Full Table of Content

Preface

 

Chapter 1. Japanese syntax and structure

1. The syntax

1.1. "rōmaji"

1.2. The kana

1.2.1. The scripts

1.2.2. Voicing

1.2.3. Glides

1.2.4. Long vowels

1.2.5. The "Double consonant"s

1.2.6. Approximating non-Japanese sounds with katakana

1.3. Hiragana - 平仮名

1.4. Katakana - 片仮名

1.5. Kanji - 漢字

1.5.1. The history of kanji

1.5.2. Kanji readings

1.5.3. Why kanji are a blessing rather than a curse

1.5.4. Stroke orders, and why they matter

1.5.5. Looking up kanji

1.5.6. Compound pronunciations

1.6. How to write Japanese

2. The language

2.1. Word classes

2.1.1. Verbals

2.1.2. Nominals

2.1.3. Compound words

2.1.4. Adverbials

2.1.5. Sound words

2.1.6. Particles and modifiers

2.1.7. Prefixes

2.2. Accents and pitch

2.3. Gender roles

2.4. Sentence structure

2.5. Discourse

2.5.1. Context

2.5.2. Explicitly introducing context

2.5.3. Asking questions and context

2.5.4. A last bit on subjects, objects and verbs in discourse

 

Chapter 2. Verb conjugation

1. Classes and bases

2. Verb constructions

2.1. Mizenkei - 未然形

2.1.1. Negative

2.1.2. (ra)reru - (ら)れる

2.1.3. (sa)seru - (さ)せる

2.1.4. Causative passive - (さ)せられる

2.1.5. Pseudo-futurum

2.2. Renyoukei - 連用形

2.2.1. Conjunction

2.2.2. Conjugation

2.2.3. Forming nouns

2.3. Shuushikei - 終止形

2.4. Rentaikei - 連体形

2.4.1. Sentence ending

2.4.2. Predicative

2.4.3. Conjugation

2.5. Izenkei - 已然形

2.5.1. Hypothetical

2.6. Meireikei - 命令形

 

Chapter 3. Verbal adjective conjugation

1. Adjectival stem - 語幹

1.1. Word conjunction

1.1.1. Adjective / adjective

1.1.2. Adjective / noun

1.2. Impression - そう

1.3. Noun forms

1.3.1. Quantifying nouns - さ

1.3.2. Qualifying nouns - み

1.3.3. Subjective nouns - 気

2. Mizenkei - 未然形

3. Renyoukei - 連用形

3.1. Polite negative

3.2. Past tense - た

3.3. て form chaining

3.3.1. Adjective chaining

3.3.2. Negative imperative

3.3.3. Special て form

3.4. Forming nouns

3.5. Forming adverbs

3.6. Classical adverbs

3.7. Meireikei - 命令形

4. Rentaikei - 連体形

4.1. The modifier

4.2. The comparative

4.3. The superlative

5. Izenkei - 已然形

 

Chapter 4. Formality

1. Polite speech

1.1. です

1.2. だ instability

1.3. ます

1.4. ござる

2. Social differences

2.1. Humble verb form

2.2. Humble verbs

2.3. Honorific verb form

2.4. Honorific verbs

 

Chapter 5. Nouns and noun adjectives

1. Genitive vs. attributive

2. Inflections using です

3. Noun conditional

 

Chapter 6. Conjugation schemes

1. Regular verbs: 五段 verbs

1.1. Bases

1.2. Inflections

2. Regular verbs: 一段 verbs

2.1. Bases

2.2. Inflections

3. Irregular verbs: する (ずる/じる)

3.1. Bases

3.2. Inflections

4. Irregular verbs: くる (来る)

4.1. Bases

4.2. Inflections

5. Special verbs: ある

5.1. Bases

5.2. Inflections

6. Special verbs: だ/です

6.1. Bases for だ

6.2. Bases for です

6.3. Inflections

7. Special verbs: ます

7.1. Bases

7.2. Inflections

8. Special verbs: The five special base verbs

8.1. Bases for 御座る

8.2. Bases for いらっしゃる

8.3. Bases for おっしゃる

8.4. Bases for 下さる

8.5. Bases for なさる

9. Verbal adjective conjugation scheme

9.1. Bases

9.2. Inflections

9.3. Classical adverb form