Introduction 1 Introducing Japanese sounds, word order, and writing systems Basic sounds Pitch Basic hiragana Katakana Kanji Basic word order and particles Speech styles 2 Nouns Proper nouns Respectful titles Common nouns Compound nouns Demonstrative pronouns Personal pronouns The particle no Kinship terms 3 Numbers Bare numbers based on the Chinese system The native Japanese number system Class counters Ordinal counters Expressing time Expressing months and days Unit counters me 4 Basic verb forms Dictionary form Masu form Nai form Stem form Ru verbs and u verbs Irregular verbs Conjugation patterns Te form Ta form Nakatta form Conjugating verbs in the plain form Conjugating verbs in the polite form Progressive form Potential form Conjugating the copular verb desu 5 Verb types suru verbs Existential verbs aru and iru Transitive and intransitive verbs Inherently potential verbs Verbs with hidden become/get Verbs of giving and receiving 6 Auxiliaries that follow verbs in the te form te + ageru, etc. (helpfulness) te + iru (progressive, resulting, and habitual states) te + shimau (completion) te + oku (preparation) te + miru (trial) te + iku and kuru (progress) te + aru (resulting state) te + hoshii (desire) 7 Particles o (direct object) ga (subject) ni (at, in, to) de (at, by, in, with) e (toward, to) kara (from) made (until) no (of, ''s) to, ya, and ka (listing nouns) wa (topic) mo (addition) bakari (nothing but . ) shika (only) dake (just/only) demo (even) 8 Adjectives and adverbs Adjective types Basic adjective forms Multiple subjects Te forms of adjectives Degree adverbs Frequency adverbs Adverbs derived from adjectives Adverb + naru (change) Adverbs made from onomatopoeia and mimetic words Comparing two items Equivalent-degree comparison Comparing activities Superlative comparison 9 Sentence types Statements Questions Sentences with indefinite pronouns Enriching statements Suggestions, requests, and commands 10 Complex words and phrases sugiru, etc. (verbal compound) yasui / nikui (toughness) tai (to want to do . ) garu (to show the signs of . ) Noun + rashii (typical) Noun + no yo na (simile) Noun + mitai na (simile) Stem form + so na (appearance) Volitional form + to omou (intention) Volitional form + to suru (attempt) yo ni suru/naru (change) koto ni + suru/naru (decision) koto ga dekiru (potential) koto ga aru (experience) 11 Clauses to and ka (verb complement clause) mae ni (adverbial clause before . ) and ato ni (adverbial clause after . ) aida ni (adverbial clause during/while .
) uchi ni (adverbial clause during/while/before . ) toki ni (adverbial clause at the time when . ) nagara (adverbial clause simultaneously) kara and node (adverbial clause because . ) ga and noni (adverbial clause although . ) Noun modifier clauses (which/that . ) 12 Conjunctions Listing nouns with to (exhaustive), ya (partial), ka (disjunctive), and mo (addition) Listing verbs with te forms Listing adjectives with te forms Listing verbs and adjectives as examples using the tari form Listing verbs and adjectives emphatically using shi Sentence conjunctions 13 Conditionals tara (whenever, when, if) ba (whenever, when, if) to (whenever, when) nara (if it is the case that .) te mo (even if/though, no matter . ) Permission and prohibition Obligation and discretion 14 Passives and causatives Passive verbs Direct passive Indirect passive Causative verbs Make-causative and let-causative Causative with auxiliary verbs of giving and receiving Causative passive 15 Honorifics Special honorific verbs (r)areru (respectful form of verbs) o .
ni naru (respectful) o . suru (humble) Asking for permission very politely Making a request very politely Using go before a noun Family terms Honorific forms for adjectives Honorific/polite question words 16 Review Exercises Appendix A: Basic verb forms Appendix B: Basic sentence predicate forms Japanese-English glossary English-Japanese glossary Answer key.