Your Y our Guide to
Japanese
Pronunciation & Grammar
Quick Intro to Japanese
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Japanese Pronunciation: Deceptively Easy
There are 5 vowels in Japanese:
{a, i, u, e, o}.
While {a, i, e, o} are pronounced similarly to many other languages,
{u} is pronounced signicantly dierent. At first glance, Japanese has relatively few vowels and a handful of consonants that connect to those vowels. These vowels are very easily romanized as {a, i, u, e, o} and actually have dierent positions in the mouth than the same vowels in English, Spanish, German, or Italian. With {u}, please be careful and don't over-pronounce it.
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Japanese tends to be written with a syllabary, meaning that each character is a single syllable. With one caveat -- some of these syllables combine to make larger complex syllables: き (ki) + ょ (yo) + う (u)= きょう (kyō)
Japanese has relatively few, if any, consonant clusters -- this is a point of deception since Japanese does in fact lose vowels in certain positions that in turn create clusters. We'll get into this a little later.
ひ (hi) + と (to) = /hito/ which is likely to be pronounced [hto].
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Japanese Vowels When we pronounce English vowels, we inherently pronounce them long: for example when we describe what we write as {ee}, the long vowel "E," the part of the name labeled "long" really has nothing to do with the method of pronouncing the vowel but rather the articulation. Change the articulation and you get another vowel, for example a short "E."
"Long" is just a name. However, in reality, the method we use to pronounce all of our vowels are "long." This means that our voice trails o.
So the question is, can we pronounce the same vowel "short" in English? Yes, when this happens we need to close the syllable with an unvoiced consonant such as in "meet." In this word, the long "E" has a short length rather than the long length in the word "team." Stop and think about this difference for a moment, practice it and understand it.
This long trailing off of vowels simply doesn't happen in Japanese. All vowels are pronounced short and clip. The macrons you see over the vowels in names like "Tōkyō" are what actually indicate when vowels are pronounced long. But even in this case, they are just a double length of the short version and may still sound a bit unnatural to the English or Chinese ear.
The vowels {a, i, e, o} are actually very close to their Spanish or German counterparts. Even closer to Finnish if you happen to know it. The big dierence is in the letter {u}.
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If we look at the IPA table, the letter {u} is actually positioned extremely close to the English short "I". There's a ne line here between what English speakers will perceive as {i} or {u} and this Japanese letter straddles that line. Listen carefully to native speakers and practice it. English
Hiragana
katakana
IPA
a
あ
ア
[a]
i
い
イ
[i]
u
う
ウ
[ɯ]
e
え
エ
[e]
o
お
オ
[o]
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Japanese Consonants Each of the vowels are paired with corresponding consonants, which in turn make up the Japanese syllabary writing system. Most of these letters are the same as in English:
{k, s, t, n, h, m, y, w} The following letters have limited vowels they pair with:
{s + a|i|e|o, t + a|e|o, h + a|i|e|o, y + a|u|o, w + a} There are a few key dierences from what we're familiar with as English speakers:
{si} is pronounced similar to English {shi} but with the tongue pressed against the lower teeth. This is the same sound that appears in several other languages: Korean (
시
),
Mandarin (xi), Polish (śji), Croatian (śi), Russian ( щи), Sanskrit ( ).
Likewise, {ti} is pronounced similar to English {chi} in the same manner as {si} above (with the tongue pressed against the lower teeth). This same sound is also found in several languages: Korean ( 지 ), Mandarin (ji), Polish (ćji), Croatian (ći), Russian ( чи), Sanskrit ( ). The Japanese version will have slightly more aspiration than some of the other languages.
{f + u} is pronounced without the bottom lip touching the teeth. This is written in IPA as /ɸ /. This letter appears with the other {h} letters and can be considered a rather strong {h}.
{r + a|i|u|e|o}: the closest resemblance in English or other European languages is the ap.
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{n} is normally found at the end of a syllable, but in Japanese can also stand for a syllable all by itself (meaning, it's given the same time length as other syllables). The letter sometimes sounds like [m], sometimes [n], sometimes [ŋ] as in English "sing". Its actual IPA symbol is [ɴ] which means that it's pronounced farther back in the throat than [ŋ]. This sound does not exist in English or neighboring languages Korean and Japanese, so it will take some practice to get right.
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Japanese Writing Japanese is written with the following scripts:
Hiragana
to write words of Japanese native origin
Katakana
to write words of foreign origin to give the written word visual meaning. Kanji also serves the purpose of separating words. Each kanji can have more than
Kanji
one pronunciation: the borrowed Chinese pronunciation
(Chinese characters)
(several possible pronunciations depending on location and time of borrowing) for example: san for 山 (shan in Chinese); and a native Japanese equivalent: yama for 山 .
Romaji
stands for Roman characters, used for transcribing to assist foreigners in pronouncing Japanese.
To learn hiragana, katakana, and kanji, please visit the Glossika website and play the games for the script that you want to learn. The algorithm presents the letters in the best logical order so that you can save time and eort in learning to read Japanese.
Be sure to download the Glossika infographics which introduce each of the letters of these Japanese scripts. They will be sent to your inbox when you’ve completed each game.
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Introduction to Japanese
Grammar Japanese is essentially a language isolate. This means that according to linguists and scientists who study language, there is not enough evidence available today to prove the existence of relation with any other language.
On the surface, Japanese resembles Korean in many ways, both syntactically and stylistically. These two languages are theoretically grouped with a larger language family called “Altaic,” which includes Turkic languages and Mongolian. For anybody who knows Turkish, you'll probably nd a lot of grammatical similarities with Japanese. However, as linguists point out, there isn't enough evidence to prove that a relation exists.
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Japanese is different from English in virtually every possible way. To learn Japanese through an English construct or English way of thinking is misleading. Although Glossika does teach you a large number of sentences and patterns via English, you'll soon find that such a crutch will have to be dropped once you start getting into real Japanese conversations. For example, our sentences may introduce you to pronouns about who is doing what, however Japanese isn't just a pronoun-drop language. It is actually a stylistic dierence as well, as there is no marking of who does an action on the verb (verbs don't conjugate in the European sense). Stylistically speaking, the doer of the action is supposed to be obvious based on the context of the conversation.
Therefore, in many of the sentences that you learn, much of the identifying information can be dropped in real conversation.
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To learn to speak Japanese properly means that you need to start thinking about how the Japanese construct a sentence from their way of thinking. We nd that this is true for most East Asian languages, including Chinese, which is just as dierent from Japanese as it is from English. Because of this, it's important to learn Japanese by example as a native speaker would speak rather than constructing what you think would be a valid Japanese sentence. Saying something that you believe is a complete idea (both logically and semantically) that a Japanese person may not be used to or may not have heard before could result in a complete misunderstanding or just nonsense to the native speaker. Rather than translating from your native language to Japanese, you'll have to "translate" your translation into a Japanese way of speaking. This is why we recommend learning through example sentences until you have a better sense of the grammar structure.
As a foreigner coming into contact with Japanese for the rst time, a basic level of respect would be expected -- after all, this is the first time you've met the person and feelings can be offended quite easily with the wrong choice of words. A major difference with how most western languages are becoming less and less formal: people are opting for the informal you (tu, du, ty, ты ) over the formal you (Usted, vous, Lei, Sie, vy, Вы ) as quickly as possible when meeting someone. Take note: this is not a trend that you'll want to continue in Japan. It is best to stick with the person's name followed by -san instead of using "you".
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Despite these hurdles, let's start taking a look at how to construct basic sentences in Japanese:
A Japanese sentence is in the order of Subject - Object - Verb and it prefers postpositions attached to the ends of words rather than using prepositions.
Various things can be attached to the ends of sentences, and even make the whole previous clause as part of a new embedded clause for something that is coming up.
To make a sentence into a question at the end of the sentence add "-ka" ( か ) in polite speech and add "-no" ( の ) in casual speech. Adding "-ka" in casual speech will make the sentence sound sarcastic. The "-ka" ending can be used in the middle of a sentence to indicate that a word is unclear or uncertain, as in "somebody ( 誰か )."
End a sentence with "-yo" よ when putting emphasis on something new that you're informing the listener about.
End a sentence with "-ne" ね as a tag question like "right?" or "isn't it?" You can combine it with the previous particle to create "-yone."
Try to get into the habit of thinking about which particle every word will take.
This adding of postpositions means that every noun in a sentence is marked by some particle. Let's begin with nouns.
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Nouns The agent (usually the subject) gets the ending: "-ga" が .
The topic (of what you're discussing) gets the ending: "-wa", spelled " は " in hiragana.
The direct object gets the ending: "-o", spelled " を " in hiragana.
The indirect object gets the ending: "-e", spelled " へ " in hiragana.
The direction you're going towards also gets the ending: "-e." This is also used for future goals and expectations.
The target location gets the ending: "-ni" に .
The location where something is at gets the ending: "-de" で . The method or way in which you do something (by…) also gets the ending: "-de." You can also attach this to -ni, -wa, -de particles.
The genitive (belonging/possession) particle gets the ending: "-no" の . This has multiple uses. The particle can replace the position of an unknown noun after a verb to create a phrase meaning "thing" or "the thing is that..." This particle can also be followed by subject and topic particles.
All of something uses: "-mo" も . To indicate "none" of which, simply change the sentence into negative. You can also attach this to -ni, -wa, -de particles.
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Link multiple nouns together (inclusion) in a sentence with: "-to" と . Also use -to to indicate "with" whom you did an activity. A separate particle "-ya" や is used when the included articles are vague and the list is not necessarily complete. The colloquial version of -ya is "-toka" とか .
The location from which something comes gets the ending: "-kara" から . This is also attached to "reasons" because it is from something (a reason) that something else happens.
You can change -kara into -node の で (softer form) when there is no explicit reason for something happening.
You can change -node into -noni のに to mean despite (of doing) something. Other forms that show this opposition in a sentence (where we might usually use "but" in English) are -ga が and -kedo けど .
Many nouns (especially of Chinese origin and consisting of kanji) can be made into verb compounds and attach directly to verbs without any specic marker.
Verbs that become nouns and then attach to another verb in the sentence end in "-i" (the actual hiragana letter depends on the consonant preceding the vowel).
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Verbs Formality Levels As a foreigner learning Japanese, it is safe to always use polite forms of speech without being necessarily over-formal. There are also honorific and humble forms as well. All of these forms usually appear at the end of the verb (at the end of the sentence) and they're not dicult to switch between. In other words, everything else in the sentence will be the same.
Stative Verbs: A State of Being Several parts of speech can be considered a state of being. Take a look at the following examples from English: I want to be an engineer. He is condent. In this case, Japanese uses "desu ( です )," where the nal {u} is usually silent.
Remember that predicate adjectives in English are actually stative verbs. For example: I feel cold (I'm in the state of being cold).
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Japanese adjectives can end in either -i or -na, and they have dierent conjugations:
-i adjectives Change the stative verb to negative: change -i to -kunai desu くないです .
Change the stative verb to past tense: change -i to -katta desu かったです .
Change the negative stative verb to past tense: change -kunai desu to -kunakatta desu くなかったです . -na adjectives Change the adjective into a stative verb: change -na to -ka desu かです .
Change the stative verb to negative: change -ka desu to -ka janai desu かじゃな いです . (ja じゃ is a shortened form of dewa では )
Change the stative verb to past tense: change -ka desu to -ka deshita かでした . (the -i- is silent)
Change the negative stative verb to past tense: change -ka janai desu to -ka janakatta desu かじゃなかったです .
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Action Verbs All other verbs are action verbs, and these can be transitive (with an object) or intransitive (without an object). To change endings, remove -ru る from the verb and add the ending (such as -masu ます ). For other verbs, remove the -u ending and add -i (for example: -gu ぐ becomes -gi ぎ then add -masu ます ). Change a verb to negative: change -masu to -masen ません .
Change a verb to past tense: change -masu to -mashita ました . (the -i- is silent)
Change a negative to past tense: change -masen to -masendeshita ませんでした. (the -i- is silent)
To chain verbs together (for example continuous tense), change the past tense -ta to -te or -da to -de.
To list verbs or reasons together in a sentence, use: -shi し .
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Modal Verbs To express ability "can", change -ru to -rareru and -u to -eru. Important
exceptions: suru becomes dekiru, and kuru becomes korareru. These verbs don't have direct objects, so you should change what you assume to be the object to a -ga or -wa particle instead.
To express "must not" use -ikenai but change to -naranai for policies. For things that you "must" do, simply negate the previous verb, in other words say: must not - not do. It is quite common to use "-nakereba ikemasen." The informal and much more common way to express these are "nakucha" (the -u- is silent) and "nakya."
To express "want," use -tai as a verb ending. Conjugations include: -takunai, -takatta, -takunakatta.
To describe volitional "let's," use -mashou as a verb ending. This changes to -you or -ou in casual speech.
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Pronouns Pronouns are a tricky subject in Japanese. To avoid sounding rude, it is best to avoid using pronouns as much as you can. When Japanese do use pronouns, there is a great number of them that differ in usage between men, women, children, and the elderly. They also dier depending on your relation and age dierence with the person you're speaking to.
When speaking to another person, avoid using "you," and instead use the person's name. It may feel like you're speaking in the 3rd person which sounds indirect, but this is what is socially expected.
The very act of asking and answering questions between people usually means that the question implies "you" and the answer implies "I." When this is the case, pronouns are unnecessary.
The proper way to address someone is by adding -san さん to their name.
You may use "kare" and "kanojo" for "he" and "she," but again it is best to keep using people's names.
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Adjectives We have already discussed adjectives (as predicates) under stative verbs.
The other kinds of adjectives are those that precede nouns which maintain their -i and -na forms in front of the noun they describe. To chain adjectives or nouns together, add -de to the noun or na-adjective, and -kute to the i-adjective or negative form.
To describe "become" or "getting" + adjective, use "-ni naru". Things that you "like" and "want" are actually adjectives in Japanese. Something that is liked is "suki" (the -u- is silent), and want is "hoshii". You can add -hoshii to the end of a verb for something you want done.
In English, relative clauses usually begin with ...that... or ...which... followed by a separate clause. In Japanese, this whole clause becomes an adjective of the noun it is describing. Sometimes this clause will end with a verb ending (-u or -ta), which you follow directly with the noun.
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Other Common Particles -te aku: do something in advance for the future -te iru: in a state of being Noun-ni suru: to decide on something Clause (A) -to Clause (B): condition + result (using "if" in English) Clause (A) -nara Clause (B): assumed context + result (using "if that's the case" in English)
Clause (A) Verb-reba, Clause (B): If (verb), then Clause (B) Clause (A) Verb-tara, Clause(B): if pre-existing condition, then B (or unexpected
result)
-to iu: meaning to refer to something, is also an abstract term frequently used in sentences to describe the discussion of something. -iu can also be combined with this and that to indicate a way in which something is done.
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Extend Your Learning To learn the most common verbs for the Japanese L4 ~ L1 prociency tests and their kanji forms, we recommend downloading our ebook supplement for Japanese verbs.
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