Introduction

This guide will cover most of the grammar needed to read basic japanese. We're not going to go into too much detail, and we won't cover much vocabulary. Some words are basically grammar, though. Also, there are no exercises.

  1. Skill building, as in reading a grammar explanation and answering questions about it, doesn't work when it comes to learning a new language.
  2. A lot of people are poisoned by modern education and will basically kill their brains if there's anything to "work" on.
  3. Grammar guides are a terrible place to learn vocabulary.

If you want to pass a test, like the JLPT, this guide isn't meant for you. You should be fine if you use it, but it will betray your expectations constantly.

Not even the best linguists in the entire world can explain simple ideas like "gonna" with any less than an impenetrable book-length essay. That's not a matter of philosophy, it's a matter of explaining what things really mean, or how they work. Simple incomplete explanations are good, but have holes in them. This guide tries to walk the line and warn you about things it can't explain, but it's really hard, and this guide might mess up sometimes.

This grammar guide does its best to give you some basic exposure to japanese grammar. It can't teach you it. It can only expose you to it. Your job is to turn that exposure into acquisition. The exposure is just a foot in the door.

And, by all means, if something is too hard, skip it. You're not trying to memorize something so you can pass a test. You're not trying to memorize something so you can identify it with 100% precision when you're reading.

You're trying to get something into your head. If you can't, that's fine, you'll pick it up naturally later.

Don't look back.