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.
Nothing But
ばかり is used to say “nothing but”. It is typically used in conversation rather than formal writing. 【Noun】ばかり…
Just Finished Doing Something: ～たばかり
ばかり has a number of grammatical usages in Japanese, but one of the most common is with the…
A Point in Time: ところ
The word ところ means “place”. Used in this way we can form sentences like the following. 私わたしは改札機かいさつきを出でたところで待まっているよ。 I’m…
Changing Nouns to Adjectives: ～的
的てき as a noun means “target” or “objective”; however, this kanji has one particularly useful grammatical usage: by…
The Auxiliary Verb
The usage のだ and んだ can be for: Expressing a reason or explanation Emphasis To express what should…
Listing Reasons in Japanese: し
JLPT N4. Used in both conversation and writing, although it is a casual expression. し is used to…
Listing Actions & Descriptions (～たり)
We can make partial lists nouns with the や and など particles, but what about verbs? Similarly to…
Expressing a Purpose: ため
One of the meanings of the noun 為ため is “objective” or “purpose”. 学費がくひの為ための貯金ちょきん。 Savings for school fees. Literally:…
Too Much: すぎる
To say something is “too much” or “too small” or that we drank “too much” and so forth,…
An Introduction to Conditionals in Japanese
There are five main ways to form the conditional in Japanese and each has its own nuance or…
After: 後
We already know one way of saying “after” in Japanese: by using the te form. コーヒーを飲のんで、仕事しごとを始はじめました。 I drank…
Japanese Conjunctions: Before (前)
The basic structure we use to say “before” is: 【Subsequent Action】前まえに【Prior Action】 Both the subsequent and prior actions…
