Learn to read Japanese
A short, active path into reading Japanese: decode seven real words from eleven kana, learn why the verb comes last and how nine particles carry the grammar, meet the plain past stories are told in, and read a short fable before opening your first book.
Words
2 sectionsBig, small, sad, happy — and where describing words sit
- Describing words sit in front of the noun and never change to match it: no gender, no plural, no agreement.
- The i class behaves like a verb: 大きいōkii can close a sentence with no “is” in it.
- The na class cannot, and leans on だda to do that work.
- きれいkirei ends in the sound “i” but belongs to the na class — trust the characters, not the sound.
An adjective is a describing word: big, old, sad, good. In Japanese they sit in front of the noun, exactly as in English, and nothing about the noun makes them change — though they do change for tense, which the past section returns to.
Six describing words
| Japanese | Kind |
|---|---|
| 大きいōkii“big” | ends in いi |
| 小さいchiisai“small” | ends in いi |
| いいii“good” | ends in いi |
| うれしいureshii“happy” | ends in いi |
| かなしいkanashii“sad” | ends in いi |
| きれいなkirei na“beautiful” | the other kind, needs なna |
きれいkirei ends in the sound “i” but is not one of the いi words — look at the characters, not the sound. The colours, and more words like these, are in the word lookup.
The two classes, side by side
ダラはDara wa“Dara” とても いい ともだちだtotemo ii tomodachi da“is a very good friend”.
ダラは とても いい ともだちだ。
Dara wa totemo ii tomodachi da.
ともだちtomodachi“friend” is new, and とてもtotemo“very” goes in front of the describing word, as in English. When an i word ends the sentence instead, there is no “is” anywhere: the describing word does the verb’s whole job.
Which class, and where is the “is”?
- 犬は 大きい。
Something is missing from the end, and that is the point.
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inu wa ōkii — “The dog is big.” No だda: the describing word closed the sentence itself. - きれいな 日だ。
The other class.
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kirei na hi da — “It is a beautiful day.” This one needed both the なna and the だda.