The Japanese grammar reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
(provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Japanese grammar

A newer version of this article is available: see Japanese grammar at Schools Wikipedia
People like you are child sponsors
This article deals with the grammar of the Japanese Language.

=Introduction= The study of Japanese grammar began only in the Meiji era as a part of the "Europeanization" process. Japanese has most likely been the same as long as it has existed; the oldest literary works have the same basic grammar.

See also:

=Politeness= Unlike most western languages, Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality.

Broadly speaking, there are three main politeness levels in spoken Japanese: the plain form kudaketa 砕けた, the polite form teineigo 丁寧語 and the very polite form keigo 敬語.

Since most relationships are not equal in Japanese society, one person typically has a higher position. This position is determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological state (for example, a person asking a favor tends to do so politely). The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other might use a more plain form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Both overly casual and overly polite speech may be deemed insulting. Japanese children rarely use polite speech until their teenage years, at which point they are expected to begin speaking in a more adult manner.

Many researchers report that since the 1990s, the use of polite forms has become rarer, particularly among the young, who employ politeness to indicate a lack of familiarity. That is, they use polite forms for new acquaintances, but as a relationship becomes more intimate, they speak more frankly. This often occurs regardless of age, social class, or gender.

Table of contents
1 Plain
2 Polite
3 Very polite
4 Polite nouns
5 Personal pronouns
6 Impersonal pronouns
7 ka か (question)
8 wa は (topic, contrast)
9 ga が (subject, but)
10 o を (object)
11 no の (possession, apposition)
12 ni に (indirect object, time, location, direction)
13 e へ (direction)
14 de で (location, means)
15 kara から (starts at, from, because)
16 made まで (until)
17 mo も (also)
18 to と (together with, complete and, quotation)
19 ya や (incomplete and)
20 ne ね (emphasis or asking for agreement)
21 yo よ (used for emphasis or when offering an opinion)
22 I-adjectives
23 Polite i-adjectives
24 Honorific i-adjectives
25 Na-adjectives
26 Conjugation
27 Other verb forms
28 Honorific verbs
29 See Also

Plain

Plain speech is used in everyday speech among family and friends.

The plain form in Japanese is recognized by the "dictionary form" of verbs and the da form of the copula.

Polite

Polite speech is used with strangers, immediate superiors, etc. The general rules are: to an older person from a younger person, to a teacher from a student, to a worker from the one being serviced, and to a customer from a seller. Unlike other foreign languages, this is a very situational grammar. For example, a doctor treating a patient would be addressed politely by the patient. Then if the same patient delivers a parcel to the same doctor, the doctor would be the one to use the polite speech. When in doubt of which level of politeness to use, one should use normal polite speech.

In polite speech, verbs end with the helping verb -masu, and the copula desu is used.

Very polite

Very polite speech is the highest level of politeness in the Japanese language, and is used with those far above you, such as company presidents, royalty, elders, or other respected people. Nouns, verbs, and adjectives all change in the honorific.

The very polite form, actually consists of two kinds of politeness: honorific language sonkeigo 尊敬語 and humble language kenjōgo 謙譲語. Whereas teineigo is an inflectional system, keigo often employs many special (often irregular) honorific and humble verb forms.

The difference between honorific and humble speech is particularly pronounced in the Japanese language. Humble language is used to talk about oneself or one's own group (company, family) whilst honorific language is mostly used when describing the interlocutor and his group. For example, the -sama suffix ("Mr.", "Mrs." or "Ms.") is an example of honorific language. It should not be used to talk about oneself. Nor should it be employed when talking about someone from one's own company to an external person, since the company is the speaker's "group".

Most nouns in the Japanese language may be made honorific by the addition of the prefix o- お or go- ご. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word and is included even in non-honorific speech, such as gohan ご飯 "rice". Such a construction usually indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the word tomodachi 友達 "friend" becomes o-tomodachi お友達 when referring to the friend of someone of higher status. On the other hand, a female speaker may sometimes refer to mizu 水 "water" as o-mizu お水 merely to show her cultural refinement, compared to more abrupt male speech patterns.

=Word order= Japanese is a SOV (Subject Object Verb) language. For example,

猫は魚を食べる
neko wa sakana o taberu
Cat (topic) fish (object) eat
= The cat eats the fish

Word order is flexible for emphasis or in poetry, so these word orders are possible:

魚を猫は食べる
sakana o neko wa taberu

猫は魚を食べる
taberu neko wa sakana o

When it is clear from the context, the subject is often omitted:

魚を食べる
sakana o taberu
(It) eats fish.

=Nouns= Japanese nouns are non-inflecting, have no gender, and take no articles. Thus neko 猫 could be translated into English as "cat", "a cat", "the cat", "cats", or "the cats", depending on context.

Polite nouns

The o~ prefix is used for nouns of Japanese origin, and go- for nouns of Chinese origin. A few nouns become polite by acquiring the mi~ or on~ prefix attached. Some nouns have completely different forms that should be used in polite or honorific speech. For example:
Plain Polite Meaning
han 飯 gohan ご飯 "rice"
kane 金 okane お金 "money", "gold"
karada 体 onmi 御身 "body"
kotoba 言葉 mikotonori 詔1 "words"

1 mikotonori 詔 means "Imperial decree" or in the ancient time, "words from gods".

Personal pronouns

Japanese uses personal pronouns rarely: only when the indicated person can't be deduced from the context. For example, nihon ni ikimashita means "went to Japan" with no subject indicated: if the previous conversation or text has been about my travels, then it means "I went to Japan", but if it has been about my teacher, then it means "She went to Japan".

Japanese has many nouns that can be used as personal pronouns; see http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/%7Ejwb/afaq/pronoun.html for a long list.

This table gives the most common personal pronouns:
Person Plain Polite Honorific
First boku 僕 (male)
     atashi あたし (female)
 watashi 私 watakushi 私
Second kimi 君 (male to female)
name		 anata 貴方 "your side"
     name~san ーさん
 otaku お宅 "your house"
     name~sama ーさま
Third ano hito あの人 "that person"
name name~san ーさん name~sama ーさま

The plural forms of watashi and anata are watashitachi 私達 and anatatachi 貴方達 respectively. Not commonly used, but boku and kimi may be made plural by adding ra at the end ; bokura and kimira.

Impersonal pronouns

Impersonal pronouns use the ko-so-a-do system which indicates the relationship of the noun to the speaker and listener. ko~ pronouns are close to, in the direction of, or in the possession of the speaker, so~ pronouns are close to the listener, and a~ pronouns are close to neither. do~ pronouns are used in questions.
ko~ so~ a~ do~
Thing kore "this one/mine" sore "that one/yours" are "that one" dore "what"
dare "who"
Direction1 kochira "this/my way" sochira "that/your way" achira "that way" dochira "which way"
Kind of konna "this/my kind of" sonna "that/your kind of" anna "that kind of" donna "what kind of"
Manner kō "in this/my manner" sō "in that/your manner" aa "in that manner" dō "how"
Place koko "here" soko "there" asoko "there" doko "where"
Demonstrative2 kono "this/my" sono "that/your" ano "that" dono "which"

1 Direction pronouns are also used for people, for example

こちらは林さんです
kochira wa Hayashi-san desu
This is Mr Hayashi

2 Demonstratives precede nouns, so kono hon この本 means "this book" or "my book", sono hon その本 means "that book" or "your book" and so on.

=Particles= Japanese indicates the grammatical role of a noun, clause or phrase by following it with a particle.

(TODO: This list is far from complete.)

ka か (question)

猫は魚を食べるか
neko wa sakana o taberu ka
Does the cat eat fish?

wa は (topic, contrast)

猫は魚を食べる
neko wa sakana o taberu
The cat eats the fish

ga が (subject, but)

海が青い
umi ga aoi
The sea is blue

和子は目が青い
Kazuko wa me ga kuroi
Kazuko's eyes are black

日本語は難しいが面白い
nihongo wa muzakashii ga omoshiroi
The Japanese language is hard but interesting

o を (object)

水を飲む
mizu o nomu
(I) drink water

no の (possession, apposition)

日本の料理はおいしい
nihon no ryōri wa oishii
Japanese cuisine is delicious

こちらは先生の林さんです
kochira wa sensei no Hayashi san desu
This is (my) teacher Mr Hayashi

ni に (indirect object, time, location, direction)

父に本を上げました
chichi ni hon o agemashita
(I) gave my father a book

金曜日に行く
kinyōbi ni iku
(I am) going on Friday

先生は学校にいます
sensei wa gakkō ni imasu
The teacher is in the school

日本に行く
Nihon ni iku
(I am) going to Japan

本当に面白いです
hontō ni omoshiroi desu
(It) is truly interesting.

e へ (direction)

日本へ行く
Nihon e iku
(I am) going to Japan

de で (location, means)

本屋で本を買いました
honya de hon o kaimashita
(I) bought a book at the bookstore

東京に電車で行きました
Tōkyō ni densha de ikimashita
(I) went to Tokyo by train

kara から (starts at, from, because)

夏休み七月からです
natsu yasumi wa shichigatsu kara desu
Summer holiday begins in July

日本から帰る
Nihon kara kaeru
(I am) coming home from Japan

和子は目が青いからすきです
Kazuko wa me ga kuroi kara suki desu
I like Kazuko because her eyes are black

made まで (until)

冬は三月二十日までです
fuyu wa sangatsu hatsuka made desu
Winter ends on March 20th.

mo も (also)

海が青い。空も青い
umi ga aoi. sora mo aoi
The sea is blue. The sky is also blue

to と (together with, complete and, quotation)

家内と日本に行きました
kanai to Nihon ni ikimashita
(I) went to Japan with (my) wife

パンとジュースを買いました
pan to juusu o kaimashita
(I) bought bread and juice.

眠いと言いました
nemui to iimashita
(He) said (he's) sleepy.

ya や (incomplete and)

東京や京都に行きました
Tōkyō ya Kyōto ni ikimashita
(I) went to Tokyo and Kyoto (and …)

ne ね (emphasis or asking for agreement)

寒いですね
samui desu ne
Cold, isn't it?

yo よ (used for emphasis or when offering an opinion)

寒いですよ
samui desu yo
It's cold, I tell you!

=Adjectives= Japanese has two categories of adjective: i-adjectives (keiyōshi 形容詞) act like verbs and na-adjectives (rentaishi 連体詞) act like nouns.

I-adjectives

An i-adjective (so called because the dictionary form ends in ~i) modifies the noun that it precedes. For example, hayai 早い means "fast":

早い車
hayai kuruma
fast car

But hayai 早い can also act as a verb meaning "is fast":

車が早い
kuruma ga hayai
The car is fast

I-adjectives inflect as follows:
Imperfect Perfect Gerund Adverb Noun
Positive 早い
hayai
is fast		 早かった
hayakatta
was fast		 早くて
hayakute
the speeding		 早く
hayaku
quickly		 早さ
hayasa
quickness
Negative 早くない
hayakunai
is not fast		 早くなかった
hayakunakatta
was not fast		 早なくて
hayanakute
the not speeding

Polite i-adjectives

Polite speech does not use the adjective by itself as a verb, but adds the polite copula "desu". For example:

本は赤い
hon wa akai
The book is red (plain)

本は赤いです
hon wa akai desu
The book is red (polite)

Honorific i-adjectives

Historically, honorific versions of i-adjectives were formed by changing the adjective suffix:
Plain Honorific Meaning
akai akō "red"
osoi osō "slow"
atarashii atarashū "new"

However, modern Japanese only retains this adjective formation in set phrases.

Also, instead of using the polite copula desu, the honorific copula de gozaimasu or de irasshaimasu must be used.

Na-adjectives

A na-adjective is a noun that turns into an adjective when followed by na な and into an adverb when followed by ni に. When used with na it modifies the following noun. For example:

=Verbs=

Conjugation

All verbs have a "dictionary form" ending in ~u (so-called because verbs appear in dictionaries in this form).

There are two conjugation classes, "Group 1" (godandōshi) and "Group 2" (ichidandōshi; ending in "~iru" or "~eru"), and a handful of irregular verbs (aru, iru, kuru, suru).

Table of inflected forms

(TODO: This table is missing tentative, ~sai, ~nasai. Also, how do you make the passive, causative and potential stems for the irregular verbs?)
Regular formation? Example
Dictionary form - yomu, "read"
Infinitive group 1: dictionary form: replace ~u with ~i
     group 2: dictionary form: remove ~ru
 yomi
Stem group 1: dictionary form: replace ~u with ~a
     group 2: dictionary form: remove ~ru
 yoma~
Active Polite Imperfect Positive infinitive + ~masu yomimasu "read"
Negative infinitive + ~masen yomimasen "don't read"
Perfect Positive infinitive + ~mashita yomimashita "did read"
Negative infinitive + ~masendeshita yomimasendeshita "didn't read"
Volitional infinitive + ~mashō yomimashō "let's read"
Plain Imperfect Positive dictionary form yomu "read"
Negative2 stem + ~nai yomanai "don't read"
Perfect Positive (~ta form) group 1: see table below
     group 2: infinitive + ~ta
 yonda "did read"
Negative stem + ~nakatta yomanakatta "didn't read"
Gerund (~te form) Positive In ~ta form replace ~a with ~e yonde "reading"
Negative stem + ~nakute yomanakute "not reading"
Desiderative infinitive + ~tai yomitai "want to read"
Conditional dictionary form: replace ~u with ~eba yomeba "if (I) read"
Passive1 group 1: stem + ~reru
     group 2: stem + ~rareru
 yomareru "is read"
Causative1 group 1: stem + ~seru
     group 2: stem + ~saseru
 yomaseru "cause to read"
Potential1 group 1: dictionary form: replace ~u with ~eru
     group 2: stem  + ~rareru
 yomeru "can read"
Imperative Positive dictionary form: replace ~u with ~e yome "read!"
Negative dictionary form + ~na yomuna "don't read!"

1 Passive, causative and potential forms become the dictionary form of a new verb, which then inflect like a group 2 verb. For example the causative form of yomu is yomaseru "cause to read", which can then inflect to become yomasemashita "caused to read (polite)", yomasetai "want to cause to read" and so on.

The plain negative and desiderative forms of verbs act and inflect like adjectives. For example, tabetai "want to eat"; tabetakunai "do not want to eat"; taberaretankunatta "did not want to be eaten".

Table of stems
Category infinitive1 stem1 ~ta form Example
Group 1 Regular ~u ~i ~wa~ ~tta au 合う "meet"
~ku ~ki ~ka~ ~ita kiku 聞く "listen"
~gu ~gi ~ga~ ~ida oyogu 泳ぐ "swim"
~su ~shi ~sa~ ~shita hanasu 話す "speak"
~tsu ~chi ~ta~ ~tta matsu 松 "wait"
~nu ~ni ~na~ ~nda shinu 死ぬ "die"
~mu ~mi ~ma~ ~nda yomu 読む "read"
~bu ~bi ~ba~ ~nda asobu 遊ぶ "visit"
~ru ~ri ~ra~ ~tta kaeru 帰る "return home"
Irregular2 aru ari ~ atta aru ある "be (inanimate)"
iku iki ika~ itta iku 行く "go"
iru i ira~ ita iru いる "be (animate)"
Group 2 ~iru ~i ~i~ ~ita miru 見る "see"
~eru ~e ~e~ ~eta taberu 食べる "eat"
Irregular3 kuru ki ko~ kita kuru 来る "come"
suru shi shi~ shita suru する "do"

1 The infinitive and stem are formed regularly for group 1 verbs by replacing ~u with ~i and ~a respectively in the dictionary form, but this is somewhat obscured by the use of Hepburn romanization.

2 These verbs are regular except for the form indicated in bold. Thus aru → nai (not *aranai); iku → itta (not *iita); iru → imasu (not *irimasu).

3 Derived forms of these verbs inflect in the same way. Thus mottekuru "bring" inflects like kuru and benkyōsuru "study" inflects like suru.

Group 1 verbs ending in ~eru and ~iru

These verbs look as though they should be in Group 2, but are actually in Group 1: (TODO: complete this list)

Other verb forms

(TODO: Japanese has many constructions involving phrasal or auxiliary verbs.)

A gerund (~te form) is usualy followed by another verb. For example, terebi o mite iru, "(He) is watching TV". See http://nihongoresources.com/grammar/verbaddenda.htm for a complete list of verbs that follow a verb in the ~te form.

tabete kudasai "please eat"

tabete imasu "be eating"

tabete imashita "used to eat"

Honorific verbs

Rules are very diverse and the only certain rule is that you may not use same word as in polite speech. There is no definite guidelines for when one is appropriate and using the highest form is not appropriate for all situations. The way and the level listener has spoken to the speaker can be used as a measure of honorific needed. The next form is more honorific than the one before:

  1. miru "see"
  2. haikensuru "allowed to see"
  3. haikensasetemorau
  4. haikensaseteitadaku

=TODO=

See Also