This website started as a hobby to explain photography (posts listed here), but over time expanded to provide (hopefully) useful information about Japan and the Japanese language. I also run edonoyu.com with a friend—a site that covers onsen in the Tokyo region.
Preparing in Advance (ておく)
This structure uses the te form with the verb “to put” to express that you will perform an…
State of Completion (てある)
Not to be confused with the present participle, this structure combines the te form with the verb “to…
Must & Must Not
The most standard way of saying “to have to” in Japanese is to say, “if you don’t do…
Trying
We have two ways to say “try” in Japanese, but the correct structure depends on the context. The…
Easy & Hard: ～やすい & ～にくい
Nominalising verbs already gives us one way to say that something is easy or hard to do. 日本語にほんごで新聞しんぶんを読よむのが難むずかしいです。…
Simultaneous Actions: ～ながら vs ～間に
We have two basic ways of expressing simultaneous actions in Japanese, e.g. “I ate dinner while watching television”.…
As Much As: ほど
The grammar introduced below lets us say things like, “A is not as good as B”. The noun…
Making Suggestions: ～より～ほうが
We met the character 方 when the verb stem was used to say “way” or “method” of doing…
About or Approximately: ～ぐらい
くらい is the most common way of saying “about” or “approximately” in Japanese. It will usually be introduced…
Other’s Desires: ～がる
We need to be careful when talking about other people’s emotions or feelings—I’m talking grammatically here. Japanese makes…
Adding Perspective: As
This grammar is best explained through example. この場所は観光地としてとても有名です。 This place is very famous as a tourist spot. Note…
Changing States: ようにする/なる
We met the adverbial noun よう previously when we looked at ways to express similarity in Japanese. Its…
