Category Archives: Japanese Grammar

Kanji (漢字)

This entry will go into full detail about everything VCE and Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) students must know about kanji. The requirements for kanji knowledge are much greater for JLPT students than they are for VCE students, so I’ll make a note when appropriate as to when VCE … Continue reading

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~てform chart

A year 12 Japanese teacher at the VSL I attend wrote down on the whiteboard a chart which visually explains how to convert verbs from the three groups (Regular I, Regular II and Irregular – you better know these or … Continue reading

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Relative Clauses

"Relative Clauses", hearing those two words makes almost every Japanese 2nd language student shake with fear. I, too, had quite a fair bit of difficulty with this topic until I just suddenly understood it (that’s the second time something like … Continue reading

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Comparison III

Often questions can be asked of people in terms of comparing something they like or indeed it could be purely a general knowledge question (eg: which island is bigger?). To ask a question dealing with two objects compared in a certain … Continue reading

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Comparison II

Often it is necessary to make comparisons during oral presentations (especially when you are doing the detailed study for year 12). The difficulty is not always actually making the comparison, but leading up to it. The following patterns are just some … Continue reading

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Comparison I

I have noticed that many of my fellow students studying Japanese do not actually know how to compare one object to another in Japanese. Hopefully, this will broaden their minds.   In Japanese, one way two objects can be compared in terms … Continue reading

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