Basic Japanese Grammar Rules DE - Indicates the ‘Location of action’, also

indicates the ‘means used for an action’

NI - Indicates “Specific time”

MADE - Means ‘To or Until’

KARA - Means ‘From’

YO - You know?

Verbs
Japanese Verbs are typically split into 3 groups

1. Ru-Verbs
The basic structure of Japanese sentences is typically contains an “I” or “E” sound on the
considered to be “SOV” subject-object-verb previous alphabet before ending with a Ru

Example; Taberu -to eat

Example: I sushi eat Miru - to watch
subject object verb
2. U-Verbs
Japanese sentences are structured typically end with a “U” at the end
aroundgrammatical markers called
‘particles’. Example; Yomu- to read
The Verb appears last, but the order of the Kau- to buy
other words can vary because it is the particles, not Suwaru- to sit
word order, that tell us who did what.
Basic sentences that use the special verb 3. Irregular Verbs.
“desu” (pronounced “dess”), equivalent to the typically end with “Suru” which also means
English verb “be” (am, are, is). “To Do”
Example:
The particle “wa” tells us that the word or phrase
before it is the topic of that sentence

Three very important rules relating to Japanese

‘Masu’ Form, it is typically used in
sentence structure: conversations when you are trying to be polite.
•The particle “wa” identifies the topic of a sentence
Ru-Verbs
•The verb comes at the end of the sentence  (Taberu) becomes (Tabemasu)
 (Miru) becomes (Mimasu)
•The articles “a”, “an” and “the” do not exist in
Japanese Note: General rule is to remove “Ru” and replace it
with “Masu
Particles
U-Verbs
WA- Indicates the main topic/Subject  (Nomu) becomes (Nomimasu)
 (Kaku) becomes (Kakimasu)
NE- Indicates Agreement request  (Tsukau) becomes (Tsukaimasu)
Example; Right? Or Isn’t it?  (Hairu) becomes (Hairimasu)
 (Suwaru) becomes (Suwarimasu)
GA - Identifies new information
Note: General rule is to change the last alphabet in
MO - means “too” or “also” its Dictionary Form to a similar one ending with an
“I” sound before attaching “Masu”.
O - Marks the direct object, it comes after the
object followed by verb at the end Ka(ku) becomes Ka(ki) + Masu,
No(mu) becomes No(mi) + Masu.
TO- “And” Connects two or more noun
“With” Action is done to someone Irregular Verbs
(Kopii Suru) becomes (Kopii Shimasu)
E - Indicates the Destination “To” or “Towards”
Note: General rule is to conjugate “Suru” into
NO - Indicates “Possession” “Shimasu”

KA - Placing ‘ka’ at the end of the sentence to turn it ‘Te’ Form, on the other hand, can usually be
into a “Question” conveniently used to create a wide variety of
grammatical expressions.
 This tense is formed by adding
Ru-Verbs (-te iru) for informal verbs
 (Taberu) becomes (Tabete) (-te imasu) for formal verbs that conjugate
 (Miru) becomes (Mite) in the te-form.

Note: General rule is to remove “Ru” and replace it Japanese Pronouns

with “Te”.
a pronoun is a word used in place of a noun
U-Verbs
 (Nomu) becomes (Nonde) or noun phrase.
 (Kaku) becomes (Kaite) In Japanese, pronoun is (dai meishi).
 (Tsukau) becomes (Tsukatte) The most common pronouns are
 (Hairu) becomes (Haitte) I, he, she, it, they, and we.
 (Suwaru) becomes (Suwatte) Those are all known as personal pronouns
since they take the place of a person (or
Note: This is where it starts confusing. Depending thing)
on what the U-Verb ends with, its (Te) Form can
actually vary. Nevertheless, the general rule is still to
replace the last alphabet in its Dictionary Form based “I” in Japanese
on the following: (Watashi)
(Mu/Bu/Nu) becomes (nde) Gender: Both
(Ku) becomes (ite) Meaning/Usage: This is the most common way to
(Gu) becomes (ide) say “I” in Japanese. It can be used in both formal
(Tsu/U/Ru) becomes (tte) and informal situations but is mostly formal

Irregular Verbs (Watakushi)

(Kopii Suru) becomes (Kopii Shite) Note: General Gender: Both
rule is to conjugate “Suru” into “Shite” Meaning/Usage: This is a very formal way to say “I.”
It’s often used in serious and official circumstances
Japanese Tenses (Atashi)
Japanese has only two verb tenses, which are the
Females
present tense and the past tense.
Meaning/Usage: This is a more cute version
of(watashi) used by females in informal speech to
The present tense is also future in Japanese
sound cute and childish. Never used in writing. It’s
mostly used by younger women.
The correct form is determined by elements such as
voice, mood, tense, and politeness level.
(Ware)
Mostly males
Present tense and Past tense Meaning/Usage: This is a very formal and old-
fashioned way to address oneself in Japanese. It
(ru)- present and plain/informal form sounds very humble and polite.
(ta) is an auxiliary verb that expresses the past form.
(Boku)
The polite language usually ends with Males
Meaning/Usage: An informal way for males to
(-desu) or (-masu) in the present/future tense, address themselves. It’s mostly used by younger
males or to sound boyish and childish in speech.
(deshita) or (-mashita) in the past tense
(Ore)
informal form always end in -u or -ru Males
Meaning/Usage: A super informal way for males to
formal or polite form end with an (i-dan) or (e- address themselves. Mostly used amongst friends and
dan) syllable followed by (-masu): -imasu or - family. It carries the feeling of being very masculine.
emasu.
(One’s own name)
Example: Mostly females
(aru-ku) = informal/plain form you can use your own name to refer to yourself in
(aru-kimasu) = formal/polite form Japanese. It’s used by young girls or adult women
who want to sound super cute.
Present Progressive Tense
“You” in Japanese
The present progressive tense is used when (Anata)
expressing a continuous action or things that are Gender:Both
happening now. First word to mean You

(Anta)
Shortened version of anata
(Kimi) Possessive Japanese Pronouns
Polite way to address someone A possessive pronoun is used to show possession or
ownership. The marker of possession in the Japanese
(Omae) language is the character (no).
Used mainly by males
Use if you’re an anime fan, informal way to address English uses words like mine, yours, her, etc.,
a close friend
Japanese just adds (no) to the personal pronoun.
(Otaku)
Word mean geek/obsessive Reflexive pronouns are marked using the suffix
(Jishin). The two components of this word are
(Kisama) literally “oneself” and “somebody” or “body” in
Means Your humbly house and can also mean you general.
low bastard
Objective Japanese Pronouns There is no
“He/She” in Japanese distinction between object pronouns and subject
pronouns in Japanese. That means that there are no
(Kare) words for “us,” “we,” “them,” “me,” and “him.”
“He”, a male of any age and also means Boyfriend The word “her” exists, but only as a possessive
pronoun and not an object pronoun.
(Kanojo)
“She”, refer to female of any age or status and can The particle (o) marks direct objects.
also mean Girlfriend
Interrogative Japanese Pronouns
(Ana Hito) Interrogative pronouns make asking questions easy.
Literally mean that person or addrees a nameless They are used for both direct and indirect
person questions.
There are five interrogative pronouns in English:
(Ana Kata) who, whom, whose, what, and which.
same with ana hito but more respectful
Dare no- which
“It” in Japanese Dare- who
Can also be express as that, this, those, and these Dore- which
Nani What
(Kore)
Means “This or Those” close to the speaker
Reciprocal Japanese Pronouns are used to
(Sore) express a mutual action or mutual relationship.
Means “That or Those” far from speaker but near to (Otagai)
the listener This is how to say “each other” or “one another” in
Japanese
(Are)
Means “That or These” far away from both the Relative pronouns are used to refer to nouns that
speaker and listener were mentioned previously. They can also be used to
join two sentences together. Some common English
“We” in Japanese relative pronouns are that, which, who, and whom

(Watashtachi)
Used by both gender to mean WE

(Ware ware)
Mostly Males
Extremely formal way to say WE

Note: The suffix (tachi) can be used at the end of

many different words and refers to the collective
that is with the root word.

“They” in Japanese

(Karera)
Word to mean They

Note: The suffix (ra）is similar to (tachi) except each

is only used in certain circumstances.