I found an excellent Japanese Grammar text by Tae Kim, so I decided to write down my notes while studying it. I am a near complete beginner in Japanese, but I know some basics such as the hiraganas and katanagas. I am also a native mandarin speaker, so Kanja is not difficult for me. Thus, this would be a very idiosyncratic note that is specifically tailored to my learning journey.

Sounds

50 Sounds

There are 50 sounds and two intonations (Low and High). 五十音 is the basic Japanese sound chart. Each cell gives ひらがな, カタカナ, its ローマ字 reading, and (in parentheses) the 万葉仮名 source of the ひらがな. Voiced variants appear below their base kana: ゛ 濁点 and ゜ 半濁点.

Small Characters

Small や・ゆ・よ

Small ゃ・ゅ・ょ (and ャ・ュ・ョ) combine with an i-column kana to make one モーラ. For example, きゃ is kya, not ki-ya.

Small katakana vowels

Small katakana vowels—ァ・ィ・ゥ・ェ・ォ—are used mainly to write loanword sounds that the basic chart does not contain. They also form one モーラ with the preceding kana.

Small つ

Small っ (or ッ in カタカナ) is called 促音. It is a one-モーラ pause before the next consonant, which is then held or doubled in ローマ字. It is not pronounced as tsu.

Vowel Extension

Long vowels (長音) last for two モーラ, so vowel length can change a word’s meaning. In ひらがな, a long vowel is usually written with an additional vowel kana. In particular, えい is often pronounced as a long ē, and おう as a long ō. In カタカナ, the long-vowel mark ー is normally used instead.

音読み and 訓読み

A kanji does not have one fixed pronunciation. 音読み（おんよみ） are readings borrowed from historical Chinese, while 訓読み（くんよみ） are native Japanese words attached to a kanji’s meaning. 音読み often appear in compounds of two or more kanji; 訓読み often appear when a kanji stands alone or is followed by ひらがな (送り仮名).

For a Mandarin speaker, 音読み may sometimes help with recognizing shared Chinese vocabulary, such as 学生／学生, but they preserve older Chinese pronunciations and are not reliably predictable from modern Mandarin.

Pitch Accent

Japanese uses pitch accent (高低アクセント): each モーラ is pronounced at a relatively high or low pitch. The pattern belongs to the whole word, not to an individual kana, and a fall in pitch can distinguish otherwise identical words. For example, in the Tokyo pattern, H means relatively high and L means relatively low:

The same kana, あめ, can therefore have different meanings solely through its pitch pattern.

Basic Grammar

Expressing State of Being

The informal copula forms are だ (affirmative), じゃない (negative), だった (past), and じゃなかった (past negative).

Polite Forms: です and ます

The forms above are plain forms, used with close friends, family, diaries, and casual speech. In polite conversation, use です after nouns and adjectives, and ます after verbs. Politeness changes the sentence ending, not the basic word order.

For a る-verb, remove る before adding ます. For a う-verb, change the final kana to the i-row before adding ます. The main polite verb forms are:

For polite state-of-being sentences, use 学生です, 学生ではありません, 学生でした, and 学生ではありませんでした. Use plain forms with people close to you; です／ます is the safe default with strangers, teachers, customers, and colleagues.

Particles

Topic, inclusion, and subject particles

Particles follow words to show their role in a sentence. The three most useful ones at the beginning are は, も, and が.

Although は and が can both follow a person, they change the focus. 私は学生だ says something about me; 私が学生だ identifies me as the person who is the student. When は is a particle, it is pronounced wa, not ha.

With a negative predicate, も often means “also not” or “neither”: 私は肉を食べない。魚も食べない。 means “I do not eat meat. I do not eat fish either.”

Particles used with verbs

The following particles show how a noun relates to a verb.

に and へ can both mark a destination. に presents it as the target or endpoint, while へ emphasizes the direction. Do not use で for a destination: 学校で行く is incorrect because で marks the place where an action takes place, not where one goes.

The topic particle は (wa) and the inclusive particle も (mo, “also” or “too”) can follow particles such as に, へ, and で. The first particle keeps its usual role, while は makes that relationship the topic and も includes an additional instance.

With が and を, however, は and も replace the original particle rather than following it.

So 私がは学生だ and 本をも読む are not the normal forms. Use noun + particle + は／も for particles such as に and で, but noun + は／も when replacing が or を.

Time, range, and quotation particles

The following particles add a time, endpoint, or quoted thought to a sentence. The quotation particle と is different from the listing と above.

Time words such as 今日, 明日, 毎日, and 週末 usually do not take に. In 明日行くと思う, the clause 明日行く is the thought being quoted: “I think [I] will go tomorrow.”

Listing particles

Japanese has several ways to list nouns. The choice tells the listener whether the list is complete or only gives examples.

Use と when “A and B” is meant literally and completely. Use や or とか when more items may be left unsaid; や is neutral, while とか is more conversational.

The の particle

The particle の (no) has several related uses. Its central role is to let the preceding expression describe, stand for, or function as a noun.

Linking nouns. In A の B, B is the main noun and A describes its owner, origin, type, or some other relationship. Depending on context, English may use “’s,” “of,” “in,” or an adjective.

The particle can be chained: 日本の大学の先生 means “a teacher at a university in Japan.” Read such phrases from the right: the final noun is the thing being described.

Replacing a noun or nominalizing a clause. の can stand in for a noun that is clear from context, much like English “one,” or turn a modifying phrase or clause into a noun-like unit that can take a particle.

Giving an explanation. Adding だ to this noun-like の gives のだ, commonly shortened to んだ. It presents the preceding statement as an explanation or background: 遅れたんだ means “The reason is that I was late” or simply “I was late, you see.” Sentence-final の is common in questions that ask for an explanation, as in どうしたの？ (“What happened?”).

In relative clauses. の can mark the subject inside a relative clause, as in 私の作ったケーキ (“the cake I made”); が is the more general choice.

Sentence Ending Particles

Sentence-ending particles come after the predicate and express the speaker’s attitude toward what was said: whether it is a question, new information, a request for agreement, or a private reflection. They do not change the basic grammatical role of the words before them, and their meaning depends strongly on context and tone.

These are common combinations, not a set of particles that can be combined freely. In casual conversation, か is often omitted and a rising intonation marks the question instead.

Demonstratives and Question Words

Japanese demonstratives distinguish things near the speaker, near the listener, and away from both. これ, それ, あれ, and どれ stand alone; この, その, あの, and どの must be followed by a noun.

Question words take the same particles as ordinary nouns: 何を食べる, 誰に会う, and どこで勉強する. In polite speech, add か when appropriate: どこに行きますか。

Adjectives

Japanese adjectives divide into two main groups. い-adjectives usually end in い and conjugate themselves. な-adjectives use な before a noun, but use the copula だ when they end a sentence.

い-adjectives

For an い-adjective, remove the final い and add the relevant ending. Using 高い (takai, “high” or “expensive”):

Exception: いい. The adjective いい (ii, “good”) is irregular: its affirmative non-past form is いい, but the other forms use よ- rather than い-.

かっこいい (kakkoii, “cool”) follows the same pattern: かっこよくない, かっこよかった, and かっこよくなかった. By contrast, かわいい (kawaii, “cute”) is regular: かわいくない and かわいかった.

な-adjectives

For a な-adjective, conjugate the following copula just as with a noun. Using 静か (shizuka, “quiet”):

The ending alone is not a perfect test: きれい (kirei, “pretty/clean”) ends in い but is a な-adjective, so it becomes きれいな部屋 and きれいだ.

Verbs

Japanese verbs do not change for person or number. The two main regular classes are る-verbs (一段 verbs) and う-verbs (五段 verbs). The tables below use plain, informal forms.

る-verbs

For a る-verb, remove る and add the relevant ending. Using 食べる (taberu, “to eat”):

う-verbs

For an う-verb, the final kana changes. In the negative, change it to the a-row and add ない; for verbs ending in う, use わない rather than あない. Using 書く (kaku, “to write”):

The past-positive form is the part that depends on the final kana. The past-negative form is regular: first make the non-past negative, then replace ない with なかった. For example, 書く → 書かない → 書かなかった and 買う → 買わない → 買わなかった.

The past-positive endings are:

Exceptions: る-ending う-verbs. Not every verb ending in る is a る-verb. The following common verbs end in い-る or え-る but are actually う-verbs; they keep their r-sound when conjugated.

Exception: 行く. 行く (iku, “to go”) is a う-verb, but its past-positive form uses った rather than the usual く → いた pattern.

The て-form

The て-form is not a tense by itself. It links actions and appears in many important patterns. For a る-verb, replace る with て. For a う-verb, use the same groups as the past form, but replace た／だ with て／で.

行く is again an exception: 行って, not 行いて. Common uses include:

The meaning of 〜ている is not always “right now”: 日本に住んでいる means “live in Japan,” a continuing state.

Existence: ある and いる

Use ある for inanimate things and いる for people and animals. The usual pattern is place に thing が ある／いる: the place is marked by に, and the thing that exists is marked by が.

The same fact can be introduced with the location as the topic: 本はテーブルの上にある (“The book is on the table”).

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs (他動詞, tadōshi) describe an action done to something. That thing is the direct object and is normally marked with を. Intransitive verbs (自動詞, jidōshi) describe a state, movement, or change that happens without a direct object; the thing undergoing the change is often marked with が.

Japanese often has related intransitive–transitive pairs, but their forms must be learned as vocabulary.

The choice changes the perspective: ドアが開いた says “the door opened,” without saying who did it, while 誰かがドアを開けた says “someone opened the door.”

Adverbs

Changing Adjectives to Adverbs

An adjective can modify a verb to say how an action happens. For an い-adjective, replace the final い with く. For a な-adjective, add に to the adjective stem. The resulting form is an adverbial phrase.

The adjective keeps its ordinary form before a noun—高い山, 静かな部屋—but uses く or に before a verb. Remember that きれい is a な-adjective despite ending in い, so its adverbial form is きれいに, not きれいく.

Clauses and Sentence Order

Sentence Structure

Japanese normally places the predicate—a verb, adjective, or state-of-being expression—at the end of the sentence. A common verb-sentence pattern is:

topic / subject + time or place + object + verb

Particles show the role of each phrase, so the earlier parts can sometimes move for emphasis, but the predicate normally remains last.

The subject is often omitted when it is clear from context: 本を読む can mean “I read a book” without saying 私は. Questions keep the same order and add か at the end in polite or neutral speech: 本を読みますか。 (“Do you read books?”).

Omission and Focus

Japanese leaves out the subject, object, and other phrases when the listener can recover them from context. 食べた may mean “I ate,” “she ate,” or “[we] ate,” depending on the conversation. Adding every English-style pronoun can sound repetitive, so state only the information that needs to be clear.

The choice between は and が also controls focus. は establishes the topic or a contrast—私は学生だ (“As for me, I am a student”)—while が identifies or introduces the subject—誰が学生？　私が学生だ (“Who is the student? I am”). A sentence can omit its topic entirely when it is already understood.

Reasons and Contrast

Japanese connects clauses with words placed after the first clause. Use から or ので for a reason, and けど for contrast.

After a noun or な-adjective, use だから／なので／だけど: 学生だから勉強する and 静かなので好きだ. Verbs and い-adjectives use their plain form: 高いけど便利だ. けど can also end a sentence to soften what follows or leave the contrast understood.

Using state-of-being clauses as adjectives

A state-of-being clause says what something is, is like, or is not, rather than what it does. Its predicate uses the copula だ (or one of its forms) with a noun or な-adjective: 田中さんは学生だ (“Mr. Tanaka is a student”), この町は静かだ (“this town is quiet”), and 田中さんは学生ではない (“Mr. Tanaka is not a student”). An action clause instead ends in a verb, such as 田中さんが来た (“Mr. Tanaka came”).

To make a relative clause, put the complete plain-form clause before the noun. Japanese does not add words like “who,” “which,” or “that”; the following noun fills the role that is understood inside the clause.

State-of-being clauses follow the same word order, but their present-positive forms need special attention. For a な-adjective, replace だ with な. For an ordinary noun, use である when the clause needs to state what the person or thing is. Past and negative forms can be placed before the noun unchanged.

Thus, do not say 学生だ人 or 学生な人. Compare the order: 昨日会った人 is literally “yesterday met person,” while 学生だった人 is literally “student was person.” In both cases, the whole clause comes first and the noun it describes comes last.