top of page

Ch. 3

Here is a list of all the key concepts you need to master in order to ace those exams!

Go through and see where you need to practice some more. 

Japanese sentence structure (Subject, Object, Verb)

Sentence-structure-hiragana-1024x517.png

1) Grammar

a) 『で』(pg. 101)

  • 『で』vs. 『に』/『へ』can get confusing, especially when each particle has about 10 different ways they can be used! In this class, you learn about one of the ways 『で』can be used, but here's the full guide to the usage of the particle『で』with timestamps for the video.

​

​

  1. When the verb indicates an action, including sleeping (“at”/”in”) (1:05)

    1.   Ex. “I played in the park”

    2. Ex. "I slept in my room"

  2. When the verb indicates doing something on social media/email (15:45)

    1.  Ex. "I DM’d my friend on Instagram"

  3. "With"/"By using" (21:00)

    1. Ex. "I baked a cake using this cake batter"

    2. Ex. "I went to school by car"

  4. Reason for something

    1. Ex. "The cars were stopped because of the car accident"

  5. Indicate time limit

    1.  Ex. "You have 30 minutes left until the test is over"

  6. Indicates where an event occurred (sentence usually ends with 〜がある) (45:25)

    1.  Ex. "There was a festival in Tokyo"

  7. When using verbs that indicate lifestyle (ie. 生活する、暮らす) (47:25)

b)『に』(pg. 100)

  • In this class, you learn two ways 『に』/『へ』can be used, but here's the full guide to the usage of the particle『に』with timestamps for the video.

​

​

  1. When the verb indicates living/staying somewhere (5:50)

    1. Ex. “I live in America”

    2. Ex. "I'm staying at my friend's house"​

  2. Place where something else exists (sentence usually ends with 〜があるor〜がいる) 

    1.  Ex. “There’s a college in South Hadley”  

  3. Indicate the direction of movement

    1. To go, come, return. etc. (26:00)

      1. Ex. "I’m going to school"

    2.  Getting into something such as a transportation vehicle (37:00)

      1. Ex. "I boarded the train"

      2. Ex. "I got into the taxi"

    3. When you receive something from someone (34:25)

      1. Ex. I received a new phone from my parents

    4. Indicates putting thing A into thing B (36:15)

      1.   Ex. "I put my textbook into my bag"

  4. Indicate doing something for someone (31:40)

    1.  Ex. "I took a picture for my dad"

  5. Indicate objective

    1. Ex. "I’m going to the store to buy clothes"

  6. Indicates thing A is on top of or in thing B (35:20) 

    1. Ex. "My cat jumped onto the table"

    2. Ex. "The book is on top of the desk"

    3. Ex. "The textbook is inside my bag"

  7. Indicates time/date (50:45)

    1. Ex. "Class starts at 9:00"

    2. Ex. "On Monday I decided not to go to class"

    3. Ex. "What do you think things will be like in 2021?"

Screen Shot 2020-09-09 at 9.57.47 PM.png

Credit: PuniPuni

c)『は』

  • By now, you've probably realized how confusing it can be when choosing whether you should use 『は』or『が』.  In this class, you learn about 3 main ways to use 『は』, but here's the full guide to the usage of the particle with timestamps for the video.

​

​​

  1. "Is", "Am"​​

    • *Technically 『〜です』equals "is" or "am" but if you think of 『は』as "is" or "am" then you'll still get the sentence right especially when you drop 『​​〜です』in casual speech.

    1. Ex. "Japan is a country"

    2. Ex. "My name is____"​

    3. Ex. "That is a raccoon"

  2. Asking for an opinion about a related topic ("How about___"?) (7:10)

    1. Ex. ​Person A: "Tokyo is a cool place to go"

    2.        Person B: "How about Kyoto?"

    3. Ex. ​Person A: "I like this outfit"

    4.        Person B: "How about this one?"

    5. Ex. Person A: "How are you?"

    6. ​       Person B: "I"m good, how about you?"​

  3. General statements 

    1. asking "Who" in a "just out of curiosity" way (〜はだれですか？）(12:15)

      1. Ex. "Who's the person who fell yesterday?"​​​

      2. Ex. "Who's an actor you like?"

    2. When talking about something in general

      1. Ex. "People need to get sleep"

      2. Ex. "On Fridays, I don't do any homework" 

      3. Ex. "Japanese food tastes really good"

  4. Making comparisons​

    1. . . .But. . .

      1. Indicate you like something while implying that you don't like something else related to that topic(18:20)

        1. Ex. "I like oranges (but not bananas)​

        2. Ex. "I like traveling (but not to touristy areas)

        3. Ex. Person A: "Do you like science-fiction?"

        4.        Person B: "I like mysteries (but not science fiction)

      2. imply someone is good at something but not something else or they're good at something else but not the topic you're talking about​

        1. Ex. "You're good with paints aren't you" ...which is surprising considering you aren't good at drawing with pencils

        2. Ex. "I'm bad at science " ...but I'm good with humanities

      3. imply something about a person is good but something else is bad

        1. Ex. "Your laugh makes me laugh"... but everything else about you is annoying

        2. Ex. "You look good in that dress" ...but you normally look bad in your other clothes

        3. Ex. "My cat has big ears" ...but the rest of her body is small

      4. Comparing differences between things

        1. Ex. "Momo is a grey cat. Hero is a white dog" ​

        2. Ex. "I'm not going today. I'm going tomorrow"

  5. ​In regard to X, Y is. . . （XはYが〜）(18:20)

      1. Ex. "In Japan, pastries are good" ​

      2. Ex. "Momo's fur is really soft"

      3. Ex. "My friend has a goofy laugh"

      4. Ex. "Where I live, apple picking is popular"

      5. Ex. The capital of New York is Albany" 

​

​

​​

 

​

​

​​

d)『が』

  • In this class, you learn several ways to use 『が』, but here's the full guide to the usage of the particle with timestamps for the video.

​

​​

  1. Create an emphasis on an object(3:50)​

    1. Ex. "THAT'S mine"

    2. Ex. "THE teacher spoke in front of a whole audience"​

    3. Ex. "I'LL go"

    4. Ex. "I did (it)"

    5. Ex. "DOBBY did (it)"

  2. Literally means "but" which you would use to connect two sentences into one

    1. Ex: "I wanted to talk to you about something but I didn't know how to approach you"​

  3. Re-affirm a statement someone said (8:00)

    1. Ex. ​Person A: "Our professor sang in front of the entire class today!"

    2.        Person B: "Your professor?"

  4. who? or which person? (sentence starts with 『だれが〜？』）(11:50)

    1. Ex. "Who ate the last cookie?" ​

    2. Ex. "Who founded Mount Holyoke College?"

  5. Liking or loving something(〜がすき or 〜がだいすき) (16:15)​

    1. ​Ex. "I like him"

    2. Ex: "I love animals"

    3. Ex: "I love you"

  6. disliking or hating something(〜がすきじゃない or 〜がきらい)(17:20)​

    1. Ex: "I don't like American politics"

    2. Ex. "I hate that color"

  7. Referring to being good at something(〜がじょうず or 〜がとくい)

    1. ​Ex: ”You're good at Japanese"

  8. Referring to being bad at something(〜がへた or 〜がにがて)

    1. Ex: "I'm bad at math"​

  9. Understanding or not understanding something(〜がわかります or 〜がわかりません)(21:40)​​​​

    1. Ex: "I get what you mean"​

    2. Ex: "I don't get what he's talking about"

    3. Ex: "Did you understand what I meant?" (put into past tense)

  10. Let listener know the noun coming before the particle is connected to the description

    1. Ex:  "His legs are fast"​

    2. Ex:  "I have black hair"

    3. Ex:  "My umbrella was polka dots on it"

  11. When indicating a certain sensation (27:00)​​​​

    1. Ex: "I'm hungry"​

    2. Ex: "I'm full"

    3. Ex: "My head hurts"

    4. Ex: "I'm thirsty"

    5. Ex: "My hands are cold"

  12.  When referring to a non-living thing(27:00)​​​​

    1. 『​〜がある』

      1. Ex: "I have a pen"​

      2. Ex: "I have a test tomorrow"

    2. something happens to a non-living thing

      1. Ex: "The cars stopped"​

      2. Ex: "The phone broke"

      3. Ex: "It's been raining every day"

      4. Ex: "Time has been flying by"

  13. When introducing "newsworthy" information(35:55)​​​​

    1. Ex: "California has been having wildfires"​

    2. Ex: "The American president made a new announcement to the public"

    3. Ex: "They're getting married"

    4. Ex: "She's getting surgery next month"​​​

​

​​

 

​

​

​​

e)『を』

unnamed-2.jpg

  • 『を』is pretty straightforward because you would put it between a verb and a direct object. A direct object just means that there isn't any preposition like "in", "at", "on", etc. between the verb and the object.​

​​

  1. Ex 1: I (ate sushi)​.

 

　2. Ex 2: I (watched a movie)​.

​​

    3. Ex 3: What did you do?  

 

This can be a bit confusing but it's always 『なにをしましたか？』

​

​​

​

​

​​

 

​

​

​​

​verb  Direct object

​verb  Direct object

2) Ch. 3 Vocab

A)　Ch. 4 Vocab

  • To make sure you've memorized all the vocab, you can print the list and fold it in such a way that you can quiz yourself.

b)　Time-related expressions

  • This is a list of all the time expressions you need to make sure you know. People use these all the time so it'll help to master them.

  • Here is an additional sheet that lays out how to count months, years, minutes, etc.

c)　Frequency Expressions

Extra Resources (Language Assistant Presentations)

９月０８日２０２０年

(Ch. 3 Vocab)

９月１１日２０２０年

(Working with past-tense & particles)

９月１４日２０２０年

(Time expressions)

bottom of page