Japanese Grammar

Welcome to our explanation of Basic Japanese Grammar! Now, we know that the mere mention of
grammar is enough to make your palms sweat and perhaps bring back some not-so-good memories
of your old high school language classes. But don’t worry – we’re here to give you a basic overview
of Japanese grammar using language that’s easy to understand – no drawn-out, long-winded
explanations to be found here! Learn Japanese grammar quickly while having fun at the same time!

Before we take a look at Japanese grammar, though, let’s quickly go over the basics of English
grammar first. By understanding more about how English works, you’ll be able to see how it differs
from Japanese grammar.

First, let’s take a look at Japanese sentence order.

English is what we call an SVO language, which means that the sentences come in the order of
subject – verb – object. Let’s illustrate this with an example.

English sentence order

subject verb object

I eat fruit

The subject, or the one doing the action, is “I”. The verb, or action, is “eat”. The object, or the one
“receiving” the action, is “fruit”. This is an example of a sentence in an SVO language.
Japanese is a bit different from English in this respect. Japanese is what’s called an SOV language.
This means that the subject comes first, followed by the object, and then the verb. That’s right, the
verb comes last. So our previous example, “I eat fruit” in English, becomes “I fruit eat” when put in
Japanese SOV order.

Japanese sentence order

subject object verb

I fruit eat

This is one of the biggest differences between English and Japanese grammar and one of the most
important aspects to keep in mind!

Characteristics of the Japanese Language

Now let’s take a look at some characteristics of Japanese by comparing them with English. First, we’ll
talk about features that are much simpler than their English counterparts.

Japanese Verb Tense

First, let’s start with Japanese verb tense. Tense is a method that we use in English to refer to time –
past, present, and future. If you are a native English speaker, you might not even be aware of how
many tenses there are in English. Let’s think about the future tense for a moment. The sentence “I
jog” in the present tense becomes “I will jog” or even “I’m going to jog” (And they have slightly
different meanings! Did you ever notice?) Japanese, on the other hand, only has two tenses: past
and non-past. It’s called non-past because Japanese uses the same tense for the present and future.
How does this work? Let’s take a look! Here’s an example of our sentence in the present tense.
スーパーに行きます。
Sūpā ni ikimasu.
“I go to the supermarket.”

So how do we change this to the future? Simple! We just add a word that indicates some time in the
future:

(明日／来週) スーパーに行きます。
(Ashita / raishuu) Sūpā ni ikimasu.
“I will go to the supermarket tomorrow/next week”.

There you have it! By adding a word like “tomorrow” or “next week” that indicates some point in the
future, we’ve turned our present tense into future tense, without even changing the verb.

Japanese Verb Conjugation

English is full of irregular verbs. In many cases, we can turn verbs into past tense by adding “-ed” to
the end, but think of how many exceptions there are to this rule: “fly” becomes “flew”, “run”
becomes “ran”, “buy” becomes “bought”… the list goes on! If you’ve ever studied a Romance
language, than you know how common exceptions are when it comes to conjugating verbs.

Japanese Irregular Verbs

In contrast to this, Japanese only has two – count them – two verbs that conjugate irregularly. The
rest follow the same patterns, so they’re easy to get the hang of! Japanese verbs are divided up into
three different groups according to how they conjugate, which we will refer to as Class 1, Class 2,
and Class 3 later on.

3 Classes of Japanese Verbs

English and many other languages also conjugate verbs according to who’s doing the action; for
example, “I go” vs. “he goes”. When you get into Romance languages, this system gets even more
complex. However, in Japanese, it doesn’t matter who is doing the action – the verb will not change!
Let’s look at a few examples so that we can really appreciate this advantage of Japanese. First, note
that the verb “to go” is ikimasu.
私は学校に行きます。
Watashi wa gakkō ni ikimasu.
”I go to school”.
彼は学校に行きます。
Kare wa gakko ni ikimasu.
”He goes to school”.
あなた達は学校に行きます。
Anata-tachi wa gakko ni ikimasu.
”You (pl.) go to school”.

Take a look at ikimasu! It doesn’t change! Who is doing the action has no effect on the following
verb. Great, isn’t it?
Singulars and Plurals in Japanese

Remember learning all of the complicated rules for forming plurals in English when you were in
grade school? We first learn that you add –s to a word to make it plural, but then comes one
exception after another, such as words like knives, candies, and mice. Well now, think about this:
Japanese words almost never change to reflect plurals. Nezumi, the word for mouse, could refer to
one mouse, or ten! What a big change from having two very different words to differentiate
between singular and plural.

Making Questions in Japanese

Think for a moment about how you make questions in English. You have to change the order of the
sentence! Here’s an example:

“He is a student” becomes: “Is he a student?”

In Japanese, it’s extremely easy to create questions. By simply putting “ka” at the end of a sentence,
you can turn it into a question! Let’s take a look at the Japanese equivalent of the sentence above:

彼は学生です。 → 彼は学生ですか？

Kare wa gakusei desu. → Kare wa gakusei desu ka?

”He is a student”. “Is he a student?”

Let’s look at one more:

あなたは東京に住んでいます。 → あなたは東京に住んでいますか。

Anata wa Tōkyō ni sunde imasu. → Anata wa Tōkyō ni sunde imasu ka?

”You live in Tokyo.” “Do you live in Tokyo?”

Okay, now let’s take a look at some characteristics that are unique to the Japanese language and
may not have any equivalent in English.

Japanese Formal and Informal Speech

In English, we can use certain words and phrase to make our speech sound more polite to others.
Japanese uses entirely different grammar structures when it comes to polite speech. It has been said
that there are three politeness levels in spoken Japanese: informal, formal, and honorific.

Gender in Japanese

By gender, we do not mean feminine and masculine words that show up in many of the Romance
languages. By gender, we mean that female speakers will use different words and phrases than men,
and that there are some exclusively masculine words. In Japanese, it is very possible to look at
dialogue that is written and guess whether the speaker is male or female without any verbal cues.

Japanese Counters

Japanese has a long list of counters, or words that are used to count specific items. The
corresponding counter depends on the appearance or make up of the item. For example, there are
different counters for sheets of paper and bottles because they are different in shape. While English
does contain some counters (think “loaf of bread” or “bottle of wine”), the range of counters in
Japanese is much wider and much more extensive.
Omission

In English, we almost always need to state the subject in our sentences: “Yesterday I went shopping
at the mall, and then I went to Starbucks where I had a latte.” Note that we need to state “I” for
every action. In Japanese, the subject is often omitted from the sentence when it’s understood who
is doing the action. In fact, stating the subject every time will actually make your Japanese sound
unnatural. The key is to only state the subject when it’s absolutely necessary. In this way, Japanese
lets you get straight to the important part of your sentence!

That wasn’t so bad, was it? We hope that this overview has given you a good idea of some of the
most unique characteristics of Japanese. Keeping these in mind will give you an idea of what to look
out for and will prepare you as you dive further into the world of Japanese grammar!
Class 1 verbs

話す ・ はなす ・ hanasu - To speak

聞く ・ きく ・ kiku - To listen

*行く ・ いく ・ iku - To go (Has irregular te-form and informal past tense)

泳ぐ ・ およぐ ・ oyogu - To swim

飲む ・ のむ ・ nomu - To drink

遊ぶ ・ あそぶ ・ asobu - To play

死ぬ ・ しぬ ・ shinu - To die

乗る ・ のる ・ noru - To ride

吸う ・ すう ・ suu - To breathe in; To smoke

待つ ・ まつ ・ matsu - To wait

Irregular verbs

する ・ suru - To do

くる ・ kuru - To come

Class 2 verbs

出る ・ でる ・ deru - To go out; To exit

起きる ・ おきる ・ okiru - To get up; To rise; To wake up

見る ・ みる ・ miru - To see; To watch

寝る ・ ねる ・ neru - To go to bed; To sleep

食べる ・ たべる ・ taberu - To eat

 話す ・ はなす ・ hanasu - To speak 
FORMAL INFORMAL

NONPAST
はなします はなす
hanashimasu hanasu

NEG., NONPAST
はなしません はなさない
hanashimasen hanasanai

PAST
はなしました はなした
hanashimashita hanashita

NEG., PAST
はなしませんでした はなさなかった
hanashimasendeshita hanasanakatta

VOLITIONAL
はなしましょう はなそう
hanashimashou hanasou

TE-FORM TAI-FORM

はなして はなしたい
hanashite hanashitai

CONDITIONAL PASSIVE CAUSATIVE IMPERATIVE

はなせば はなされる はなさせる はなせ

hanaseba hanasareru hanasaseru hanase
 聞く ・ きく ・ kiku - To listen 
FORMAL INFORMAL

NONPAST
ききます きく
kikimasu kiku

NEG., NONPAST
ききません きかない
kikimasen kikanai

PAST
ききました きいた
kikimashita kiita

NEG., PAST
ききませんでした きかなかった
kikimasendeshita kikanakatta

VOLITIONAL
ききましょう きこう
kikimashou kikou

TE-FORM TAI-FORM

きいて ききたい
kiite kikitai

CONDITIONAL PASSIVE CAUSATIVE IMPERATIVE

きけば きかれる きかせる きけ

kikeba kikareru kikaseru kike
 出る ・ でる ・ deru - To go out; To exit 
FORMAL INFORMAL

NONPAST
でます でる
demasu deru

NEG., NONPAST
でません でない
demasen denai

PAST
でました でた
demashita deta

NEG., PAST
でませんでした でなかった
demasendeshita denakatta

VOLITIONAL
でましょう でよう
demashou deyou

TE-FORM TAI-FORM

でて でたい
dete detai

CONDITIONAL PASSIVE CAUSATIVE IMPERATIVE

でれば でられる でさせる でろ

dereba derareru desaseru dero
起きる ・ おきる ・ okiru - To get up; To rise; To wake up 
FORMAL INFORMAL

NONPAST
おきます おきる
okimasu okiru

NEG., NONPAST
おきません おきない
okimasen okinai

PAST
おきました おきた
okimashita okita

NEG., PAST
おきませんでした おきなかった
okimasendeshita okinakatta

VOLITIONAL
おきましょう おきよう
okimashou okiyou

TE-FORM TAI-FORM

おきて おきたい
okite okitai

CONDITIONAL PASSIVE CAUSATIVE IMPERATIVE

おきれば おきられる おきさせる おきろ

okireba okirareru okisaseru okiro
する ・ する ・ suru - To do 
FORMAL INFORMAL

NONPAST
します する
shimasu suru

NEG., NONPAST
しません しない
shimasen shinai

PAST
しました した
shimashita shita

NEG., PAST
しませんでした しなかった
shimasendeshita shinakatta

VOLITIONAL
しましょう しよう
shimashou shiyou

TE-FORM TAI-FORM

して したい
shite shitai

CONDITIONAL PASSIVE CAUSATIVE IMPERATIVE

すれば される させる しろ

sureba sareru saseru shiro
 くる ・ くる ・ kuru - To come 
FORMAL INFORMAL

NONPAST
きます くる
kimasu kuru

NEG., NONPAST
きません こない
kimasen konai

PAST
きました きた
kimashita kita

NEG., PAST
きませんでした こなかった
kimasendeshita konakatta

VOLITIONAL
きましょう こよう
kimashou koyou

TE-FORM TAI-FORM

きて きたい
kite kitai

CONDITIONAL PASSIVE CAUSATIVE IMPERATIVE

くれば こられる こさせる こい

kureba korareru kosaseru koi