Basic Japanese Grammar Creating basic sentences Creating questions

Basic Japanese Grammar Creating basic sentences Creating questions Creating negatives

Word order �Japanese is SOV (Subject + Object + Verb) スミスさん　は　にほん　に　いきます。 Sumisusan　wa nihon ni ikimasu. Smith (topic) Japan to will go. �English is SVO (Subject + Verb + Object) 　 Smith is going to Japan.

Basic punctuation �Japanese uses no spaces. 　(Spaces are used to help new learners of the language only. ) �　。= full stop �　、= comma

Topic - Wa �Topic (what the sentence is mainly about) is marked with Particle wa – は (hiragana ha but read wa). はなこさん　 は　がくせい　です。 Hanako san wa gakusei desu. Hanako (topic) student is. Hanako is a student. �The topic of the sentence is Hanako, the rest of the sentence provides information about the topic ie describes Hanako.

Ellipsis – omission of topic �When the topic is understood or obvious, it is common to omit the topic. わたし　は　がくせい　です。 Watashi wa gakusei desu. �First and second person pronouns (me – わたし watashi) (you – あなたanata) are often omitted, as they are obvious.

Creating questions - Ka �Simply add the Particle ka - か がくせい　です。 Gakusei desu. I’m a student. がくせい　です　か。 Gakusei desu ka. Are you a student?

Answering questions – no topic �Topic is often omitted when answering questions はなこさん　は　がくせい　です　か。 Hanakosan wa gakusei desu ka? Is Hanako a student? はい、はなこさん　は　がくせい　です。 Hai, Hanakosan wa gakusei desu. Yes, Hanako is a student she is.

Negatives �です desu ではありません　 OR じゃありません dewa arimasen (f) ja arimasen (if) がくせい　です。 Gakusei desu. I’m a student. がくせい　じゃありません。 Gakusei ja arimsen. I’m not a student.