Japanese Grammar Guide - Suggestions

Sep 28, 2026

Japanese Grammar Guide by Tae Kim provides a structured approach to learning Japanese grammar, starting from why conventional textbooks can be problematic. It introduces the writing system, including scripts, intonation, kana (hiragana and katakana), and kanji fundamentals. The guide then progresses through core grammatical concepts such as basic sentence structures, particles and their functions, adjective and verb types, and key tense transformations to support practical sentence building.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages353

Reading Time14 h 50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The problem with conventional textbooks

A Japanese guide to learning Japanese grammar

Suggestions

The Writing System

The Scripts

Intonation

Hiragana

Katakana

Kanji

Basic Grammar

Basic Grammatical Structures

Expressing State-of-Being

Introduction to Particles

Adjectives

Verb Basics

Negative Verbs

Past Tense

Particles used with verbs

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Relative Clauses and Sentence Order

Noun-related Particles

Adverbs and Sentence-ending particles

Essential Grammar

Japanese Grammar Guide Tae Kim November 21, 2012 Contents 1 Introduction 11 1.1 The problem with conventional textbooks ...................... 11 1.2 A Japanese guide to learning Japanese grammar .................. 12 1.3 Suggestions ....................................... 13 2 The Writing System 15 2.1 The Scripts ....................................... 15 2.2 Intonation ........................................ 16 2.3 Hiragana ........................................ 16 2.3.1 The Muddied Sounds ............................. 18 2.3.2 The Small 「や」、「ゆ」、 and 「よ」 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2.3.3 The Small 「つ」 ............................... 20 2.3.4 The Long Vowel Sound ............................ 20 2.4 Katakana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.4. 1 The Long Vowel Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 2.4.2 The Small 「ア、イ、ウ、エ、オ」 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2.4.3 Some examples of words in Katakana .................... 25 2.5 Kanji ........................................... 26 2.5.1 What is Kanji? ................................. 26 2.5.2 Learning Kanji ................................. 26 2.5.3 Reading Kanji ................................. 27 2.5.4 Why Kanji? ................................... 28 3 Basic Grammar 29 3.1 Basic Grammatical Structures ............................. 29 3.2 Expressing State-of-Being ............................... 29 3.2.1 Declaring something is so and so using 「だ」 ............... 29 3.2.2 Conjugating to the negative state-of-being .................. 31 3.2.3 Conjugating to the past state-of-being .................... 32 3.2.4 Conjugation summary ............................. 32 3.3 Introduction to Particles ................................ 33 3.3.1 Defining grammatical functions with particles ................ 33 3.3.2 The 「は」 topic particle ........................... 33 3.3.3 The 「も」 inclusive topic particle ...................... 35 3.3.4 The 「が」 identifier particle ......................... 36 3.4 Adjectives ........................................ 38 3.4.1 Properties of Adjectives ............................ 38 3.4.2 The na-adjective ................................ 38 3.4.3 The i-adjective ................................. 40 3.4.4 An annoying exception ............................ 42 3.5 Verb Basics ....................................... 43 3.5.1 Role of Verbs .................................. 43 3.5.2 Classifying verbs into ru-verbs and u-verbs ................. 45 3.5.3 Appendix: iru/eru u-verbs ........................... 46 3.6 Negative Verbs ..................................... 47 3.6.1 Conjugating verbs into the negative ..................... 47 3.7 Past Tense ....................................... 50 3.7.1 Past tense for ru-verbs ............................ 50 3.7.2 Past tense for u-verbs ............................. 51 3.7.3 Past-negative tense for all verbs ....................... 52 3.8 Particles used with verbs ............................... 53 3.8.1 The direct object 「を」 particle ....................... 54 3.8.2 The target 「に」 particle ........................... 55 3.8.3 The directional 「へ」 particle ........................ 57 3.8.4 The contextual 「で」 particle ........................ 58 3.8.5 When location is the topic ........................... 60 3.8.6 When direct object is the topic ........................ 61 3.9 Transitive and Intransitive Verbs ........................... 62 3.9.1 Pay attention to particles! ........................... 62 3.10 Relative Clauses and Sentence Order ........................ 63 3.10.1 Treating verbs and state-of-being like adjectives .............. 63 3.10.2 Using state-of-being clauses as adjectives ................. 64 3.10.3 Using relative verb clauses as adjectives .................. 65 3.10.

FAQs

What problem does the guide identify with conventional Japanese grammar textbooks?

It explains that conventional textbooks can make learning harder, and it motivates using a more coherent Japanese guide to grammar acquisition.

Which components of the Japanese writing system are covered?

The guide covers the scripts, intonation, hiragana (including small sounds), katakana (including long vowel and small katakana), and kanji basics including learning and reading.

What core grammar topics are included after the writing system?

It covers basic grammatical structures, state-of-being expressions, particles and their functions, adjectives, verb fundamentals, negative forms, past tense, and how sentence order and clauses work.

Sep 28, 2026

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