The Golden Rules of Japanese Grammar

Much has been discussed over the years about how difficult Japanese language is to learn, especially the writing system.

That’s how I felt for a long time, but I eventually had a moment of clarity and realized that Japanese grammar is internally consistent and straightforward, like Latin. However, those grammar rules are considerably different than English or other European languages, which is where people often get hung up.

So, what follows are, in my opinion, the basic rules that govern Japanese grammar. My hope for you is that in understanding these rules, Japanese language doesn’t seem so hard to comprehend. I call these the Golden Rules of Japanese Grammar.

Note: knowing how to read hiragana is a big help, worth doing anyway if you’re serious about learning Japanese. This article assumes you know how. If you want to study Japanese, but still don’t know hiragana, please stop and review first.

1. The main verb comes at the very end. No matter how long, or how short, a sentence is, the main verb is always last.
2. The copula です (polite) or だ (informal) can be a placeholder for the final particle + verb, where appropriate.
3. The final verb/copula determines the tense (past, present, ongoing, etc) of the whole sentence.
4. Verbs modify nouns directly: 食たべている犬いぬ (the dog that’s eating)
5. Adjectives modify nouns directly, or with a な in the case of “na-adjectives”: 可愛かわいい犬いぬ (a cute dog), or 静しずかな犬いぬ (a quiet dog).
6. Nouns can modify other nouns using the の particle: ジムの本ほん (Jim’s book)
7. Adverbs always come just before the verb. Amounts count as adverbs, too. ウサギうさぎが３羽わ見みえる。(I see three rabbits)
8. Verbs usually come in pairs: a transitive one (that does something to something) and an intransitive one (something is). The transitive one usually uses the direct-object を marker, the intransitive verb uses either に or が particles.
9. Intransitive verbs describe things, describe ongoing state. コップこっぷが落おちている。(the cup fell down/ has fallen down, not “is falling down”).
10. Many things are expressed as nouns, including grammar points.

This is definitely not a comprehensive list, and like any language, grammar is complex and varied, but if you remember the patterns above, you’ll be surprised how often you see they reappear over and over.

Using the example above from my old Anki flashcards, the grammar point わけ behaves like a noun, with the verb 返かえす directly modifying it. Even if you are learning this grammar point for the first time, you can see how it fits into the rules described above.

Good luck and happy studying!

P.S. this is how you write furigana in WordPress, if curious.