Category Archives: Beginning Lessons

Questions and Negation is the primary follow-up to Using “Wa” and “Desu”, tripling what you can do with just one sentence structure. Related upcoming lessons: Two more sentence ending particles Question words (who/what/where/etc)

Pronouns and Plurals is the first follow-up to Using “Wa” and “Desu”. More short beginning lessons of this sort coming up. Here’s the preliminary outline for the near furture: Grammar-oriented: Asking Questions Sentence Ending Particles The Possessive Particle “No” Ko-so-a-do: … Continue reading →

As the first Beginning Lesson covering grammar, Using “Wa” and “Desu” introduces your first practical Japanese sentence structure: “[A] wa [B] desu”. Subsequent lessons will focus on grammar expanding the use of this basic pattern as well as some particular … Continue reading →

I’ve added an introduction to this very important particle, The Topic Marker “Wa”. Along with Desu and Masu, this is the bare minimum core grammar needed to start using formal spoken Japanese. The next few things in the works will … Continue reading →

This next grammar lesson is another overview. Japanese Word Classes covers nouns, pronouns, verbs, all three classes of adjectives, and particles. Verbs and adjectives especially will get a more detailed treatment in later lessons, as will demonstratives (“ko-so-a-do” words) and … Continue reading →

The second introductory grammar lesson, Desu and Masu, is now available. Desu is the Japanese copula, a verb meaning “to be”, and –masu is the polite verb suffix. Together with The Structure of a Japanese Sentence, this lesson covers the … Continue reading →