日本語を学ぼう Learn Japanese

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clawgrip
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日本語を学ぼう Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

I'm not sure how much interest there is in learning Japanese, but I'll post a bit here anyway. If people want me to continue, let me know, and I'll keep going.

Introduction to Basic Japanese
Japanese is a Japonic language with no identified relatives outside of Japan itself (the only relatives being the closely related Ryukyu languages of Okinawa). It is a synthetic language, particularly in the conjugation of verbs. Politeness is a very important part of Japanese, and is encoded in verb conjugation and also expressed in a variety of fixed expressions, pronouns, and active avoidance of pronouns. Japanese is a near perfect model of a head-final language, with few, if any exceptions. Word order is SOV and sentence structure is based on the topic-comment pattern, which at first poses a major headache for speakers of languages such as English. It is also heavily pro-drop, preferring to leave out anything that is recoverable from context.

The phonology is fairly simple, but with a few sounds that are notoriously difficult for learners. The language has a lexical pitch accent that varies considerably from region to region, and is the primary difference in pronunciation between dialects, much like vowels in English.

The system of written Japanese is almost certainly the most difficult modern writing system on the planet to learn. It consists of two phonetic scripts (kana) used in combination with Chinese characters (kanji), a significant number of which have simplifications unique to Japan. While the two phonetic writing systems generally write words exactly as they are pronounced (with only around two very common and easily learned exceptions), most kanji can be pronounced in at least two ways, often three or more, and there are a few with a baffling array of possible pronunciations.

The first two lessons of this guide will focus on pronunciation, the next two on writing, and following that, if there is interest, we will get into practical language lessons.

Contents: Lesson 1: Phonology
First I will give you the basics of vowels and consonants, and then I will followed it up with additional information on both.

Vowels:

Code: Select all

<i>     i          <u> ɯ
<ii, ī> iː         <ū> ɯː
<e>     e          <o> o
<ei, ē> eː         <ō> oː
            <a> a
            <ā> aː
Notes:
• You may also see <uu ee oo aa> when the vowels belong to different morphemes. Pronounce them the same as long vowels. If <ei> occurs across morpheme boundaries, it is pronounced /ei/, e.g. fu-kei-ki “(economic) recession” is pronounced /ɸɯkeːki/ while tame-iki “sigh” is pronounced [tameiki]. There is no reliable way to differentiate them based on orthography alone.

• As you can see, Japanese has a very simple five-vowel system. The vowels are all pure, with no offglide. Sometimes a glide can change the meaning, e.g. Keiō /keːoː/ and Keiyō /keːjoː/ are two completely different train lines, both originating within Tokyo.

• There are technically no diphthongs, but theoretically any vowel may potentially appear beside any other, in any number, especially across word boundaries. All vowels should be pronounced distinctly, e.g. in this sentence, Arumihoiru de kan no ue o ōi, ana o akete kudasai, “Cover the top of the can with aluminum foil and make a hole.”

• /ɯ/ often poses trouble for learners and is unexpectedly difficult to get right. While it is usually written as /ɯ/ because the lips are not rounded, they are in fact compressed somewhat. It is not unusual to hear this vowel fronted a little as well.

• /i/ is a very high and tense vowel, and causes palatalization or the preceding consonant.

Consonants:

Code: Select all

<m> m  <n>  n          <n(’)> ɴ
<p> p  <t>  t  <ch> ʨ  <k> k
<b> b  <d>  d  <j>  ʥ  <g> ɡ
<f> ɸ  <s>  s  <sh> ɕ  <h> h
       <z>  z
       <ts> ʦ
       <r>  ɺ
<w> w          <y>  j
Notes:
• /ɺ/ is problematic. It is easy for English speakers to mistake the sound for a /d/.

• /ɴ/ appears at the end of syllables only. When /ɴ/ appears before <a i u e o y> an apostrophe separates them, to differentiate it from /n/, which can also appear in those places. Its exact pronunciation and how it differs from /n/ will be discussed below.

• Any consonant except /w/, /ɺ/, /j/, /ɴ/ can be geminated, but voiced geminates do not occur in native words, only loan words. When /h/ is geminated in native words it becomes /pp/, but a geminate /h/ does occur in loan words to indicate [x] and similar sounds, e.g. Bahha “Bach”.

• I included /ʦ/ as a basic phoneme (some people may question this, but it is phonemically distinct, albeit not commonly) but you will rarely see it used with any vowel other than /ɯ/. When conjugating verbs it should be treated as an allophone of /t/ before /ɯ/.

• Syllable structure is quite basic, with a maximal syllable of CCVC, where C2 can only be /j/, and C3 can only be /ɴ/ or a geminate consonant.

• A glottal stop /ʔ/ occurs somewhat frequently at the beginning of an utterance and extremely often at the end of an utterance when the word begins or ends with a short vowel.

• Vowel can follow most consonants, e.g.
ka ki ku ke ko
ma mi mu me mo

However, there are some alterations for some consonants:
sa shi su se so
za ji zu ze zo
ta chi tsu te to
da ji zu de do
ha hi fu he ho
ya i yu e yo
wa i u e (w)o

The w in wo is basically never pronounced, except when the speaker is being extremely deliberate and clear. This sequence appears in only one morpheme in the entire modern language (although that morpheme is the accusative marker, so it is extremely common).

Sounds occuring only in loanwords
The following additional sequences occur fairly commonly in loanwords but not in native Japanese words: she, je, ti, di, fa, fi, fe, fo. Some older people may fail to distinguish some or all of these from se, ze, te/chi, de/ji, ha, hi, he, ho. Older loanwords often don’t include these sounds: miruku sēki “milkshake”. Ti and di on the other hand, and are quite well established, and have replaced the older sounds, e.g. kyandei “candy” and birujingu “building” sound fairly quaint and old-fashioned and have been mostly replaced with kyandī and birudingu. My intuition tells me these started becoming distinct somewhere maybe around the 1960s or so (I could be wrong), so the language is still kind of in transition.

tsa, tsi, tse, tso, can sometimes occur in representing foreign place names, people, etc. They do not really occur in any commonly used words.

Some people will distinguish ye, wi, we from ie, ui, ue, though it’s not really obvious (my surname contains wi and I often have to pronounce it ui to get through to people, especially outside of Tokyo).

For this guide I am going to count /ʨ/, /ʥ/, /ɕ/ and /ɸ/ as distinct phonemes. Some people (I’m looking at you, Wikipedia) may dispute this, but this solution requires the least amount of explanation and exceptions to account for their phonemically contrastive presence in loanwords.

Devoicing vowels:
The vowels /ɯ/ and /i/ are devoiced when they appear between two unvoiced consonants, or at the end of a word after an unvoiced consonant.

kita [ki̥ta]
desu [desɯ̥]

You may be wondering what exactly devoicing sounds like. If you recall, I said that /i/ causes palatalization and /ɯ/ causes lip compression. As a result, kita [ki̥ta] sounds very much like [kçta], while kutsu [kɯ̥ʦɯ] sounds a lot like [kɸʦɯ]. This means that hiku [hi̥kɯ] is more like [çkɯ] and fuku [ɸɯ̥kɯ] like [ɸkɯ].

The /ɯ/ of words ending in su and tsu is not so much devoiced as dropped completely at the end of an utterance, so you will hear desu pronounced as [des], hanasu pronounced as [hanas], etc., though native Japanese speakers tend to believe they are still pronouncing the /ɯ/.

This devoicing doesn’t occur on an accented syllable or on a word with no accent that is not followed by another word.

hikŭ /hi̥kɯ/
ashĭ /aɕi/

We will talk about accent later.

A sequence of o vowels can cause the first one to devoice as well, though the devoiced and voiced vowels here are in free varation:
kokoro /kokoro/ or /ko̥koro/
kotoba /kotoba/ or /ko̥toba/

If this is confusing, don’t worry. While failing to devoice vowels is an obvious mark of a foreign accent, it is absolutely unnecessary for clear communication. Don’t worry if you can’t figure out when to do it or not.

Additional notes on consonants
• /ɡ/ can sometimes be softened to /ŋ/ or /ɰ/, particularly in the middle of words, though this is not particularly important to being understood and varies among speakers.

• /ɯ/ causes the mouth to close and the lips to compress, causing /hɯ/ to be pronounced [ɸɯ] and /tɯ/ to be pronounced [ʦɯ] (as previously discussed).

• I also mentioned that /i/ palatalizes any consonant before it:
/ki ɡi ni hi bi pi mi/ are pronounced [kʲi ɡʲi nʲi çi bʲi pʲi mʲi]

These are not important for being understood and the palatalization can safely be ignored if you can’t pronounce it right.

As I mentioned, though, there are some other, slightly more important changes:
/si/ is pronounced [ɕi]
/ti/ is pronounced [ʨi]
/zi/ is pronounced [ʥi]
/di/ is pronounced [ʥi]

The allophones /ɕ/, /ʨ/, /ʥ/ are also triggered by compounding /s t z d/ with /j/, so e.g. /sja/, /tjɯ/, /zja/ and /djo/ are pronounced /ɕa/, /ʨɯ/, /ʥa/ and /ʥo/ respectively.

While some new sequences of sounds have been added from loan words, as a rule, [si], [zi], and [hɯ] do not occur at all, and most Japanese people usually have difficulty pronouncing them or differentiating them from [ɕi], [ʥi], and [ɸɯ].

/ɴ/
The phonetic variation of /ɴ/ warrants giving it its own section. It can only appear at the end of a syllable, but it is by far the most difficult sound for Japanese learners. It has at least five different pronunciations based on the phonetic environment:
before m, p, b: [m]
before n, t, d, ch, j, r: [n] (perhaps before ch and j it is [ɲ] or something similar)
before k, g: [ŋ]
at the end of an utterance: [ɴ]
before vowels, fricatives, approximants: [˜ː(j/ɰ/Ø)]

The pronunciation [˜ː(j/ɰ/Ø)] is obviously the worst one. It took me a very long time to figure out what was going on (i.e. (partial) elision + nasalization + lengthening + palatalization) and to get it to sound right.

It’s easier to just give you a table rather than try to explain it:

Code: Select all

     a      i    ɯ     e            o
aɴ + ãː(ɰ)a ãːi  ãː(ɰ)ɯ ãːje / ãː(ɰ)e ãː(ɰ)o
iɴ + ĩːja   ĩːi  ĩːjɯ   ĩːje          ĩːjo
ɯɴ + ɯ̃ːa    ɯ̃ːi  ɯ̃ːaɯ   ɯ̃ːe           ɯ̃ːo
eɴ + ẽːja   ẽːi  ẽːjɯ   ẽːje          ẽːjo / ẽː(ɰ)o
oɴ + õːa    õːi  õːɯ    õːe           õːo
This is based on my own intuition, but I think it’s mostly right. It can vary between speakers and even in the speech of single speakers.

Examples:
kin’en: [kĩːjeɴ] “no smoking”
den’atsu [dẽːjaʦɯ] “voltage”
sen’en [sẽːjeɴ] “1000 yen”
Shin-Ōsaka [ɕĩːjoːsaka] Shin-Osaka
tan’i: [tãːi] “credit; unit”
hon o [hõːo] “book (ACC)”
kan’oke [kãːɰoke] “coffin”

The good news is that you don’t really have to get all the palatalization and so on exactly right. The bad news is that monolingual Japanese speakers often fail to understand you if you pronounce it as /n/, so you have to be at least somewhat careful. There are several minimal pairs as well. Compare:

kinen [kineɴ] “commemoration”
kin’en: [kĩːeɴ] “no smoking”
tani [tani] “valley”
tan’i: [tãːi] “credit; unit”
kanyū [kanjɯː] “signing up; joining; entering”
kan’yū [kãːjɯː] “invitation; solicitation; canvassing”
kanetsu [kaneʦɯ] heating up
kan’etsu [kãːeʦɯ] name of an Expressway between Kanto and Echigo.

Really, just make sure you never pronounce it as /n/ when it comes before vowels or /j/ and you’ll probably be fine.

Romanization
I’m using the modified Hepburn system, which is the most commonly used Romanization scheme. The system was designed not only for learning Japanese but also for the practical purpose of making Japanese more or less pronounceable by all English speakers regardless of how much or little Japanese they know, so it is frequently seen on signs and so on. (though Japanese people are often more familiar with the learner-unfriendly Nihonshiki system, which mirrors native Japanese spelling more closely and thus makes learning to type a little more painless for Japanese speakers).
a i ɯ e o aː iː ɯː eː oː
<a i u e o ā ī/ii* ū ē/ei/ee* ō>
m n ɴ p t ʦ ʨ k b d ʥ ɡ ɸ s ɕ h z ɺ w j
<m n n(’) p t ts ch k b d j g f s sh h z r w y>

* ii, ei, and ee are used when they are spelled as such in Japanese. The spelling ō represents three different spellings in the Japanese script. The spellings ī and ē are used only when the vowels is lengthened in katakana with the nobashibō (ー) which we’ll learn about later.

Geminated ch is written as <tch>, not <cch>. This was done because <cch> could potentially be misread as /kʨ/.

And that concludes lesson 1.
Last edited by clawgrip on 15 May 2020 08:01, edited 6 times in total.
clawgrip
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 2: Accent
Japanese has a simple two-tone pitch accent that is primarily lexically derived. Many textbooks simply ignore it under the belief that learning it is more trouble than it’s worth, since you can be understood most of the time without it. While this is technically true, it is little different from ignoring stress in English. While you can still get your point across, you will have a very thick accent, and will still be misunderstood from time to time, as there are multiple minimal pairs or pun-like mistakes that can occur when you get the accent wrong. I leave the choice of learning it or ignoring it up to you.

Rather than thinking of each syllable as having a high or low pitch, it’s much easier to think of Japanese speech as rising by default, and each accented syllable (technically mora) acts as a downstep. Any word may have either one accented syllable or none, but never more than one. An interesting feature of the accent is that the downstep comes between the accented syllable and the next one, meaning that if the final syllable of a word is accented, then the downstep is not audible on the word itself, but rather occurs between the word and the particle following it.

Japanese grammar has assigned names to the various patterns, but I think most of them are not really important and are more detailed than is necessary for this guide. Let’s look at a couple words. The accented syllable will be indicated with a grave accent (`):

nèko – cat

the first syllable (“ne”) is accented, which means it is pronounced with a high pitch. The downstep occurs immediately after it, and following syllable (“ko”) is pronounced with a low pitch.

inù – dog
The second syllable of this word (“nu”) is accented, while the first one is not. As I said before, pitch tends to rise naturally, so the first syllable starts low and the second syllable is pronounced at a slightly higher pitch than the first.

saki – front; forepart; point; tip; end
Neither syllable is accented. Its pitch contour is basically indistinguishable from that of inù.

nèko – HL
inù – LH
saki – LH

Now look what happens when we add a particle after them:

nèko ga – HLL
inù ga – LHL
saki ga - LHH

When the syllable immediately after the accented syllable is a vowel or /ɴ/, the pitch will become a falling pitch that covers both syllables, rather than an abrupt drop between them, as in the words kài (“mollusc”) or hòn (“book”).

There are numerous minimal pairs. Here is a sample:

hàshi – HL – chopsticks
hashì – LH – bridge
kàki – HL – oyster
kaki – LH – persimmon
kàmi – HL – god
kamì – LH – paper
saikai – LHHH – reopening; restarting
saikài – LHHL – last place
ìma – HL – now
imà – LH – living room
mṑ katta – HLLHH – (I) already bought (it)
mōkàtta – LHHLL – (I) earned a lot (of money).

I can’t stress enough the fact that I cannot teach you pitch accent through text. I am teaching you the bare minimum, but it is not a totally accurate representation of how words are pronounced. For example, while I marked saki ga as LHH, it is not always a flat high pitch the whole way through and will be altered slightly depending on what follows it. You will have to seek out your own audio material to work on your accent.
clawgrip
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 3: Hiragana Part 1
Japanese is written in three complementary scripts: the two phonetic scripts. hiragana and katakana, and Chinese characters, aka kanji. Before taking on kanji, it is important to learn hiragana and katakana.

Hiragana is the default writing, used to write particles, verb endings, interjections, onomatopoeic words and the like, words with no kanji, words with rare kanji, or words with kanji you can’t remember. It’s the first script that Japanese children learn.

It is a true syllabary in that there is absolutely no systematic visual similarity between characters that share similar phonetics, so all 46 characters must be learned independently.

Due to the long tradition of East Asian calligraphy, all characters have predefined and invariable orders in which the strokes are expected to be written. I'm not going to get into that here, but you can find a chart here.

Let’s get started. First we’ll look at the vowels:
あ a
い i
う u
え e
お o

The following sequences all result in long vowels:
ああ ā
いい ii
うう ū
えい, ええ ei, ee/ē
おう, おお ō

note that while えい and おう are usually /eː/ and /oː/, they may also represent /ei/ and /oɯ/.
The choice between spelling a word えい/ええ and おう/おお is entirely lexical and must be learned, though おう is far more frequent than おお, and ええ is extremely rare outside of interjections.

Can you read the following words?

いい good
うえ top
あい love
うお fish
いえ house
あおい blue
おおう cover

Answers:
Spoiler:
ii /iː/, ue /ɯe/, ai /ai/, uo /ɯo/, ie /ie/, aoi /aoi/, ōu /oːɯ/
Don't worry about understanding or memorizing any of the words in these practice activities. It is only meant as reading practice.

Here is the next set: the k series:

か ka
き ki
く ku
け ke
こ ko

The vowels can be lengthened the same way as we saw before:

かあ kā
きい kii
くう kū
けい、けえ kei, kee/kē
こう、こお kō

Now let’s look at a special symbol: the dakuten (゛). This is used to turn voiceless characters into voiced ones. Adding a dakuten to the k series results in the g series:

が ぎ ぐ げ ご - ga gi gu ge go

Can you read the following words?

ごうけい total
うかがう inquire
あかい red
おうぎ folding fan
かいあ げ purchase
きく hear; listen; ask
けいえいmanagement
えき station
がいこく foreign country
くう eat (informal)

Answers:
Spoiler:
gōkei /ɡoːkeː/, ukagau /ɯkaɡaɯ/, akai /akai/, ōgi /oːɡi/, kaiage /kaiaɡe/, kiku /kikɯ/, keiei /keːeː/, eki /eki/, gaikoku /ɡaikokɯ/, kuu /kɯɯ/

(yes, keiei effectively contains a quadruple length vowel. This kind of thing happens in Japanese).
The next series is the s series:
さ し す せ そ
sa shi su se so

Be careful not to confuse さ sa with き ki. The only difference is that ki has two short lines at the top and sa has one.
Also note that in some fonts and often in handwriting, the bottom loop is split. Similarly, the top left portion of そ may be separated or attached.

Don’t forget that that し is shi.

Can you read these words?
しあい match; game
すえ end point
すし type of food
さす stab; pierce; point
かせい Mars
せいせき performance; grade
あかし place name
さぎ scam
そう follow; skit; run along
ささき common surname

Answers:
Spoiler:
shiai, sue, sushi, sasu, kasei, seiseki, Akashi, sagi, sou, Sasaki

(I’m going to stop including IPA now)
Adding dakuten to the s series gives us the z series:
ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ
za ji zu ze zo

Remember that じ is ji.

Can you read the following words?
おおさじ tablespoon
けいざい economy
きず wound; cut; injury
じかせい homemade
おおぜい many people; a crowd; trend
せず without doing
ごじ five o’clock
ぞう elephant

Answers:
Spoiler:
ōsaji, keizai, kizu, jikasei, ōzei, sezu, goji, zō


Next is the t series:
た ち つ て と
ta chi tsu te to
It’s important to keep in mind that ち is chi and つ is tsu.
Be careful not to confuse ちchi with さ sa.

Can you read the following words?
たき waterfall
ちいさい small
かかと heel
ごとく like; the same as
しいたけ type of mushroom
かてい household
とう to ask; to inquire
たつ to stand
じたく one’s home
ぜつぼうdespair
つたう to tell; to relate
さつえい photography

Answers:
Spoiler:
taki, chiisai, kakato, gotoku, shiitake, katei, tou, tatsu, jitaku, zetsubō, tsutau, satsuei


Adding a dakuten gives us the d series:
だ ぢ づ で ど
da ji zu de do

Note that ぢ ji and づ zu are pronounced exactly the same as じ ji and ず zu. After the spelling reform, a lot of ぢ and づ were respelled to じ and ず, though not where etymology or compounding makes it obvious that it was originally ち or つ that got voiced.

Can you read the following words?
つづくcontinue
です be (polite)
できた was able to be done/was completed
かつどう activity
でんてつ electric railway
つうこう passage; passing through; common usage
ときどきsometimes
だがし cheap/traditional candy
だいかぞく large family

Answers:
Spoiler:
tsuzuku, desu, dekita, katsudō, dentetsu, tsūkō, tokidoki, dagashi, daikazoku


The next series is the n series:
な に ぬ ね の

be careful not to confuse な or に with た.

Can you read the following words?
なか inside
ぬけだす to sneak away
ていねい polite
のうこう richness; density; tension
あね older sister
にいがた place name
うなぎ eel
おの axe
かねつ heating up
ねぎ green/spring onion
ななつ seven (things)

Answers:
Spoiler:
naka, nukedasu, teinei, nōkō, ane, Niigata, unagi, ono, kanetsu, negi, nanatsu


the n series is already voiced and does not take dakuten.

That was a lot to learn and practice all at once. You may need to look over the list a few times.
Last edited by clawgrip on 29 Aug 2013 07:34, edited 1 time in total.
clawgrip
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 3: Hiragana Part 2
I will finish up hiragana in this part. There’s a lot of information in this part as well, so go as slowly as you need to.

The next series is the h series:
は ひ ふ へ ほ
ha hi fu he ho

Remember that ふ is fu

Be careful not to confuse は with ほ. The ふ horizontal and also vertical sections of this character can appear connected or split two pieces, and is much more likely to be split in handwriting. Look at it in different fonts to see the possible variations.

ひきにく ground meat
はいけい scenery
ふうすい feng shui
はなす speak
ほうかい collapse; decay; destruction
とうひ escape, flight
はずす unfasten; undo; disengage, let go
はなぢ nosebleed
へいほう square (i.e. x²)
はこ box
おはぎ type of dessert

Answers:
Spoiler:
hikiniku, haikei, fūsui, hanasu, hōkai, tōhi, hazusu, hanaji, heihō, hako, ohagi


Adding a dakuten results in the b-series. This may seem an unintuitive choice for voiced h, but it is a result of historical sound change (/h/ evolved from /p/).

ば び ぶ べ ぼ
ba bi bu be bo

Can you read the following words?
かば hippopotamus
ばいう rainy season
ことば word; language
きぼう wish; desire
べいこく the United States (newspaper-style word)
びとう mildly sweet
ばあば grandma
ぶしどう the samurai code of honour
しばしば often; frequently
かいぶつ monster

Answers:
Spoiler:
kaba, baiu, kotoba, kibō, Beikoku, bitō, bāba, bushidō, shibashiba, kaibutsu


There is another diacritic called the handakuten (゜) which occurs only on the h series. Adding this creates the p series:
ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ
pa pi pu pe po

As I said, /h/ evolved from /p/, which means /p/ is relatively infrequent in native words, except when geminated, but I haven’t taught gemination yet. So what better place to teach it than now.

Hopefully you remember the character つ tsu. Sometimes this character appears in a smaller version, っ. This is used to geminate any consonant other than a nasal. So for example, はた is hata and はった is hatta. It’s really quite simple. The only problem is that in some fonts, the っ is not a whole lot smaller than the regular つ, meaning it can be difficult for learners to differentiate them.

Can you read the following words?
ぽたぽた dripping sound
はっぱ leaf
がっぺい merger
とっぱつ outbreak; occurrence
ぴちぴち animated; lively; energetic
きっぷ ticket
ぱくっと (eating with) big bites
がっぴ month and day
べっぷ place name

Answers:
Spoiler:
potapota, happa, gappei, toppatsu, pichipichi, kippu, pakutto, gappi, Beppu


The next series is the m series:
ま み む め も
ma mi mu me mo

careful not to confuse め me with ぬ nu or ま ma with ほ ho. Note that the vertical line in ま protrudes above the two horizontal lines, while in ほ it does not. ま and も are also somewhat similar, so be careful there as well.

Can you read the following words?
ぬけみち shortcut
まいたけ type of mushroom
もみじ fall colours; autumn leaves
むっつ six (things)
じめじめ damp; clammy; humid
まもなく soon; shortly
きもちいい to feel good
かまめし type of food
みみ ear
むさし old name for the Tokyo and Saitama region

Spoiler:
nukemichi, maitake, momiji, muttsu, jimejime, mamonaku, kimochi ii, kamameshi, mimi, Musashi


Next is the y series. There are only three characters in this series:
や ゆ よ
ya yu yo

Be careful not to confuse よ yo with ま ma.
like つ/っ, these three characters have small versions: ゃ ゅ ょ. If you remember back in the phonology section, I said that the maximal syllable structure was CjVɴ. If you want to indicate the /j/ following the consonant, you use the small form combined with the –i character of the consonant series you want. so for example:

きよ, しよ, ちよ kiyo, shiyo, chiyo
きょ, しょ, ちょ kyo, sho, cho

Like with っ, it may be slightly hard to see the size difference in some fonts. However, the small forms are more common than

Can you read the following words?
きゅうじつ holiday; day off
とうきょう place name
ようやく finally; barely; just
やや somewhat; a little
ちょうこく carving; statue
よあけ dawn
きょうと place name
はっぴゃくeight hundred
ゆうがた mid-late afternoon; evening
びょうき sickness
じゅみょう life expectancy
きゅうきょく ultimate; extreme

Answers:
Spoiler:
kyūjitsu, Tōkyō, yōyaku, yaya, chōkoku, yoake, Kyōto, happyaku, yūgata, byōki, jumyō, kyūkyoku


Next is the r series:
ら り る れ ろ
ra ri ru re ro

Be careful with る and ろ. Like ぬ and め, that little loop is the only difference between them. Also be careful not to confuse ら with う or れ with ね.

Can you read the following words?
ろくがつ June
くり chestnut
はながら flower pattern
らっきょう Japanese leek
おごる to pay for someone
ろうそく candle
でんりょく electric power
ごまあぶら sesame oil
いれられる to be put in
くるう to go insane
りりく landing

Answers:
Spoiler:
rokugatsu, kuri, rakkyō, ogoru, rōsoku, denryoku, gomaabura, irerareru, kuruu, ririku


There are only three more characters to learn:
わ を ん
wa (w)o n

Be careful not to confuse わ with ね or れ.
Be careful not to confuse ん with え. Note also that the lower right end of ん curves up, while it is straight in え.

As I said before, what is represented as を wo is generally pronounced o, and only occurs as the direct object marker. ん never occurs at the beginning of a word, except occasionally to indicate certain spoken sounds.

ん is used to geminate m and n, so あんま is [amma] and あんな is [anna], though in the modified Hepburn system I will always write ん as n.

Can you read the following words?
わかる to understand
ぶんぼうぐ stationery
むろらん place name
くわがた stag beetle
うわぎ jacket; coat
かおを face (ACC)
しんばし place name
がんばる to try hard; to make an effort
たんぱくしつ protein
てんぷら type of food
へいわ peace

Answers:
Spoiler:
wakaru, bunbōgu, Muroran, kuwagata, uwagi, kao o, Shinbashi, ganbaru, tanpakushitsu, tempura, heiwa


Congratulations, you have learned all of hiragana.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 4: Katakana Part 1
In modern Japanese, katakana is used mainly to write foreign borrowings, certain onomatopoeic sort of words with stronger or harsher meanings, scientific words, and plant and animal names that have difficult kanji or rare. It works almost exactly the same as hiragana, with a few additional adaptations for foreign sounds. Many of the characters are different from hiragana, but many were derived from the same source and thus appear similar.

Katakana is a little easier for English speakers to study, partly because of its simpler and more angular shape, but mainly because a significant number of words written in katakana originate in English, making practice easier (when I first studied Japanese, I definitely learned katakana faster than hiragana because, knowing hardly any Japanese, katakana words were the only ones that had any meaning to me when I read them).

Like hiragana, katakana has predefined stroke orders for all characters. You can find an instructional chart here.

Let’s start with the vowels:
ア イ ウ エ オ
a i u e o

As you can see, ウ (somewhat coincidentally) resembles its hiragana counterpart う.

Vowel lengthening can occur the same way as in hiragana, but the nobashibō (ー) is most commonly used when writing foreign borrowings:
アー ā
イー ī
ウー ū
エー ē
オー ō

Let’s look at the k and g series:
カ キ ク ケ コ ガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ
ka ki ku ke ko ga gi gu ge go

You can see that カ is similar to か. Be careful not to confuse ク with ケ.

Can you read the following words?

ケーキ、イカ、コア、ウイーク、ケア、カキ、ケーオー、アクア、エイ

Answers:
Spoiler:
kēki (cake), ika (squid), koa (core), uīku (week), kea (care), kēō (K.O.), akua (aqua), ei ((sting)ray)
Now let’s look at the s and z series:
サ シ ス セ ソ ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ
sa shi su se so za ji zu ze zo

セ is very similar in appearance to its hiragana counterpart せ. ソis related to the top portion of its hiragana counterpart そ.

A small ェ e can be combined with シ and ジ to get the sounds シェ she and ジェ je.

Can you read the following words?
キス、ガザ、ケース、ゾウ、コース、キジ、サイ、シェア

Answers:
Spoiler:
kisu (kiss), Gaza (Gaza), kēsu (case), (elephant), kōsu (course), kiji (pheasant), sai (rhinoceros), shea (share)
Now we’ll learn the t and d series:
タ チ ツ テ ト ダ ヂ ヅ デ ド ッ
ta chi tsu te to da ji zu de do (gemination mark)

Be careful not to confuse タ with ク.
The difference between シ and ツ can present problems for the learner. Each stroke in シ is written from left to right, starting with the topmost one and proceeding downward, with the bottom stroke being written upward to the right. Each ツ is written from top to bottom, starting with the leftmost one, with the final stroke being written down and to the left.

An easy way to remember is to look at this hiragana for these two characters: し shows the approximate direction of movement of your pen as you write シ, and つ shows the approximate direction of movement of your pen as you write ツ.

The sounds ti, di, tu, and du, distinct from chi, ji, tsu and zu, can be written as follows:
ティ ディ トゥ ドゥ
ti di tu du

The sequences ti and di are strongly established, but tu and du are less common and more “foreign sounding”.

Can you read the following words?
ゴースト、トカゲ、カード、ティー、チーク、テイクアウト、タッチ、ツアーガイド

Answers:
Spoiler:
gōsuto (ghost), tokage (lizard), kādo (card), (tea), chīku (cheek), teikuauto (take-out), tatchi (touch), tsuā gaido (tour guide)
Next is the n series:
ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ

Be careful not to confuse ヌ with タ
You can perhaps recognize ナ as the left part of its hiragana counterpart, な. ニ also appears as the right side of に.

Can you read the following words?
ネクタイ、カヌー、ノート、アナスタシア、ニットセーター
Spoiler:
nekutai (necktie), kanū (canoe), nōto (notebook), Anasutashia (Anastasia), nitto sētā (knit/woollen sweater)
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 4: Katakana Part 2
Now we will move on to the h, b, and p series:
ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ バ ビ ブ ベ ボ パ ピ プ ペ ポ
ha hi fu he ho ba bi bu be bo pa pi pu pe po

Don’t confuse フ with ヌ or ク
Notice that ヘ is identical to hiragana へ.

フ can be combined with small versions of the vowels to create the f series:
ファ フィ フェ フォ
fa fi fe fo

Some older words were borrowed before the f series pronunciation was fully established, resulting in three situations:
1. an original f sound was borrowed as h series, and occurs as h series even now, e.g. “coffee” is always and only コーヒー kōhī, never *kōfī
2. an original f sound was borrowed as h series, but now the f series also occurs, e.g. “fork” can be ホーク hōku or フォーク fōku
3. an original f sound was borrowed as f series before the f series pronunciation was fully established, and thus can be pronounced as h series or f series, e.g. “film” was originally borrowed as フイルム fuirumu, but also exists as フィルム firumu. Both are acceptable.

Can you read the following words?
バイパス、バスケット、ホチキス、フード、パーティ、ホットドッグ、フェイス、スペース、ビデオ、パッと

Answers:
Spoiler:
baipasu (bypass), basuketto (basket), hochikisu (stapler (originally a brand name)), pāti (party), fūdo (hood or food), hottodoggu (hot dog), feisu (face), supēsu (space), bideo (video) patto (suddenly; quickly (yes, I meant to mix katakana with hiragana))
Next is the m series:
マ ミ ム メ モ
ma mi mu me mo

Be careful not to confuse マ with ア or モ with テ

Can you read the following words?
モニター、メイク、ミッキーマウス、ゲームソフト、マグマ、キムチ、ジェイムズ
Spoiler:
monitā (monitor), meiku (makeup), Mikkī Mausu (Mickey Mouse), gēmu sofuto (game soft(ware)), maguma (magma), kimuchi (kimchi), Jeimuzu (James)
The next series is the y series:
ヤ ユ ヨ
Be careful not to confuse ユ with コ or ヤ with セ

These combine with the i row of other series just like hiragana
キャ kya, ショ sho
However, ュ is occasionally combined with テ, デ and フ for English loans with yod-u, e.g. デュ dyu

Can you read the following words?

フューチャー、キュート、ヤード、ヨーガ、カヤック、デュエット、ニューズ、プレイヤー
Spoiler:
fyūchā (future), kyūto (cute), yādo (yard), yōga (yoga), kayakku (kayak), dyuetto (duet), nyūzu (news), pureiyā (player)
Now let’s look at the r series:
ラ リ ル レ ロ
ra ri ru re ro

Be careful not to confuse リ with ソ or ル with ノ + レ

モノレール、ビール、ローマ、オールナイト、リーチ、カレー、ライバル、ルームメイト、テレビ
Spoiler:
monorēru (monorail), bīru (beer), Rōma (Rome), ōru naito (all night), rīchi (lizhi, i.e. be a step away from success), karē (curry), raibaru (rival) rūmumeito (roommate), terebi (TV shortening of terebijon).
Now let’s look at the last few letters:
ワ ヲ ン
wa (w)o n

Be careful not to confuse ヲ with フ. It’s extremely rare anyway, so you probably won’t see it.
Be careful not to confuse ワ with ク or ウ.
Of course, ン and ソ are very similar, but if you remember how I described the difference between シ and ツ, it’s the exact same logic. ン is more horizontal in nature, and ソ is more vertical.

ウ can be combined with a small vowel in order to create the remainder of the w series:
ウィ ウェ ウォ
wi we wo
Not all speakers differentiate these from ウイ ウエ ウオ ui ue uo.

Can you read the following words?

インターネット、ウォーカー、ワンマンうんてん、ワガドゥグー、ワイロ、アンケート
Spoiler:
Intānetto (Internet), wōkā (walker), wanman unten (train with only a single operator), Wagadugū (Ouagadougou), wairo (bribe) ankēto (questionnaire)
Miscellaneous and non-essential other things
You can safely skip this part if you are not interested in minutiae.

There are some other odd kana things you may come across, but they’re relatively uncommon, even in foreign borrowings:
ウ can take a dakuten to create the v series (ヴァ ヴィ ヴ ヴェ ヴォ). This is purely orthographic, and these are pronounced identically to the b series. The v series is used almost exclusively to make something look more foreign.

ツ sometimes takes small letters to create the ts series: ツァ ツィ ツェ ツォ. Used mainly in transcribing names of people and places from other countries that have these sounds.

There are a couple other less common spellings for foreign sounds, but they're not important enough to learn right now.

In comics you might see a dakuten added to a vowel letter, like あ. This indicates strong yelling.

In transcribing speech, such as in comics, you may see a small っ at the end of an utterance. This indicates an exaggerated glottal stop.

There are two obsolete letters, for old wi (h: ゐ k: ヰ) and we (h: ゑ k: ヱ). They’re very rare, and are pronounced the same as い/イ and え/エ. You might sometimes see it to spell Ebisu beer (ヱビス) but that’s about it.

This concludes lesson 4.
Last edited by clawgrip on 23 Nov 2013 17:33, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by Ear of the Sphinx »

Kawaiiii. ♥
<w> w <j> j
Not <y> /j/?
Also, is <ts> /ts/ missing purposefully?
Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by kanejam »

Hi clawgrip, wonderful lessons as always. So far I've only read the phonology and accent lessons (which themselves are huge). I will get on to learning the katakana and hiragana but I feel there is just too much to learn for one sitting. I do have a few questions though. Is it fine to realise /ɺ/ as an alveolar tap? What is the best approximation to use until it's mastered? Also, is /ɴ/ really realised as a uvular nasal stop at the end of words? Would it be fine to realise just as vowel nasalisation? I will attempt to pronounce the words and their accents correctly, although I might skip trying to say the voiceless vowels.

Just as a side note, I am really interested in these lessons and would love to see more, but I can't really commit as I already have a lot on my plate at the moment.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Milyamd wrote:Kawaiiii. ♥
<w> w <j> j
Not <y> /j/?
Also, is <ts> /ts/ missing purposefully?
Thanks for catching that. It should be <y>.
I purposely left out /ts/, but honestly I wasn't sure what to do about it. It's unlikely to come up as a contrastive phoneme at all in this guide so I just left it as a note somewhere in there. Maybe I will add it as a distinct phoneme and just say that it's probably just easier to think of /ʦɯ/ as /tɯ/.
kanejam wrote:Hi clawgrip, wonderful lessons as always. So far I've only read the phonology and accent lessons (which themselves are huge). I will get on to learning the katakana and hiragana but I feel there is just too much to learn for one sitting.
Yeah you mentioned previously. Japanese is not a simple language to pick up, particularly the written aspect of it.
I do have a few questions though. Is it fine to realise /ɺ/ as an alveolar tap?
Yes, I think [ɾ] is the best choice until you can figure it out. I didn't comment on [r], but /ɺ/ can end up as [r] when certain people get angry. It has a distinct tough-guy feeling to it, so it's probably best to avoid [r] and stick with [ɾ]. Even [l] will do in a pinch.
Also, is /ɴ/ really realised as a uvular nasal stop at the end of words? Would it be fine to realise just as vowel nasalisation? I will attempt to pronounce the words and their accents correctly, although I might skip trying to say the voiceless vowels.
it really is [ɴ] by itself in ideal circumstances. I have heard Japanese people pronounce it as [m] which is a result of closing their mouth as they finish speaking (like English "yup"). I would avoid nasalizing the vowel though. Just use either [ŋ] or [n] if you can't manage [ɴ] and no one will be confused by what you say.
Just as a side note, I am really interested in these lessons and would love to see more, but I can't really commit as I already have a lot on my plate at the moment.
Of course. I guess I will continue with some simple stuff for now.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 5: Greetings and useful phrases
Let's start off with something easy. We will look at a few greetings and phrases that you may come across. This will include some commonly used expressions that have no equivalent in English.

こんにちは
konnichiwa
Since you are reading this on the Internet, I assume you have heard this one before. It is equivalent to hello and is used during the daytime. Note that it is spelled with は for wa instead of わ. This will be explained later on. Literally, this expression translates to "this day" and was probably originally a question, i.e. "How is this day?"

こんばんは
konbanwa
Equivalent to good evening, and is used after it gets dark. Literally translates to "this evening".

おはよう(ございます)
ohayō (gozaimasu)
Lit. "it is early." This is most commonly translated as "good morning" but it is not uncommon to hear it used at any time of day among employees when they arrive at work. Adding gozaimasu makes it polite, while it is most normal to drop it for friends and family.

さようなら
sayōnara
Lit. "if (it) is like that" Again, unless you've been living under a rock you probably already know this one. You can use it to say goodbye. Not commonly heard in the workplace, as there are other expressions for that.

おやすみ(なさい)
oyasumi (nasài)
Lit. "(please) rest" This means "goodnight" when you or someone else is going to sleep. Nasai makes it more polite.

ありがとう(ございます)
arigàtō (gozaimàsu)
Lit. "it is difficult to exist" This means thank you. adding gozaimasu makes it polite.

すみません
sumimasèn
Lit. "it is not resolved" This means "excuse me" or "sorry" and is used in a number of contexts, from trying to get past someone, trying to get someone's attention, or apologizing for something. It is slightly formal and suitable for use with people you don't know.

ごめん(なさい)
gomèn (gomen nasài)
Lit. "please dismiss (it)" This means "(I'm) sorry" Gomen by itself is common among friends and family. Adding nasai makes it more formal and thus suitable for use with people you don't know, or with friends and family when you need to make a more sincere or serious apology.

しつれい(します)
shitsurei (shimasu)
Lit. "(I) am being rude" This also means "excuse me". Shimasu makes it more polite.

はじめまして
hajimemàshite
Lit. "(it) is beginning" A slightly formal expression used when you are introduced to someone for the first time.

よろしくおねがいします
yoroshiku onegaishimasu
Lit. "(I) hope (that you will find this) acceptable" This expression doesn't translate well. It is used in various contexts, most commonly when making a request that cannot be completed right away. This includes when you meet someone for the first time, when you expect to be interacting with them again, or when you ask someone to do some favour for you, or assign them to some task. Interestingly, it is generally used after they have agreed to do it, so it is like a merger of please and thank you.

ただいま
tadaima
Lit. "this moment" Used when you arrive home.

おかえり(なさい)
okaeri (nasài)
Lit. "Please come back" Used in response to "tadaima"

おつかれさま(です)
otsukaresama (desu)
Lit. "(you are) an honourable person who gets tired" This one also doesn't translate. It is used among friends (without desu) and so on when someone has experienced a tiring situation, and mean something equivalent to "that must have been tiring" or "that sounds annoying" It is also the standard way of saying goodbye in the workplace, but only by the people who are not leaving. It would be

ごくろうさまです
gokurōsama desu
Lit. "(you are) an honourable person who works hard" This one is similar to the one above, a standard way to say goodbye in the workplace, but it is typically only used by people in a clear position of authority toward subordinates.

おさきにしつれいします
osaki ni shitsurei shimàsu
Lit. "(I) am being rude by (leaving) before (you)" This is the standard way of saying goodbye at the workplace when you are the one leaving.

The last three phrases should help to give the beginner an idea of the type of rules that govern the Japanese politeness system. Both social hierarchy and whether one's actions can be perceived as inconveniencing others determine the type of phrases and responses one makes. As a result, Japanese has a lot of set expressions for specific situations.

Activity:
You wake up in the morning. What do you say to your family members?
You have arrived at work in the morning. What do you say?
Your coworker gives you a small sweet bun as a kind of souvenir from a trip he took. What do you say?
Your coworker leaves work for the day. What do you say?
You are now leaving work for the day. What do you say?
On the way home, the train braked harder than you expected, and you stumbled and bumped into someone. What do you say?
You arrive home. What do you say? What do you hear in response?
You are going to bed. What do you say?
Last edited by clawgrip on 05 Feb 2015 01:31, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 6: Noun basics and some simple kanji

Let's take a look at a couple words:

人 (ひと) hito - person
犬 (いぬ) inù - dog
山 (やま) yamà - mountain
町 (まち) machì - town

(if you don't care about the pitch accent you can ignore the accent marks)

Japanese doesn't indicate definiteness or number on nouns, so these could easily mean the person/a person, mountains/the mountains, a town/towns, and so on. The meaning is determined from context alone.

Japanese is backwards to English in many ways. One of those ways is that where English uses prepositions, Japanese uses postpositional particles. Let's take a look at a few:

人が (ひとが) hito ga - person (SBJ)
山を (やまを) yama o - mountain (OBJ)
町は (まちは) machi wa - town (TPC)
人に (ひとに) hito ni - to the person
山へ (やまへ) yama e - to the mountain
町から (まちから) machi kara - from the town
人の (ひとの) hito no - of the person

There are others, but these ought to be enough to get you started.

に is at its core a kind of dative marker, but it has a variety of grammatical functions.

Notice that は wa and へ e are spelled as though they begin with /h/. These are just survivors of the early 20th century spelling reform, so you'll just have to learn them.

We can't really do much here until we have some verbs, so let's introduce a couple verbs so we can make sentences.

行く (いく) iku - to go
見る (みる) mìru - to see; to look
来る (くる) kùru - to come
歩く (あるく) arùku - to walk

All you need to do now is choose a postpositional phrase or two and put a verb after it:

山を 見る (やまを みる) Yama o miru. - see the mountain
人が 行く (ひとが いく) Hito ga iku. - the person goes

Note that Japanese does not employ spaces between words. I'm only doing this to make it easier.

Japanese does not require a subject, so any of these will form a complete sentence. Remember that the word order is SOV, so the verb is always last.

kanji:
I've introduced a few basic kanji here. I tried to chose some relatively simple ones:

hito person
inu dog
yama mountain
machi town
・く i.ku to go
・る mi.ru to see
・る ku.ru to come
・く aru.ku to walk

Notice that the verbs have separate endings written in hiragana. You will have to get used to this mixing of scripts because every single verb is like this.

As I mentioned with hiragana and katakana, stroke order is relatively important in writing them properly. You should be able to find all over the internet on how to write them, including wiktionary for some basic characters.

Exercise: translate these (admittedly unnatural) sentences into Japanese:

The person sees the town.
The dog walks to town.
The person goes to the town from the mountain.
The person's dog walks to the mountain.
(I) see the dog.
The mountain dog (dog of the mountain) comes to the town.
Last edited by clawgrip on 30 Mar 2015 11:25, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by nzk13 »

For Lesson 6:
Spoiler:
人が町を見る。
犬が町へ行く。
人が町へ山から行く。
人の犬が山へ歩く。
犬を見る。
山の犬が町へ来る。
Skribajon mean vi esas lektant, kar amiki.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Pretty good:
nzk13 wrote:For Lesson 6:
Spoiler:
人が町を見る。
犬が町へ歩く
人が町へ山から行く。 (not technically incorrect, but it would be more natural to put 山から first and 町へ second)
人の犬が山へ歩く。
犬を見る。
山の犬が町へ来る。
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 7: Verb basics
In the last lesson I gave you a few verbs so that we could practice throwing together a couple sentences, but they were kind of weird because I had not taught you anything about how verbs work. In this lesson I will be going counter to the usual method of teaching Japanese in that I will not teach the polite form as the basic form you learn first. I think doing so is confusing because, quite simply, the polite form is not actually the base form. Teaching the actual base form makes the various conjugations more transparent.

In this lesson I will teach you how to form the negative, the past tense, and the negative past tense.

let's take two verbs from the first lesson: 見る (みる) mìru "see; look:" and 歩く (あるく) arùku "walk". We'll add two more verbs: 食べる (たべる) tabèru "eat" and 入る (はいる) hàiru "enter; go in".

Japanese verbs can be broadly divided into two conjugation categories. Different texts call them different names, but I think the most intuitive and understandable for learners is to call them u-dropping verbs and ru-dropping verbs. The name clearly tells you what needs to be dropped from the base dictionary form to create the stem to which we add endings.

Of the four verbs I have selected, two are ru-dropping and two are u-dropping.

ru-dropping verbs
Without exception, all ru-dropping verbs end with either -iru or -eru. The two verbs in our list, miru and taberu, are ru-dropping verbs. Drop the -ru to get the stem:

miru > mi-
taberu > tabe-

We can add endings directly onto these stems.

While all ru-dropping verbs end in -iru or -eru, not all verbs that end this way are ru-dropping verbs. Hairu looks like a ru-dropping verb because it ends in -iru, but it is actually an u-dropping verb. There are several verbs like this, but a hint for learners is that if the syllable containing /i/ or /e/ is written as hiragana, its extremely likely that it's a ru-dropping verb, and if it's contained within the kanji, it's more likely (but not necessarily) u-dropping.

u-dropping verbs
Obviously, for u-dropping verbs, we simply drop the -u to get the stem:

hairu > hair-
aruku > aruk-

Japanese phonology does not permit syllable final consonants like this, so these are theoretical constructs. You will usually have to add a vowel, and each endings requires a specific vowel. Let's learn the negative first, because it is easiest.

Negatives
Negatives are formed by adding the ending -(a)nai to the stem of the verb. The (a) is dropped for ru-dropping verbs, and the remaining -nai is attached directly to the stem:

見る mìru: mi- + -(a)nai = mìnai 見ない (do not see/look)
食べる tabèru: tabe- + -(a)nai = tabènai 食べない (do not eat)

The (a) is included on u-dropping verbs:
入る hàiru: hair- + -(a)nai = hairànai 入らない (do not enter)
歩く arùku: aruk- + -(a)nai = arukànai 歩かない (do not walk)

If the stem of an -u dropping verb ends with a vowel, you need to add -w- between the stem and the ending:
思う omòu: omo- + -(a)nai = omowànai 思わない (do not think)

You're not actually adding a -w- so much as you are dropping it everywhere else, since, if you recall in the phonology section, /w/ only occurs before /a/ having been lost elsewhere.

(Note: for those of you paying attention to accent, notice there is an accent change in the negative for these two verbs; it is common to see the accent shift in the negative to the syllable with (a))

Looking at the other verbs we've learned so far, we get:

行く iku: 行かない ikanai (do not go)
This one is normal (for those following the accent, note that this word lacks a downstep in both the base form and the negative).

来る kùru: 来ない kònai (do not come)
As you can see, this verb is irregular. It is one of two highly irregular verbs in Japanese, the other being する suru "to do". The stem itself changed in the negative, from ku- to ko-.

する suru しない shinai (do not do)
The stem here changed from su- to shi- in the negative.

There is a commonly used verb, ある àru (to be (somewhere); to exist), that has a suppletive form for the negative: ない nài. This is in fact just the negative morpheme alone.

The past tense
Simply put, the form of the past tense differs depending on the consonant with which the stem ends. It takes a bit of an effort to learn them, but once you do, you will be set to conjugate the vast majority of verbs.

The past tense suffix is -ta. This can be directly added to the stem of ru-dropping verbs:
見る mìru: 見た mìta (saw)
食べる tabèru: 食べた tàbeta (ate)

(note that in the past tense, the accent usually shifts to the first syllable in most three-syllable ru-dropping verbs)

past tense for u-dropping verbs is more complicated and takes on five distinct forms:

Replace these base endings:
~う -u
~つ -tsu
~る -ru

with ~った -tta:
思う omòu > 思った omòtta (think > thought)
持つ mòtsu > 持った mòtta (hold; carry > held; carried)
入る hàiru > 入った hàitta (enter > entered)


Replace this base ending:
~く -ku

with ~いた -ita:
歩く arùku > 歩いた arùita (walk > walked)


Replace this base ending:
~ぐ -gu

with ~いだ -ida:
泳ぐ oyògu > 泳いだ oyòida (swim > swam)

Replace this base ending:
~す -su

with ~した -shita
話す hanàsu > 話した hanàshita (talk > talked)


Replace these base endings:
~ぬ -nu
~ぶ -bu
~む -mu

with ~んだ -nda:
死ぬ shinu > 死んだ > shinda (die > died)
並ぶ narabu > 並んだ naranda (line up > lined up)
読む yòmu > 読んだ yònda (read > read (pt))

One prominent exception is 行く iku. The past tense is 行った itta rather than the expected *iita.

Negative past
Now that you've learned the negative and the past tense, we will learn to combine them. Since the negative attaches to the stem first, and the past tense is added onto the negative, it means that there is no irregularity among verbs. Simply take the negative of any verb:

見ない mìnai (do not see)
食べない tabènai (do not eat)
歩かない arukànai (do not walk)
入らない hairànai (do not enter)
来ない kònai (do not come)
しない shinai (do not do)
話さない hanasànai (do not talk)
並ばない narabanai (do not line up)


remove the ~い -i and replace it with ~かった -katta

見なかった mìnakatta (did not see)
食べなかった tabènakatta (did not eat)
歩かなかった arukànakatta (did not walk)
入らなかった hairànakatta (did not enter)
来なかった kònakatta (did not come)
する shinàkatta (did not do)
話さなかった hanasànakatta (did not talk)
並ばなかった narabanàkatta (did not line up)

Note that the accent remains the same in the nonpast and past, except for verbs with flat pitch in the nonpast negative, which gain a downstep on the negative root na- in the past.

Final note
When に is used with ある it serve as a locative, and can be translated as in or at
(まち)にある。 Machi ni aru. - (It) is in the town.

Vocabulary
A whole lot of verbs have appeared in this lesson:

・べる ta.bèru - to eat (ru)
・う omò.u - to think (u)
する suru - to do (irr)
ある àru - to be (somewhere); to exist (u/irr)
・つ mò.tsu - to have; to hold (u)
・ぐ oyò.gu - to swim (u)
・す hanà.su - to talk (u)
・ぬ shi.nu - to die (u)
・ぶ nara.bu - to line up (vi) (u)
・む yò.mu - to read (u)

Let's add just a couple more nouns:
学校 がっこう gakkō - school
ほん hòn - book
りんご ringo - apple
男の子 おとこのこ otokò no ko - boy

Exercise 1: put these verbs into the negative:
言う iu - to say
受ける ukèru - to accept; to receive; to undergo; to undertake
踊る odoru - to dance

Exercise 2: put these verbs into the past tense:
分かる wakàru - to understand; to know
落ちる ochìru - to fall
切る kìru - to cut (u)

Exercise 3: put these verbs into the negative past:
言う - iu - to say
死ぬ - shinu - to die
読む - yòmu - to read

Exercise 4: translate the following into English:
犬が 学校に 入った。
いぬが がっこうに はいった。

学校に 本が ある。
がっこうに ほんが ある。

山から 男の子が 来た。
やまから おとこのこが きた。

Exercise 5: translate the following into Japanese:

(I) ate an apple.
The boy (TPC) didn't go to school.
(You) swam to the town.
The people lined up.
The dog died.
The boy walked to the mountain from the school.
Dogs don't read books.
Last edited by clawgrip on 30 Mar 2015 11:32, edited 2 times in total.
nzk13
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by nzk13 »

Exercises:
Spoiler:
EXERCISE 1
言わない
受けない
踊ない

EXERCISE 2
分った
落ちた
切った

EXERCISE 3
言わなかった
死んだかった
読まなかった

EXERCISE 4
The dog entered the school.
The book is in the school.
The boy came from the mountain.

EXERCISE 5
りんごを食べた。
男の子が学校に行かない。
町へ泳いだ。
人々が並んだ。
犬が死んだ。
男の子が学校から山へ行った。
犬が本を読まない。
Skribajon mean vi esas lektant, kar amiki.
Native: American English. Knows: some Hebrew/Judaeo-Aramaic, some Ido, bit of La Esperanton, a couple of Yiddish words, and bits and pieces of others.
clawgrip
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

Sorry for the delay. I may be a little slower updating this because I have some extra things to do, both at home and at work.
nzk13 wrote:Exercises:
Spoiler:
EXERCISE 1
言わない
受けない
踊ない 踊らない odoranai (ru dropping verbs always end in iru or eru, not oru)

EXERCISE 2
分った 分かった wakatta
落ちた
切った

EXERCISE 3
言わなかった
死んだかった 死ななかった shinanakatta (死んだ is the simple past; remember that in the negative past, the negative morpheme comes first (shin- + -anai), and then it is put into the past tense (-i > -katta)
読まなかった

EXERCISE 4
The dog entered the school.
The book is in the school.
The boy came from the mountain. (This word order would probably better be translated as "A boy came from the mountain," though I haven't gotten into that kind of thing yet).

EXERCISE 5
りんごを食べた。
男の子が学校に行かない。
町へ泳いだ。
人々が並んだ。
犬が死んだ。
男の子が学校から山へ行った。 歩いた, not 行った.
犬が本を読まない。
Good work overall.
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kanejam
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by kanejam »

I haven't read the katakana yet but I feel like learning the hiragana was enough work in and of itself. Is the high vowel devoicing why 'masu' and 'desu' sound like 'mas' and 'des'?
Spoiler:
You wake up in the morning. What do you say to your family members? Ohayō おはよう
You have arrived at work in the morning. What do you say? Ohayō gozaimasu おはようございわす
Your coworker gives you a small sweet bun as a kind of souvenir from a trip he took. What do you say? Arigatō gozaimasu ありがとうござます
Your coworker leaves work for the day. What do you say? Otsukaresama desu おつかまさまです
You are now leaving work for the day. What do you say? Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu おさきにしつれいします
On the way home, the train braked harder than you expected, and you stumbled and bumped into someone. What do you say? Sumimasen すみません
You arrive home. What do you say? What do you hear in response? Tadaima! - Nakaeri! ただいま!なかえり!
You are going to bed. What do you say? Oyasumi おやすみ
Spoiler:
The person sees the town. 人が町を見る。
The dog walks to town. 犬が町へ歩く。
The person goes to the town from the mountain. 人が山から町へ行く。
The person's dog walks to the mountain. 人の犬が山へ歩く。
(I) see the dog. 犬を見る。
The mountain dog (dog of the mountain) comes to the town. 山の犬が町へ来る。
Edit: here are the rest of the exercises.
Spoiler:
Exercise 1: put these verbs into the negative:
言う iu - to say -> 言わない iwanai
受ける ukèru - to accept; to receive; to undergo; to undertake -> 受けない ukènai
踊る odoru - to dance -> おどらない odoranai

Exercise 2: put these verbs into the past tense:
分かる wakàru - to understand; to know -> 分かった wakàtta
落ちる ochìru - to fall -> 落ちた òchita (is that accent shift right?)
切る kìru - to cut -> 切た kìta

Exercise 3: put these verbs into the negative past:
言う - iu - to say -> 言わなかった inàkatta
死ぬ - shinu - to die -> 死ななかった shinanàkatta
読む - yòmu - to read -> 読まなかった yòmanakatta

Exercise 4: translate the following into English:
犬が 学校に 入った。- inùga gakkōni hàitta - the dog didn't go in (to?) the school.
いぬが がっこうに はいった。

学校に 本が ある。- gakkōni hònga àru - the book's at school.
がっこうに ほんが ある。

山から 男の子が 来た。- yamàkara otokòno koga kuta - the boy came from the mountain.
やまから おとこのこが きた。

Exercise 5: translate the following into Japanese:

(I) ate an apple. りんごを食べた。
The boy (TPC) didn't go to school. 男の子は学校へ行かなかった。
(You) swam to the town. 町へ泳いだ。
The people lined up. 人が並んだ。
The dog died. 犬が死んだ。
The boy walked to the mountain from the school. 男の子が学校かな山へ歩いた。
Dogs don't read books. 犬が本を読まなかった。
clawgrip
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

kanejam wrote:I haven't read the katakana yet but I feel like learning the hiragana was enough work in and of itself.
Learning to write Japanese is a neverending task. As I mentioned in the introduction, the Japanese writing system is certainly the most difficult writing currently in use, perhaps even in all history.
Is the high vowel devoicing why 'masu' and 'desu' sound like 'mas' and 'des'?
This is exactly the reason.
Spoiler:
You wake up in the morning. What do you say to your family members? Ohayō おはよう
You have arrived at work in the morning. What do you say? Ohayō gozaimasu おはようございわす
Your coworker gives you a small sweet bun as a kind of souvenir from a trip he took. What do you say? Arigatō gozaimasu ありがとうござます
Your coworker leaves work for the day. What do you say? Otsukaresama desu おつかまさまです
You are now leaving work for the day. What do you say? Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu おさきにしつれいします
On the way home, the train braked harder than you expected, and you stumbled and bumped into someone. What do you say? Sumimasen すみません
You arrive home. What do you say? What do you hear in response? Tadaima! - Nakaeri! ただいま!なかえり! おかえり
You are going to bed. What do you say? Oyasumi おやすみ
Spoiler:
The person sees the town. 人が町を見る。
The dog walks to town. 犬が町へ歩く。
The person goes to the town from the mountain. 人が山から町へ行く。
The person's dog walks to the mountain. 人の犬が山へ歩く。
(I) see the dog. 犬を見る。
The mountain dog (dog of the mountain) comes to the town. 山の犬が町へ来る。
Edit: here are the rest of the exercises.
Spoiler:
Exercise 1: put these verbs into the negative:
言う iu - to say -> 言わない iwanai
受ける ukèru - to accept; to receive; to undergo; to undertake -> 受けない ukènai
踊る odoru - to dance -> おどらない odoranai

Exercise 2: put these verbs into the past tense:
分かる wakàru - to understand; to know -> 分かった wakàtta
落ちる ochìru - to fall -> 落ちた òchita (is that accent shift right?) Yes, it is!
切る kìru - to cut -> 切た kìta 切った kìtta I wrote (u) in the original post to denote an u-dropping verb

Exercise 3: put these verbs into the negative past:
言う - iu - to say -> 言わなかった inàkatta iwanàkatta You got the Japanese text right though
死ぬ - shinu - to die -> 死ななかった shinanàkatta
読む - yòmu - to read -> 読まなかった yòmanakatta yomànakatta Only the accent was wrong here

Exercise 4: translate the following into English:
犬が 学校に 入った。- inùga gakkōni hàitta - the dog didn't go in (to?) the school. The dog entered/went into the school. Negative is 入らなかった hairànakatta
いぬが がっこうに はいった。

学校に 本が ある。- gakkōni hònga àru - the book's at school. Although I haven't mentioned it, placing the book second makes it unlikely that it would be translated as definite, so "There is a book/There are books in the school" is a better translation.
がっこうに ほんが ある。

山から 男の子が 来た。- yamàkara otokòno koga kuta kìta - the boy came from the mountain. Like the sentence above, "a boy" would be a better translation
やまから おとこのこが きた。

Exercise 5: translate the following into Japanese:

(I) ate an apple. りんごを食べた。
The boy (TPC) didn't go to school. 男の子は学校へ行かなかった。
(You) swam to the town. 町へ泳いだ。
The people lined up. 人が並んだ。
The dog died. 犬が死んだ。
The boy walked to the mountain from the school. 男の子が学校かな山へ歩いた。 学校か
Dogs don't read books. 犬が本を読まなかった。 犬は本を読まない。 I haven't talked about subject vs. topic yet so don't worry about that, but it shouldn't be past tense here.
You've done a pretty good job.
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by Ithisa »

Historically japanese used manyougana which is even harder. Basically the inflections are in ateji kanji rather than kana, but the lexical items are written in semantic kanji, all in the same font size too!
Fluent: :chn: :eng:
Intermediate: :jpn:
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Re: Learn Japanese

Post by clawgrip »

It is vaguely amusing to think of the authors of the Kojiki and Nihonshoki selecting an appropriate font and font size in which to print their documents (because the word font in this meaning is contemporaneous with the printing press and thus extremely anachronistic). But you're right in that the historical Japanese writing system is more complex than the modern one. If you were thinking of learning Old Japanese written in man'yōgana I would recommend simply giving up and finding something else to do unless you have already mastered modern Japanese writing.
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