad, chicken and such.

The "also" marker も

も is quite simply a marker that says "also". It replaces the particles は, が and を but can also follow other particles. This can also be used to form a large list of words all acting as though one of the basic particles (は, を, or が) were affecting the whole list.

Subject

Particle

Verb

ねこ も のみます。	The cat also drinks.
わたし も いく。	I'm going too.
しょうねん も しょうじょ も じょせい も だんせい も にんげん です。	Boys, girls, women and men are human.

Related content

• Pro-forms

Worth noting is that used with an interrogative pro-form (e.g. who, where, how) the も particle negates the pro-form:

だれも①	anybody
e.g. だれもが知っていること	General knowledge.
だれも②	nobody
e.g. だれもいない	Nobody's here.

The means particle で

The particle で can be used in several situations indicating means. These can be for example an instrument, a location or a language.

Means

Particle

Verb

だいがくに なんで いきますか。	By what means do you go to University?
じてんしゃで いきます。	I go by bicycle.
くるまで いく。	I go by car.
わたしは レストラン で たべます。	I eat at a restaurant.
スミスさんと こうえん で テニスを しました。	I played tennis with Smith at the park.
がっこう で ならう。	To learn at school.

As a note of interest, the で from the copula である is also actually an instrumental-maker. で marks the whole previous expression instrumental to the verb ある. However, this is the classical meaning of the copula and rarely explicitly treated this way in modern Japanese.

Origin and limit から and まで

These particles indicate the starting point or border of an action. This may be a location as well as a time and corresponds roughly with "from" and "until".

とうきょう から くる。	Come from Tokyo.
やま まで いく。	To go to the mountains.
時間(じかん)は9時(きゅうじ)から 5時(ごじ)まで です。	The hours are from 9 to 5.

Grammar/Sentence ending particles

The sentence ending particles (終助詞, しゅうじょし) are placed, unsurprisingly, at the end of sentences and apply to it as a whole. These include for example the question marker, か, and a host of others that express the speaker's emotions. Used mostly in speech.

か [ka] (interrogative)

Question mark, used to indicate the sentence is a question. Note that か replaces だ instead of appearing after it, so you can either omit the copula at all, or use a full form (で ある).

あのひと は だれ です か？	Who is that man?
たなかさん は せんせい です か？	Is Mr. Tanaka a teacher?

The particle may also follow question pronouns with the meaning of some as in someone:

だれ か	somebody
どこ か	somewhere

の [no] (emphatic interrogative)

An emphatic question mark (mostly expresses reconfirmation or surprise):

いい の？	Is it okay?
どこに行くの?	Where are we going?

An explanation particle, often indicates that the statement is intended to explain something or to provide information:

かわちゃんはだいがくせいなの。

Kawa-chan is a college student.

ね [ne] (emphasis and confirmation)

Polite and expresses

• the speaker's desire to receive confirmation (rising intonation), or
• the speaker's agreement (falling intonation).

Often translated as "isn't it so", "don't you think so" or "don't you agree with me". Also used as a polite or friendly sentence ending. Some people end virtually every sentence with "ね".

それ は むずかしい ね。↑	It's difficult, isn't it?
それ は むずかしい ね。↓	That sure is difficult.
たなかさん は すごい ひと だ ね...↓	Mr. Tanaka is a great guy...

Also works as "phrase softener", i.e., it makes the phrase sound softer. Lengthening the syllable makes it more emphatic. The lengthening is usually indicated with a tilde:

きれい だ ね~↓

It's so beautiful!

よ [yo] (modality)

Used when providing new information that a speaker has, or like an exclamation mark, also for commands and invitations:

わかる よ

I understand.

ぞ [zo] (emphasis)

Similar to よ but more objective. Often used as a shout, a call and a yell (not limited to male speakers).

いく ぞ	I'm going.

な [na] (admiration)

Informal, used when expressing a personal emotion or desire.

たなか は ばか だ な...	Tanaka's a fool...
さむい なあ	It's so cold.

(A few speakers tend to prefer using "な" instead of "ね" but deprecated)

な [na] (prohibition)

な can indicate prohibition when placed after action-verbs(present tense). In direct speech, this sounds rude and angry.

いく な！	Don't go!
みる な！	Don't look!

かな [kana] (uncertainty)

Indicate that speaker is not sure about something.

どこ に ある の かな

I wonder, where was it?

ぜ [ze] (inducement)

Sometimes seen as catchphrases, but rather old-fashioned, thus used only in a sportive talking . Also sometimes used as a vulgar よ.

おい、にげる ぜ

Hey, I'm getting out of here!

わ [wa] (modality)

Declares a personal thought. Almost similar to よ but expresses fewer attention:

あした行くわ。

I will go tomorrow.

さ [sa] (interjection, emphasis)

Filler particle, used to draw attention with a pause (unlike よ, not implying any command or new information is communicated):

あの　さ

hey

Lesson Giving and Receiving

There are several ways to express giving and receiving depending on which side the speaker is on, but also depending on whether someone of higher or lower rank is being addressed.

Giving

This schematic illustrates the various verbs for giving and receiving.

When expressing that someone gives to someone else (but not you), use the form of:

(Giver)

は が

(Receiver) に (object) を

差(さ)し上(あ)げる。 上(あ)げる。 やる。

When others give you, use either:

(Giver)

は が

(you) に (object) を

下(くだ)さる くれる

私(わたし)は先生(せんせい)に本(ほん)を差(さ)し上(あ)げます。 // I give the teacher the book.

私(わたし)は妹(いもうと)にお菓子(かし)をあげる。 // I give my sister candy. (plain present)

私達(わたしたち)は猫(ねこ)にボールをあげた。 // We gave the cat a ball. (plain past)

彼女(かのじょ)は先生(せんせい)に林檎(りんご)をあげます。 // The girl gives an apple to the teacher. (polite present)

友達(ともだち)はお母(かあ)さんにカードをあげました。 // My friend gave his mom a card. (polite past)

The polite form is "くださる" while "くれる" is of neutral politeness and most commonly used. You will often use this verb when you've gotten something from someone who isn't currently there.

先生(せんせい)は私(わたし)に本(ほん)を下(くだ)さいました。 // The teacher gave me a book.

あなたは私(わたし)にビデオをくれる。 // I get a video from you.

岸子(きしこ)は私(わたし)にマンガをくれた。 // I received a manga from kishiko.

Receiving

When expressing that someone receives from someone else, use a form of:

(Receiver)

は が

(Giver)

に から

(object) を

頂(いただ)く 貰(もら)う.

Although に is slightly more casual, you can use both に and から when you receive some physical objecs. For actions, you can only use に. Use から when you wish to emphasize the giver.

クリスマスが来(き)たら、お婆(ばあ)ちゃんに新車(しんしゃ)をもらうと思(おも)う。 // When Christmas comes, I think I'll get a new car from grandma. (plain form)

誕生日(たんじょうび)に、梓(あずさ)はお父(とう)さんから250,000円をもらったそうです！ // For her birthday, I heard that Azusa received 250,000 yen from her dad! (polite form)

彼女(かのじょ)は王子(おうじ)と結婚(けっこん)したら、女王(じょおう)に多(おお)くの宝石(ほうせき)をもらいます。 // When she marries the prince, she will receive many jewels from the queen. (polite form)

お母(かあ)さんに新(あたら)しいパソコンをもらいました！ // I got a new computer from my mother! (polite form)

The verb いただく is a humble verb, and is used when you receive something from a superior or wish to show respect.

Example:

私(わたし)は先生(せんせい)にペンをいただきました。 // I received a pen from the teacher.

Actions

When the object being given or received is an action (and thus expressed by a verb) you can attach use it in the て-form in place of the object.

(Giver) は	(Verb in 〜て form)	(Verb of giving)。
(Receiver) に		(Verb of receiving)。

Note that for receiving an action, you cannot use "から".

Examples for giving, "I washed the car for her," or, "I did the laundry for him." Here are some examples in Japanese:

私(わたし)はアパートの掃除(そうじ)をしてあげました。 // I cleaned the apartment (for him/her). (polite form)

私(わたし)は晩(ばん)ご飯(はん)を作(つく)ってあげた。 // I made dinner (for him or her). (plain form)

Examples for receiving, "The dentist examined my teeth for me," or "Mom cleaned up my room for me." Here are some examples:

医者(いしゃ)に診(み)てもらいました。 // The doctor examined me (for me). (polite form)

彼氏(かれし)に新(あたら)しい車(くるま)を買(か)ってもらった！ // My boyfriend bought a new car for me! (plain form)

See also

• Japanese/Grammar/Politeness

Grammar/Comparisons

Related content

• Adjectives

Related lesson

• Pure (い-)adjectives
• Adjectival nouns (な-adjectives)

Related vocabulary

• Adjectives

Comparative

The main methods of constructing comparative sentences use the words "より" and "方(ほう)". They can be used individually or together. The former indicates inferiority while the latter superiority (but note that superiority can indicate "lower", "cheaper", "smaller", etc).

<superior object> の方が <inferior object> より <adjective> です

Let's look at a few examples asserting that pizza (ピザ) is more delicious than sushi (寿司(すし)). Take the noun that is superior (in this case, more delicious) and affix "の方(ほう)が" to it. Then, take the inferior noun and append it with "より":

ピザの方が寿司より

This essentially means "Pizza is more than sushi." but we have yet to explain in what fashion pizza out-does sushi. In this case, we are describing how delicious so we choose "おいしい". To be polite, we will add the polite copula "です" to the end of the sentence.

ピザの方が寿司よりおいしいです。

The adjective can be changed to anything you'd like.

ピザの方が寿司より臭(くさ)いです。// Pizza is smellier than sushi.

ピザの方が寿司より安(やす)いです。// Pizza is cheaper than sushi.

Variations

It doesn't matter which part comes first; "〜の方が" or "〜より" so the following are both grammatically correct:

ピザの方が寿司よりおいしいです。

寿司よりピザの方がおいしいです。

The adjective, however, must always come last with the copula.

One may drop one of "より" or "の方" when the comparison is clear from context.

そのピザはおいしいですか？ — Is that pizza tasty?

はい、でも寿司の方がおいしかったです。 — Yes, but the sushi was tastier.

はい、寿司よりです。 — Yes, better than the sushi.

Though it is not standard, "の方が" can be replaced with "は". Some people may find this easier to remember.

Instead of "より", you can say "よりも". This is mostly restricted to speech and adds emphasis. Others may use it simply because they like to say it instead of plain "より". You can choose for yourself which you'd like to use.

ピザの方が寿司よりもおいしいですよ！

There is also "もっと" which means "more" or "to a greater degree".

一緒だともっと楽しいです。 — It's more enjoyable together.

Superlative

In Japanese one can express the superlative by stating that it is "the most ~", or that is "more ~ than anything/anyone".

The most ~

Depending on formality, you may use "もっとも" or "一番" (いちばん, e. number one). The superlative is formed by prepending this to the adjective.

(<subject> は/が)

もっとも 一番

<adjective>

です だ

。

一番おいしい // The most delicious.

一番高(たか)い // The most expensive (or The highest).

一番長(なが)い // The longest.

一番悲(かな)しい // The saddest.

With a subject:

一番素敵(すてき)な人(ひと)です。 // The greatest person.

彼女(かのじょ)にとって、私(わたし)は一番(いちばん)素敵(すてき)な人(ひと)です。// From my girlfriend's point of view, I am the greatest person.

You can also modify a noun by placing it after the adjective. Take a look at these examples:

この小説(しょうせつ)は一番有名(ゆうめい)です。 // This novel is the most famous.

これは一番有名(ゆうめい)な小説(しょうせつ)です。 // This is the most famous novel.

その映画(えいが)は一番悲(かな)しいです。// That movie is the saddest.

それは一番悲(かな)しい映画(えいが)です。// That is the saddest movie.

More than anything

This method has two forms with the same structure, but a different word depending on whether it refers to something that is animate or inanimate.

animate	<Name, pronoun or creature>	は	誰(だれ)	より (Adjective) です。
inanimate	<Noun>		何(なに)

Instead of just "何(なに)より"or "誰(だれ)より", you can say "何(なに)よりも" or "誰(だれ)よりも". It's up to you which form you choose to use. Here are some examples!

お母(かあ)さんは誰より恋(こい)しいです。 // I miss my mother more than anyone.

この手紙(てがみ)は何より大切(たいせつ)です！ // This letter is more important to me than anything!

この歌(うた)は何よりもきれいですね。 // This song is prettier than anything, isn't it?

See also

• Compare and Contrast on the Japanese guide to Japanese grammar.
• Jim's Japanese Grammar Summary

Lesson/Simultaneous action

Related content

• Japanese/Verb conjugation table

Simultaneous action is designated by replacing the "〜ます" ending of the polite present positive tense of the first verb with "〜ながら". The tense is then determined by the latter verb. Both actions should be performed by the same person.

Those more comfortable thinking in terms of the dictionary form can see this as adding "〜ながら" to the stem of vowel-stem verbs, or the い-row of consonant-stem verbs (e.g. 飲む -> 飲みながら example below). The irregular verbs are also put in the い-row making them identical to the consonant-stem verbs.

<sentence start>	<vowel-stem verb stem>	ながら <second verb>
	<consonant-stem verb stem in い-row>

The tense of the sentence is given with the second verb.

Examples

Dictionary form	ながら-form	example	meaning
Vowel stem verbs
見る (みる)	見ながら	テレビを見ながらりんごを食べた。	I ate an apple while I watched television.
食べる（たべる）	食べながら	りんごを食べながらテレビを見る。	I watch television while eating an apple.
Consonant stem verbs
会う（あう）	会いながら
行く（いく）	行きながら	学校へ行きながら友だちと喋った。	I talked with my friends on our way to school.
泳ぐ（およぐ）	泳ぎながら	泳ぎながら歌を歌った。	I sang a song while swimming.
話す（はなす）	話しながら
待つ（まつ）	待ちながら
ぬ
遊ぶ（あそぶ）	遊びながら
飲む（のむ）	飲みながら	コーヒーを飲みながら友達と喋っていました。	I chatted with friends over coffee.
喋る（しゃべる）	喋りながら
Irregular verbs
する	しながら
来(く)る	来(き)ながら

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
テレビ	television
見る	to see, to watch	みる	This verb changes thus: "見る" -> "見ます" -> "見ながら".
パン	bread
食べる	to eat	たべる	This verb changes thus: "食べる" -> "食べます" -> "食べながら"
コーヒー	coffee
公園	a (public) park	こうえん
友達	a friend	ともだち
飲む	to drink	のむ
喋る	to talk, to chat	しゃべる
歩く	to walk	あるく

Grammar/Transitivity

Many Japanese verbs belong to pairs of transitive and intransitive verbs. In Japanese these are known as 他動詞 (other move verb) and 自動詞 (self move verb). Formally, the difference between these is that a transitive verb can take on a direct object, whereas an intransitive verb (normally) cannot. There are a few pairs of distinct verbs in English that correlate to this: "raise"/"rise", "fell"/"fall" and "lay"/"lie".

Transitive verbs can be thought of as causative, requiring an agent to perform an action. Intransitive verbs move on their own and can be thought of as just existing.

This is best explained by example. Contrast the following pairs of sentences:

	English	Verb	Japanese
Transitive	(I) close the door.	閉める (しめる)	ドアを閉める。
Intransitive	The door closes.	閉まる (しまる)	ドアが閉まる。
Transitive	The teacher starts the class.	始める (はじめる)	先生が授業を始める。
Intransitive	The class starts.	始まる (はじまる)	授業が始まる。
Transitive	The sun melts the ice.	溶かす（とかす）	太陽が氷を溶かす。
Intransitive	The ice melts.	溶ける（とける）	氷が溶ける。

The general patterns for transitive and intransitive sentences is:

(<subject> は/が)	<direct object> を/が	<transitive verb>。
<subject> が		<intransitive verb>。

The topics of intransitive verbs are usually inanimate.

Some pairings are listed in the following table:

自動詞(じどうし) (intransitive verb)		他動詞(たどうし) (transitive verb)
-eru → -asu
to go out	出(で)る deru	出(だ)す dasu	to get out
to escape	逃(に)げる nigeru	逃(にが)す nigasu	to let escape
to melt	溶(と)ける tokeru	溶(と)かす tokasu	to melt something
to wither	枯(か)れる kareru	枯(か)らす karasu	to let wither
-eru → -yasu
to increase (by self)	増える fueru	増やす fuyasu	to increase (something else)
to cool down (by self)	冷える hieru	冷やす hiyasu	to cool something down
to grow	生える haeru	生やす hayasu	to grow something
-iru → -osu
to wake up	起きる okiru	起こす okosu	to wake somebody up
to get off	降りる oriru	降ろす orosu	to offload
to fall	落ちる ochiru	落とす otosu	to let fall
to elapse (time)	過ぎる sugiru	過ごす sugosu	to spend (time)
-u → -asu
to decline	減る heru	減らす herasu	to decrease something
to boil	沸く waku	沸かす wakasu	to bring something to a boil
to dry (self)	乾く kawaku	乾かす kawakasu	to dry something
to be glad	喜ぶ yorokobu	喜ばす yorokobasu	to cheer somebody
-u → -eru
to get open	開く aku	開ける akeru	to open something
to reach	届く todoku	届ける todokeru	to deliver
to grow up	育つ sodatsu	育てる sodateru	to rear
to stand	立つ tatsu	立てる tateru	to stand up
-ru → -seru
to board	乗る noru	乗せる noseru	to let board
to approach	寄る yoru	寄せる yoseru	to let near
-ru → -su
to return	返る kaeru	返す kaesu	to bring back
to go through	通る tōru	通す tōsu	to let through
to turn (by self)	回る mawaru	回す mawasu	to turn something
to get repaired	直る naoru	直す naosu	to repair
to cross	渡る wataru	渡す watasu	to bring to the other side
-reru → -su
to break up	離れる hanareru	離す hanasu	to separate
to disengage	外れる hazureru	外す hazusu	to release
to tumble	倒れる taoreru	倒す taosu	to overthrow
to become dirty	汚れる yogoreru	汚す yogosu	to dirty
to appear	現れる arawareru	現す arawasu	to let appear
to get broken	壊れる kowareru	壊す kowasu	to break
-aru → -eru
to be decided	決まる kimaru	決める kimeru	to decide
to close	閉まる shimaru	閉める shimeru	to close something
to gather	集まる atsumaru	集める atsumeru	to collect
to begin	始まる hajimaru	始める hajimeru	to begin something
to be found	見付かる mitsukaru	見付ける mitsukeru	to find something
to hang	掛かる kakaru	掛ける kakeru	to hang something up
to be saved	助かる tasukaru	助ける tasukeru	to save
-waru → -eru
to change (yourself)	変わる kawaru	変える kaeru	to change something
to join	加わる kuwawaru	加える kuwaeru	to add
-eru → -u
to burn	焼ける yakeru	焼く yaku	to burn something
to be sold	売れる ureru	売る uru	to sell
to come out	抜ける nukeru	抜く nuku	to draw out
to come loose	解ける hodokeru	解く hodoku	to loosen
others
to be visible	見える mieru	見る miru	to see
to be audible	聞こえる kikoeru	聞く kiku	to hear
to extinguish	消える kieru	消す kesu	to delete
to enter	入る hairu	入れる ireru	to put in
to end	終わる owaru	終える／終わる oeru/owaru	to end something
to become	なる naru	する suru	to do

The rule of thumb is that intransitive verbs usually take nouns with the particles 「が」(ga) or 「は」(wa) that act as subjects, whereas transitive verbs take object nouns marked with 「を」(o). Transitive verbs can also take a ga-subject or wa-subject, although it may be omitted. Note that some intransitive verbs can take an o-object that indicates a location. For example, 出る ("to leave") can be used with a direct object that is a location from which the subject is to leave from. See the table below for more examples:

	English	Verb	Japanese
Transitive with を	(I) took out my wallet from my bag.	出す（だす）	財布をカバンから出した。
Transitive with は and を	I took out my wallet from my bag.	出す（だす）	私は財布をカバンから出した。
Intransitive with を	(I) left home.	出る（でる）	家を出た。
Intransitive with は and を	I left home.	出る（でる）	私は家を出た。

See also

• 70 transitive/intransitive pairs with descriptive animations
• Well-presented grammar explanation
• [learnjapaneseonline.info/2016/12/27/mastering-transitivity-pairs-remembering-japanese-transitive-and-intransitive-verbs-the-easy-way/]

Verb conjugation table

All forms of a verb are derived from the root form of a verb. All verbs end in an 'u' sound (see Japanese Pronunciation). If it is 'ru' it is easy to conjugate; otherwise, there is a set of rules described somewhat in the below table.

Past +	Past -	Present +	Present -	Imperative	-te form	Volitional	Plain
Past +	Past -	Present +	Present -	Imperative	-te form	Volitional	Polite
-tari form	Subjunctive	Conditional	Provisional	Passive	Causative	Potential
五段動 詞 (consonant stem verbs)
〜う
った	わなかった	う	わない	え	って	おう
いました	いませんでした	います	いません	え	って	いましょう
ったり	い	ったら	えば	われる	わせる	える
〜く
いた	かなかった	く	かない	け	いて	こう
きました	きませんでした	きます	きません	け	いて	きましょう
いたり	き	いたら	けば	かれる	かせる	ける
〜ぐ
いだ	がなかった	ぐ	がない	げ	いで	ごう
ぎました	ぎませんでした	ぎます	ぎません	げ	いで	ぎましょう
いだり	ぎ	いだら	げば	がれる	がせる	げる
〜す
した	さなかった	す	さない	せ	して	そう
しました	しませんでした	します	しません	せ	して	しましょう
したり	し	したら	せば	される	させる	せる
〜つ
った	たなかった	つ	たない	て	って	とう
ちました	ちませんでした	ちます	ちません	て	って	ちましょう
ったり	ち	ったら	てば	たれる	たせる	てる
〜ぬ
んだ	ななかった	ぬ	なない	ね	んで	のう
にました	にませんでした	にます	にません	ね	んで	にましょう
んだり	に	んだら	ねば	なれる	なせる	ねる
〜ぶ
んだ	ばなかった	ぶ	ばない	べ	んで	ぼう
びました	びませんでした	びます	びません	べ	んで	びましょう
んだり	び	んだら	べば	ばれる	ばせる	べる
〜む
んだ	まなかった	む	まない	め	んで	もう
みました	みませんでした	みます	みません	め	んで	みましょう
んだり	み	んだら	めば	まれる	ませる	める
〜る
った	らなかった	る	らない	れ	って	ろう
りました	りませんでした	ります	りません	れ	って	りましょう
ったり	り	ったら	れば	られる	らせる	れる
一段動 詞 (vowel stem verbs)
〜る
た	なかった	る	ない	ろ	て	よう
ました	ませんでした	ます	ません	ませ	まして	ましょう
たり	—	たら	れば	られる	させる	られる
Irregular Verbs
する (e. to do)
した	しなかった	する	しない	しろ + せよ	して	しよう
しました	しませんでした	します	しません	しませ	しまして	しましょう
したり	し	したら	すれば	される	させる	できる
来(く)る (e. to come)
来(き)た	来(こ)なかった	来(く)る	来(こ)ない	来(こ)い	来(き)て	来(こ)よう
来(き)ました	来(き)ませんでした	来(き)ます	来(き)ません	来(き)ませ	来(き)まして	来(き)ましょう
来(き)たり	来(き)	来(き)たら	来(く)れば	来(こ)られる	来(こ)される	来(こ)(ら)れる
だ (the copula)
だった	ではなかった じゃなかった	だ	ではない じゃない	-	で	だろう
でした	ではありませんでした じゃありませんでした	です	ではありません じゃありません	-	でして	でしょう
だったり でしたり	-	だったら でしたら	なら	-

Other forms of the copula can be obtained by replacing it with である.

Vocabulary

Elementary vocabulary

• Colors
• Clothes and accessories
• Animals
• Numbers
• Time and dates
• Directions
• Food and drink
  • Sushi
• Body parts
• Family and people
• Weather and seasons
• Verbs
• Adjectives

Proper

• Countries and languages
• Regions and prefectures of Japan

Specialized

• Academic Subjects
  • Astronomy
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Glaciology
  • Mathematics
  • Linguistics
  • Law
• Aviation
• Business
• Banking
• Computing
• Health
• Government and politics
• Punctuation
• Vocations
• Units

Cultural

• Music
• Videogame

By origin

• Gairaigo
• Onomatopoeia

Vocabulary/Academic Subjects

Related vocabulary

• Astronomy
• Education
• Glaciology

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
人類学	Anthropology	じんるいがく
生物学	Biology	せいぶつがく
科学	Sciences	かがく
化学	Chemistry	かがく	"科学" and "化学" have the same pronunciation, Threfore in order to distinction these two words, Japanese person sometimes pronounces chemistry as "Ba-Ke-Ga-Ku".
経済学	Economics	けいざいがく
英語	English	えいご
美術	Fine Arts	びじゅつ
地理	Geography	ちり
雪氷学	Glaciology	せっぴょうがく
史学 / 歴史	History	しがく / れきし
家庭科	Home Economics	かていか
国語	Japanese	こくご	Analogous to the study of most languages by native speakers, this is not the learning of the language but a mixture of its study with literature and creative composition.
日本語	Japanese	にほんご
文学	Literature	ぶんがく
数学	Mathematics	すうがく
理科	Natural Sciences	りか
哲学	Philosophy	てつがく
体育	Physical Education	たいいく
物理	Physics	ぶつり
心理学	Psychology	しんりがく
政治	Politics	せいじ
宗教	Religion	しゅうきょう
社会学	Sociology	しゃかいがく

Vocabulary/Animals

Related vocabulary

• Food and Drink
• Sushi

Mammals

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
アルパカ	Alpaca		loan word from the American Spanish word alpaca
オポッサム	Australian Possum		loan word from the English word opossum
蝙蝠	Bat	こうもり	individually both kanji mean bat but are read differently
熊	Bear	くま
ビーバー	Beaver		loan word from the French derived English word beaver
駱駝	Camel	らくだ	white horse (駱) hunchback (駝)
猫	Cat	ねこ
チンチラ	Chinchilla		loan word from the Spanish word chinchilla
ハナグマ	Coatimundi		nose (ハナ) bear (グマ)
牛	Cow	うし	also used for ox
コヨーテ	Coyote		loan word from the American Spanish word coyote
鹿	Deer	しか
デグー			loan word from the South American word degu
犬	Dog	いぬ
海豚	Dolphin	いるか	sea (海) pig (豚). When written in kana, katakana is commonly used.
驢馬 兎馬	Donkey	ろば うさぎうま	donkey (驢) horse (馬) or rabbit (兎) horse (馬)
儒艮	Dugong	じゅごん	loan word from the Latin word dugong
象	Elephant	ぞう
鼬　いたち	Ferret
狐	Fox	きつね
砂鼠	Gerbil	すなねずみ	sand (すな) mouse (ねずみ)
麒麟	Giraffe	きりん
山羊	Goat	やぎ	mountain (山) sheep (羊)
ゴリラ	Gorilla
ウッドチャック	Groundhog		loan word from the English words wood chuck
モルモット	Guinea pig		loan word from the French word marmotte
ハムスター	Hamster		loan word from the German word hamster
針鼠 or 蝟	Hedgehog	はりぬずみ	needle ( ハリ) mouse (ネズミ)
河馬	Hippopotamus	かば	river (河) horse (馬)
馬	Horse	うま
キンカジュー	Kinkajou		loan word from the Indian word kinkajou, meaning honey bear
子猫 / 仔猫	Kitten	こねこ	child (子 / 仔) cat (猫)
獅子 ライオン	Lion	しし	loan word from Chinese (Shizi) loan word from the English lion
ラマ	Llama		loan word from the Spanish word llama
海牛	Manatee	かいぎゅう	ocean (海) cow (牛)
ミンク	Mink		loan word from the English word mink
猿	Monkey	さる
鼠	Mouse	ねずみ
川獺 / 獺	Otter	かわうそ
パンダ	Panda	ぱんだ	loan word from the French word panda
豚	Pig	ぶた
北極熊	Polar bear	ほっきょくぐま	北極= North Pole, 熊= Bear
子犬 / 仔犬	Puppy	こいぬ	child (子 / 仔) dog (犬)
兎	Rabbit	うさぎ	also used for hare or coney
洗熊	Raccoon	あらいぐま	to wash (洗う) bear (熊)
狸	Raccoon dog	たぬき
溝鼠 ラット	Rat	どぶねずみ	ラット is a loan word from the English rat and used more commonly than どぶねずみ
レッサーパンダ	Red panda		ressa is the loan word for the English word lesser and panda from the French panda
犀	Rhinoceros	さい
海豹	Seal	あざらし	海 (sea) 豹(panther)
海驢	Sea lion	あしか	海 (sea) 驢 (donkey). When written in kana, katakana is commonly used.
羊	Sheep	ひつじ
コモリネズミ	Short tailed opossum		コモリ (komori) ネズミ (mouse)
スカンク	Skunk		loan word from the English word skunk
栗鼠	Squirrel	りす	chestnut (栗) mouse (鼠)
虎	Tiger	とら
袋鼠	Virginia opossum	ふくろねずみ	sack/bag (袋) mouse (鼠). The English loan word ポッサム (possamu) is often used
鼬	Weasel	いたち
鯨	Whale	クジラ	when written in kana, katakana is commonly used
狼	Wolf	おおかみ
クズリ	Wolverine
縞馬	Zebra	しまうま	stripe (縞) horse (馬)

Birds

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
鳥	Bird	とり
金糸雀	Canary	かなりあ / かなりや
鶏	Chicken (domestic)	にわとり
鶴	Crane	つる
鵜	Cormorant	う
烏 / 鴉	Crow (or raven)	からす
郭公	Cuckoo	かっこう
家鴨	Duck (domestic)	あひる	family/house (家) wild duck (鴨)
鴨	Duck (wild)	かも
鷲	Eagle	わし
エミュー	Emu		loan word from the Portuguese word emu
フラミンゴ	Flamingo
鵞鳥	Goose	がちょう	goose (鵞) bird (鳥)
鷹	Hawk (or falcon)	たか
燕	Swallow	つばめ
鴕鳥	Ostrich	だちょう	ostrich (鴕) bird (鳥)
鸚哥	Parakeet	いんこ	writtin in Katakana インコ。　source (my 日本語のせんせい。）
雉子 / 雉	Pheasant	きじ
鳩	Pigeon (or dove)	はと
鷗(鴎)	Seagull	かもめ
雲雀	Skylark	ひばり	cloud (雲) sparrow (雀)
雀	Sparrow	すずめ
七面鳥	Turkey	しちめんちょう	seven faces (七面) bird (鳥)
禿鷹	Vulture	はげたか	baldness (禿) hawk (鷹)

Reptiles, fish and other sea life

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
鰐	Alligator (or crocodile)	わに
鯉	Carp	こい
蟹	Crab	かに
龍 / 竜	Dragon	りゅう / たつ	both 龍 and 竜 can be read as either ryuu or tatsu
鰻	Eel	うなぎ
魚	Fish	さかな (or うお)
蛙	Frog	かえる
イグアナ	Iguana		loan word from the Spanish word iguana
金魚	Goldfish	きんぎょ	gold (金) fish (魚)
水母 / 海月	Jellyfish	くらげ	water (水) mother (母) or sea (海) moon (月)
コモドドラゴン	Komodo dragon		loan word from the Indonesian island Komodo and the English word dragon
蛸 / 章魚	Octopus	たこ	when written in kana, katakana is commonly used
海獣	Sea animal	かいじゅう	sea (海) animal (獣)
海牛	Sea slug	うみうし	sea (海) cow (牛). More commonly written using kana (katakana) instead of kanji
鮫	Shark	さめ
海老 / 蝦	Shrimp	えび
蝸牛	Snail	かたつむり,or でんでんむし,or かぎゅう	snail (蝸) cow (牛). 蝸牛 can be read in all three ways and still mean snail
蛇	Snake (or serpent)	へび
伊勢海老	Spiny lobster	いせえび	Ise (伊勢) shrimp (蝦)
墨魚	Squid	ぼくぎょ	ink (墨) fish (魚).
鮪	Tuna	まぐろ
亀	Turtle (or tortoise)	かめ

Insects

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
虫 / 昆虫	Insect	むし / こんちゅう
害虫	Harmful insects	がいちゅう
益虫	Beneficial insects	えきちゅう
兜虫 / 甲虫	Beetle	かぶとむし	lit. headpiece (兜) insect (虫)
鍬形虫	Stag beetle	くわがたむし	lit. Hoe-shape insect
蟋蟀	Cricket	こおろぎ
蚊	Mosquito	か
蠍	Scorpion	さそり
蜘蛛	Spider	くも
蝶	Butterfly	ちょう
蛍	Firefly	ほたる
蟻	Ant	あり
蛾	Moth	が
蟷螂	Mantis	かまきり
蜚蠊	Cockroach	ごきぶり
蜻蛉	Dragonfly	とんぼ
蜜蜂	Bee	みつばち
雀蜂 / 胡蜂	Hornet	すずめばち
団子虫	Pillbug	だんごむし	lit. dumpling insect
草鞋虫	Sow bug	わらじむし	lit. Waraji insect
蚯蚓	Earthworm	みみず
蠅 / 蝿	Fly	はえ
天道虫	Ladybug	てんとうむし	lit. insect of path in the heavens
蟬 / 蝉	Cicada	せみ

Vocabulary/Banking

Related vocabulary

• Japanese/Vocabulary/Business
• Japanese/Vocabulary/Economy

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
口座	account	こうざ
チェッキング口座 当座預金口座	checking account	チェッキングこうざ とうざよきんこうざ
法人口座	corporate account	ほうじんこうざ
個人口座	personal account	こじんこうざ
セービング口座 普通預金口座	savings account	セービングこうざ ふつうよきんこうざ
年利	annual percentage yield (APY)	ねんり
銀行	bank	ぎんこう
信用組合	credit union	しんようくみあい
金融機関	financial institution	きんゆうきかん
支店	branch	してん
定期預金口座	certificate of deposit (CD)	ていきよきんこうざ
入金	deposit	にゅうきん
入金する	to deposit (to one's own account)	にゅうきんする
出金	withdrawal	しゅっきん
出金する	to withdraw	しゅっきんする
振込	electronic funds transfer/wire funds	ふりこみ
振り込む	to wire/direct deposit (by third-party)	ふりこむ
口座自動振替	automatic bill payer	こうざじどうふりかえ
為替	money order	かわせ
小切手	cheque/check	こぎって
現金	cash	げんきん
紙幣	banknote	しへい
硬貨	coin	こうか
外貨	foreign currency	がいか
外貨両替	foreign exchange	がいかりょうがえ
為替レート	exchange rate	かわせれーと
ペイオフ 預金保険制度	FDIC insurance	ぺいおふ よきんほけんせいど	from the English payoff
利子	interest paid	りし
利息	interest earned	りそく
口座に利息が付く	an account earns interest	こうざにりそくがつく
利率	interest rate	りりつ
投資	investment	とうし
投資する	to invest	とうしする
株	stocks	かぶ
証券取引所	stock exchange	しょうけんとりひきじょ
国債	savings bond	こくさい
株価	stock price	かぶか
株価指数	stock price index	かぶかしすう

Vocabulary/Body parts

Related vocabulary

• Japanese/Vocabulary/Health

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
体 胴	body	からだ どう
頭	head	あたま

Head

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
髪/髪の毛	hair	かみ/かみのけ
顔	face	かお
額	forehead	ひたい
眉	eyebrow	まゆ
睫毛	eyelash	まつげ
目	eye	め
鼻	nose	はな
口	mouth	くち
唇	lips	くちびる
舌	tongue	した
歯	teeth	は
顳顬	temple	こめかみ
歯茎	gums	はぐき
頬 or 頰	cheek	ほほ or ほお
顎	chin	あご
耳	ear	みみ
首	neck	くび
喉	throat	のど

Torso

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
肩	shoulder	かた
胸	chest, breast	むね
背中	back	せなか
臍	navel, bellybutton	へそ
腰	hips, waist, lower back	こし
お腹 腹	belly	おなか はら	お腹 (おなか) is more polite
お尻* 尻	buttocks	おしり しり けつ	お尻 (おしり) is more polite

Limbs

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
膝	lap, knee	ひざ
腕	arm	うで
肘	elbow	ひじ
手首	wrist	てくび
手	hand	て
指	finger	ゆび
親指	thumb	おやゆび
爪	nail (finger or toe)	つめ
脚	leg	あし
足首	ankle	あしくび
足	foot, feet	あし
踵	heel	かかと
足の指 足指	toes	あしのゆび あしゆび

Fingers

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
親指	Thumb	おやゆび
人差し指	Index Finger	ひとさしゆび
中指	Middle Finger	なかゆび
薬指	Ring Finger	くすりゆび
小指	Little Finger	こゆび
指先	Fingertip	ゆびさき

Organs and tissue

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
膀胱	bladder	ぼうこう
血 血液	blood	ち けつえき
骨	bone	ほね
骨髄	bone marrow	こつずい
脳	brain	のう
軟骨	cartilage	なんこつ
食道	esophagus	しょくどう
胆嚢	gallbladder	たんのう
心臓	heart	しんぞう
腸	intestines	ちょう
腎臓	kidney	じんぞう
喉頭	larynx	こうとう
肝臓	liver	かんぞう
肺臓	lung	はいぞう
筋肉	muscle	きんにく
膵臓	pancreas	すいぞう
咽頭	pharynx	いんとう
肌	skin	はだ
脾臓	spleen	ひぞう
胃	stomach	い
気管	windpipe	きかん

• 「お」 adds politeness here

Vocabulary/Colors

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
赤	red	あか
橙色	orange	だいだいいろ オレンジ
黄色	yellow	きいろ
緑	green	みどり	グリーン is also commonly used when referencing the color of clothing, shoes or other manufactured items. みどり however, is more often used when describing green that is found in nature (ie. green color found on leaves or grass)
水色	light blue	みずいろ
青	blue	あお	あお originally encompassed both blue and green. It is mainly used for blue in modern times. The green traffic-light is called　青信号(あおしんごう)
紫	purple	むらさき
茶色	brown	ちゃいろ
白	white	しろ
グレー グレイ 灰色 鼠色	gray	はいいろ  ねずみいろ	グレー (also spelled as グレイ) is used more colloquially than ねずみいろ or 灰色 which are traditional Japanese words, meaning mouse-color and ash color, respectively.
黒	black	くろ
ピンク 桃色	pink	ももいろ	ピンク (a transliteration of 'pink') is more commonly used than ももいろ (lit. peach colour) which is a traditional Japanese word.
金色	gold	きんいろ
銀色	silver	ぎんいろ

• Note that the six basic colors, black, white, red, yellow, brown, and blue are in their noun forms. Adding -い(-i) to the end of these colors will make them adjectives, allowing them to be placed before a noun: 赤い red (adj.), 青い blue (adj.), 黄色い yellow (adj.), 茶色い brown (adj.), 白い white (adj.), 黒い black (adj.).

Advanced

English	和語(わご)/複合語(ふくごうご) (native words and compound words)	漢語(かんご) (Chinese words)	外来語(がいらいご) (Loanwords)	note
red	赤(あか)　/　赤色(あかいろ)	赤色(せきしょく)	レッド
orange	橙色(だいだいいろ)	(橙色(とうしょく))	オレンジ
pale orange	肌色(はだいろ)　/　薄橙色(うすだいだいいろ)		ペールオレンジ
golden yellow	山吹色(やまぶきいろ)		ゴールデンイエロー
yellow	黄(き)　/　黄色(きいろ)	黄色(おうしょく)	イエロー
yellowish green	黄緑(きみどり)　/　黄緑色(きみどりいろ)	黄緑色(おうりょくしょく)
green	緑(みどり)　/　緑色(みどりいろ)	緑色(りょくしょく)	グリーン
aqua blue	水色(みずいろ)	(水色(すいしょく))	(アクアブルー)
blue	青(あお)　/　青色(あおいろ)	(青色(せいしょく))	ブルー
indigo	藍色(あいいろ)	(藍色(らんしょく))	インディゴブルー
purple	紫(むらさき)　/　紫色(むらさきいろ)	(紫色(ししょく))	パープル
brown	茶色(ちゃいろ)　/　栗色(くりいろ)	褐色(かっしょく)	ブラウン	茶色い服 (brown wear)、栗色の髪 (brown hair)、褐色の肌 (brown skin)
white	白(しろ)　/　白色(しろいろ)	白色(はくしょく)	ホワイト
gray	鼠色(ねずみいろ)　/　灰色(はいいろ)	(灰色(かいしょく))	グレー/グレイ
black	黒(くろ)　/　黒色(くろいろ)	黒色(こくしょく)	ブラック
pink	桃色(ももいろ)	(淡紅色(たんこうしょく))	ピンク
gold	金色(きんいろ)　/　黄金色(こがねいろ)	金色(こんじき)	ゴールド
silver	銀色(ぎんいろ)　/　白銀色(しろがねいろ)	(銀色(ぎんじき))	シルバー

Verbs

grammar rules:

adj → become ～ verb (～になる)

～い → ～む (e.g. 悲しい → 悲しむ, 赤い → 赤む)

noun → take on ～ verb (～を帯びる)

～ → ～ばむ (e.g. 汗 → 汗ばむ, 赤 → 赤ばむ)

verb → passive verb

～ → (imperfective form of ～)る (e.g. 忘る → 忘れる)

English intransitive	Japanese intransitive	intransitive example	English transitive	Japanese transitive	transitive example	notes
become red	赤(あか)む 赤(あか)らむ (赤(あか)らぶ) 赤(あか)ばむ	頬(ほほ)が赤らむ	make (it) red	赤(あか)める 赤(あか)らめる (赤(あか)らべる) 赤(あか)ばめる	頬(ほほ)を赤める
become blue	青(あお)む 青(あお)ばむ	顔(かお)が青ばむ	make (it) blue	青(あお)める 青(あお)ばめる		青む+褪(さ)める=青(あお)ざめる
become yellow	黄(き)ばむ	服(ふく)が黄ばむ	make (it) yellow	黄(き)ばめる	服(ふく)を黄ばめてしまう
become black	黒(くろ)む 黒(くろ)ばむ 黒(くろ)ずむ	肌(はだ)が黒ずんだ	make (it) black	黒(くろ)める 黒(くろ)ばめる 黒(くろ)ずめる
become white	白(しろ)む 白(しら)む 白(しろ)ばむ	空が白む	make (it) white	白(しろ)める 白(しら)める 白(しろ)ばめる

Variant nouns

English	Japanese	English	Japanese	English	Japanese
sense of red	赤(あか)さ	degree of red	赤(あか)み	if anything, red	赤(あか)め
sense of blue	青(あお)さ	degree of blue	青(あお)み	if anything, blue	青(あお)め
sense of green	緑(みどり)さ	degree of green	緑(みどり)み	if anything, green	緑(みどり)め
sense of yellow	黄色(きいろ)さ	degree of yellow	黄(き)み	if anything, yellow	黄色(きいろ)め
sense of black	黒(くろ)さ	degree of black	黒(くろ)み	if anything, black	黒(くろ)め
sense of white	白(しろ)さ	degree of white	白(しろ)み	if anything, white	白(しろ)め

External links

• Japanese color and its pronunciation
• Japanese Color Names Cheat Sheet
• Japanese Traditional Color Names
• Japanese colors with English names

Vocabulary/Computing

Related vocabulary

Gmail interface

Software

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
オペレーションシステム/O(オー)S(エス)/基本(きほん)ソフト	operation system
アプリケーション/アプリ/応用(おうよう)ソフト	application
ソフトウェア/ソフト	software
プラグイン	plugin
アドオン	addon
コーデック	codec
拡張(かくちょう)	extension
ユーザーインターフェース	user interface
コンソール	console
端末(たんまつ)/ターミナル	terminal
G(ジー)U(ユー)I(アイ)	GUI
テーマ	theme
スキン/外装(がいそう)	skin (user interface)
テンプレート/雛形(ひながた)	template
モード	mode
ファイル	file
フォルダ	folder
ディレクトリ/書庫(しょこ)	directory
デスクトップ	desktop
拡張子(かくちょうし)	filename extension
アイコン	icon
コンテキストメニュー	context menu
ショートカット	shortcut
クラッシュ (noun), クラッシュする (verb), 落(お)ちる (verb)	crash
フリーズ/ハング (noun), フリーズする/ハングする/固(かた)まる (verb)	freeze/hang
バグ	bug
バギー	buggy
バグる	became buggy
セグメンテーション違反(いはん)/セグメンテーションフォルト/セグフォ	segmentation fault

Internet

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
コンピュータ	computer
インターネット	the Internet
ウェブ	web
モデム	modem
イーサネット	Ethernet
LAN(ラン)ケーブル	Ethernet Cable
WiFi(ワイファイ)	WiFi
有線(ゆうせん)	wired
無線(むせん)	wireless
オンライン	online
オフライン	offline
IP(アイピー)アドレス	IP address
ホスト名(めい)	host name
ポート番号(ばんごう)	port number
サーバ	server
クライアント	client
ルーター	router
スイッチ	switch
ハブ	hub
プロキシ	proxy
ブラウザ	browser
メール	e-mail		less commonly: 電子(でんし)メール
メールアドレス	e-mail address
メーラー	e-mail client
チャット	chat
ソフトフォン	softphone
電話(でんわ)番号(ばんごう)	phone number
テルネット	Telnet

Hardware

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
ハードウェア	hardware
C(シー)P(ピー)U(ユー)	CPU
メモリ	memory
ディスク	disk
ディスプレイ	display
スクリーン	screen
スピーカー	speaker
イヤホン	earphone
マイク	microphone
マウス	mouse
キーボード	keyboard
ジョイスティック	joystick
ゲームパッド	gamepad
Web(ウェブ)カメラ	webcam
プリンター	printer
スキャナ	scanner
PC(ピーシー)ケース	computer case
マザーボード/マザボ	motherboard
ファン	fan
G(ジー)P(ピー)U(ユー)	GPU
グラフィックボード/グラボ	graphic board
チップセット	chipset

Programming

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
プログラム	computer program
プログラマ	programmer
ソフトウェア開発者(かいはつしゃ)	software developer	ソフトウェアかいはつしゃ
プログラミング	computer programming
プログラミング言語(げんご)	programming language	プログラミングげんご
アセンブリ言語(げんご)	assembly language	アセンブリげんご
機械語(きかいご)	machine language	きかいご
アセンブラ	assembler
コンパイラ	compiler
インタプリタ	interpreter
コボル	COBOL
オープンソース	open source

Security

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
ウィルス	virus
マルウェア	malware
ハッキング	hacking
ウィルス対策(たいさく)ソフト	Antivirus software	ウィルスたいさくソフト
クラック	crack
ファイアーウォール	firewall
レイド	RAID
ふくごうか (復号化)	Decryption
あんごうか (暗号化)	Encryption

Companies

Software Makers

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
マイクロソフト	Microsoft
アドビ システムズ	Adobe Systems
オラクル	Oracle
オートデスク	Autodesk		sometimes written as "自動机(じどうつくえ)"
シマンテック	Symantec
トレンドマイクロ	Trend Micro
I(アイ)B(ビー)M(エム)	IBM	アイビーエム

PC Makers

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
N(エヌ)E(イー)C(シー)	NEC
レノボ/聯想(れんそう)集団(しゅうだん)	Lenovo
富士通(ふじつう)	Fujitsu
東芝(とうしば)	Toshiba
H(エイチ)P(ピー)	HP
デル	Dell
ソニー	Sony
エイサー	Acer
アスース/エイスース	Asus

Smartphone Makers

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
アップル	Apple
シャープ	Sharp
パナソニック	Panasonic		sometimes called as old consumer electronics brand name "ナショナル" and old company name 松下(まつした)電器(でんき) (Matsushita Electric).
サムスン電子(でんし)	Samsung Electronics
H(エイチ)T(ティー)C(シー)	HTC
ファーウェイ/華為(かい)技術(ぎじゅつ)	Huawei
モトローラ	Motorola
ブラックベリー	Blackberry
L(エル)G(ジー)	LG
ノキア	Nokia

Peripheral Makers

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
バッファロー	BUFFALO
アイ・オー・データ/IO(アイオー)データ	IODATA
サンワサプライ	Sanwa Supply
Logicool/ロジクール	Logitech

Printer Makers

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
エプソン	EPSON
ブラザー	Brother
キャノン	Canon

Processor Makers

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
インテル	Intel
エヌビディア	Nvidia
A(エー)M(エム)D(ディー)	AMD		sometimes called as "アムド"
クアルコム	Qualcomm
ルネサス	Renesas
富士通(ふじつう)	Fujitsu

Web Services

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
グーグル	Google		search engine
ビング	Bing		search engine
Yahoo!(ヤフー) JAPAN(ジャパン)	Yahoo! JAPAN		portal site
アマゾン	Amazon		EC
楽天(らくてん)市場(いちば)	Rakuten		EC
Yahoo!(ヤフー)ショッピング	Yahoo! Shopping		EC
フェイスブック	Facebook		SNS
ツイッター	Twitter		SNS
ミクシィ	Mixi		SNS
グーグルプラス	Google+		SNS
ユーチューブ	Youtube		Video hosting service. sometimes called as "ようつべ".
ニコニコ動画(どうが)/ニコ動(どう)	Nico Nico Douga		Video hosting service
F(エフ)C(シー)2(ツー)	FC2		Video hosting service
ユーストリーム	Ustream		Video hosting service
2(に)ちゃんねる	2ch		BBS

Operating Systems

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
ウインドウズ	Windows
マック	Mac
ユニックス	UNIX
リナックス	Linux
グヌー	GNU
クロームOS(オーエス)	Chrome OS
i(アイ)OS(オーエス)	iOS
アンドロイド	Android
シンビアン	Symbian
フリービーエスディー	FreeBSD
ソラリス	Solaris

Vocabulary/Clothes and accessories

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
ベルト	belt
ブラウス	blouse
ピアス	earrings		From: pierce/piercings
眼鏡	glasses	めがね
手袋	gloves	てぶくろ
帽子	hat, cap	ぼうし
ジャケット	jacket
ジーンズ	jeans
ネックレス	necklace
ズボン	pants
指輪	ring	ゆびわ
サンダル	sandals
スカーフ or マフラー	scarf
シャツ	shirt
靴	shoes	くつ
靴下	socks	くつした
スーツ	suit
トレーナー	sweatshirt		From: trainer
時計	watch	とけい

Traditional clothing

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
着物	kimono	きもの
浴衣	yukata	ゆかた
帯	obi	おび
甚兵衛	jinbei, informal male summer jacket and pants	じんべえ
下駄	geta, (wooden) clogs	げた
地下足袋	(jika)tabi, split toe heavy cloth shoes with rubber soles(ninja shoes)	じかたび

Vocabulary/Countries, languages and nationalities

Languages - 言語

In most cases, the name of a language will be the name of the country where it is spoken with the suffix "語(ご)". Example: "France/French" becomes "フランス/フランス語". There are exceptions to these and they are so noted in the country names below.

English is spoken in several countries. These are all called 英語(えいご) except in the case of the United States, the language of which is sometimes referred to as 米語(べいご).

Nationalities - 国籍

The nationality of a person from a particular country is generally that of the country appended with "人(じん). For example: A Chinese person is "中国(ちゅうごく)人(じん) and a Canadian would be カナダ人(じん).

Continents - 大陸

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
大陸	Continent	たいりく
アフリカ大陸	Africa	アフリカたいりく
南極大陸	Antarctica	なんきょくたいりく
アジア大陸 亜細亜大陸	Asia	アジアたいりく
オーストラリア大陸	Australia	オーストラリアたいりく
ヨーロッパ大陸	Europe	ヨーロッパたいりく	Normally, the European continent is often called ユーラシア大陸 (ユーラシアたいりく / Eurasian continent) together with the Asian continent.
北アメリカ大陸 北米	North America	きたアメリカたいりく ほくべい
南アメリカ大陸 南米	South America	みなみアメリカたいりく なんべい

Africa -アフリカ

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
アルジェリア アルジェリア民主人民共和国	Algeria	アルジェリア アルジェリアみんしゅじんみんきょうわこく
スーダン　 スーダン・アラブ共和国	Sudan	スーダン　 スーダン・アラブきょうわこく
チャド チャド共和国	Chad	チャド チャドきょうわこく
エジプト エジプト・アラブ共和国	Egypt	エジプト エジプト・アラブきょうわこく
ガーナ ガーナ共和国	Ghana	ガーナ ガーナきょうわこく
リビア リビア国	Libya	リビア リビアこく
南アフリカ 南アフリカ共和国	South Africa	みなみアフリカ みなみアフリカきょうわこく

Asia - アジア

East Asia - 東アジア

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
中国 中華人民共和国	China	ちゅうごく ちゅうかじんみんきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
香港 香港特別行政区	Hong Kong	ホンコン ホンコンとくべつぎょうせいく	(informal) (formal)
日本 日本国	Japan	にほん / にっぽん にほんこく / にっぽんこく	(informal) (formal)
マカオ マカオ特別行政区	Macao	マカオ マカオとくべつぎょうせいく	(informal) (formal)
モンゴル モンゴル国	Mongolia	モンゴル モンゴルこく	(informal) (formal)
北朝鮮 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国	North Korea	きたちょうせん ちょうせんみんしゅしゅぎじんみんきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
韓国 大韓民国	South Korea	かんこく だいかんみんこく	(informal) (formal)
台湾 中華民国	Taiwan	たいわん ちゅうかみんこく	(informal) (formal)

• Japan categorizes Mongolia as an East Asian nation (Mongolia is considered a central Asian nation)
• The Korean peninsula is called 朝鮮半島 (ちょうせんはんとう)

Southeast Asia - 東南アジア

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
東南アジア	Southeast Asia	とうなんアジア
ブルネイ ブルネイ・ダルサラーム国	Brunei	ブルネイ・ダルサラームこく	(informal) (formal)
カンボジア カンボジア王国	Cambodia	カンボジアおうこく	(informal) (formal)
東ティモール 東ティモール民主共和国	East Timor	ひがしティモール ひがしティモールみんしゅきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
インドネシア インドネシア共和国	Indonesia	インドネシアきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
ラオス ラオス人民民主共和国	Laos	ラオスじんみんみんしゅきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
マレーシア	Malaysia		(informal) (formal)
ミャンマー ミャンマー連邦	Myanmar	ミャンマーれんぽう	(informal) (formal)
比律賓 フィリピン フィリピン共和国	Philippines	フィリピン フィリピン フィリピンきょうわこく	(Kanji) (informal) (formal)
新嘉坡 シンガポール共和国	Singapore	シンガポール シンガポールきょうわこく	(Kanji) (formal)
泰 タイ王国	Thailand	タイ たいおうこく	(informal) (formal)
越南 ベトナム社会主義共和国	Vietnam	ベトナム ベトナムしゃかいしゅぎきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)

South Asia - 南アジア

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
南アジア	South Asia	みなみアジア
バングラデシュ人民共和国	Bangladesh	バングラデシュ バングラデシュじんみんきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
ブータン王国	Bhutan	ブータン ブータンおうこく	(informal) (formal)
印度	India	いんど インド	(informal) (formal)
モルディブ共和国	Maldives	モルディブ モルディブきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
ネパール王国	Nepal	ネパール ネパールおうこく	(informal) (formal)
パキスタン・イスラム共和国	Pakistan	パキスタン パキスタン・イスラムきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
スリランカ民主社会主義共和国	Sri Lanka	スリランカ スリランカみんしゅしゃかいしゅぎきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)

Middle East - 中東

Central Asia - 中央アジア

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
イラン・イスラム共和国	Iran	イラン イラン・イスラムきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
アフガニスタン・イスラム共和国	Afghanistan	アフガニスタン アフガニスタン・イスラムきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
カザフスタン共和国	Kazakhstan	カザフスタン カザフスタンきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
キルギスタン	Kyrgyzstan	キルギスタン きるぎすたん	(informal) (formal)
タジキスタン	Tajikistan	タジキスタン たじきすたん	(informal) (formal)
トルクメニスタン	Turkmenistan	トルクメニスタン とるくめにすたん	(informal) (formal)
ウズベキスタン	Uzbekistan	ウズベキスタン うずべきすたん	(informal) (formal)

• Middle East (Central Asia, West Asia) tables will be fixed later. Some difficulties due to Japan system of categorizing countries.
• Some Middle Eastern/Central Asian countries are lumped into Europe category as NIS諸国 (Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union)
• NIS list: (Armenia), (Azerbaijan), (Belarus), (Georgia), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, (Moldova), (Russian Federation), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, (Ukraine), Uzbekistan
• Resource: [1] & [2]

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
日本	Japan	にほん にっぽん	(informal) (formal)
台湾	Taiwan	たいわん
中国 中華人民共和国	China	ちゅうごく ちゅうかじんみんきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
韓国 大韓民国	South Korea	かんこく だいかんみんこく	(informal) (formal)
北朝鮮 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国	North Korea	きたちょうせん ちょうせんみんしゅしゅぎじんみんきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
インド	India	インド
パキスタン	Pakistan	パキスタン
ベトナム ベトナム社会主義共和国	Vietnam	ベトナム ベトナムしゃかいしゅぎきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)
ラオス	Laos	ラオス
タイ タイ王国	Thailand	タイ タイおうこく	(informal) (formal)
マレーシア	Malaysia	マレーシア
シンガポール シンガポール共和国	Singapore	シンガポール シンガポールきょうわこく	(informal) (formal)

Europe - ヨーロッパ

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
アイスランド	Iceland	アイスランド
アイルランド	Ireland	アイルランド
アルバニア	Albania	アルバニア
アンドラ	Andorra	アンドラ
イタリア	Italy	イタリア
ウクライナ	Ukraine	ウクライナ
エストニア	Estonia	エストニア
オーストリア	Austria	オーストリア
オランダ	Netherlands (Holland)	オランダ
ギリシア ギリシャ	Greece	ギリシア ギリシャ
クロアチア	Croatia	クロアチア
スイス	Switzerland	スイス
スウェーデン	Sweden	スウェーデン
スロバキア	Slovakia	スロバキア
スロベニア	Slovenia	スロベニア
スペイン	Spain	スペイン
チェコ	Czech Republic	チェコ
デンマーク	Denmark	デンマーク
ドイツ	Germany	ドイツ
トルコ	Turkey	トルコ
ノルウェー	Norway	ノルウェー
ハンガリー	Hungary	ハンガリー
フィンランド	Finland	フィンランド
仏蘭西 フランス	France	フランス	The kanji is quite formal. When written in kanji, the language is 仏語(ふつご)
白ロシア	Belarus	ベラルーシ
勃牙利	Bulgaria	ブルガリア
白耳義	Belgium	ベルギー
ボスニア・ヘルツェゴビナ	Bosnia and Herzegovina	ボスニア・ヘルツェゴビナ
波蘭	Poland	ポーランド
葡萄牙	Portugal	ポルトガル
マルタ	Malta	マルタ
モルドバ	Moldova	モルドバ
セルビア・モンテネグロ	Serbia Montenegro	セルビア・モンテネグロ
ラトビア	Latvia	ラトビア
リトアニア	Lithuania	リトアニア
ルクセンブルク	Luxembourg	ルクセンブルク
羅馬尼亜	Romania	ルーマニア
露西亜	Russia	ロシア

The United Kingdom - イギリス

The English language is called 英語(えいご).

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
英吉利 イギリス 英国	The United Kingdom	イギリス えいこく	英吉利 is quite formal and rarely used in ordinary life. Sometimes you may see 英 on the media, an abbreviation of 英国.
英蘭 イングランド	England	イングランド
蘇格蘭 スコットランド	Scotland	スコットランド
ウェールズ	Wales
北愛蘭 北アイルランド	Northern Ireland	きたアイルランド

North America - 北アメリカ

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
加奈陀	Canada	カナダ	The English language is called 英語(えいご)
亜米利加(合衆国) 米国	The United States of America	アメリカ(がっしゅうこく) べいこく	The English language is called 英語(えいご) and American English 米語(べいご)
墨西哥	Mexico	メキシコ
巴奈馬	Panama	パナマ
玖馬	Cuba	キューバ
牙買加	Jamaica	ジャマイカ
ドミニカ国 土弥尼加	Dominica	ドミニカこく どみにか
ハイチ	Haiti	ハイチ

South America - 南アメリカ

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
アルゼンチン	Argentina	アルゼンチン
ボリビア	Bolivia	ボリビア
ブラジル	Brazil	ブラジル
チリ	Chile	チリ
コロンビア	Colombia	コロンビア
エクアドル	Ecuador	エクアドル
フランス領ギアナ	French Guiana	フランス領ギアナ

Pacific Nations - 太平洋諸国

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
豪州 オーストラリア	Australia	ごうしゅう	The kanji, 豪州, is rarely used. The katakana rendering is more common. The language is called 英語(えいご).
新西蘭	New Zealand	ニュージーランド	The kanji has standard readings similar to the country's name (にい．せい．らん) but is read with a non-standard way to sound similar to the English. The language is called 英語(えいご).

Vocabulary/Direction

Cardinal

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
北	north	きた	e.g. 北向(きたむ)き (facing north)、北風(きたかぜ) (north wind)、北日本(きたにほん) (northern Japan)
東	(n) east	ひがし
南	(n,vs) South, proceeding south/(P)/	みなみ
西	(n) west	にし
北東(ほくとう) (direction)、東北(とうほく) (region)	northeast		e.g. 北東の風(かぜ)、東北地方(ちほう)
北西(ほくせい) (direction)、西北(せいほく) (region)	northwest
南東(なんとう) (direction)、東南(とうなん) (region)	southeast
南西(なんせい) (direction)、西南(せいなん) (region)	southwest
北北東	north-northeast	ほくほくとう
東北東	east-northeast	とうほくとう

Relative

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
左	(a) left	ひだり
右	(a) right	みぎ
上	up	うえ
下	down	した
左上	upper left	ひだりうえ
左下	lower left	ひだりした
右上	upper right	みぎうえ
右下	lower right	みぎした
前	forward	まえ
後ろ	backward	うしろ
真っ直ぐ	straight	まっすぐ	Typically written "真っすぐ".
縦	vertical	たて
横	horizontal	よこ
斜め	diagonal	ななめ

Vocabulary/Family and people

Family and people

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
家族	/(n) family/members of a family/(P)/	かぞく
お母さん/母さん	/(n) (hon) mother/(P)/	おかあさん/かあさん
お父さん/父さん	/(n) (hon) father/(P)/	おとうさん/とうさん
兄弟	/(n) (hum) siblings/(P)/	きょうだい
姉	/(n) (hum) older sister/(P)/	あね
お姉さん/姉さん	/(n) (hon) older sister/(vocative) "Miss?"/(P)/	おねえさん/ねえさん
兄	/(n) (hum) older brother/(P)/	あに
お兄さん/兄さん	/(n) (hon) older brother/(vocative) "Mister?"/(P)/	おにいさん/にいさん
妹	/(n) (hum) younger sister/(P)/	いもうと
弟	/(n) younger brother/faithful service to those older/brotherly affection/	おとうと
お爺さん/おじいさん	/(n) grandfather/male senior-citizen/	おじいさん
お婆さん/おばあさん	/(n) grandmother/female senior-citizen/	おじいさん

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
奥様/奥さん	/(n) (hon) wife/your wife/his wife/married lady/madam/(P)/	おくさま/おくさん
家内	/(n) (hum) wife/(P)/	かない
御主人	/(n) (hon) your husband/her husband/	ごしゅじん

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
伯母	/(n) (hum) aunt (older than one's parent)/	おば
叔母	/(n) aunt (younger than one's parent)/(P)/	おば
伯父	/(n) (hum) uncle (older than one's parent)/	おじ
叔父	/(n) uncle (younger than one's parent)/(P)/	おじ

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
女	/(n) woman/girl/daughter/	おんな
男	/(n) man/(P)/	おとこ
女の子	/(n) girl/(P)/	おんなのこ
男の子	/(n) boy/(P)/	おとこのこ

Occupations

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
店員	shop assistant	てんいん
俳優	actor, actress	はいゆう
医者	doctor	いしゃ
教師	teacher (academic)	きょうし

Related resources

"For Japanese, family names are the worst growing pains"

Vocabulary/Food and Drink

Related vocabulary

• Sushi

Foods (食べ物)

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
食べ物	Food	たべもの
肉	Meat	にく
御飯 / ご飯	Rice (cooked); (also Meal)	ごはん
米	Rice (uncooked)	こめ

Fruit (果物)

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
林檎 / 苹果	Apple	リンゴ	Also written equally as often in Hiragana.
	Orange	オレンジ
梅	Japanese plum	うめ
西瓜	Watermelon	すいか
葡萄	Grape	ぶどう
西洋梨	Pear	せいようなし
	Grapefruit	グレープフルーツ
甘蕉	Banana	バナナ
桜桃	Cherry	さくらんぼ
苺 / 莓	Strawberry	いちご
桃	Peach	もも

Vegetables (野菜)

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
野菜	Vegetable	やさい
人参 / 人蔘	Carrot	にんじん
玉ねぎ / 玉葱	Onion	たまねぎ
葱	Spring (green) onion	ねぎ

Spices & Condiments

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
胡椒	Pepper	こしょう
塩	Salt	しお

Pastry

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
ケーキ	Cake

Drink (飲み物)

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
飲み物	Drink	のみもの
水	Water	みず
(お)茶	Green Tea	おちゃ
紅茶	Black tea	こうちゃ
珈琲	Coffee	コーヒー
牛乳	Milk	ぎゅうにゅう
	Milk	ミルク
	Juice	ジュース
	Orange juice	オレンジジュース

Alcoholic beverages (酒)

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
酒	Alcoholic beverages in general	さけ
	Alcoholic beverages in general	アルコール >> Highball
梅酒	Plum wine	うめしゅ
日本酒	Sake; Japanese rice wine	にほんしゅ
麦酒	Beer	ビール
生ビール	Draft beer	なまビール
	Wine	ワイン
	Sherry	シェリー
三鞭酒	champagne	シャンパン
白ワイン	White wine	しろワイン
赤ワイン	Red wine	あかワイン
焼酎	Distilled spirits; liquor	しょうちゅう
	Whiskey	ウィスキー
	Vodka	ウォッカ
	Gin	ジン
	Scotch	スコッチ
	Tequila	テキーラ
	Brandy	ブランデー
	Rum	ラム

Vocabulary/Health

Related vocabulary

• Japanese/Vocabulary/Body parts

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
病気	sickness	びょうき
具合	condition	ぐあい
頭痛	headache	ずつう or あたまいた
歯痛	toothache	はいた or しつう
胃痛	stomachache	いつう
鼻水	runny nose	はなみず
咳	cough	せき
熱	fever	ねつ
目眩 (or 眩暈)	dizzy	めまい
風邪	cold	かぜ
(流感)	influenza	インフルエンザ (or りゅうかん)
薬	medicine	くすり
注射	injection	ちゅうしゃ

Vocabulary/Numbers

Related vocabulary

• Japanese/Time
• Japanese/Dates
• Japanese/Units

Related grammar

• [[../../Grammar/Counters]]

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
ゼロ/零/〇	Zero	ぜろ/れい
一	One	いち	also called ひい
二	Two	に	also called ふう
三	Three	さん	also called み
四	Four	し/よん	also called よ
五	Five	ご	also called いつ
六	Six	ろく	also called む
七	Seven	なな/しち
八	Eight	はち	also called や
九	Nine	きゅう/く
十	Ten	じゅう	also called とお
十一	Eleven	じゅういち
十二	Twelve	じゅうに
十三	Thirteen	じゅうさん
二十	Twenty	にじゅう
二十一	Twenty One	にじゅういち
三十	Thirty	さんじゅう
三十五	Thirty Five	さんじゅうご
四十	Forty	よんじゅう
五十	Fifty	ごじゅう
六十	Sixty	ろくじゅう
七十	Seventy	ななじゅう
八十	Eighty	はちじゅう
九十	Ninety	きゅうじゅう
百	One Hundred	ひゃく
二百	Two Hundred	にひゃく
三百	Three Hundred	さんびゃく
四百	Four Hundred	よんひゃく
五百	Five Hundred	ごひゃく
六百	Six Hundred	ろっぴゃく
七百	Seven Hundred	ななひゃく
八百	Eight Hundred	はっぴゃく
九百	Nine Hundred	きゅうひゃく
千	One Thousand	せん
万	Ten Thousand	まん
百万	One Million	ひゃくまん
億	108	おく
兆	1012	ちょう
京	1016	けい
垓	1020	がい

Further reading: w:ja:数の比較 ("comparison of numbers") at Japanese Wikipedia.

Vocabulary/Time

Related vocabulary

• Numbers
• Dates

Related lessons

• [[../../Lessons/Telling_time]]

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
分	minutes	ふん	The reading depends on the sound before it. See below.
秒	seconds	びょう
午前（の〜）	a.m. in the morning	ごぜん（の〜）
午後（の〜）	p.m. at night	ごご（の〜）

Absolute time

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
〜時	~ o'clock	〜じ
一時	1:00	いちじ
二時	2:00	にじ
三時	3:00	さんじ
四時	4:00	よじ
五時	5:00	ごじ
六時	6:00	ろくじ
七時	7:00	しちじ
八時	8:00	はちじ
九時	9:00	くじ
十時	10:00	じゅうじ
十一時	11:00	じゅういちじ
十二時	12:00	じゅうにじ
一分	:01	いっぷん
二分	:02	にふん
三分	:03	さんぷん
四分	:04	よんふん/よんぷん
五分	:05	ごふん
六分	:06	ろっぷん
七分	:07	ななふん
八分	:08	はっぷん/はちふん
九分	:09	きゅうふん
十分	:10	じゅっぷん/じっぷん
十一分	:11	じゅういっぷん
十二分	:12	じゅうにふん
十三分	:13	じゅうさんぷん
十四分	:14	じゅうよんぷん/じゅうよんふん
十五分	:15	じゅうごふん
〜半	half past ~	〜はん

Others

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
今	now	いま
再来月	the month after next	さらいげつ
再来週	the week after next	さらいしゅう
先週	last week	せんしゅう
近頃	lately, recently	ちかごろ
長期	long time period	ちょうき
徹夜	all night	てつや
当時	at that time	とうじ
昔	olden days	むかし
来週	next week	らいしゅう

Vocabulary/Weather and seasons

Related vocabulary

• Japanese/Vocabulary/Geology
• Japanese/Vocabulary/Meteorology

Seasons (季節)

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
四季	the four seasons	しき
春夏秋冬	the four seasons	しゅんかしゅうとう
季節	season	きせつ
春	spring	はる
夏	summer	なつ
秋	autumn	あき
冬	winter	ふゆ
乾季	dry season	かんき
雨期	rainy season	うき
梅雨	rainy season	つゆ	mainly refers to the rainy season of Japan in June and July

Weather (天気)

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
気象	weather	きしょう
天気	weather	てんき
天気予報	weather forecast	てんきよほう
太陽	sun	たいよう
晴れ	sunny	はれ
雲	cloud	くも
曇り	cloudy	くもり
雨	rain	あめ
台風	typhoon	たいふう
ハリケーン	hurricane
サイクロン	cyclone
霧	fog	きり
朝霧	morning fog	あさぎり
夕霧	evening fog	ゆうぎり
雪	snow	ゆき
温度	temperature	おんど
湿度	humidity	しつど
暑い	hot	あつい
暖かい	warm	あたたかい/あったかい
寒い	cold	さむい
涼しい	cool	すずしい