Japanese is written with three scripts mixed together. Hiragana (ひらがな) — 46 base characters, each one a syllable. Used for grammar words, verb endings, and any native word without a kanji. Learn this first. Katakana (カタカナ) — same 46 syllables as hiragana but a different shape. Used for foreign loanwords (コーヒー = coffee), names, emphasis, and onomatopoeia. Kanji (漢字) — ideographic characters borrowed from Chinese. Each kanji has a meaning and (usually) several readings. You see them mainly in nouns, verb stems, and adjective stems. Furigana — when a text shows tiny hiragana above kanji, that's furigana: the pronunciation reminder for learners. The five vowels are pronounced consistently: · a like father · i like ski · u like food (lips not rounded) · e like bed · o like go All syllables end in one of these vowels (or in n). Stress is mostly flat — Japanese uses pitch, not stress, so words are spoken with relatively even rhythm.
Each example below has three parts: the original text, a literal gloss describing how every word works, and a natural translation. The glosses use a few shorthand labels so they stay short. Don't worry about memorising them — this is a reference you can come back to. Person and number · 1sg / 2sg / 3sg — first / second / third person singular (I, you, he/she/it) · 1pl / 2pl / 3pl — first / second / third person plural (we, you-all, they) Gender and case · m / f / n — masculine / feminine / neuter · sg / pl — singular / plural · m.sg — combined: masculine singular (and similarly f.pl, n.sg, etc.) · NOM / ACC / GEN / DAT / INS / LOC — grammatical cases (nominative/accusative/genitive/dative/instrumental/locative) — which role the word plays in the sentence Tense and aspect · PRES — present · PRET — preterite (a finished past event) · IMPF — imperfect (an ongoing or habitual past situation) · FUT — future · PERF — perfect (an action completed with present relevance) · PROG — progressive (action in progress, e.g. am eating) · COND — conditional (would…) Mood · IND — indicative (regular statement) · SUBJ — subjunctive (uncertainty, wishes, doubts) · IMP — imperative (commands) · INF — infinitive (dictionary form: to go, to eat) Other · REFL — reflexive (action on oneself: myself, yourself) · PERS — personal a (Spanish only — marks a human direct object) · HON — honorific (extra-polite form, common in Japanese/Korean) · TOP / SUB / OBJ — topic / subject / object markers (Japanese, Korean) · CL — classifier (Chinese, Japanese, Korean — a counter word for nouns) · NEG — negation
Japanese is written with three scripts used together in the same sentence. Hiragana is a phonetic syllabary of 46 basic characters used for native Japanese words and for grammatical elements such as particles, verb endings, and function words. Katakana is a second syllabary with the same 46-syllable inventory; it is reserved for foreign loanwords, onomatopoeia, scientific terms, and emphasis. Hiragana and katakana are the closest equivalent to an alphabet: they are purely phonetic, and every sound in one has a counterpart in the other. Kanji are Chinese-origin logographic characters used for content words — nouns, verb roots, and adjective stems. Each kanji typically has multiple readings, chosen by context.
Japanese is an SOV language: the verb comes at the end of the clause. The basic pattern is Subject + Object + Verb, but because grammatical roles are marked by particles, the order of non-verb elements is flexible. Modifiers (adjectives, relative clauses, possessors) always precede what they modify. The subject is freely dropped when it is clear from context, and pronouns are similarly omitted. What matters is that the verb (or copula) closes the sentence, and that each noun phrase carries the correct particle to show its function. This means listening for the final verb is essential to understand who did what.
Japanese has no articles (a/an/the) and no obligatory plural marking. A bare noun like 本 (hon) can mean 'book', 'a book', 'the book', 'books', or 'the books' depending on context. Number, when relevant, is expressed by numerals plus a counter (e.g., 本を三冊 'three books'), by quantifiers like たくさん 'many' or 少し 'a few', or by context alone. The suffix -たち (e.g., 学生たち 'students') exists but is restricted to humans and certain animates, and it is not a true plural — it suggests a group, not 'more than one'. Definiteness must be inferred from context.
Particles are short postpositions that mark the role of the preceding word. The core set: は (wa) marks the topic ('as for X'); が (ga) marks the grammatical subject, often introducing new information; を (o) marks the direct object; に (ni) marks a destination, location of existence, time point, or indirect object; で (de) marks the means/instrument or the place where an action happens; の (no) links nouns as possessive or modifier; へ (e) marks direction (often interchangeable with に); と (to) means 'and' between nouns or 'with' a companion; から (kara) 'from' and まで (made) 'to/until' mark range in space or time.
Japanese has pronouns, but they are used sparingly. 私 (watashi) 'I', あなた (anata) 'you', 彼 (kare) 'he', 彼女 (kanojo) 'she', 私たち (watashitachi) 'we'. In natural speech, subject and object pronouns are usually dropped when context makes the referent clear. Using あなた to address someone can sound blunt or intimate; the speaker normally uses the listener's name plus さん instead. First-person choices also vary by gender and formality (僕 boku, 俺 ore for male speakers in casual speech). Treat pronouns as marked, not default: if you would say 'I' or 'you' in English, in Japanese you most often say nothing.
Japanese verbs fall into three classes. Group 1 (五段, godan / 'u-verbs') end in a consonant + u: 書く kaku 'write', 飲む nomu 'drink', 話す hanasu 'speak'. Their stem changes across the five vowel rows of the kana chart. Group 2 (一段, ichidan / 'ru-verbs') end in -iru or -eru and conjugate by simply dropping る: 食べる taberu 'eat', 見る miru 'see'. Group 3 is irregular and contains only two members: する suru 'do' and 来る kuru 'come'. Identifying the group is the prerequisite for conjugation, because each group has its own rule for forming the polite stem, the negative, the te-form, and the past.
From the dictionary form, build the polite present (-ます) as follows. Group 1: change final -u to -i and add -masu (nomu → nomimasu). Group 2: drop -ru and add -masu (taberu → tabemasu). Irregulars: suru → shimasu, kuru → kimasu. The polite negative replaces -masu with -masen (nomimasen 'do not drink'). The polite past replaces -masu with -mashita (nomimashita 'drank'). The polite past negative is -masen deshita (nomimasen deshita 'did not drink'). The plain (dictionary) forms have their own negatives (-nai) and past (-ta), used in casual speech and inside complex sentences.
Japanese does not distinguish present from future morphologically; one form, the non-past, covers both. 食べます (tabemasu) means 'I eat', 'I will eat', or 'I am going to eat', depending on context and time adverbs. To describe an action currently in progress, use the te-form plus いる: 食べています (tabete imasu) 'I am eating'. The non-past is also used for habitual actions (毎日 'every day…'), general truths, and scheduled future events. With stative verbs like ある 'exist (inanimate)' and いる 'exist (animate)', the non-past simply states what is the case now.
The polite past is formed by replacing -ます with -ました: 行きます → 行きました 'went', 食べます → 食べました 'ate'. The polite past negative is -ませんでした: 行きませんでした 'did not go'. The plain past, used in casual speech and in subordinate clauses, is the -た form, which is built from the te-form by swapping the final て/で for た/だ: 食べて → 食べた, 飲んで → 飲んだ. Past-tense forms in Japanese also serve as perfect/completed-aspect forms in many contexts, so 食べました can mean 'ate', 'have eaten', or 'had eaten' depending on context.
The te-form is the most versatile non-finite form. It is built by group: Group 2 verbs simply replace る with て (taberu → tabete). Group 1 verbs follow euphonic patterns based on their final syllable: -く → いて (kaku → kaite), -ぐ → いで, -む/ぬ/ぶ → んで, -る/つ/う → って, -す → して. Irregulars: する → して, 来る → きて. Uses include: connecting clauses ('and then'), giving polite requests with -て ください, expressing progressive aspect with -ている, asking and granting permission with -てもいい, and forbidding with -てはいけない. Without the te-form you cannot build most compound constructions.
Japanese has two adjective classes. I-adjectives end in -い in their dictionary form (高い takai 'expensive', 寒い samui 'cold') and conjugate themselves: negative 高くない, past 高かった, past negative 高くなかった, te-form 高くて. They do not need です to be grammatical, but です is added for politeness. Na-adjectives behave more like nouns (静か shizuka 'quiet', 元気 genki 'healthy'); they attach to a following noun with な (静かな部屋 'a quiet room') and take their tense and polarity from the copula です: 静かです, 静かじゃない, 静かでした, 静かじゃなかった. Mis-applying i-rules to na-adjectives (and vice versa) is a common error.
です (desu) is the polite copula, equating two noun phrases (A は B です 'A is B') or following a na-adjective. Its forms: non-past affirmative です, non-past negative じゃありません / じゃないです (more casual: じゃない), past でした, past negative じゃありませんでした / じゃなかったです. The plain copula is だ (da), with plain negative じゃない and plain past だった. です can softly close a sentence after an i-adjective (高いです), although grammatically i-adjectives already inflect for tense and polarity, so the です there carries no tense — never say *高いでした.
Sentence-final particles add nuance without changing propositional content. か (ka) turns a statement into a question; in polite speech it replaces the English question mark and rising intonation: 学生ですか 'Are you a student?'. ね (ne) seeks agreement or confirmation, similar to English 'right?' or '…isn't it?'; it assumes the listener shares the speaker's view: いい天気ですね 'Nice weather, isn't it?'. よ (yo) asserts information the speaker believes is new to the listener, or emphasizes a point: その店は今日休みですよ 'That shop is closed today (you should know)'. Misusing よ can sound pushy; misusing ね can sound presumptuous.
To count things in Japanese you must use a counter suffix matched to the type of object. The structure is numeral + counter, placed after the noun and its particle (本を三冊 'three books'). Common counters: 人 (nin) for people — note irregular 一人 hitori, 二人 futari; 個 (ko) for small round or generic objects; 杯 (hai/bai/pai) for cupfuls/glassfuls of liquid, with sound changes (一杯 ippai, 三杯 sanbai); 本 (hon/bon/pon) for long, cylindrical things like bottles, pens, trees (一本 ippon, 三本 sanbon). A native generic counter set (一つ, 二つ, 三つ …) can substitute when you are unsure which specific counter applies.
Japanese encodes social relations grammatically. The two most useful registers are plain (casual, dictionary forms — used among friends, family, and in writing) and polite (-ます / です forms — the default for strangers, colleagues, and public situations). Beyond polite, there is honorific keigo, with two further sub-systems: 尊敬語 sonkeigo, which elevates the listener or subject (お読みになる, いらっしゃる), and 謙譲語 kenjōgo, which humbles the speaker (お読みする, 参る). Learners should master polite -ます first, then add plain forms for everyday relationships. Use full keigo in service, business, and formal contexts; using it with close friends sounds cold or sarcastic.