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Japanese Grammar: What You Actually Need
The grammar patterns that cover most real-world Japanese. Shorter than the textbook makes it look.
- Core patterns for N5
- ~30
- Core patterns for N4
- ~60
- Gender/plural
- None
- Sentence order
- SOV (subject-object-verb)
How Japanese sentences are built
A Japanese sentence ends with the verb. Almost everything else can move around. The structure is typically: (Topic は) Subject が Object を Verb. Particles glue the phrases together; the verb closes them.
There's no grammatical gender. No singular vs plural distinction (usually). Adjectives come in two flavors (i-adjectives and na-adjectives). Verbs conjugate for tense, politeness, and a few aspects but not for person.
Politeness levels
This is the feature Japanese has that most learners are unprepared for. The same sentence can be expressed in casual, polite (-desu/-masu), honorific (keigo), or humble forms depending on the relationship between speaker and listener.
Start with the -desu/-masu polite form. It's safe in almost every situation. Casual and keigo come later.
Tense
Japanese has essentially two tenses: present/future and past. Future is marked by context, not a separate conjugation. The -te form strings events together. The -ta form is past. The -masu form is polite present/future.
This is dramatically simpler than English's 12 tenses.
Related reading
Common questions
Is Japanese grammar hard?+
It's different from English but structurally simpler. The hard parts are politeness levels and particles, not conjugation.
Do I need a grammar textbook?+
For the first year, yes. Genki or Tae Kim's free guide will both take you from zero to N4 grammar.