An Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language
An Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language
6th draft revision- 30 October 2006
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A disclaimer of sorts
This book is still a draft version, meaning that while I have invested a lot of time in trying to make sure the information contained in it is correct, I cannot make any guarantees ? I am after all just as fallible as any other author. While I accept full responsibility for the content of this book, I disclaim any responsibility for what you do with that content, or the result this might have on your life (such as a low, or high, grade on your homework, the loss of your job, or the accidental marriage to someone Japanese). You are free to quote from this book as long as you observe proper quoting conduct ? this differs depending on the medium you are quoting in, but keep it civil. Do not copy entire sections verbatim or paraphrased (though I have less issues with paraphrasing than verbatim copies of course) if you have the ability to refer to this book instead, which if you're quoting you do.
This book is still pending a final editorial review and will not be released in final form until I and my peers are convinced this work is of sufficient quality to act as educational material for people interested in learning Japanese grammar.
For legal purposes this book is (c) 2005-2006 Michiel Kamermans, retroactive for all previous draft copies including the pre-release plain text copy.
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Preface
I started learning Japanese by watching cartoons. Come to think of it, that's kind of how I started learning English too, but the difference is that I started learning English when I started watching cartoons - which is when I was very young - whereas I started learning Japanese when I was in my third year of University. I am someone who relies on the internet to a large degree for finding information, so when I realised I was actually interested in learning the language that was used in these cartoons (or to say it properly, anime) I was watching, I took to the net to see if I could find some online lessons to help me on my way. This was in 2001 and to my great surprise there weren't really any sites at all that taught Japanese in a way that didn't involve learning one sentence per lesson, taught by anime characters in the setting of the show their example phrases were lifted from. Don't get me wrong, I love anime. I love a lot of other cartoons too, as well as regular tv shows and movies, but that doesn't make any of them a good source when it comes to seriously learning a language. The type of Japanese used in these shows, I knew, was not exactly the kind you'd typically use in real life, and so I ended up buying a book on the subject instead.
I bought the book "Nakama" (which, amusingly, doesn't contain the translation for this word in volumes 1 or 2) on impulse while browsing through the meagre Japanese section in the local huge book store "Donner" in Rotterdam, and only after having bought it did I realise I had made the right choice. It systematically but pleasantly explained Japanese in all its wondrous forms, and did something else; it made me realise that the languages I was used to were just some of the many ways in which a language could be formed. I had been so used to grammars that sort of seemed alike, having had Dutch, English, French and German, that reading and learning this new one was like a revelation. This language was so radically different that I had no choice but to accept that there were probably no fixed patterns that every language shared.
After a year had passed and I had devoured the first book, I bought the second book and started working through it, but something was bugging me. It seemed like some fundamentals were missing. There was a logic to how to conjugate verbs, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Again rather on impulse, I decided to sign up for classes in Japanese at the Leiden University, to see if I could put my learning into higher gear, as well as benefit from actual other people to practice with, but what I found in addition was something that my mind had been longing for in the material I had been using - proper structure.
At the university, we were taught the basics of the Japanese language, in the way the Japanese described it. I had a decent knowledge of how to say things in Japanese by then, but suddenly I was learning why the things I knew to use, should be used. I was taught that verbs had inflectional bases, that they had
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specific roles and how to form constructions that did what we wanted them to do, using rules that started at the smallest blocks and worked from there, rather than starting at a masu form and working backwards to the verb base first. I learned how, in order to properly use Japanese, you had to let go of the idea that there were one on one translations between languages, and start at the beginning again. I learned something very important there, namely "This is why certain expressions exist, and this is how they fall apart grammatically".
I was quite thrilled to learn that simple things like "arigatou" and "sumimasen" were real words, besides being expressions, that had an etymology that entirely explained when and why you'd use them. I took lots of notes and happily learnt whatever they could throw at me. In fact, university had completely made me forget that the internet had failed me in my initial quest for knowledge until I was riding the train home one day with a Chinese exchange student who complained that the grammar material was in Dutch, and that she couldn't follow the grammar classes because there was no English material available. Being a computer savvy person, or in more concise terms somewhat of a nerd, I told her I would put my notes online, which were in English anyway, so that even if she couldn't go to grammar classes she might still benefit from them. This collection of online notes grew and grew until I realised I had amassed exactly the information I had been looking for years ago myself...
It was at this point that what was to become was born. I topicised the grammar notes, and after talking to a friend about how cool it would be to have a dictionary text file, discovered that this already existed in the form of Edict, and it was free! Without hesitation, I wrote a small script that would let me browse it and stuffed it online too, and suddenly had a website that - while infantile - actually catered to the needs of many students I went to class with. What had started as a small service to a fellow student had turned into something every student could benefit from, and with this motivation I started to expand the site, adding small bits here and there, pruning sections, and slowly building somewhat of a monster called "nihongo resources" with the appropriate domain name, comprising multiple dictionaries, grammar, lessons, and other resources. I even started writing a book on the Japanese grammar at the start of my second year Japanese in university.
But, I have to admit, I was a bit overzealous. While I enjoyed learning and through the process of explaining things to others, learnt things myself too, I was still a first year student with not exactly a lot of weight or experience under my belt. The first version of my book I offered to my teacher to scrutinise, and scrutinise he did. In retrospect, it's a good thing he did, because it took forever to get from the draft version to an edited final version. Instead, in 2005 I decided that the information I was offering the world was somewhat out of date, and needed a rewrite. I also knew that I had to do something with the book - I had promissed many people by now I would finish it and I didn't like the idea of letting those people down. As such, I began to write what you are reading now. A proper reader on the Japanese language in terms of syntax, grammar and
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