Grammar Flashcards
Common Sentence structure (May change depending)
Subject -> when -> where -> with whom -> what you did verb
E.g
I went to the cinema
Watashi wa cinema verb
Phrases
Subject phrases:
Noun -> grammatical particle e.g wa or ga or no e.g watashi wa gakusei desu (i is student) and kare mo tabemasu (he too eats)
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Predicate phrase (explaining subject)
Predicate itself is at the end of sentence
Kara wa isha desu (he is a doctor) or sono ko wa yasete imasu (that kid is skinny)
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Modifier phrase (adds detail to other phrases)
Watashi wa (akai ringo) o kaimashita - I bought a red apple. “Red apple” explains what “I bought”
Sakura no hana (totemo) kirei desu - cherry blossoms are “very” beautiful
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Independent phrase
Sā, dekakemashō.) – “Well, let’s go out.”
“Well” is independent from “Let’s go out.”
Kon’nichiwa, o-genki desu ka.) – “Hello, how are you?”
Same for hello here
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Conjunction phrase connects
Watashi wa ame ga kirai desu. (Shikashi), yuki wa suki desu.- I don’t like rain. However, I like snow
Kōcha ni shimasu ka, soretomo kōhī ni shimasu ka.) – “Would you like tea or would you like coffee?”
“Or” connects the former phrase with the latter.
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Word class system
Japanese words are classified into two categories:
自立語 (jiritsu-go) – “independent words” that have lexical meaning
付属語 (fuzoku-go) – “ancillary words” that have grammatical functions
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And are further divided into
活用語 (katsuyōg-o) – word classes that conjugate (verbs, adjectives, adjective verbs, auxiliary verbs)
非活用語 (hikatsuyō-go) – word classes that do not conjugate (nouns, adverbs, prenominals, conjunctions, interjections, grammatical particles)
Pronunciation tips
Focus on getting the sound right in front of your mouth or nasally when you speak
Don’t do a lot of mouth movements, keep the tongue mostly still and lips esp for vowels although the tongue is used a lot
Syllables alternatel in pitch
Sounds like one long word if ending vowel is same as starting vowel
