今日 IMABI - Beginners I

第10課: The Particle Ga が I: The Subject Marker Ga が 

第??課: The Particle Wa は I: The Topic/Contrast Marker Wa は 

Japanese is an amazing language that attracts millions of people. Learning how to speak it is no easy task, but the first thing we'll study is how to pronounce it. First off, we will learn about the vowel sounds. 

In Standard Japanese--the form of the language any Japanese speaker will understand and the form that you are beginning to learn--there is what is called a pitch accent system. Every mora of a phrase is assigned a pitch. This assigned pitch may either be high or low. In a full sentence, you will hear pitch go up and down as phrases are strung together. 

Stress in English

 Proper pitch in Japanese is not necessary for pronunciation. In theory, you could still be understood even if you were to mess up the pitch of every mora. Having correct pitch, however, will make your speech sound more native-like, and in turn, easier to understand. 

 In English, syllables acoustically have both pitch alternation and different degrees of emphasis in enunciation, which is known as stress. This is in contrast with Japanese which only has pitch alternation, causing Japanese to sound monotone to the English ear. Theoretically, it is similarly the case in English that a speaker could be understood even if the stress of every word were placed on the wrong syllable.

This is not to say that stress allocation never changes the meaning of words in English. In fact, there are some rather systematic ways in which this is true. As examples of this, below are three words that differ in part of speech as well as subsequently in meaning due to the placement of pitch. In the left-hand column, the words are understood as nouns due to stress being placed on the first syllable. In the right-hand column, the words are understood as verbs due to stress being placed on the second syllable.   

Despite many such words existing in English, it would be wrong to claim that pronouncing the majority of words with the wrong accent would result in a different word or non-word. For instance, if you were to pronounce the word "English" with the stress on the second syllable instead of on the first syllable, any native speaker should still be able to recognize the word and understand you.

Just as is the case with various English accents, pitch accent will differ based on where a person is from. So, although it's important to understand the basic framework of pitch in Japanese, and although you will be exposed to the pitch contours of many phrases as you progress through this curriculum, don't let this hamper your studies if the minute details of pronunciation become overwhelming. 

 Pitch Accent in Standard Japanese

In Standard Japanese, there are four kinds of pitch contours that a phrase can have. Regardless of how short or long a phrase is, the pitch contour will always be one of the four patterns with no exceptions. This predictability will allow you to quickly pick up on how Japanese should sound, and in turn, it may help you more quickly acquire the system as a whole. 

Think of an entire sentence as being a pitch roller coaster. Every mora isn't an individual ride with its own loops and turns. Rather, a mora is only one loop of the ride--nothing more. You must put the loops (morae) together so that the segments (phrases) of the ride come together to make a complete ride. Lastly, the loops that make up the ride only come in 4 varieties. 

In the chart below, each of the four pitch patterns are laid out. In the far-right column, you will find an example word for each pattern. All four examples happen to be homophonous (sound the same), only differing in pitch. This is to demonstrate that, though not a widespread phenomenon, phrases are still occasionally distinguished with pitch accent.

"L" and "H" stand for "low-pitch mora" and "high-pitch mora", both standing for one mora each. This means that H-L stands for two morae, H-L-L stands for three morae, etc. As a reminder of this, a mora-count is placed after each such contour notation. 

Sometimes, a single word is not the only component to a phrase. Most phrases are made with one word along with an add-on that attaches to it, and it is the resultant combination that is treated as a "phrase." This is important to understand because pitch allocation is done at the phrasal level, NOT the individual word level. As such, "L" and "H" are seen in parentheses to indicate what the pitch accent of a phrase would continue to be if it were made longer. 

As mentioned earlier, there are only five vowels in Japanese: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, and /o/. Below you will see how the five vowels of Japanese are roughly pronounced. The vowels are pronounced clearly and sharply like the American English approximates provided. However, it cannot be stressed enough that these are approximates. 

Although the chart says that /u/ is like the "oo" in the word "mood," this isn't quite accurate. In fact, there is no form of English that has the /u/ found in Standard Japanese. However, by compressing your lips rather than protruding them forward, the resulting /u/ will be something like the one in Japanese.  

Although the other vowels are almost identical to the ones found in American English, the Japanese /a/ actually only shows up in diphthongs in American English. A diphthong is when two vowels blend together to form a complex vowel sound. You start off pronouncing one vowel sound, but at the end it sounds like something else. For example, the vowel sound in the word "height" is an example of a diphthong, and the onset of this word is exactly how the Japanese /a/ is pronounced.

Juxtaposed Vowels

In English, complex vowel sounds called diphthongs are created by beginning a vowel sound with one quality but ending it with another. For instance, in the word "kite," the vowel starts out as "a" but ends as "i." The opposite of a diphthong is a monophthong, which is a vowel whose quality doesn't change during its pronunciation. This is what all vowels in Japanese are thought to intrinsically be.

In Japanese, diphthongs are said not to exist because of how the moraic structure of the language dictates how sounds are organized. Instead of treating a word like hai (yes) as one syllable, you treat it as two morae: /ha/ + /i/. 

Acoustically, juxtaposed vowels do slightly blend together. However, native speakers still conceptualize them as two separate entities. This is because pitch can fall or rise without needing an intervening consonant. Even in words just composed of vowels, pitch contours cannot be ignored, as is demonstrated below.

Exception Note: The word iu is pronounced as /yuu/. Exceptions like this, though, are few and far between in Japanese. 

In Japanese, short vowels are distinguished from long vowels. A short vowel is a vowel utterance equal to one mora in length. If a vowel is elongated to take up two morae, it becomes a long vowel. Pitch can consequently rise or drop inside long vowels because they're treated as two morae.

Consequently, vowel length contrasts thousands and thousands of words. Mistakes at the beginning are inevitable, but recognizing distinctions like this now will spare you a lot of potential heartache. 

Pronunciation Note: Do not pronounce "oo" as a long /u/ sound. This is incorrect! 

 False Long Vowels

What makes a long vowel truly a long vowel and not just the same vowel next to each other is there being nothing that obstructs the pronunciation of the vowel as it spans two morae. In both English and Japanese, the pronunciations of vowels begin with glottal stops. Whenever you say the phrase "uh-oh", you should feel an audible release of air after completely stopping airflow from the glottis (Adam's apple) at the start of "uh" and "oh."

In Japanese, long vowels are always contained in a single element of a word. If one element of a word only ends in the same vowel as the first sound in the following part of the word, the vowel of that second element will begin with a glottal stop like any other word-initial vowel sound. This glottal stop insertion also helps determine the pitch of the phrase. 

Transcription Note: In the words below, to show where elements of a word begin and end, periods will be inserted to indicate these boundaries.

Trivia Note: Vowels are called boin in Japanese.

 The Pronunciation of "Ei": [ei] or [ē]

 In Japanese, the vowel combination "ei" is usually pronounced as a long /e/ (ē). All such words come from Chinese roots. Because this sound change is technically optional, you don't have to worry so much about whether to pronounce an "ei" as [ei] or [ē]. After all, we haven't even learned about what exactly words made from Chinese roots look like. For this lesson, alternative pronunciations of a word are listed for you.

Transcription Notes:
1. Long /e/ are written as "ee" so that pitch contours can be designated. However, do not be confused by this spelling and pronounce "ee" as a long "i" sound. 
2. To show where elements of a word begin and end, periods will be inserted to indicate these boundaries. "Ei" can only be pronounced as [ē] if it's within the same element of a word, so these boundaries are very important.
3. If a word is not derived from Chinese roots, /ei/ is always pronounced as [ei].

The Pronunciation of "Ou": [ou] or [ō]? 

In Japanese, the vowel combination "ou" is usually pronounced as a long /o/ (ō). Most such words come from Chinese roots, but this is not always the case. This sound change, unlike the one above, is not optional for the words it affects. 

Knowing which words are and aren't affected by this sound change is a luxury that comes about from knowing a lot about word origins. For this lesson and the next, any word in which a word that would be spelled as "ou" but is instead pronounced as a long /o/ will be spelled as "oo." This means if you do see "ou," you should pronounce it literally as such. Try not to read "oo" as a long "u" sound because this is incorrect. 

Transcription Note: To show where elements of a word begin and end, periods will be inserted to indicate these boundaries.  

The majority of words in Japanese are made by combining consonants and vowels. What was not discussed was how the consonants of Japanese sound and differ with those found in English. 

 Just as there are consonants in English that don't exist in Japanese, there are also consonants in Japanese that don't exist in English. Furthermore, the consonants that Japanese shares with English need not be pronounced exactly the same. In fact, it's safe to assume that all consonants are slightly different in their own unique ways.

To fully grasp how consonants are pronounced, some technical terminology will need to be learned. However, just as was the case in the previous lesson, such terminology will always be accompanied with an explanation on its initial use.   

Transcription Note: Japanese words introduced in this lesson will be written in Romaji (English letters). Additionally, morae with high pitch will be put in bold, and subsequent pitch drops will be marked with ↓. To understand why these conventions are used, refer back to Lesson 1.

In Lesson 1, we briefly learned that a consonant is a speech sound that involves obstructing airflow from the lungs in some way. Japanese has fewer consonants than English, but this doesn't mean the ones it has are all easy to acquire and pronounce for English speakers. First, we need to learn what constitutes a consonant. How do we know something is a distinct consonant and not just a variation of the same thing? Because these distinctions aren't the same across languages, we'll need to understand the answers to these questions to know how to pronounce Japanese properly. 

What is a Phoneme? 

Two sounds are considered contrastive if interchanging the two can cause a change in meaning. If two sounds can contrast each other, they are treated as phonemes of the language.  

To demonstrate what this looks like in English, consider the consonants /b/ and /p/. These consonants are distinct phonemes of English. This can be proven by numerous minimal pairs in which the difference between /b/ and /p/ is the only factor that tells the words apart. 

As demonstrated by the words above, a minimal pair is simply two (or more) words that differ only by a single sound in the same position that have different meanings. 

What is an Allophone? 

In both English and Japanese, there are phonetically (acoustically) different sounds that are treated as the same phoneme. For instance, consider the pronunciation of the consonant /t/ in English. Have you ever noticed that the "t" in "top" and the "t" in "stop" are not pronounced the same? If you're a native speaker of English and pronounce "top" with a hand in front of your mouth, you'll feel a puff of air hit your hand. This is called aspiration. If you pronounce "stop" likewise, you shouldn't feel that puff of air hit your hand. This means that English has both an aspirated and non-aspirated version of /t/, and both are treated as the same sound. These different versions of a single phoneme are called allophones. 

This distinction between aspirated and non-aspirated /t/ does not change the meaning of a word in English. Although they are in complementary distribution with each other--allophones that don't occur in the same location in a word--a speaker could theoretically replace one for the other and be understood. It is because they cannot appear in the same location of a word that makes it impossible for them to contrast words with each other.

There are also instances in both English and Japanese where the same consonant could be pronounced differently in the same location of a word without changing the meaning. This is called free variation. Think of the word "data." Some people pronounce the first "a" like the "a" in "cat" whereas others pronounce it like the "a" in "date." Neither group is wrong. It's just that the pronunciation of the vowel is in free variation between those two pronunciations. 

Phoneme vs. Allophone is Language Specific 

What counts as a phoneme or allophones of the same phoneme differs from language to language. It is also possible for a sound to be treated as an allophone of another in one environment but be treated as a separate phoneme in other environments, all within the same language. Although knowing this may seem trivial, the reason for why you should understand what these terms are is because of the fact that languages are all not the same in how they treat sounds. If you are a native speaker of language(s) other than English, you will have different yet just as problematic difficulties in distinguishing certain Japanese sounds if in fact they aren't differentiated in your own language(s). 

Transcription Note: Just as in Lesson 1, phonemes will be placed in // whereas allophones will be placed in []. 

The Phonemes of Japanese

At the phonemic level, Japanese can be said to have at least 16 distinct consonant phonemes depending on how one likes to divvy things up. 

The chart above shows all the distinct phonemes of Japanese. However, it is important to understand now that these are not all the possible sounds of Japanese because some of them have allophones and some of them happen to be allophones of other phonemes listed in the chart.

For the rest of this lesson, we'll learn exactly how to pronounce each of these consonants based on intrinsic features to their pronunciation. Because Japanese pronunciation isn't complicated aside from having features that may not be shared in the languages you speak, there should be no worries about having to memorize tons of variant pronunciations.   

Most consonants come in pairs. For instance, /k/ and /g/ are both made in the exact same place in the mouth. The only difference is that pronouncing /g/ causes the vocal folds of the mouth to vibrate whereas /k/ does not. Consonants that do not cause the vocal folds to vibrate are called unvoiced consonants, and consonants that do cause the vocal folds to vibrate are called voiced consonants. Voicing is a seen across many languages to make such consonant pairs like /k/ and /g/. 

Examples of unvoiced consonants in English include /k/, /s/, /t/, /h/, and /p/. These consonants alone are seen in thousands of words. Although English has more unvoiced consonants, these are the basic ones it shares with Japanese.

In English, unvoiced consonants are typically pronounced with aspiration. In Japanese, unvoiced consonants tend to be slightly more aspirated than they are in languages like Spanish but not nearly as so as in English or Korean. 

The Unvoiced Consonants of Japanese  

The basic unvoiced consonants of Japanese, as mentioned above, are /k/, /s/, /t/, /h/, and /p/. Overall, these consonants are less aspirated than their English counterparts. Other differences exist, of course, which is why each consonant will be introduced individually.

Pronouncing /k/

Just as is the case in English, /k/ is made by placing the back of the tongue against the soft palate in the back of the mouth. 

Pronouncing /t/

/t/ is made by placing the blade of the tongue behind the upper teeth. When the vowel /u/ follows /t/, it becomes [ts]. This is an example of an allophone. An allophone is a variation of the same consonant in the confines of a particular language. This [ts] is the same as the /ts/ consonant cluster found in words like "its" in English. Unlike English, you must never drop the "t" in [ts] in Japanese. This means that "tsunami" is pronounced as /tsu.na.mi/.

Additionally, /t/ becomes [ch] when followed by the vowel /i/. However, the [ch] in Japanese is not like the "ch" in "chair." The Japanese [ch] is produced by first stopping air flow and then placing the blade of the tongue right behind the gum line while the middle of the tongue touches the hard palate of the mouth. 

Pronouncing /s/ 

The consonant /s/ is pronounced just like it is in English, but it becomes [sh] when followed by /i/. When pronouncing [sh], the middle of the tongue is bowed and raised towards the hard palate of the mouth. Note that [sh] is made not as farther back in the mouth as is the case in English.

Pronouncing /h/ & /p/ 

/p/ is known as a plosive sound. It is made by releasing air upon opening one's lips. In Japanese, it isn't all that common because most words with /p/ come from other languages.

Both /p/ and /h/ are pronounced the same as in English, but /h/  has two allophones. When followed by /i/, /h/ sounds most like the "h" in "hue." When followed by /u/, it becomes [f]. The Japanese [f], though, is created by bringing the lips together and blowing air through them without using the teeth.

More Example Words

Vowel Devoicing

When the vowels /i/ and /u/ are in between and/or after unvoiced consonants--/k/, /t/, /s/, /h/, and /p/ along with their respective allophones--they often become devoiced (silent). Devoicing is a very distinctive feature of Standard Japanese pronunciation. 

As an example, the phrase for "good morning" sounds like "o-ha-yo-o go-za-i-ma-s". However, it is important to note that many speakers, especially those that don't come from East Japan, do not devoice vowels. 

Devoicing is never required in a word. In fact, even when a vowel could be devoiced, it doesn't mean it will. There's significant speaker variation. One thing that is certain, however, is that devoicing should not under normal circumstances occur between and/or after voiced consonants.  

Practice: Pronounce the words below with the underlined vowels devoiced.

Kushami (Sneeze)Tafu (Tough)Hito(↓) (Person) 

The unvoiced consonants and their allophones mentioned above all have a voiced consonant counterpart. For every voiced consonant, its pronunciation is the same as its unvoiced counterpart minus voicing. 

There are a few peculiarities that need to be discussed. However, before going into too much detail, /j/ and /dj/ will be mentioned later in this lesson. 

1. /z/ typically becomes [dz] at the start of words. /dz/ tends to become [z] inside words, but this isn't always so. /z/ sounds like the "z" in "zoo," whereas /dz/ sounds like the "ds" in "kids." However, it is important to note that many speakers cannot tell the difference between the two sounds.

2. /h/, its allophones, and /p/ correspond with /b/. /b/ is made by bringing the lips together and then releasing them. This means its articulation is the same as /p/ but not as /h/. 

3. /g/ can be pronounced as /ng/ inside words. This pronunciation is particularly common in the north and east of Japan. 

Try pronouncing the following example words.

More Voiced Consonants 

There are also voiced consonants that do not have unvoiced counterparts. These sounds are listed in the chart below.

The differences in pronunciation detailed above make Japanese sound significantly different from English. Many sounds tend to be closer to the teeth, which is the case for [n] and [r], and movement of the tongue and parts of the mouth are more limited in range. To practice pronouncing these consonants, try saying the following words out loud. 

Palatal consonants are made by the body of the tongue touching against the hard palate of the mouth. In Japanese, these consonants are usually limited to the vowels /a/, /u/, and /o/, and they're all created with the help of the consonant /y/. First, we'll look at those palatal consonants shown below in the chart.

Terminology Note: Palatal consonants are all semi-voiced due to the use of /y/ following the initial consonant. The voicing of the initial consonant doesn't change. Thus, /gy/ would be fully voiced whereas /ky/ would not be voiced initially but become voiced by the end of the consonant. Here, /y/ acts more like a semi-vowel more so than another consonant, which is why none of these palatal consonants are treated as consonant clusters. Instead, they can be viewed as more additional phonemes in the language.   

Usage Note: In loan-words, these consonants may be used with other vowels.  

Most of these combination are very common in Japanese. They are most frequently found in words that come from Chinese. Below are some examples.

Other Palatal Consonants   

The remaining palatal sounds that have yet to be looked at are /sh/, /ch/ and /(d)j/.

As we learned earlier, [sh] and [ch] are allophones of /s/ and /t/ respectively. They can also be treated as separate phonemes. This is because all five vowels can follow them, allowing them to become contrastive. 

The voiced counterpart for both /sh/ and /ch/ is /(d)j/. This phoneme /(d)j/ has two allophones: [dj] and [j]. The former sounds like the j-sound in "judge," and the latter sounds like the j-sound in "seizure." Many speakers pronounce this phoneme as [dj] whenever it appears at the start of a word or after another consonant but as [j] anywhere else. Others only use the [dj] pronunciation. 

Consonants may be lengthened in Japanese just like vowels. When you make a long consonant, the sound is perceived as sounding harder. The length of time you use to pronounce it increases from one mora to somewhere in between one and two morae. However, speakers conceptualize long consonants as being two morae.

The consonants that are typically doubled in Japanese are non-voiced consonants. These consonants include /p/, /k/, /t/, /s/, /sh/, /ch/, and /ts/. As far as transcribing them is concerned, they will be written as /pp/, /kk, /tt/, /ss/, /ssh/, /tch/, and /tts/ respectively. 

Usage Note: Voiced consonants are only voiced in a handful of loanwords from other languages, but even then they're usually pronounced as their long unvoiced counterparts.

There is a special voiced consonant in Japanese called the "moraic nasal." It counts as a mora on its own. Although usually transcribed as an "n," its pronunciation varies depending on the environment.

In its basic understanding, it is what's called a uvular "n" that is best transcribed as /N/. The uvula is back in the mouth, but when you pronounce it, the mouth constricts as if you were producing a regular /n/, which makes it sound more like the /n/ you're used to hearing but not quite.

This sound has a lot of allophones because it assimilates (becomes more similar) with the sound that follows. Because things can get quite complicated, we'll go over each situation separately with plenty of examples along the way. In Standard Japanese, this sound can't start words, but it is still quite complicated.

• Pronounced as [m].

When /N/ is before a /p/, /b/, or /m/, it becomes [m]. This means that /m/ can in fact be a doubled with the aid of /N/. 

• Pronounced as [n].

• Pronounced as [ng].

• Pronounced as [ny].
  

Transcription Note: Typically, /dj/ is spelled as "j" since /j/ is largely pronounced as [dj].

• Pronounced as [ũ].　  

When before vowels, /y/, /w/, /s/, /sh/, /z/, /h/, and /f/, /N/ sounds like a nasal vowel from the back of the mouth. At any rate, the vowel before /N/ is always nasalized, but when /N/ is followed by a vowel, all you may hear is a really nasal vowel and then the following vowel. Typically, this /N/ is usually just a very nasal ũ. Although this is usually spelled as "n" for simplicity, it'll be spelled as "ũ" below.

Pronunciation Notes:

1. When before /z/, some speakers pronounced /N/ as [n].  
2. /Deũsha/ may also be pronounced as [deũsha].

• Pronounced as [N]/[m]/[ũ]. 
  

 At the end of words, /N/'s default pronunciation is [N]. However, there are plenty of speakers that pronounce it like a nasal vowel as seen above in this position. In singing, it will even be pronounced as [m]. This is actually true for any instance of /N/ in singing. For the purpose of this section, [N] will be written below as "N."

Japanese is written with a mixed script composed of several parts. Of these are two systems called Kana. These systems spell words moraically. These means that, unlike an alphabet, every symbol will stand for a mora. Thus, a symbol may stand either for a "consonant + vowel" (CV), a "vowel" (V), or a "consonant" (C). 

The two Kana systems are called Hiragana and Katakana. Because there are many symbols and rules to learn per system, we will first study Hiragana. Then, in Lesson 3 we'll learn the symbols of Katakana. After we've covered both sets, we'll learn about Kanji, which are Chinese characters used in Japanese writing. 

Curriculum Note: Just as has been the case for the past two lessons, pitch notes will be provided for the vocabulary used. High pitch is designated as text in bold. Pitch falls are noted with a ↓.

Kana represent the morae of Japanese. As we learned in Lesson 1, a mora is an equal time unit of speech. Kana can be organized into a chart called the Gojūonzu, which means the table of 50 sounds. Although it doesn't actually have 50 sounds in it, they are deemed to be the most basic sound combinations in Japanese, which are called seion. 

Each Kana system has its own set of symbols. That means once you have mastered the Hiragana symbols below, you'll have to prepare yourself to learn an entirely different set for the same sound combinations. As tedious as this might seem, the two systems are used differently. The most important and most used system is Hiragana, which is why it is being introduced to you first.

HIRAGANA

The basic symbols of Hiragana, as stated above, are organized into a chart called the Gojūonzu. This chart is shown below with each basic symbol. Notice how the chart is organized. Stoke orders are listed, and all the allophones of sounds we learned in the previous lesson are shown in their respective columns. 

Curriculum Note: Print this sheet out and have it at hand as we continue onward.

Usage Notes: 

Of these characters, all except the symbols for we and wi are actually used. These two characters live on only in names, place names, and old literature. Because there is the chance you will encounter them, when you do see them, read them as "e" and "i" respectively as the "w" has dropped from their actual pronunciations. This is largely why the symbols are no longer seen today. 

Similarly, the symbol for wo is usually pronounced by "o" by most speakers. However, the traditional pronunciation "wo" is still heard depending on personal preference, dialect, as well as occasion. For instance, in music, singers tend to be conservative in pronunciation. This is also the case when people slow down their speech to purposefully enunciate every sound clearly. 

Of these characters, all but the symbols for we, wi, wo, and n can start words. Also, the symbol for wo is only used in names or as a grammatical word that cannot stand alone, which we will learn about later.  

Handwriting Notes: 

1. Write strokes from top to bottom and left to right.  
2. Make sure the end of the second stroke in あ is crossing the curve of the final stroke. 
3. Make sure that the final stroke in け is slightly farther down than the first.
4. For せ, the second stroke usually doesn't have a hook.  
5. For い, こ, た, ふ, り, and ゆ, don't connect the strokes together.
6. For む, if you connect stroke 2 and 3, do not add another slash.
7. Make sure the stroke 3 for お is not positioned far away from the rest of the character.
8. In more proper handwriting, the last stroke in さ and き is not connected with the rest.  

Examples

The best way to see if you can read Hiragana is to practice with actual words. Below is a list of 30 common words written without any aids. 

Diacritics: ゛ & ゜

There are two diacritics that can be added to symbols that change the consonant of the symbol in question. These diacritics are the ゛ (dakuten/nigori↓) and the ゜ (handakuten). The first diacritic changes a consonant into a voiced consonant. A voiced consonant causes the vocal folds to vibrate. The second diacritic changes /h/ to a /p/.  

When writing these characters, you write the diacritics last. It's important to note how there are two characters for /ji/ and /zu/. These symbols are not always pronounced exactly the same, but we will go into greater detail about this later.

Examples

The hardest part to mastering the diacritics will simply be remembering to use them and realizing that the pronunciation of a symbol will change because of them. For practice, below are 30 common words that utilize them.

Palatal Sounds

Palatal sounds are created by placing the tongue on the hard palate of the mouth. Many consonants in Japanese can be palatalized and then followed by the vowels /a/, /i/, /u/, and /o/. In the case of /i/, palatalization is an inherent part of the pronunciation of the sound combination. For instance, /ki/, /shi/, /chi/, /ni/, /mi/, /hi/, and /ri/ are all technically palatalized. This is simply part of the natural process of pronouncing them.

The way Japanese creates more sound combinations with palatalized combinations is by having /ya/, /yu/ and /yo/ follow a consonant. When this happens, new consonants are produced. In Hiragana, these combinations are created by using an i-sound symbol with a shrunken y-sound symbol--ゃ, ゅ, or ょ. 

Similarly to above, there are two ways to write /ja/, /ju/, and /jo/. For now, we'll put aside how they differ in pronunciation and usage and solely focus on memorizing these glyphs. Note, though, that you will rarely see the variants that utilize ぢ.

Pronunciation-wise, the ry-sounds will be the most difficult to master as the Japanese /r/ tends to be difficult as it is for native English speakers to acquire. 

Examples 

Below are 30 words utilizing these glyphs to help you learn them.

 To Continue

So far, we have covered the unique glyphs that compose Hiragana. What we have not learned is how long consonants and vowels are transcribed. We have also not learned about what situations Hiragana is even used in. Both of these topics require that we first go over Katakana as comparing the two is essentially in understanding these topics properly. 

Practice 

Part I: Change the following words into Hiragana.

1. Kemuri (smoke)　　　　　　　　  
2. Amagumo (rain cloud)　　　　　　　　　　　　　
3. Uta↓ (song)
4. Sekai (world)
5. Karate(karate)

Part II: Change the following words in Hiragana into Rōmaji.

1. かのじょ （She)　　　　　　　　　　　2. しょだな (Bookshelf)　　　　　　　　
3. にほんご (Japanese language) 4. さかな （Fish)　　　　　　　　　　　　
5. にんげん (Human)　　　　　　　　　　6. だいがく　(College)
7. ひと (Person) 8. あした↓　(Tomorrow)

In the previous lesson, we learned about how Japanese is a mixed script. The previous lesson was all about learning the individual symbols of Hiragana. In this lesson, our goal will be to learn all the individual symbols for Katakana. 

Hiragana and Katakana both represent the same sound combinations (morae). As such, there won't be any differences in pronunciation between an /a/ written in Hiragana and one written in Hiragana. However, the two scripts are used in different circumstances. Their rules for other aspects of spelling such as long vowel notation are also not exactly the same. For now, we will focus solely on learning the individual symbols of Katakana. As you will soon see, there are more symbols to learn in Katakana than there is for Hiragana. This means you have plenty of work ahead of you in this lesson.  

Of the two Kana systems, Katakana is the least used. However, that doesn't mean it isn't used, and it doesn't mean that it isn't important to learn. One cannot properly read Japanese without knowing both systems. The two systems are still used in different ways. The way they're used also affects how complex the systems are. Katakana, as you will see, has an additional set of combinations not used in Hiragana. This means it'll take a little more effort to memorize Katakana than Hiragana. With that being said, let's begin.  

KATAKANA

The basic symbols of Katakana, just as was the case with Hiragana, are organized into a chart called the Gojūonzu. This chart is shown below with each basic symbol. Just like for Hiragana, notice how the stoke orders are listed and how all the allophones of sounds we've learned about are shown in their respective columns.   

Curriculum Note: Print this sheet out and have it on hand as we continue onward.

Usage Notes:  

 Of these characters, all of them except the symbols for we and wi are typically used. These two characters live on only in names, place names, and old literature. Because there is the chance you will encounter them, when you do see them, read them as "e" and "i" respectively as the "w" has dropped from their actual pronunciations. This is largely why the symbols are no longer seen today.  

Similarly, the symbol for wo is usually pronounced by "o" by most speakers. However, the traditional pronunciation "wo" is still heard depending on personal preference, dialect, as well as occasion. For instance, in music, singers tend to be conservative in pronunciation. This is also the case when people slow down their speech to purposefully enunciate every sound clearly. Unlike in Hiragana, the Katakana symbol for wo is hardly used at all. This means you won't get many opportunities to see it actually used.

Of these characters, all but the symbols for we, wi, wo, and n can start words. The symbols for we and wi are deemed obsolete. Also, the symbol for wo is only used in names or as a grammatical word that cannot stand alone, which we will learn about later.  

Handwriting Notes:

1. Write strokes from top to bottom and left to right.
2. Horizontal strokes come before vertical strokes.  
3. Take especial note to the stroke orders of シ and ツ.  For シ, its third stroke is irregularly written from the bottom upward, which is how you can distinguish it from ツ, which is written regularly.
4. Also take note of the stroke orders of ソ and ン. For ン, its second stroke is irregularly written from the bottom upward, which is how you can distinguish it from ソ, which is written regularly.
5. When there are horizontal strokes that span the length of the symbol, those strokes aren't first from top to bottom regardless if other strokes may start higher up. Take キ as an example.

Examples 

As your first chance at reading practice, below are 60 common words that are spelled in Katakana. Although it's not necessary that you memorize them all now, you'll find that many of them are words you're already very familiar with. 

Diacritics: ゛ & ゜ 

The diacritics we learned about last lesson are used in exactly the same way in Katakana. These diacritics, the These diacritics are the ゛ (dakuten/nigori↓) and the ゜ (handakuten), represent voiced consonants and the consonant /p/ respectively. 

Just as was the case with Hiragana, you write the basic symbol before adding the diacritics. Additionally, there are two characters for /ji/ and /zu/. However, their pronunciations/usage aren't 100% the same. For now, focus on memorizing these symbols. 

Examples

 Below are 60 common words that utilize these diacritics. Although it is not necessary that you memorize them all, they are all common words that bring purpose to using Katakana as the majority of these words are solely written in Katakana. 

Palatal Sounds

Remember that palatal sounds are created by placing the tongue on the hard palate of the mouth. Consonants are naturally palatalized in Japanese when followed by /i/ or /y/. For those created with /y/, shrunken y-sound symbols must be paired with a full-sized i-sound symbol. In Katakana, these combinations are as follows.  

Just as was the case with above with there are being two ways to write the says, /ji/ and /zu/, the same can be said for /ja/, /ju/, and /jo/. The variants that use ヂ are essentially obsolete as far as spelling actual, common words is concerned. 

Examples 

Not all these characters are used as frequently as others. Although some are extremely common, some are only found in certain kinds of words. Others are hard to find without being used with long vowels and consonants. Since we haven't learned what those rules are for the two Kana systems, the 30 examples words are limited to words with short consonants and vowels that are actually common expressions. 

 Additional Katakana

Unlike Hiragana, Katakana is used to transcribe far more sound combinations. Although we have not learned exactly when either system is used and why, you may have noticed that a lot of the example words in this lesson have been for loan-words from other languages. This is one purpose of Katakana that is heavily reflected in the inventory of sound combinations as an effect. 

The most frequently used extensions are those for the consonants /sh/, /j/, /t/, /d/, /ch/, /f/, and /w/. As you can see, all these additional combinations involve using a shrunken symbol next to a full-sized one.

Pronunciation Notes:

1. The v-sounds are overwhelmingly pronounced as b-sounds by most speakers.
2. Additional w-sounds and y-sounds are usually pronounced broken up as if they were written with full-sized characters. For instance, kiwi can either be pronounced as kiui キウイ or kiwi キウィ.  

Examples

The combinations shown above are essentially all additional combinations that are of any significant importance in writing practical words that are actually used by Japanese speakers. However, they aren't all equal in frequency. With that being said, it isn't possible to show practical examples of each combination at this point without having to delve into information beyond the reach of this lesson. Nevertheless, the 30 words will provide you plenty of practice. 

Word Notes:
1. "Violin" is typically spelled as バイオリン.
2. イェス is not the typical means of saying "yes"; it is always used in an English-based context. 

To Continue

In the next lesson, we will learn about how to write long vowels and consonants in both Hiragana and Katakana. We will also learn about what the differences are between the variant ways to write the sounds /ji/, /zu/, /ja/, /ju/, and /jo/. After which point, we'll learn about what Kanji and then move on to learning how Kana and Kanji are used together to write properly in Japanese. 

Practice

Part I: Spell the following words in Katakana. 

1. Piano(Piano)    
2. Tesuto (Test)     
3. Wirusu/Uirusu (Virus)
4. Kariforunia (California)

Part II: Romanize the following words. 

1. スリル　（Thrill)
2. シネマ (Cinema)
3. マスコミ (The media)     
4. キャビン　(Cabin) 
5. パリ　(Paris)

Every language has an orthography for its script(s). In any orthography, there are rules that govern how the writing system(s) are used. For the most part, Japanese orthography in regard to Kana is rather straightforward, but there are a few special cases.

• Long Vowels in Hiragana
• Long Vowels in Katakana
• Double Consonants in Kana
• Yotsugana

In Hiragana, long vowels are typically written by doubling the vowel. As you can see below, only long /e/ or /o/ sounds are extra complicated. The reason why these two long vowels are two possible spellings is because of all the words that have been borrowed from Chinese. Sometimes, spelling doesn't always match pronunciation. As readers of English, you should know this oh too well. 

The next thing to do is see actual words with each of these long vowels. The information we learned about long /e/ and long /o/ sounds in Lesson 1 will be extremely relevant in this lesson. 

Long /a/, /i/, & /u/ 

To create long vowels for /a/, /i/, and /u/, all you do is double the vowel symbol. In the word charts below, the first column shows their spellings in Hiragana. Because word type is a major factor later on in this lesson, the word type for all words shown in this section are also provided. There are three main sources of vocabulary in Japanese: native (words that are indigenous to Japanese), Sino-Japanese, and loan-words. Sino-Japanese words are words that were either borrowed or created with roots from Chinese. These words are alternatively referred to as Kango (the Japanese terminology for Sino-Japanese) in the charts below. Loan-words are borrowings from modern world languages that have managed to find their way into Japanese. In the third column. 

Transcription Note:
1. Because pitch contours will be marked on the Hiragana spellings, long vowels will be romanized with macrons in the charts below except for long /i/, which will be written as "ii."
2. High pitch and pitch drops will be denoted the same way as previous lessons, just with their Hiragana spellings. 

Curriculum Note: False long vowels, vowels that happened to be juxtaposed next to each other but are in fact belong to separate word elements, are not represented as examples of long vowels in the charts below.  

Usage Note: Long /a/ is not a common long vowel. In Hiragana, long /a/ is limited to native words. 

Usage Note: Long /i/ is also not a common long vowel. In Hiragana, long /i/ is limited to native words. 

 Long /e/: ええ vs えい

Whereas long /e/ in native words is always spelled with ええ, it is spelled as えい in Sino-Japanese, in which case it may alternatively be literally pronounced as [ei]. This literal pronunciation is preferred in many regions of Japan as well as in conversation pronunciation, especially in singing. Note that all other instances of えい outside Sino-Japanese vocabulary must be pronounced as [ei]. 

Long /o/: おお vs おう

Long /o/ is usually spelled in native words as おお. Historically, the second "o" would have originally been ほ or を, depending on the word. In Sino-Japanese words, long /o/ is written as おう. When おう is used in native words, it either stands for a long /o/ or "o.u." Typically, おう in native words is always a long /o/ except when it is at the end of a verb. The ending of a verb is treated as a separate element, thus breaking apart what otherwise would be a long vowel. 

For Katakana, long vowels are typically represented with a mark that looks similar to a hyphen: ー. It's normally either called a chō’ompu ちょうおんぷ or bōbiki ぼうびき. As Katakana is used primarily to write foreign words, you are primarily going to use and see this with foreign words. 

Curriculum Note: A lot can be said about how to transcribe and pronounce loan-words. For now, know that long vowels are typically written with ー in Katakana.

In both Hiragana and Katakana, double consonants are created by preceding a symbol with a shrunken tsu. In Hiragana, this is っ. In Katakana, this is ッ. As we have learned previously, unvoiced consonants are typically the only consonants doubled. However, /n/ and /m/ can technically be long, but the symbol for N will be what precedes the main symbol (ん in Hiragana and ン in Katakana). 

With Katakana, voiced consonants are only voiced in certain loan-words or in exaggerated pronunciations. Even in such expressions, these doubled voiced consonants are still usually pronounced as if they were unvoiced so long as there is an unvoiced equivalent. For instance, "bed" is beddo but is normally pronounced as betto. Nonetheless, it remains spelled as ベッド. Consonants for which this all applies include: g, z, d, h, f, b, r, w and y.

Glottal Stops

In Lesson 1, we learned about what glottal stops were. A glottal stop is made by forcibly stopping air in one's Adam's apple. When an expression ends in a glottal stop, a small tsu is used to indicate this pronunciation. An example of this is itah いたっ (ouch!).

Yotsugana refer to Kana that spell what were traditionally four distinct consonants: /z/, /dz/, /j/, and /dj/. Pronunciation-wise, /z/ is usually pronounced as /dz/ and can only be pronounced as /z/ inside words. As for /j/ and /dj/, the two sounds are overwhelmingly both pronounced as [dj]. Previously, we learned when these consonants are used, but we haven't gone over the rules for how to write them correctly in Kana. 

Below are the symbols in question in both Hiragana and Katakana. In the chart, symbols are listed as "common", "uncommon" or "rare." 

Because Katakana is used largely for loan-word transcriptions, which is why symbols traditionally associated with the consonants /dj/ and /dz/ are all rare. Typically, the symbols traditionally associated with the consonants /z/ and /j/ are used regardless of how the consonant is pronounced. The only times when づ・ヅ and ぢ・ヂ are used is when they are immediately preceded by つ・ツ and ち・チ respectively, or when they are the voiced forms of つ・ツ and ち・チ respectively in compound expressions.

Word Note: ヅラ is an abbreviation of katsura かつら (hairpiece), and it is usually spelled in Katakana largely to emphasize its existence as an abbreviation.

Curriculum Note: To learn more, see Lesson 355. 

 Japanese, as we have learned, is written with a mix of different writing systems put together. In Lessons 3-5, we learned about the Kana writing systems: Hiragana ひらがな and Katakana カタカナ. These systems alone, though, do not comprise all the characters that are used to write Japanese. Japanese is also written with characters called Kanji 漢字. These are symbols which originated from China that were then adapted to write the Japanese language.

Unlike with Kana, it will be impossible to learn every Kanji all in one go. This is because over 3,000 individual characters are commonly used. The use of Kanji is undoubtedly the hardest aspect to writing Japanese, but it is also the most rewarding.  

In this lesson, we will learn about how Kanji are constructed. By doing so, you’ll be able to get an idea of how they are formed and written down. In the next lesson, we’ll learn about how Kanji are read as their pronunciations are varied and must be learned on a case-by-case basis. Because this is an introductory lesson with no actual vocabulary given, you do not have to memorize any of the Kanji provided as examples.

Kanji are completely different from ひらがな and カタカナ. Whereas these systems look like foreign alphabets, the same cannot be said for Kanji. In fact, Kanji don’t even correspond to specific sounds like the letters of an alphabet or syllabary would. Instead, Kanji represent actual units of meaning, and to accomplish this, they are composed of one or more building blocks. These building blocks are known as radicals.

All Kanji in existence are composed of one or more 214 distinct radicals.

These are just five examples of some of the most common radicals. Radicals will always have one (or more interrelated) meaning(s) assigned to them, allowing the reader to make an accurate educate guess as to what the Kanji they’re in mean. This means that if you see, for example, 忄 in a Kanji, it has a good chance of having a meaning related to emotion.

Many radicals happen to be independent Kanji themselves. After all, they each possess some core meaning. Not all radicals can be used this way, but this is due to historical happenstance.

These radicals also happen to be used as independent Kanji with the same meanings. Just like the previous radicals, when you see them in other Kanji, their meanings are incorporated into said resultant Kanji. To demonstrate this, below are five Kanji using the radical for “fire.”

As demonstrated by these examples, the same radical can appear slightly differently depending on where it is in a Kanji, but the meaning the radical adds to the character doesn’t change. 

On the topic of shape, radicals come in seven types based on how they fit in Kanji. These types also help determine how characters are written—the stroke order. Radicals can fit into more than one type as there is some give and take involved when combining radicals together.

1.    : Left-Side Radicals

The first category of radicals establishes the general rule that strokes of Kanji are generally written from left to right. These radicals, naturally, are found on the left-side of a Kanji. Let’s look at the radical 亻 meaning “person.” When you see it to the left of a character, you know that the Kanji has something to do with people.

To demonstrate how these radicals are written, consider the character 他 meaning “other(s).”

To demonstrate how the radical 亻 contributes meaning-wise to Kanji, consider the following characters.

Terminology Note: These radicals are also known as へん radicals in Japanese.

1.   : Right-Side Radicals

The second category of radicals follow the rule of strokes being written left to right, meaning that these radicals are written last. Let’s look at the radical 鳥 meaning “bird.” When you see it to the right of a character, you know that the Kanji has something to do with birds.

To demonstrate how these radicals are written, consider the character 鳴 meaning “chirp/cry.”

To demonstrate how the radical 鳥 contributes meaning-wise to Kanji, consider the following characters.

Terminology Note: These radicals are known as つくり radicals in Japanese.

3.  ：Upper-Side Radicals

The third category of radicals establishes the general rule that strokes of Kanji are generally written from top to bottom. Let’s look at the radical 艹 meaning “grass”. When you see it in the upper-half of a character, you know that the Kanji has something to do with plant life.

To demonstrate how these radicals are written, consider the character 花 meaning “flower.”

To demonstrate how the radical 艹 contributes meaning-wise to Kanji, consider the following characters.

Terminology Note: These radicals are known as かんむり in Japanese.

4.   : Bottom-Side Radicals

The fourth category of radicals follows the rule that strokes of Kanji are generally written from top to bottom, meaning that they are written last. Let’s look at the radical 心 meaning “heart,” which is a variant of 忄from earlier. When you see it in the lower-half of a character, you know that the Kanji has something to do with emotions.

To demonstrate how these radicals are written, consider the character meaning 思 “think.”

To demonstrate how the radical 心 contributes meaning-wise to Kanji, consider the following characters.

Terminology Note: These radicals are known as あし in Japanese.

5.  ：Hanging Radicals

The fifth category of radicals follows the general guidelines of writing strokes from top-down and left-right. They appear hanging over the rest of the character in an r-shape.  Let’s look at the radical 疒 meaning “sickness.” When you see it hanging over a character, you know that the Kanji has something to do with sickness.

To demonstrate how these radicals are written, consider the character 病 meaning "disease".

To demonstrate how the radical 疒 contributes meaning-wise to Kanji, consider the following characters.

Terminology Note: These radicals are known as たれ in Japanese.

6.   : Bottom-Wrapping Radicals

The sixth category of radicals follows the general guidelines of writing stroke orders from top-down and left-right. Consequently, because they begin at the far-left side of a Kanji, they are written first. Let’s look at the radical 辶 meaning “movement.” When you see it wrapped to the left-side and bottom of a character in an l-shape, you know that the Kanji has something to do with movement/distance.

To demonstrate how these radicals are written, consider the character 近 meaning “close/nearby.”

To demonstrate how the radical 辶 contributes meaning-wise to Kanji, consider the following characters.

Variant Note: The radical 辶 can alternatively be seen as 辶 like in the Kanji above for “crawl.” The extra dot appears in not as common characters.

Terminology Note: These radicals are known as にょう in Japanese.

7.  : Enclosure Radicals

The seventh and final category of radicals all enclose the rest of the character they’re in. Technically, categories 5 and 6 can be seen as enclosure radicals, but they’re conventionally treated separately. Various kinds of enclosure radicals exist. They can either fully enclose the radical like the icon above or appear like the following icons:

Though stroke order depends on what sub-type the character is, they all follow the general principles discussed.

Let’s look at the radical 囗 meaning “enclosure.” When you see it to surrounding the entirety of a character, you know that the Kanji has something to do with some confined entity.

To demonstrate how these radicals are written, consider the character 回 meaning “revolve.”

To demonstrate how the radical 囗 contributes meaning-wise to Kanji, consider the following characters.

Other example radicals of this category include 門 (gate), 凵 (open box), 匚  (on-side enclosure) 冂 (upside-down box), and 勹 (wrapping enclosure).  Of these, all but the first are nearly purely elemental, providing the full shape to the character it is a part of. Below are some example characters utilizing these radicals.

Terminology Note: These radicals are known as かまえ in Japanese. 

The chart below, extracted from www.jisho.org, displays all 214 radicals according to their stroke count. There is no need to look up each and every radical, nor is there any need to necessarily learn what their names are or all the Kanji made with them. There is far too much information for that to be possible or practical. Treat this as a mapping of the knowledge to be acquired on your journey. 

In Lesson 6, we learned that Kanji are used to write units of meaning. Each character has one or more meanings, and their components (radicals) help the reader guess what those meanings are. Whereas the last lesson focused on learning about what Kanji are, this lesson will be about how to read them. Before we learn about how pronouncing Kanji works, we’ll need to first learn about the different kinds of Kanji that exist. This will help you figure out how to read Kanji more than you may think!

Kanji come in four main kinds based on what they represent and how. Originally, Kanji all began as pictographic representations of what they meant. The ancient Chinese took it upon themselves to turn pictures into meaningful symbols, and over many centuries, those symbols evolved into the Kanji we know today.

Pictograms

Pictograms are the direct descendants of these ancient depictions. Although highly stylized, many pictographic Kanji still greatly resemble what they represent. Below are some examples.

Ideograms

Whereas pictograms are depictions of concrete entities, ideograms are depictions of abstract entities. This is the only difference between the two. Below are some examples.

Compound Ideograms

Compound ideograms are the logical next step after simple ideograms. As implied by the name, they are created by combining radicals together to express a more complex meaning. The meaning is always abstract to some degree. Below are some examples.

Semasio-Phonetic Characters

The previous types of characters only make up about 10% of the Kanji that exist. This means that for the remaining 90%, not all parts of a Kanji contribute to its meaning. Rather, one or more parts contribute to the meaning while the rest of the character indicates its “sound.” These phonetic elements are deeply tied to Chinese, the language for which Kanji were originally developed for. Nonetheless, because so many words have been borrowed into Japanese from Chinese, it would be a huge mistake to ignore Kanji phonetics.  

To demonstrate all this, let’s first consider the Kanji 官 meaning “bureaucracy.” It is a compound ideogram composed of a pictograph of a roof and meat for ceremonial purposes. This gave about a meaning of “military,” which then eventually led to it being interpreted as “a building where military dwell.” From this, the meaning of “bureaucracy” came about. Its “sound” is KAN. When it is seen in other characters, its meaning is usually irrelevant. Its primary purpose is to indicate that the character it’s in also has the same/similar pronunciation.

Kanji Note: 館 can also be viewed as a compound ideogram. A building for the military with lots of resources is naturally large.

ON Readings 

The “sound” elements found in semasio-phonetic characters refer to what are called ON readings—on’yomi おんよみ. ON readings are associated with Sino-Japanese vocabulary. These are words derived from Chinese roots, and any character read with an ON reading represents one of the many Chinese roots borrowed into Japanese.

ON readings were borrowed along with Kanji, but Kanji weren’t all introduced to Japan at the same time. Over many centuries, Japan would occasionally open itself and then close itself off from direct contact with China and its other neighbors. As time went by, so too did Chinese change. Whenever the flow of linguistic information was reopened, Japan did not simply replace old ON readings for the new ones that came in. Instead, words that had already been made with the old readings stayed as is and the new readings, as well as new meanings in some cases, were used to make even more words.

All this means that any Kanji which came from China will have one or more ON readings. To demonstrate this, let’s look at the Kanji 男 meaning “man.” It has two ON readings: ナン and ダン, with the first one being older than the latter one. You can find words with both readings. Words created with the ON readings of more than one Kanji are technically compounds as each Kanji represents a separate unit of meaning.

Notation Note: ON readings will be given in Katakana カタカナ for the rest of this lesson just like above. Additionally, as was the case in previous lessons, characters in bold have a high pitch in comparison to those which are not in bold.  

KUN Readings

Along with ON readings, most Kanji also have KUN readings—kun’yomi くんよみ.  Japanese existed before Chinese loan-words ever crossed the sea into Japan. These Chinese borrowings didn’t just replace the existing vocabulary of Japanese. Instead, both the Chinese loans and native vocabulary ended up coexisting similarly to how words of Germanic and Romance origin coexist in English.

Knowing ON readings is like knowing your Latin roots, and knowing KUN readings is like knowing the core vocabulary used in daily conversation. This is indeed reflected statistically in Japanese. Whereas Sino-Japanese words derived from ON readings make up over 60% of the Japanese lexicon, they only make up about 30% of words used commonly in the spoken language. Native vocabulary represented by KUN readings make up over 60% of the words used in daily conversation.

To demonstrate what KUN readings look like, let’s return our attention to the Kanji 男. It has two KUN readings: お and おとこ. The first KUN reading is a root that refers to “male” entities, and it is seen a lot in Japanese male names. The latter reading おとこ is the word for “man.” The character 男 demonstrates that both more than one ON reading and more than one KUN reading can be assigned to a single Kanji.

Additionally, just as ON readings are used to make compounds, so too are KUN readings. This is because Japanese has always had means of creating compound expressions.

Notation Note: KUN readings will be given in Hiragana ひらがな for the rest of this lesson just like above.

 Choosing Between ON & KUN Readings

So, how exactly do you know which reading to choose for any given word?

• Both ON and KUN readings can be used in single-Kanji words. For words like this read with an ON reading, a KUN reading rarely exists. Even if a KUN reading does exist, the readings are used as completely different words. For single-Kanji that are read with a KUN reading, it tends to be a basic vocabulary word.

• Both ON and KUN readings can be used in compounds. Typically, the more Kanji there are stringed together, the more likely they’re read as ON readings. Also, ON readings are associated with technical words, many of which may be best suited for the written language instead of conversation. Contrary to this, KUN reading compounds are associated with simple words common in conversation. They also tend to be core vocabulary of the language that you would expect Japanese to have always had.

 ON-KUN & KUN-ON Compounds

It is also possible to see ON-KUN compounds, which are called ジュウばこよみ.  In Kanji, ジュウばこ is 重箱. It uses the ON reading ジュウ of 重 and the KUN reading ばこ of 箱. The word refers to a “multi-tiered food box.” It itself is an example of an ON-KUN compound.

The reverse, KUN-ON readings, is also possible, and these readings are called ゆトウよみ. In Kanji, ゆトウ is 湯桶. It uses the KUN reading ゆ of 湯 and the ON reading トウ of 桶. The word refers to a “pail-like wooden container for hot liquids.” It itself is an example of a KUN-ON compound.

Okurigana

It is also important to note that many KUN readings are only used when certain Hiragana follows. This is called Okurigana おくりがな, which, again, is Hiragana that follows Kanji. Okurigana is entirely composed of the parts of word that change in conjugation. Although there are instances in which ON readings can be followed by Okurigana, most instances involve KUN readings (native vocabulary).

Kokuji

Though Kanji are Chinese characters, not all of them were made in China. There are, in fact, many important Kanji that were made in Japan following the same principles. These characters are called kokuji こくじ. Kokuji, being indigenous to Japan, typically only have KUN readings. Again, though, this is unfortunately not a solid rule either. If you're a reader of Chinese, most of the characters will likely not be familiar to you.

Notation Note: Parts of a reading in parentheses indicate that it is okurigana.

Exceptions

Aside from ON and KUN readings are completely exceptional readings. Though they can be viewed as KUN readings, the difference is that more than one Kanji is involved, and it's not possible to assign any part of the reading to the individual characters. Instead, you read the word as a whole a particular way. Each exception must be learned individually, and there are unfortunately quite a few such exceptions. Consider the following examples.

Ultimately, reading Kanji is very complex. Most characters have multiple readings, and the general patterns discussed above are still not good enough to guess with complete accuracy what reading should be used for any given word. Even though these guidelines can help you guess which reading to choose, you still have to know the readings of the Kanji present to make a proper guess.

There is also the reality that there are many Kanji which share the same readings. After all, there are far more Kanji than there are unique morae in the language. Similarly to how English readers learn how to spell words, it is always safest to simply learn how individual words are read, and along the way, the guidelines mentioned above will gradually become more practical.

Don’t let all this be intimidating. Japanese natives aren’t perfect either, and there are plenty of words everyone stumbles over—both non-native and native speakers. In our digital age, reading Kanji has become easier than ever due to the ease of typing. The more exposure you have with Japanese text, the easier reading Kanji becomes, despite how many individual Kanji are used. Take your time, but most importantly, practice diligently.

Japanese (Nihongo 日本語) is a major world language. Depending on how one defines a language, it may be ranked as the eighth to the tenth most spoken language. Japanese is predominantly spoken in Japan. In Japanese, "Japan" is called 日本, which is usually pronounced as Nihon にほん, but it may also be pronounced as Nippon にっぽん. Nippon is favored in formal settings, but in reality, Nihon and Nippon are both used in many of the same situations. The country is formally called Nipponkoku 日本国 (the nation of Japan). 

The country of Japan is said to have been founded by Emperor Jimmu (Jimmu Ten'nō 神武天皇) on February 11, 660 B.C. Its national flag is called the Hinomaru 日の丸, a reference to it being the land of the rising sun. In this lesson, you will learn about ten of the most important aspects of Japanese. In doing so, the mysteries of Japanese grammar that will be unraveled in the lessons that follow won't be so mysterious after all.

Before delving into what Japanese is, let's first address one concern you've likely had thus far: how to say basic everyday expressions. Below are some of those most important phrases that you can use with Japanese speakers. 

• Good morning: O-hayō gozaimasu おはようございます
  
• Good afternoon/Hello: Kon'nichi wa こんにちは
  
• Good evening: Komban wa 今晩は
• Good night: O-yasumi-nasai お休みなさい
• How are you doing?: O-genki desu ka? お元気ですか
• Nice to meet you: Hajimemashite 初めまして
• Thank you: Arigatō gozaimasu ありがとうございます
• Yes: Hai はい
• No: Iie いいえ
• I'm sorry/Excuse me: Sumimasen すみません

Words are composed of sounds, and every language has its own set of rules that govern how sounds come together to make words. These rules are collectively referred to as the phonology of a language. How sounds simply sound is referred to as the phonetics of a language. 

The Vowels

 A vowel is a speech sound made by vibrating the vocal colds without obstructing airflow from the lungs. In Japanese, there are only five vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, and /o/. However, they aren't exactly like their English counterparts. To learn how they differ, we need to learn more about what vowels are.

High vowels are made with the tongue raised high. Oppositely, low vowels are made with the tongue lowered. Front vowels are made by placing the tongue as close to the front of the mouth as possible. Oppositely, back vowels are made by placing the tongue as far back in the mouth as possible.

Chart Note: The diagram below maps out the vowels of Japanese in a vowel space that is meant to represent the dimensions of height and forwardness in the mouth. The further left you go, the closer your tongue is to the front of the mouth. The further right you go, the father your tongue is from the front of the mouth. The further up you go, the higher up the tongue is. The further down you go, the lower the tongue is.

The vowel /a/ is made by with the tongue low but central in the mouth. It is more like the "a" sound found in British English or Spanish. The vowel /i/ is made with the tongue raised high in the front of the mouth. The vowel /u/ is also a high-vowel, but it's made with the tongue in the back of the mouth. In the diagram above, it is marked with a diaeresis (two dots) to indicate that it is not made while rounding the lips like its English counterpart. The vowels /e/ and /o/ are made with the tongue at the center of the mouth. Whereas /e/ is made by placing the tongue closer to the front, /o/ is made by placing the tongue back in the mouth.  

Curriculum Note: Various things can happen phonetically to vowels in Japanese. They may become elongated, nasalized, and even devoiced. To learn more about these processes, see Lesson 365. 

The Consonants

In Lesson 2, we learned about the various consonant sounds of Japanese. A consonant is a speech sound made by obstructing the airflow from the lungs in some manner.

Consonants come in four broad categories: unvoiced, voiced, palatalized, and nasal. Unvoiced consonants are made by not vibrating the vocal cords. Voiced consonants are made by vibrating the vocal folds. Palatal consonants are made by placing the body of the tongue against the hard palate of the mouth. Lastly, nasal consonants are made by redirected some of the air exhaled from the lungs through the nose.

• Unvoiced Consonants (Museion 無声音): /k/, /s/, /sh/, /t/, /ts/, /ch/, /h/, f/, /p/.   
• Voiced Consonants (Yūseion 有声音): /g/, /z/, /j/, /d/, /dz,/ dj/, /b/, /n/, /m/, /r/, /y/, /w/.
• Palatal Consonants (Yō'on 拗音): /ky/, /gy/, /sh/, /j/, /dj/, /hy/, /py/, /by/, /ry/, /y/. 
• Nasal Consonants (Bion 鼻音): /n/, /ny/, /m/, /my/, /N/. 

There is some overlap between these categories, but this is only natural. The categorization of the consonants above does not take into account variations of the same consonant (allophones). To learn more about allophones and the articulation of each kind of consonant, see Lesson 366.

You may remember the terms seion 清音, dakuon 濁音, handakuon 半濁音, and yō'on 拗音 when we learned about Kana 仮名. However, they don't 100% match with the terms above because they describe how sounds have been traditionally categorized.

• Any consonant in the Table of 50 Sounds (Gojūonzu 五十音図) is a seion 清音. 
• A consonant written with a dakuten ゛is a dakuon 濁音. It excludes other sounds that vibrate the vocal folds such as vowels, /n/, /m/, /r/, /y/, and /w/.
• A consonant written with a handakuten ゜is a handakuon 半濁音. This term only refers to /p/, which phonetically is no different other than unvoiced consonants. 
• A consonant written with a small y-kana is a yō'on 拗音. This term is the Japanese equivalent of "palatal sound." 
• Another word you may encounter is bidakuon 鼻濁音, which refers to pronouncing /g/ as /ng/. 

The Mora  

Unlike English, the basic syllabic structure in Japanese is a mora-based system. A mora is a unit of sound that is equivalent to a single beat. Each "beat" is conceptualized as being equal in length, and each beat is assigned a high or low pitch.

In reality, morae are not always exactly equal in length, but this is how they are conceptualized. This is then reflected in the writing system. Kana 仮名 isn't a syllabary. Rather, it's a moraic system which denotes separate characters to each sound (combination) that can be treated as a mora in Japanese. This includes the moraic consonant /N/, which is written in Kana 仮名 as ん・ン.

The moraic sound system helps explain why Japanese distinguishes between short and long vowels as well as single (short) and double (long) consonants. Long vowels are deemed as two morae, whereas short vowels are deemed as one mora. Similarly, double consonants--written with っ・ッ-- are deemed as two morae, whereas single consonants are deemed as one mora. 

Pitch Accent

Japanese has a pitch accent system. Every mora of a phrase is assigned a high or low pitch. In Standard Japanese, there are only four possible pitch patterns that a phrase can have. Although the allocation of what phrase gets what pattern is arbitrary, the natures of these patterns themselves are not.

Chart Notes: 
1. "L" and "H" both stand for a single mora. That means H-L is two morae, whereas H-L-L is three morae. As a reminder of this, numbers will be placed after these contour notations to tell you how many morae words involved have.
2. The "L" and "H" in parentheses indicate what the pitch of something attached to words would be per pattern. 

Although these are the four pitch patterns of Japanese phrases, there are many processes that can change the pitch pattern of a word from one to another, especially as a phrase becomes further complex. There are also generational and dialectical differences that further complicate this basic understanding of pitch accent. The best way to acquire the Standard Japanese pitch accent system is to mimic native speakers who grew up with Standard Japanese as their primary dialect, which can be said for most people that live in and around Tokyo. 

Curriculum Note: To learn more about pitch accent, see Lesson 368. 

Although writing is not the same thing as language, it is intrinsically tied to language. The Japanese writing system is the most complex script in the world. This is because it is composed of four different types of symbols. As we have already partly covered Japanese writing, this section will delve more into information about the system as a whole to give you a better understanding of why it is the way it is.

1) Kanji 漢字 

How Kanji 漢字 Came to Japan 

Kanji 漢字 are Chinese characters brought to Japan from China via Korea around the beginning of the fifth century. Not soon after these characters were introduced, a Japanese writing system called Man'yōgana 万葉仮名 was created. It is called this because it was largely used in a compilation of poems written in Old Japanese called the Man'yōshū 万葉集. This system behaved like a syllabary, but characters were often used for their meanings as is the case today. To learn more about this ancient writing system, see Lesson 410.

The Radicals

Kanji 漢字 are composed of one or more building blocks called radicals, or bushu 部首 in Japanese. There are 214 such so-called radicals, and with these radicals, most characters fall under four types:

1. Shōkei Moji 象形文字 (Pictograms): These characters resemble what they mean. It is generally the case that they looked more similar to what they represent earlier in history, but many still resemble what they mean.  
   Ex. 日 (sun/day), 月 (moon/month), 山 (mountain), 鳥 (bird), 木 (tree), 魚 (fish), 龍 (dragon)
2. Shiji moji 指示文字 (Ideograms): These characters are abstract pictograms, more often referred to as ideograms.  　
   Ex. 一 (one), 二 (two), 三 (three), 上 (above), 下 (below)
3. Kaii Moji 会意文字 (Compound Ideograms): These characters combine one or elements to express a certain meaning.
   Ex. 休 (rest), 森 (forest/grove), 好 (like), 明 (bright), 信 (believe). 
4. Keisei Moji 形成文字 (Semasio-Phonetic): About 90% of all characters are this type. They are composed of two parts: a semantic indicator(s) and a phonetic indicator(s). Both indicators are based on the Chinese language rather than the Japanese language. Ex. 河 (river), 湖 (lake), 流 (flow), 沖 (offing), 江 (inlet).
   Note: In these characters, the left side indicates meaning while the right side indicates sound. 

Curriculum Note: To learn more about bushu 部首, see Lesson 359. 

How Many Symbols are There?

The number of Kanji 漢字 that exist in Japanese is uncertain. The Kanjigen 漢字源 is the most realistic Chinese-Japanese character dictionary (Kanwa Jiten 漢和辞典) for Japanese, having 9,990 entries. This does not mean that Japanese speakers know 9,990 characters. Although a small percentage might, the most comprehensive proficiency test for proficiency, the Kanji Nōryoku Kentei Ikkyū 漢字能力検定一級, only covers approximately 6,000 Kanji. Yet, only about 10% of applicants pass this test--some of whom are foreign test takers.

The Jōyō Kanji List, which is a list that the Japanese Ministry of Education has put forth to create a literary baseline for compulsory education, bureaucratic documents and publications, and general use. As of 2017, 2,136 characters have been designated as Jōyō Kanji 常用漢字. Additional characters used primarily for names, are designated as Jimmeiyō Kanji 人名用漢字, of which a total of 862 exist as of 2017. Generally speaking, most competent readers know over 3,000 characters, and due to the ease of typing, this average is steadily rising.  

The Two Kinds of Readings

There are two kinds of readings emerged: on'yomi 音読み (readings from Chinese) and kun'yomi 訓読み (readings from native words). Most Kanji 漢字 have on'yomi 音読み as they are inherently characters borrowed from China. The on'yomi 音読み of a character can usually be guessed with relative ease as most characters have a phonetic component, as mentioned earlier. Many characters were also attributed to native vocabulary, thus providing them with one or more kun'yomi 訓読み. 

Chart Note: On'yomi 音読み are listed in Katakana カタカナ and kun'yomi 訓読み are listed in Hiragana ひらがな for brevity as well as to provide an opportunity to practice your Kana 仮名 skills. Kana 仮名 in parentheses are okurigana 送り仮名, which usually spell out word inflections and enable said readings to be valid. 

Curriculum Note: There are various kinds of both kinds of readings. Knowledge of these kinds gives reasons for why many characters have so many readings. To learn more about this, see Lesson 354. 

Japanese-Made Symbols 

However, there is also such thing as Kanji 漢字 made in Japan. These are called Kokuji 国字. Some of these characters do have on'yomi 音読み attributed to them, and some of these characters have even made their way into Chinese.  

Notation Note: For the characters described below, the same notation conventions for readings as used in the chart above are implemented.

• 働: Meaning "work," it has the readings ドウ and はたら（く）. It is also now used in Mandarin Chinese.
• 匂: Meaning "smell," it has the reading にお（う）.
• 塀: Meaning "wall/fence," it has the readings ヘイ and ベイ, but these readings were formed by using a radical indicating a Chinese phonetic; the character itself is actually not used in Mandarin Chinese.
• 峠: Meaning "mountain peak," it has the reading とうげ. The reading is spelled as とうげ rather than とおげ because it was once たむけ ＞たうげ , lending its current form, whereas instances of おお typically derive from おほ.
• 榊: Meaning "sacred Shinto tree," it has the reading さかき.
• 込: Meaning "include," it has the reading こ（む）.
• 枠: Meaning "framework," it has the reading わく.
• 畑: Meaning "field," it has the readings はた & はたけ.
• 腺: Meaning "gland," it has the reading セン. It was created by using the Chinese phonetic element 泉, lending the sound セン. This character is now also used in Mandarin Chinese.
• 雫: Meaning "raindrop," it has the reading しずく.

Character Simplification 

If you are a reader of Traditional Chinese or can read Hanja in Korean, you may notice that many Kanji 漢字 don't look the same. This is because many Kanji 漢字 were simplified after World War II. The old forms of characters are called Kyūjitai 旧字体 whereas the new forms are called Shinjitai 新字体. The old forms may still be used in proper nouns as well as in publications printed in the 1960s and beforehand. Below are a handful of some of the characters that were altered.

Curriculum Note: To learn more about Kanji 漢字 simplification, see Lesson 361.

2) & 3) Kana 仮名: Katakana 片仮名 & Hiragana 平仮名 

From Kanji 漢字, Katakana カタカナ and Hiragana ひらがな were created, both of which are Kana 仮名. Each set consists of a basic pool of 48 characters. Intrinsically, they only have phonetic value whereas Kanji 漢字 usually have both semantic and phonetic value(s).

Chart Note: The chart to the left illustrates the origin of Hiragana ひらがな, and the chart to the right illustrates the origin of Katakana カタカナ. 

History Note: The first system to be created was Katakana カタカナ. It was created thanks to Buddhist monks simplifying the manuscript forms of characters. Hiragana ひらがな was created by simplifying the cursive form of characters. Katakana カタカナ used to be called "man's hand (otokode 男手)" and Hiragana ひらがな used to be referred to as "woman's hand (on'nade 女手)" as the choice for what script one used was once largely based on one's gender.

Hiragana ひらがな is seen the most as it is used to spell most words that aren't from foreign languages which Kanji 漢字 may not be practical or possible.

• Inflection - Ex. Atarashii 新しい: the part that conjugates is left in Hiragana ひらがな.
• Kanji 漢字 Replacement - Ex. Shiwa しわ: The symbol 皺 is often deemed too complicated.

Katakana カタカナ is largely used to write foreign loan-words from modern world languages. This includes modern borrowings from Chinese languages.

Katakana カタカナ may also be used to write onomatopoeia or used to italicize expressions and even entire sentences. Its purpose for italicization is used heavily in Japanese dictionaries.

• Italicization - Ex. megane メガネ: Meaning "glasses," this word is typically spelled as 眼鏡. 
• Onomatopoeia - Ex. dokan ドカン (boom). 

Curriculum Note: To learn about Kana 仮名, see also Lessons 3, 4, 355, 356, 357, 364.  

4) English Letters (Rōmaji ローマ字) 

 Though Japanese is largely written with a mix of Kanji 漢字 and Kana 仮名, English letters have become incorporated into the spellings of many word, mostly newly coined words.

Firstly, there are no spaces between words, and you write to the next line even if this breaks up a word. Text may go down from left to right or down from right to left. Horizontal text was historically right to left. The most basic punctuation marks are shown below.

Punctuation marks are written with the same space as regular characters. Commas are often where particles are omitted. ! and ? have been borrowed for emphatic purposes to further demonstrate tone and emotion.  

1.  私 わたし は（、）これが 好 す きです。
Watashi wa(,) kore ga suki desu.
I like this.

2. なに？
Nani?
What?

3. はい！
Hai!
Yes!  

Curriculum Note: To learn more about punctuation, see Lesson 346. 

Basic Word Order 

Left-Branching

In grammar, "left-branching" refers to modifiers preceding their constituents. For instance, in the English phrase "a tall man," the word "tall" modifies the word "man." This is an example of left-branching in English. However, in English, when a modify becomes too long/complex, it goes after its constituent. This is called right-branching. In the examples below, the constituent is in bold while their modifiers are italicized.

1. The kind cat(left-branching)
2. The smart dog(left-branching)
3. The cat brought back to life(right-branching)
4. The dog chasing its tail(right-branching)

In Japanese, modifiers always go before their constituents no matter how complex they are. 

8. 優 ( やさ ) しい 人 ( ひと )
Yasashii hito
Nice person

9. 学校 ( がっこう ) から 帰 ( かえ ) った 子供 ( こども )
Gakkō-kara kaetta kodomo
Literally: School-from returned kid
Translation: Child who came back from school. 

Typical Structuring of Information 

 In Japanese, word order is not fixated in the way it is in English. Ultimately, the speaker can and normally will organize elements of any given sentence based on what he/she deems to be most to least important. However, most sentences are far more predictable than this fluid representation. Typically, information is organized with the following broad ordering.

 The basic word order of SOV is reflected in this ordering, but Japanese typically puts a lot of information before the subject.

• The "topic" of a sentence is what the sentence/discussion is about. 
• Time phrases would include expressions such as "today," "tomorrow," etc.
• Location phrases would include expressions such as "at Tokyo," "in China," etc.
• An indirect object is a phrase referring to something/someone that is a recipient of some action, but it isn't the primary (direct object). 
• A direct object is a phrase that is primarily being affected by the verb. 

10.  私 わたし はきょう、 駅 えき で 友達 ともだち に 本 ほん をあげました。
Watashi-wa kyō, eki-de (ø-ga) tomodachi-ni hon-wo agemashita.
Literally: I-as.for, today, station-at (I-subject.marker) friend-to book-object.marker gave. 
Translation: I gave a book to a friend at the train station today. 

Grammar Notes:
1. Whenever the subject and topic are the same, the subject is not stated but manifests in the grammar as an unspoken zero-pronoun. This rule comes from the general principle of obligatorily omitting syntactically redundant elements, which we'll look at next.
2. The typical ordering of information is almost completely opposite of that of English. 

11.  象 ぞう は 鼻 はな が 長 なが い。
Zō-wa hana-ga nagai.
Literally: Elephants-as.for nose-subject.marker long.
Translation: As for elephants, their noses are long/Elephants have long noses.

Grammar Note: This sentence demonstrates how the subject and topic of a sentence, though related intrinsically with each other, do not have to be the same thing. The pattern shown in this example will be of major focus for us in Lesson 12. 

12. 今朝地震 ( けさじしん ) が 起 ( お ) きました。
Kesa jishin-ga okimashita.
Literally: This.morning earthquake-subject.marker occurred.
Translation: An earthquake occurred this morning.

Grammar Note: Not all verbs require objects as demonstrated in Ex. 12. This sentence is perfectly grammatical with just a time phrase, subject, and a verb.  

13. 明日 ( あした ) から 彼 ( かれ ) に 日本語 ( にほんご ) を 教 ( おし ) え 始 ( はじ ) めます。
Ashita-kara kare-ni Nihongo-wo oshiehajimemasu. 
Literally: Tomorrow-from he-to Japanese-direct object. teach.begin.
I will begin teaching Japanese to him as of tomorrow.

Grammar Note: "To begin teaching" is expressed with a compound verb in Japanese, but the ordering of its components is the opposite of English. In Japanese, the element for "to teach" comes first, and the element for "to begin" is added as a supplementary ending.  

Omission

If something is not important at all, it may be omitted altogether, even if it's an element of a sentence that may be grammatically necessary in English. This is evident in how words like "I" and "you," which are a part of an overwhelming number of English sentences, are frequently not stated. Of course, the decision between omitting or verbalizing something does imply change in nuance. For now, however, it's important to note that something in an English sentence may not need to transfer over to Japanese. 

14. お 名前 ( なまえ ) は 何 ( なん ) ですか。
O-namae-wa nan desu-ka?
Literally: Honorific.prefix-name-as.for, what is-question.marker?  
Translation: What is your name?

Sentence Note: There is no word in this example corresponding to "your." 

15. セスと 申 ( もう ) します。 
Sesu-to mōshimasu.
Literally: Seth-citation.marker called.
Translation: I go by Seth.

Sentence Note: There is no word in this example corresponding to "I."

Inversion 

It's even possible to mention the verb first and state everything else as an after-statement. This is called inversion.

16.  叶 かな え、 私 わたし の 願 ねが いよ。
Kanae, watashi-no negai-yo.
Literally: Come.true I-genitive.marker wish-exclamation.marker
Translation: Come true, oh my wishes. 

Name Ordering 

The hierarchy of information importance also explains why one's family name comes first in Japanese. However, it is important to note that the language actually respects the original ordering of parts of a name if it is from another language. Many learners feel like inverting their name to be more Japanese, but this is not necessary and may end up confusing Japanese people who anticipate the first part of your name to be your given name.

Understanding part of speech (hinshi 品詞) is quintessential to properly harnessing the grammar of a language. As a native speaker of any language, you are privy to instinctively knowing how words relate to one another, how they are similar and dissimilar. Without knowing the names of the categories that exist in your language, you're able to naturally categorize words together in various ways.

These categorizations, though, are language specific. Meaning, just because English has words called prepositions, that doesn't mean Japanese does as well. In fact, as we have learned already, prepositions really don't exist in Japanese. Instead, they're replaced by something called particles (post-positions). This, though, is just one instance of how the two languages differ.

To begin learning what the parts of speech are in Japanese, it's important to first answer a seemingly simple yet difficult question: what is a word? For English speakers, a word is anything that is written as one unit. In writing, we distinguish words by spaces. However, spacing doesn't always do justice to a word count. Take for instance the following phrases.

v. Don't (1-2 words) 
vi. Music video (1-2 words)

The phrase "don't" is a contraction of "do" and "not." Native English speakers typically conceptualize this as one word and do not necessarily deconstruct it in their minds when they use it. Likewise, the phrase "music video" refers specifically to a certain thing that is not solely music nor solely a video. In that sense, you could say it's one word, whereas if you go solely by its spelling you would say that it is two words. Because the word "word" is very vague, for linguistic purposes, the word morpheme is preferred. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning that cannot be divided further. This compartmentalization of meaning enables us to properly and objectively study Japanese phrasing for what it is rather than looking at it through an English-stilted mindset. For discussions that follow, depending on how specific things need to be broken up, "word" or "morpheme" will be used.

Independent VS Ancillary Words

There are two kinds of words in Japanese: independent words (jiritsugo 自立語) and ancillary words (fuzokugo 付属語. Independent words are those that can stand alone. Independent words can further be broken down into conjugatable and non-conjugatable words. Ancillary words, however, cannot stand alone. They too, though, may or may not be conjugatable. 

In Japanese, there are twelve unique parts of speech that can be classified as either independent or ancillary words. 

•  Independent Words (Jiritsugo 自立語)
  
  ーConjugatable　
  
  　・Verbs (Dōshi 動詞)..................................................Lessons 16, 17, 18, etc.
   A verb is a word that describes an action, state, or occurrence. 　　
  　・Adjectives (Keiyōshi 形容詞) ..................................Lessons 13, 50, 52　
  An adjective is a word that describes an attribute. 
  　・Adjectival Nouns (Keiyōdōshi 形容動詞) ................Lessons 14, 51, 53, etc.
    An adjectival noun is a word that describes an attribute while also being noun-like.
  
  ーNot Conjugatable　
  
  　・Nouns (Meishi 名詞)................................................Lesson 8 
    A noun is a word that describes a person, place, state, quality, event, or thing.
  　・Pronouns (Daimeishi 代名詞)..................................Lessons 8, 84, 191
    A pronoun is a word that indirectly describes a person, direction, or thing. 
  　・Numbers (Sūshi 数詞).............................................Lessons 27, 28, 29, 193, etc.
  A number is a word that counts or measures entities. 
  　・Adnominal Adjectives (Rentaishi 連体詞)...............Lessons 60 & 303
    An adnominal adjective is a word that describes an attribute by directly modifying a noun.
   　・Adverbs (Fukushi 副詞)..........................................Lessons 48, 49, 154, 293, etc.
    An adverb is a word that qualifies an adjective, adjectival noun, or a verb. 
  　・Conjunctions (Setsuzokushi 接続詞)......................Lesson 169
    A conjunction is a word that connects sentence together.
   　・Interjections (Kandōshi 感動詞).............................Lesson 200
  An interjection is a word that represents an abrupt remark. 
  
  
• Ancillary Words (Fuzokugo 付属語)
  
  ーConjugatable
  
  　・Auxiliary Verbs (Jodōshi 助動詞)...........................Lessons 9, 10, 36, 37, etc.
  An auxiliary verb is an ending that attaches to a conjugatable part of speech. 
  
  ーNot Conjugatable
  
  　・Particles (Joshi 助詞)............................................Lessons 11, 12, 15, 19, 20, etc.
  A particle is a word that follows what it modifies to indicate its function.

The Six Kinds of Particles 

Particles arguably constitute the most difficult part of speech to master. This is because there are many grammatical functions a phrase can have in a sentence, and the grammatical functions that Japanese chooses to make evident may not always be those that are of grammatical importance in English. 

Of all the possible functions and/or purposes a particle could possibly express, they are all manifested in only a finite number of particles that far outnumber the roles they have. Similarly to how prepositions overlap in English, many particles at times behave similarly to others. Although it will take time to truly master the various particles of Japanese, a considerable amount of heartache can be avoided by knowing what to expect.

There are six main types of particles: case, parallel, conjunctive, final, adverbial, and bound. Particles may be categorized differently depending on how they're used. Below you will find these categories defined with many examples of each. Note that the lists are not necessarily exhaustive.   

• Case Particle (Kaku joshi 格助詞): A particle that indicates the grammatical function of a word in a sentence. Some are prone to being omitted if their functions are deemed unnecessary to make explicitly clear.  
   
  ーGa が.....................................Lesson 11, 167
  ーWo を.....................................Lesson 15, 167, 183
  ーNi に.......................................Lessons 31, 41, 66, 117
  ―No の......................................Lesson 89
  ―E へ........................................Lesson 32
  ーDe で......................................Lessons 33, 90
  ーTo と.......................................Lesson 66
  ーKara から................................Lessons 46, 117, 256
  ーYori より.................................Lesson 144
  
  
• Parallel Particle (Heiritsu joshi 並立助詞): A particle that juxtaposes two or more things together.
  
  ーTo と.......................................Lesson 40
  ーNo の......................................Lesson 30
  ーNi に.......................................Lesson 41
  ーYa や......................................Lesson 68
  ーYara やら...............................Lesson 302
  ーKa か......................................Lesson 164
  ーNari なり................................Lesson 302
  ーDano だの..............................Lesson 304
  ―Toka とか...............................Lesson 141 
  
  
• Conjunctive Particle (Setsuzoku joshi 接続助詞): A particle that connects clauses (parts of a sentence) together.
  
  ーGa が.....................................Lesson 76
  ーKe(re)do け（れ）ど.............Lesson 76
  ーBa ば.....................................Lessons 109, 110, 111
  ーTo と.....................................Lessons 109, 110, 111
  ―Tara たら..............................Lessons 109, 110, 111
  ーTemo ても............................Lesson 67
  ーNode ので............................Lesson 57
  ーNoni のに.............................Lesson 58
  ーKara から.............................Lesson 57
  ーShi し...................................Lesson 69
  ーTe て....................................Lesson 26
  ーNagara ながら.....................Lessons 104, 288
  ーTsutsu つつ..........................Lesson 289
  ーTari たり...............................Lesson 101
  ―Domo ども...........................Lesson 304
  
  
• Final Particle (Shū-joshi 終助詞): A particle placed at the end of a phrase to provide emotional context.
  
  ―Ka か....................................Lessons 19, 20
  ーYo よ....................................Lesson 77
  ーNe ね....................................Lesson 77
  ーWa わ...................................Lesson 78
  ―Te て....................................Lesson 30
  ーNa な...................................Lesson 78
  ーZo ぞ...................................Lesson 78
  ーZe ぜ...................................Lesson 78
  ーKana かな...........................Lesson 184
  ーKashira かしら...................Lesson 184
  ―Jan じゃん.........................Lesson 184
  ―Koto こと...........................Lesson 184
  ―Kke っけ............................Lesson 184
  ―Ya や..................................Lesson 184
  ーSa さ.................................Lesson 78
  
  
• Adverbial Particle (Fuku-joshi 副助詞): A particle that indicates degree/condition/circumstance.  
  
  ーBakari ばかり.....................Lesson 254
  ーMade まで..........................Lesson 47
  ーDake だけ...........................Lesson 85
  ーHodo ほど...........................Lesson 143
  ―Shimo しも.........................Lesson 182
  ―Zutsu ずつ...........................Lesson 188
  ―Kiri きり...............................Lesson 302
  ーKurai くらい........................Lesson 143
  ーNado など...........................Lesson 143
  ーKa か...................................Lesson 44 
  ―Nomi のみ............................Lesson 207 
  
  
• Bound Particle (Kakari joshi 係助詞): A particle that is an emphatic marker requiring certain conjugations.
  
  ーWa は...................................Lesson 12
  ーMo も...................................Lesson 22, 186
  ーKoso こそ............................Lesson 208
  ーDemo でも...........................Lesson 67
  ーShika しか............................Lesson 108
  ―Hoka ほか............................Lesson 108
  ーSae さえ..............................Lesson 230
  ーSura すら.............................Lesson 230
  ーDani だに.............................Lesson 230

Japanese is known as an agglutinative language (kōchakugo 膠着語). Agglutination is the process of creating complex words by stringing morphemes together into chains that are not broken apart in pronunciation or spelling. Japanese is known to be highly agglutinative, most notably in the construction of conjugations.

In Japanese, agglutination is brought about by a system of bases and endings. For every base that exists, several endings exist that attach to it, and each ending has its own set of bases to potentially keep the chain going. This concept of conjugation is very different to what native English speakers are used. For example, "I did not want to be forced to eat" is expressed with nine words. In Japanese, however, it is expressed as one phrase composed of many morphemes. 

17. 食 ( た ) べさせられたくなかった
Tabe-sase-rare-taku-na-katta 
Gloss: Eat-causative-passive-want-negation-past.tense

The phrase in Ex. 17 can be broken down even further as there are hidden morphemes that stand for the bases that act as the true glue of Japanese conjugations. Knowing how to break down phrases that far isn't necessary, but it is important to know how conjugation works overall.

In Japanese, something that is conjugatable has potential access to six base forms. After these bases endings may or may not follow. Endings will either be in the form of auxiliary verbs (which can conjugate) or particles (which cannot conjugate, thus stopping the chain).  

1. Mizenkei 未然形: This base is called the “irrealis form” and is associated with endings that indicate actions that have not yet taken place: negation, desire, and hypothesis. It is used with endings like -nai ない (Lessons 9, 10, 16, 17, 18) and –(yo)u （よ）う (Lesson 119).
   
   
2. Ren’yōkei 連用形: This base is called the "continuative form" and is used with endings that indicate actions that are in the process of being carried out and the verb is either taken or taking place. It is used with endings like -ta た (Lessons 9, 10, 16, 17, 18 ), -masu ます (Lessons 16, 17, 18) , -te て (26, 34), etc.
   
   
3. Shūshikei 終止形: This base is called the "terminal form" and is used to mark the end of a complete sentence. This form may still be followed by final particles. 
   
   
4. Rentaikei 連体形:  This base is called the "attributive form" and is used when you want to use something as a participial (verbal/adjectival modifier) when modifying a noun/pronoun. 
   
   
5. Kateikei 仮定形: This base is called the "hypothetical form" and is used with the particle ba ば (Lesson 109).
   
   
6. Meireikei 命令形: This base is called the "imperative form” and is used to create a stern command (Lesson 150). 

For the purpose of our initial studies, we will primarily focus on learning the conjugations that come about from this system. As such, it isn't really imperative to know exactly what base is used with what ending, or what bases those endings subsequently have.

Upon reaching Advanced I, the bases will be reintroduced and used in grammar conversations from Lesson 201 onward. By referencing this summation, however, you will be able to accurately guess exactly what's going on in case you really want to know.

The way one speaks in Japanese is especially important to maintain human relationships. In English, it is understood that one doesn't necessarily speak the same way to everyone. The manner you speak to your mother is not the same as you would speak to your boss. Business situations require people to be far more formal and polite than casual settings.

How English speaker change their speech to accommodate the situation largely relies on avoiding or implementing certain words. In Japanese, formality affects the entire sentence. Essentially all parts of speech are affected by the level of formality you wish to use. Word choice and conjugations are all affected.

There are four levels of formality in Japanese. As formality increases, there is a tendency for phrases to become longer and more complex. Although this is not always the case, it is a golden rule that you can use with great accuracy throughout your studies.

1. Degrading Language (Bubetsugo 侮蔑語): Language that is degrading towards the listener. This is the opposite of honorific language.
2. Plain Speech (Jōtaigo 常体語): Language that is neither degrading nor polite. This is used primarily in casual conversation as well as in many grammatical constructs in which politeness is not a factor. 
3. Polite Speech (Teineigo 丁寧語): Language that is polite and used to express a general level of politeness and respect to the listener(s). This is the most commonly used speech style in conversation among working adults. 
4. Honorific Speech (Keigo 敬語): Language that is highly formal. It's used when there is a great gap in social status between the speaker and listener(s) (Lessons 124-128).
   ―Humble Language (Kenjōgo 謙譲語): Language that makes it clear the speaker's status is lower than that of the listener(s). This is used when referring to states/actions involving the speaker.
   ―Respectful Language (Sonkeigo 尊敬語): Language that makes it clear the status of the listener(s) is higher than the speaker. This is used when referring to states/actions involving the listener(s).

There are three primary sources that compose Japanese vocabulary: native words, Sino-Japanese words, and loan-words. Together, they give rise to the language that you are now attempting to learn.

Native Words 

At the heart of the language are the native vocabulary words that have existed in some capacity from the dawn of the language. In Modern Japanese, these words make up approximately 30% of all words. As low as this number might be, they make up over 60% of words used in conversation. These words are called wago 和語 or yamato-kotoba 大和言葉. Below are some examples of native vocabulary.

Sino-Japanese Words 

 Sino-Japanese words (Kango 漢語), are words that were borrowed into Chinese over several centuries, largely through the use of Kanji. Many Sino-Japanese words have also been coined in Japanese. Over 60% of Modern Japanese is made up of these words; however, they only make up about 20% of the words used in the spoken language. They are, however, frequently used in the written language. Below are some examples of Sino-Japanese words.

Loan-Words 

Lastly, loan-words (Gairaigo 外来語) are words borrowed from other languages. Although Sino-Japanese words are technically loan-words, they have been in the language for so long that they have been nativized. Gairaigo 外来語, however, are still clearly foreign and originate from modern world languages such as English. Below are some examples of loan-words.

The spoken language (hanashikotoba  話し言葉) and the written language (kakikotoba 書き言葉) are not the same thing. The way one speaks is never exactly how one writes. This is especially so in Japanese.

In Japanese, the spoken language is full of colloquialisms, filler words, emotion, and tone that are often never truly expressed via the written language. Although everyone can moved by a beautiful passage, one is more likely to be moved by a soothing song or story. Speaking Japanese requires that you know not just how to pronounce words but also how to use them to best express how you feel and want to get across to the listener. 

In Japanese, the written language is characterized as being formal and often void of the colloquialisms and filler words that pervade speech. Spelling is utilized to add on nuances that may not be so apparent when spoken. This is made possible by the existence of multiple possible spellings of hundreds of words thanks to Kanji 漢字. There are many grammatical patterns that are used heavily in the written language that are not really used in the spoken language. Archaic expressions are also more likely to be used in the written language. Although it is important to know how to speak Japanese, it is also just as important to read and write Japanese as mastery in the written language is essential to being a functionally native-like user of the language.

Curriculum Note: Throughout our studies, many references will be made categorizing grammar points as being heavily used in the spoken language, written language, or both. 

Japanese is not related to other major world languages. It is instead in its own language family called the Japonic language family. Although it is not alone thanks to the minority Japonic languages spoken in Okinawa, it does not share any common ancestry with other languages in the region nor the world at large. 

Because Japanese is essentially a language isolate, it has had centuries upon centuries to evolve in is own unique way. That means its grammar is truly foreign to the English eye. Its rules are sometimes opposite to those of English. The culture that it is associated with it is also significantly different to Western culture, and these differences do affect language use. 

Grammatically speaking, many concepts that are essential to forming coherent sentences are not present in Japanese. For instances, articles (a, an, the), grammatical number (singular vs. plural), and grammatical gender (masculine/feminine forms) don't exist in Japanese. On the other hand, concepts such as case marking and politeness markers don't exist in English but are essential to speaking Japanese correctly.  

 The last point to know about Japanese is that Japanese has many dialects. A dialect is a particular form of a language spoken in a certain region and/or by a certain group of people. Essentially every area of Japan has its own dialect. 

Dialects may differ in vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation. However, the most important dialect is Standard Japanese. By mastering this dialect, you will be able to converse with essentially any native Japanese speaker. Knowing other dialects is not essential to speaking or understanding Japanese, but many dialectal expressions are known by all speakers. Whenever you watch anime or read manga, you will frequently encounter other major dialects. With this being the case, occasional focus will be given to dialectal expressions that are too important to ignore. 

Nouns are the easiest words to learn in a foreign language. Memorizing them all, however, is no easy task. By learning nouns, though, you will create a framework which, when paired with grammar, will allow you to express the things you want to talk about.

In addition to nouns, this lesson will also serve to introduce you to pronouns, which are words that indirectly refer to people, direction, and things that require context to be properly understood. 

In a basic understanding, a noun (meishi 名詞) represents a person, place, state, quality, event, or thing. In Japanese, nouns have no number or gender. This means that there is no fundamental distinction between singular and plural forms or masculine and feminine forms. In addition, there are no articles like "a," "an," or "the" that accompany nouns like is the case in English. 

Some of the most common nouns in Japanese include the following. Many of these words are also written with the most basic Kanji 漢字 that are taught early on in Japanese education. 

Grammar Note: Making nouns plural, although not common, is still possible. One method involves the suffix -tachi たち, which is typically used to refer to a group of people or (living) things. 

1.  女性 じょせい たち
Joseitachi     
(Group of ) women

2.  男性 だんせい たち
Danseitachi
(Group of) men

3.  犬 いぬ たち
Inutachi
(A group of) dogs 

Proper Nouns 

In English, a proper noun is a noun that indicates an individual person, place, organization, etc. and is spelled with initial capital letters. In Japanese, words are not capitalized, but the concept of proper noun (koyū meishi 固有名詞) still exists. Below is a chart with some very important examples. 

Word Notes:
1. There are four main islands of Japan. The northernmost island is Hokkaido. South of it is the largest island, Honshu. Further south are the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu, with Kyushu being the southernmost island. Further south is a chain of islands referred to as Okinawa. 
2. The Kanto Region encompasses the capital of Japan, Tokyo, as well as the surrounding area.
3. The Kinki Region encompasses both Osaka and Kyoto and their surrounding areas. 
4. Shinzo Abe is the current Prime Minister of Japan.
5. Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States.
6. Tokyo Skytree is the second tallest structure found in the world and is located in Tokyo.
7. Ueno Park is a very spacious park found in Tokyo. 

 Loan-words

A loan-word is a word borrowed from another language. In Japanese, there are many loanwords from all sorts of languages. Loan-words are called Gairaigo 外来語, and this term typically refers to words that have been borrowed in the last two, three centuries from the world's modern languages. Words borrowed from Chinese during the language's development--Kango 漢語--are usually treated separately. Words that have come from Chinese languages in recent centuries like chāhan 炒飯 (fried rice), though, are treated as Gairaigo 外来語.

Although loan-words come from dozens of languages, the overwhelmingly majority of them come from English. As convenient as that may be, you must still treat these loan words as Japanese words. This means you can't simply pronounce it as if it were English. You will likely not be understood. It is always important that you pronounce words in Japanese like any other word in Japanese regardless of whether or not it comes from English. 

Pronouns: Grammatical Person

A pronoun (daimeishi 代名詞) indirectly refers to an entity that involves a person, direction, or thing. The meaning of said entity is determined by context. For instance, proper names are pronouns because they stand in place of the actual person/thing they reference. Proper names can also be shared with others or other things, and so we need context to truly understand what is meant by say the name "Seth." This can refer to the creator of this curriculum, or it can refer to any other person whose name is "Seth." Because of this, the word "Seth" is a pronoun. 

Similarly, words like "here" and "there" or even words like "this" and "that" are also pronouns. This is because no one can ascertain what they refer to without context.

Generally, when we think of pronouns, we think about pronouns that are used to establish grammatical person. For instance, in English we make the following distinctions in grammatical person.

In English, gender and number both play roles in determining what grammatical person is used in a sentence. In Japanese, however, there isn't a single pronoun that corresponds to each of the pronouns for grammatical person. Meaning, there is more than one word for "I," "we," etc. This is because all pronouns in Japanese started out as typical nouns, or they were far vaguer pronouns that didn't necessarily match up with the concept of showing grammatical person. 

 In Japanese, pronouns differ by their politeness and by who actually uses them. Many pronouns are reserved for whether the speaker is male or female, or whether the person is young or old. Dialects also differ majorly in what pronouns are used.

For the purposes of understanding basic Standard Japanese, the pronouns listed below are the most essential. As you will see, the notes provided for them show just how different they are from their English counterparts.

Usage Notes:

Grammar Note: To make a third person reference into the possessive case, just add no to whatever name you're using. This means that "Seth's" would be expressed as Sesu no セスの.

When we start learning how to make sentences in Lesson 9, it will be important to remember that different things will happen in a Japanese sentence. However, we won't revisit the particle ga が until Lesson 11. 

The Japanese language possesses a speech-level hierarchy that determines how one should address any given person based on various factors: relationship, age, role, respect, etc. The social dynamics that set a discourse also shape how said discourse is worded.

Typically, Japanese learners are first introduced to polite speech. This is because polite speech is what is used in most daily interactions; it helps establish courtesy between oneself and those around. As the Japanese learner, the most practical means of using Japanese early on will be centered around speaking to native speakers who are neither family nor close friends. Because the most important use of plain speech involves casual conversation, it is kept to the side until the learner can handle situations where polite speech is imperative.

However, the greatest flaw made by introducing polite speech first lies in the fact that it is not the base form of speech. Within each speech style you will find unique vocabulary, grammar, and endings. Grammatically, plain speech is what makes up the base form of the language. Contrary to its name, plain speech is not limited to conversation among peers or family. In fact, it is grammaticalized in all sorts of grammar points.

Plain speech is also inherently direct, which is why it is heavily used in academic writing. Most importantly, it is what’s used in one’s inner monologue. Plain speech also makes up the heart of most music and literature. The very essence of being able to think in Japanese requires oneself to truly understand the language from the ground up. That cannot be possible if the base is left ignored.

The first thing you must learn about Japanese sentence structure is its most basic form: the copular sentence. This is otherwise known as a “noun-predicate” sentence. In other words, “X is Y.” As trivial as it may sound, many far more complex sentences can be broken down to this very structure. First, let’s cover some basic terminology to better understand this topic.

• Subject: The person/thing that performs the action or exhibits the description found in the predicate.
• Predicate: The part of a sentence that gives some information about the subject. 
• Copula: A word used to link the subject and predicate of a sentence.
  
• Noun: In its most basic definition, a word that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance, or quality. 
  
• Auxiliary: An ending that helps construct verbal conjugations.

The predicate of a sentence may take on different forms depending on what the statement is. In the context of this discussion, the copula is the predicate because we are learning how to simply say “X”—the subject—is “Y.” “Y” In this lesson, “Y” will be another noun, which is why “copular sentences” can alternatively be called “noun-predicate sentences.”

In English, the copula verb is “to be,” and it manifests itself in various forms such as “is,” “are,” “was,” “were,” etc. Their use in the English language is profoundly important as they form the basis of a great portion of the statements we make.

i. The dog is a German shepherd.
ii. My husband is a banker.
iii. Apples are fruits.
iv. It was a fossil.
v. A bat is not a bird.

Similarly, Japanese has its own copular verb, which in turn has its own various forms. Before discussing what this all looks like in Japanese, we must first understand what sort of basic conjugations exist in general. Using the English examples i.-v. as a basis, we see that tense and affirmation/negation are major components to a sentence. In English, there are three tenses: past, present, and future. As their names suggest, the past tense refers to an event/state which occurred in the past, the present tense refers to a current event/state, and the future tense refers to an event/state that hasn’t yet realized. Affirmation is positively stating that something is so. Negation is rejecting a premise.

Japanese only has two tenses: non-past and past tense. Unlike English, tense is not so straightforward, but the speaker’s intent is to always make the “time” factor of any statement obvious in context. The non-past tense encompasses both the concepts of the English present tense and future tense. The past tense corresponds to the past tense, but the form that expresses past tense covers a wider semantic scope than the English -ed.

Putting all this aside, it is now time to familiarize yourself with the base form of the copula in plain speech. This verb is da だ.  As is the case for any base form of verb, it alone may stand for the non-past tense. As such, da だ can translate as “is,” “are,” or “will be.” Japanese lacks grammatical number, so there is no difference between “is” or “are.”

Because the verb of a Japanese sentence must always be at the end, we can't simply insert da だ between “X” and “Y.” “X” remains at the start of the sentence, and the sentence ends in “Y da だ.”  To complete the sentence, we will insert the particle wa は in between X and Y. In Lessons 11-12, we’ll learn about the sort of nuances that are expressed with this particle as well as what else can be between X and Y. For now, though, our goal will be to master the basic pattern “X wa は Y da だ.”

Non-past: Present

1. あれは 寺 てら だ。
Are wa tera da.
That (over there) is a Buddhist temple.

2. それは 嘘 ( うそ ) だ。
Sore wa uso da.
That’s a lie.

3. これは 事実 ( じじつ ) だ。
Kore wa jijitsu da.
This is the truth.