Author: Tae Kim

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The minimum expectation

In this section, we’ll learn various ways to express the minimum expectation. This grammar is not used as often as you might think as there are many situations where a simpler expression would sound more natural, but you should still become familiar with it.

Using 「（で）さえ」 to describe the minimum requirement

Vocabulary

  1. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
  2. 子供 【こ・ども】 – child
  3. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  4. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  5. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
  6. 読む 【よ・む】 (u-verb) – to read
  7. 宿題 【しゅく・だい】 – homework
  8. 多い 【おお・い】 (i-adj) – numerous
  9. トイレ – bathroom; toilet
  10. 時間 【じ・かん】 – time
  11. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
  12. お金 【お・かね】 – money
  13. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
  14. 出来る 【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do
  15. お弁当 【お・べん・とう】 – box lunch
  16. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
  17. あんた – you (slang)
  18. 楽ちん 【らく・ちん】 (na-adj) – easy
  19. ビタミン – vitamin
  20. 健康 【けん・こう】 – health
  21. 保証 【ほ・しょう】 – guarantee
  22. する (exception) – to do
  23. 自分 【じ・ぶん】 – oneself
  24. 過ち 【あやま・ち】 – fault, error
  25. 認める 【みと・める】 (ru-verb) – to recognize, to acknowledge
  26. 問題 【もん・だい】 – problem
  27. 解決 【かい・けつ】 – resolution
  28. 教科書 【きょう・か・しょ】 – textbook
  29. もっと – more
  30. ちゃんと – properly
  31. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
  32. 合格 【ごう・かく】 – pass (as in an exam)
  33. 一言 【ひと・こと】 – a few words
  34. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
  35. こんな – this sort of
  36. こと – event, matter
  37. なる (u-verb) – to become

In English, we might say, “not even close” to show that not even the minimum expectation has been met. In Japanese, we can express this by attaching 「さえ」 to the object or verb that miserably failed to reach what one would consider to be a bare minimum requirement. Conversely, you can also use the same grammar in a positive sense to express something is all you need.

Using 「（で）さえ」 to describe the minimum requirement

  • For nouns: Attach 「さえ」 or 「でさえ」 to the minimum requirement.
    Examples

    1. 私さえ – even me
    2. 子供でさえ – even children
  • For verbs: Change the verb to the stem and attach 「さえ」. For verbs in te-form, attach 「さえ」 to 「て／で」.
    Examples

    1. 食べる → 食べさえ
    2. 行く → 行き → 行きさえ
    3. 言ってくれる → 言ってさえくれる
    4. 読んでいる → 読んでさえいる

Examples

  1. 宿題が多すぎて、トイレに行く時間さえなかった。
    There was so much homework, I didn’t even have time to go to the bathroom.
  2. お金さえあれば、何でも出来るよ。
    The least you need is money and you can do anything.
  3. お弁当を買うお金さえなかった。
    I didn’t even have money to buy lunch.

For nouns only, you can add 「で」 and use 「でさえ」 instead of just 「さえ」. There are no grammatical differences but it does sound a bit more emphatic.

  1. 私でさえ出来れば、あんたには楽ちんでしょう。
    If even I can do it, it should be a breeze for you.

You can also attach 「さえ」 to the stem of verbs to express a minimum action for a result. This is usually followed up immediately by 「する」 to show that the minimum action is done (or not). If the verb happens to be in a te-form, 「さえ」 can also be attached directly to the end of the 「て」 or 「で」 of the te-form.

  1. ビタミンを食べさえすれば、健康が保証されますよ。
    If you just eat vitamins, your health will be guaranteed.
  2. 自分の過ちを認めさえしなければ、問題は解決しないよ。
    The problem won’t be solved if you don’t even recognize your own mistake, you know.
  3. 教科書をもっとちゃんと読んでさえいれば、合格できたのに。
    If only I had read the textbook more properly, I could have passed.
  4. 一言言ってさえくれればこんなことにならなかった。
    If you only had said something things wouldn’t have turned out like this.

「（で）すら」 – Older version of 「（で）さえ」

Vocabulary

  1. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
  2. 子供 【こ・ども】 – child
  3. この – this （abbr. of これの）
  4. 天才 【てん・さい】 – genius
  5. 分かる 【わ・かる】 (u-verb) – to understand
  6. 緊張 【きん・ちょう】 – nervousness
  7. する (exception) – to do
  8. ちらっと – a peek
  9. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
  10. こと – event, matter
  11. 出来る 【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do
  12. 人 【ひと】 – person
  13. 漢字 【かん・じ】 – Kanji
  14. 知る 【し・る】 (u-verb) – to know
  15. 生徒 【せい・と】 – student
  16. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)

「（で）すら」 is a older variation of 「（で）さえ」 that is not as commonly used. It is essentially interchangeable with 「（で）さえ」 except that it is generally used only with nouns.

「（で）すら」 is used in the same way as 「（で）さえ」 for nouns

  • For nouns: Attach 「すら」 or 「ですら」 to the minimum requirement.
    Examples

    1. 私すら – Even me
    2. 子供ですら – Even children

Examples

  1. この天才の私ですらわからなかった。
    Even a genius such as myself couldn’t solve it.
  2. 私は緊張しすぎて、ちらっと見ることすら出来ませんでした。
    I was so nervous that I couldn’t even take a quick peek.
  3. 「人」の漢字すら知らない生徒は、いないでしょ！
    There are no students that don’t even know the 「人」 Kanji!

「おろか」 – It’s not even worth considering

Vocabulary

  1. 愚か 【おろ・か】 (na-adj) – foolish
  2. 漢字 【かん・じ】 – Kanji
  3. ひらがな – Hiragana
  4. 読む 【よ・む】 (u-verb) – to read
  5. 結婚 【けっ・こん】 – marriage
  6. ～ヶ月 【～か・げつ】 – counter for span of month(s)
  7. 付き合う 【つ・き・あ・う】 (u-verb) – to go out with; to accompany
  8. 結局 【けっ・きょく】 – eventually
  9. 別れる 【わか・れる】 (ru-verb) – to separate; to break up
  10. 大学 【だい・がく】 – college
  11. 高校 【こう・こう】 – high school
  12. 卒業 【そつ・ぎょう】 – graduate
  13. する (exception) – to do

This grammar comes from the adjective 「愚か」 which means to be foolish or stupid. However, in this case, you’re not making fun of something, rather by using 「おろか」, you can indicate that something is so ridiculous that it’s not even worth considering. In English, we might say something like, “Are you kidding? I can’t touch my knees much less do a full split!” In this example, the full split is so beyond the person’s abilities that it would be foolish to even consider it.

Examples

  1. 漢字はおろか、ひらがなさえ読めないよ！
    Forget about Kanji, I can’t even read Hiragana!
  2. 結婚はおろか、2ヶ月付き合って、結局別れてしまった。
    We eventually broke up after going out two months much less get married.
  3. 大学はおろか、高校すら卒業しなかった。
    I didn’t even graduate from high school much less college.

This grammar is rarely used and is primarily useful for JLPT level 1. The expression 「どころか」 is far more common and has a similar meaning. However, unlike 「おろか」 which is used as an adjective, 「どころか」 is attached directly to the noun, adjective, or verb.

  1. 漢字どころか、ひらがなさえ読めないよ！
    Forget about Kanji, I can’t even read Hiragana!
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Things that should be a certain way

In this lesson, we’ll learn how to express the way things are supposed depending on what we mean by “supposed”. While the first two grammar points 「はず」 and 「べき」 come up often and are quite useful, you’ll rarely ever encounter 「べく」 or 「べからず」. You can safely skip those lessons unless you are studying for the JLPT.

Using 「はず」 to describe an expectation

Vocabulary

  1. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
  2. 日曜日 【にち・よう・び】 – Sunday
  3. 可能 【か・のう】 (na-adj) – possible
  4. おいしい (i-adj) – tasty
  5. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
  6. 彼【かれ】 – he; boyfriend
  7. 漫画 【まん・が】 – comic book
  8. マニア – mania
  9. これ – this
  10. ～ら – pluralizing suffix
  11. もう – already
  12. 全部 【ぜん・ぶ】 – everything
  13. 読む 【よ・む】 (u-verb) – to read
  14. この – this （abbr. of これの）
  15. 料理 【りょう・り】 – cooking; cuisine; dish
  16. 焦げる 【こ・げる】 (ru-verb) – to burn, to be burned
  17. まずい (i-adj) – unpleasant
  18. 色々 【いろ・いろ】 (na-adj) – various
  19. 予定 【よ・てい】 – plans, arrangement
  20. する (exception) – to do
  21. 今年 【こ・とし】 – this year
  22. 楽しい 【たの・しい】 (i-adj) – fun
  23. クリスマス – Christmas
  24. そう – (things are) that way
  25. 簡単 【かん・たん】 (na-adj) – simple
  26. 直す 【なお・す】 (u-verb) – to correct, to fix
  27. 打合せ 【うち・あわ・せ】 – meeting
  28. 毎週 【まい・しゅう】 – every week
  29. ～時 【～じ】 – counter for hours
  30. 始まる 【はじ・まる】 (u-verb) – to begin

The first grammar we will learn is 「はず」, which is used to express something that was or is supposed to be. You can treat 「はず」 just like a regular noun as it is usually attached to the adjective or verb that is supposed to be or supposed to happen.

The only thing to be careful about here is expressing an expectation of something not happening. To do this, you must use the negative existence verb 「ない」 to say that such an expectation does not exist. This might be in the form of 「～はずがない」 or 「～はずはない」 depending on which particle you want to use. The negative conjugation 「はずじゃない」 is really only used when you want to confirm in a positive sense such as 「～はずじゃないか？」.

Using 「はず」 to describe an expectation

  • Use 「はず」 just like a regular noun to modify the expected thing
    Examples

    1. 日曜日のはず (noun)
    2. 可能なはず (na-adjective)
    3. おいしいはず (i-adjective)
    4. 帰るはず (verb)
  • For the case where you expect the negative, use the 「ない」 verb for nonexistence
  • Example: 帰るはず → 帰るはずがない

Examples

  1. 彼は漫画マニアだから、これらをもう全部読んだはずだよ。
    He has a mania for comic book(s) so I expect he read all these already.
  2. この料理はおいしいはずだったが、焦げちゃって、まずくなった。
    This dish was expected to be tasty but it burned and became distasteful.
  3. 色々予定してあるから、今年は楽しいクリスマスのはず。
    Because various things have been planned out, I expect a fun Christmas this year.
  4. そう簡単に直せるはずがないよ。
    It’s not supposed to be that easy to fix.
  5. 打合せは毎週２時から始まるはずじゃないですか？
    This meeting is supposed to start every week at 2 o’clock, isn’t it?

Here are more examples from the WWWJDIC. You may also want to check out the jeKai entry.

Using 「べき」 to describe actions one should do

Vocabulary

  1. 絶対 【ぜっ・たい】 (na-adj) – absolutely, unconditionally
  2. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
  3. 強い 【つよ・い】 (i-adj) – strong
  4. 推奨 【すい・しょう】 – recommendation
  5. する (exception) – to do
  6. 擦る 【す・る】 (u-verb) – to rub
  7. 行う 【おこな・う】 (u-verb) – to conduct, to carry out
  8. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
  9. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
  10. 前 【まえ】 – front; before
  11. 本当 【ほん・とう】 – real
  12. 必要 【ひつ・よう】 – necessity
  13. どう – how
  14. いい (i-adj) – good
  15. 考える 【かんが・える】 (ru-verb) – to think
  16. 例え 【たと・え】 – example
  17. 国 【くに】 – country
  18. 国民 【こく・みん】 – people, citizen
  19. 騙す 【だま・す】 (u-verb) – to trick, to cheat, to deceive
  20. 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think
  21. 預金者 【よ・きん・しゃ】 – depositor
  22. 大手 【おお・て】 – large corporation
  23. 銀行 【ぎん・こう】 – bank
  24. 相手 【あい・て】 – other party
  25. 取る 【と・る】 (u-verb) – to take
  26. 訴訟 【そ・しょう】 – litigation, lawsuit
  27. 起こす 【お・こす】 (u-verb) – to cause, to wake someone
  28. ケース – case
  29. 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) – to come out
  30. 金融庁 【きん・ゆう・ちょう】 – Financial Services Agency
  31. 被害者 【ひ・がい・しゃ】 – victim
  32. 救済 【きゅう・さい】 – relief, aid
  33. 優先 【ゆう・せん】 – preference, priority, precedence
  34. 金融 【きん・ゆう】 – financing
  35. 機関 【き・かん】 – institution
  36. 犯罪 【はん・ざい】 – crime
  37. 防止 【ぼう・し】 – prevention
  38. 強化 【きょう・か】 – strengthen
  39. 促す 【うなが・す】 (u-verb) – to urge
  40. 判断 【はん・だん】 – judgement, decision
  41. 朝日 【あさ・ひ】 – Asahi
  42. 新聞 【しん・ぶん】 – newspaper

「べき」 is a verb suffix used to describe something that is supposed to be done. This suffix is commonly defined as “should”, however, one must realize that it cannot be used to make suggestions like the sentence, “You should go to the doctor.” If you use 「べき」, it sounds more like, “You are supposed to go to the doctor.” 「べき」 has a much stronger tone and makes you sound like a know-it-all telling people what to do. For making suggestions, it is customary to use the comparison 「方がいい」 grammar instead. For this reason, this grammar is almost never used to directly tell someone what to do. It is usually used in reference to oneself where you can be as bossy as you want or in a neutral context where circumstances dictate what is proper and what is not. One such example would be a sentence like, “We are supposed to raise our kids properly with a good education.”

Unlike the 「はず」 grammar, there is no expectation that something is going to happen. Rather, this grammar describes what one should do in a given circumstance. In Japanese, you might define it as meaning 「絶対ではないが、強く推奨されている」.

There is very little of grammatical interest. 「べき」 works just like a regular noun and so you can conjugate it as 「べきじゃない」、「べきだった」, and so on. The only thing to note here is that when you’re using it with 「する」, the verb meaning “to do”, you can optionally drop the 「る」 from 「するべき」 to produce 「すべき」. You can do this with this verb only and it does not apply for any other verbs even if the verb is written as 「する」 such as 「擦る」, the verb meaning “to rub”.

Using 「べき」 for actions that should be done

  • Attach 「べき」 to the action that should be done
    Examples

    1. 行う → 行うべき
    2. する → するべき
  • For the generic “to do ” verb 「する」 only, you can remove the 「る」
  • Example: する＋べき → すべき

Examples

  1. 何かを買う前に本当に必要かどうかをよく考えるべきだ。
    Before buying something, one should think well on whether it’s really necessary or not.
  2. 例え国のためであっても、国民を騙すべきではないと思う。
    Even if it is, for example, for the country, I don’t think the country’s citizens should be deceived.
  3. 預金者が大手銀行を相手取って訴訟を起こすケースも出ており、金融庁は被害者の救済を優先させて、金融機関に犯罪防止対策の強化を促すべきだと判断。（朝日新聞）
    With cases coming out of depositors suing large banks, the Financial Services Agency decided it should prioritize relief for victims and urge banks to strengthen measures for crime prevention.

Using 「べく」 to describe what one tries to do

Vocabulary

  1. 連用形 【れん・よう・けい】 – conjunctive form
  2. 早い 【はや・い】 (i-adj) – fast; early
  3. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
  4. 準備 【じゅん・び】 – preparations
  5. する (exception) – to do
  6. 始める 【はじ・める】 (ru-verb) – to begin
  7. 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think
  8. 出来る 【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do
  9. 行う 【おこな・う】 (u-verb) – to conduct, to carry out
  10. 試験 【し・けん】 – exam
  11. 合格 【ごう・かく】 – pass (as in an exam)
  12. 皆 【みんな】 – everybody
  13. 一生懸命 【いっ・しょう・けん・めい】 – with utmost effort
  14. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
  15. 今後 【こん・ご】 – from now on
  16. お客様 【お・きゃく・さま】 – guest, customer
  17. 対話 【たい・わ】 – interaction
  18. 窓口 【まど・ぐち】 – teller window, counter; point of contact
  19. より – more
  20. 充実 【じゅう・じつ】 – fulfilled
  21. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  22. 努力 【ど・りょく】 – effort
  23. 参る 【まい・る】 (u-verb) – to go; to come (humble)

Grammatically, 「べく」 is really a conjunctive form （連用形） of 「べき」, similar to what the te-form does to connect another phrase. However, what needs mentioning here is that by changing it into a conjunctive and adding a predicate, the meaning of 「べく」 changes from the ordinary meaning of 「べき」. While 「べき」 describes a strong suggestion, changing it to 「べく」 allows you to describe what one did in order to carry out that suggestion. Take a look that the following examples to see how the meaning changes.

  1. 早く帰るべき。
    Should go home early.
  2. 早く帰るべく、準備をし始めた。
    In trying to go home early, started the preparations.

As we can see in this example, adding the 「準備をし始めた」 tells us what the subject did in order to carry out the action he/she was supposed to do.In this way we can define 「べく」 as meaning, “in order to” or “in an effort to”. Similarly, 「べく」 might mean the Japanese equivalent of 「しようと思って」 or 「できるように」. This is a very seldom-used old-fashioned expression and is merely presented here to completely cover all aspects of 「べき」.

Using 「べく」 for actions that are attempted to be done

  • Attach 「べく」 to the action that is attempted to be done
    Examples

    1. 行う → 行うべく
    2. する → するべく
  • Same as 「べき」, you can remove the 「る」 for the generic “to do ” verb 「する」 only
  • Example: する＋べく → すべく

Examples

  1. 試験に合格すべく、皆一生懸命に勉強している。
    Everybody is studying very hard in an effort to pass the exam.
  2. 今後もお客様との対話の窓口として、より充実していくべく努力してまいります
    We are working from here in an effort to provide a enriched window for customer interaction.

Using 「べからず」 to describe things one must not do

Vocabulary

  1. 未然形 【み・ぜん・けい】 – imperfective form
  2. 行う 【おこな・う】 (u-verb) – to conduct, to carry out
  3. する (exception) – to do
  4. ゴミ – garbage
  5. 捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) – to throw away
  6. 安全 【あん・ぜん】 – safety
  7. 措置 【そ・ち】 – measures
  8. 忘れる 【わす・れる】 (ru-verb) – to forget

Moving on to yet another from of 「べき」 is 「べからず」. This is undoubtedly related to the 「ず」 negative ending we learned in a previous section. However, it seems to be a conjugation of an old 未然形 of 「べから」. I have no idea what that means and you don’t have to either. The only thing we need to take away from this is that 「べからず」 expresses the opposite meaning of 「べき」 as an action that one must not do. I suppose the short and abrupt ending of the 「ず」 form makes this more useful for laying out rules. In fact, searching around on google comes up with a bunch of 「べし･ベからず」 or “do’s and don’ts”. （べし is an older form of べき, which I doubt you’ll ever need.)

Using 「べからず」 for actions that must not be done

  • Attach 「べからず」 to the action that must not be done
    Examples

    1. 行う → 行うべからず
    2. する → するべからず
  • Same as 「べき」, you can remove the 「る」 for the generic “to do ” verb 「する」 only
  • Example: する＋べからず → すべからず

Examples

  1. ゴミ捨てるべからず。
    You must not throw away trash.
  2. 安全措置を忘れるべからず。
    You must not forget the safety measures.
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Formal Expressions

What do you mean by formal expressions?

So far we have learned casual, polite, and honorific/humble types of languages. So what do I mean by formal expressions? I think we are all aware of the type of language I am talking about. We hear it in speeches, read it in reports, and see it on documentaries. While discussing good writing style is beyond the scope of this guide, we will go over some of the grammar that you will commonly find in this type of language. Which is not to say that it won’t appear in regular everyday speech. (Because it does.)

Using 「である」 for formal state-of-being

Vocabulary

  1. 我輩 【わが・はい】 – I; we
  2. 猫 【ねこ】 – cat
  3. 夏目 【なつ・め】 – Natsume (last name)
  4. 漱石 【そう・せき】 – Souseki (first name)
  5. お任せ 【お・まか・せ】 – leaving a decision to someone else
  6. 表示 【ひょう・じ】 – display
  7. 混合物 【こん・ごう・ぶつ】 – mixture, amalgam
  8. 種類 【しゅ・るい】 – type, kind, category
  9. 以上 【い・じょう】 – greater or equal
  10. 純物質 【じゅん・ぶっ・しつ】 – pure material
  11. 混じりあう 【ま・じりあう】 (u-verb) – to mix together
  12. 物質 【ぶっ・しつ】 – pure material
  13. 何 【なに／なん】 – what

We have already learned how to speak with your friends in casual speech, your superiors in polite speech, and your customers in honorific / humble speech. We’ve learned 「だ」、「です」、and 「でございます」 to express a state-of-being for these different levels of politeness. There is one more type of state-of-being that is primarily used to state facts in a neutral, official sounding manner – 「である」. Just like the others, you tack 「である」 on to the adjective or noun that represents the state.

Examples

  • 吾輩は猫である
    I am a cat. (This is the title of a famous novel by 夏目漱石)

Since I’m too lazy to look up facts, let’s trot on over to the Japanese version of Wikipedia and look at some random articles by clicking on 「おまかせ表示」.

  • 混合物(こんごうぶつ, mixture)とは、2種類以上の純物質が混じりあっている物質である。(Wikipedia – 混合物, July 2004)
    An amalgam is a mixture of two or more pure materials.

To give you an idea of how changing the 「である」 changes the tone, I’ve included some fake content around that sentence.

  1. 混合物は何？
    混合物は、2種類以上の純物質が混じりあっている物質だ。
  2. 混合物は何ですか？
    混合物は、2種類以上の純物質が混じりあっている物質です。
  3. 混合物は何でしょうか。
    混合物は、2種類以上の純物質が混じりあっている物質でございます。
  4. 混合物とは？
    混合物は、2種類以上の純物質が混じりあっている物質である 。

Negative of 「である」

Vocabulary

  1. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
  2. それ – that
  3. 不公平 【ふ・こう・へい】 – unfair
  4. 言語 【げん・ご】 – language
  5. 簡単 【かん・たん】 (na-adj) – simple
  6. マスター – master
  7. する (exception) – to do
  8. こと – event, matter
  9. 出来る 【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do
  10. 学生 【がく・せい】 – student

Because the negative of 「ある」 is 「ない」, you might expect the opposite of 「である」 to be 「でない」. However, for some reason I’m not aware of, you need to insert the topic particle before 「ない」 to get 「ではない」.

Examples

  1. それは不公平ではないでしょうか。
    Wouldn’t you consider that to be unfair?
  2. 言語は簡単にマスターできることではない。
    Language is not something that can be mastered easily.
Using 「である」 to sound official

  • Attach 「である」 to the verb or adjective that the state-of-being applies to.
  • Example: 学生 → 学生である
  • For the negative, attach 「ではない」 to the verb or adjective that the state-of-being applies to.
  • Example: 学生 → 学生ではない
  • For the past tense state-of-being, apply the regular past tenses of 「ある」

Complete conjugation chart for 「である」
Positive Negative
学生である is student 学生ではない is not student
学生であった was student 学生ではなかった was not student

Sequential relative clauses in formal language

Vocabulary

  1. 花火 【はな・び】 – fireworks
  2. 火薬 【か・やく】 – gunpowder
  3. 金属 【きん・ぞく】 – metal
  4. 粉末 【ふん・まつ】 – fine powder
  5. 混ぜる 【ま・ぜる】 (ru-verb) – to mix
  6. 物 【もの】 – object
  7. 火 【ひ】 – flame, light
  8. 付ける 【つ・ける】 (ru-verb) – to attach
  9. 燃焼時 【ねん・しょう・じ】 – at time of combustion
  10. 火花 【ひ・ばな】 – spark
  11. 楽しむ 【たの・しむ】 (u-verb) – to enjoy
  12. ため – for the sake/benefit of
  13. 企業内 【き・ぎょう・ない】 – company-internal
  14. 顧客 【こ・きゃく】 – customer, client
  15. データ – data
  16. 利用 【り・よう】 – usage
  17. する (exception) – to do
  18. 彼 【かれ】 – he; boyfriend
  19. 行方 【ゆく・え】 – whereabouts
  20. 調べる 【しら・べる】 (ru-verb) – to investigate
  21. こと – event, matter
  22. 出来る 【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do
  23. 封筒 【ふう・とう】 – envelope
  24. 写真 【しゃ・しん】 – photograph
  25. 数枚 【すう・まい】 – several sheets (flat objects)
  26. 入る 【はい・る】 (u-verb) – to enter
  27. 手紙 【て・がみ】 – letter
  28. 添える　【そ・える】 (ru-verb) – to garnish; to accompany (as a card does a gift)
  29. この – this （abbr. of これの）
  30. ファイル – file
  31. パスワード – password
  32. 設定 【せっ・てい】 – setting
  33. 開く 【ひら・く】 (u-verb) – to open
  34. ～際 【～さい】 – on the occasion of
  35. それ – that
  36. 入力 【にゅう・りょく】 – input
  37. 必要 【ひつ・よう】 – necessity
  38. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)

In the Compound Sentence lesson, we learned how to use the te-form of verbs to express multiples sequential actions in one sentence. This practice, however, is used only in regular everyday speech. Formal speeches, narration, and written publications employ the verb stem instead of the te-form to describe sequential actions. Particularly, newspaper articles, in the interest of brevity, always prefer verb stems to the te-form.

Examples

  1. 花火（はなび）は、火薬と金属の粉末を混ぜたものに火を付け、燃焼時の火花を楽しむためのもの。
    （Wikipedia – 花火, August 2004）
    Fireworks are for the enjoyment of sparks created from combustion created by lighting up a mixture of gunpowder and metal powder.
  2. 企業内の顧客データを利用し、彼の行方を調べることが出来た。
    Was able to investigate his whereabouts using the company’s internal customer data.

For the 「～ている」 forms, the stem becomes 「～てい」 but because that doesn’t fit very well into the middle of a sentence, it is common to use the humble form of 「いる」 which you will remember is 「おる」. This is simply so you can employ 「おり」 to connect relative clauses instead of just 「い」. It has nothing to do with the humble aspect of 「おる」

  1. 封筒には写真が数枚入っており、手紙が添えられていた。
    Several photos were inside the envelope, and a letter was attached.
  2. このファイルにはパスワードが設定されており、開く際にはそれを入力する必要がある。
    A password has been set on this file, and it needs to entered when opening.
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Chapter Overview

Whew! We’ve come a long way from learning the basic phonetic alphabet to covering almost all the grammar you’re going to need for daily conversations. But wait, we’re not finished yet! In fact, things are going to get even more challenging and interesting because, especially toward the latter part of this section, we are going to learn grammar that only might come in handy. In my experience, the most useful things are easiest to learn as they come up again and again. However, in order to completely master a language, we also must work hard to conquer the bigger area of things that don’t come up very often and yet every native Japanese speaker instinctively understands. Believe it or not, even the more obscure grammar will come up eventually leaving you wondering what it’s supposed to mean. That’s why I bothered to learn them at least.

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Expressing a lack of change

Up until now, we’ve mostly been talking about things that have happened or changed in the course of events. We will now learn some simple grammar to express a lack of change.

Using 「まま」 to express a lack of change

Vocabulary

  1. この – this （abbr. of これの）
  2. 宜しい 【よろ・しい】 (i-adj) – good (formal)
  3. 半分 【はん・ぶん】 – half
  4. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  5. 捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) – to throw away
  6. 駄目 【だめ】 – no good
  7. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
  8. 今日 【きょう】 – today
  9. 悲しい 【かな・しい】 (i-adj) – sad
  10. その – that （abbr. of それの）
  11. 格好 【かっ・こう】 – appearance
  12. クラブ – club; nightclub
  13. 入る 【はい・る】 (u-verb) – to enter

「まま」, not to be confused with the childish expression for “mother” （ママ）, is a grammatical phrase to express a lack of change in something. Grammatically, it is used just like a regular noun. You’ll most likely hear this grammar at a convenience store when you buy a very small item. Since store clerks use super polite expressions and at lightning fast speeds, learning this one expression will help you out a bit in advance. (Of course, upon showing a lack of comprehension, the person usually repeats the exact same phrase… at the exact same speed.)

Examples

  • このままで宜しいですか？
    Is it ok just like this?

In other words, the clerk wants to know if you’ll take it just like that or whether you want it in a small bag. 「宜しい」, in case I haven’t gone over it yet, is simply a very polite version of 「いい」. Notice that 「まま」 grammatically works just like a regular noun which means, as usual, that you can modify it with verb phrases or adjectives.

  • 半分しか食べてないままで捨てちゃダメ！
    You can’t throw it out leaving it in that half-eaten condition!

Ok, the translation is very loose, but the idea is that it’s in an unchanged state of being half-eaten and you can’t just throw that out.

Here’s a good example I found googling around.
Hint: The 「いさせる」 is the causative form of 「いる」 meaning “let/make me exist”.

  • 今日だけは悲しいままでいさせてほしい。
    For only today, I want you to let me stay in this sad condition.

Finally, just in case, here’s an example of direct noun modification.

  • その格好のままでクラブに入れないよ。
    You can’t get in the club in that getup (without changing it).

Using 「っぱなし」 to leave something the way it is

Vocabulary

  1. 放す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to release; to set loose
  2. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
  3. ほったらかす (u-verb) – to neglect
  4. テレビ – TV, television
  5. 開ける 【あ・ける】 (ru-verb) – to open
  6. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
  7. つける (ru-verb) – to attach; to turn on
  8. する (exception) – to do
  9. 眠れる 【ねむ・れる】 (ru-verb) – to fall asleep
  10. 人 【ひと】 – person
  11. 結構 【けっ・こう】 – fairly, reasonably
  12. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
  13. 窓 【まど】 – window
  14. 蚊 【か】 – mosquito
  15. いっぱい – full
  16. 入る 【はい・る】 (u-verb) – to enter
  17. しまう (u-verb) – to do something by accident; to finish completely

The verb 「放す」 meaning “to set loose”, can be used in various ways in regards to leaving something the way it is. For instance, a variation 「放っとく」 is used when you want to say “Leave me alone”. For instance, you might use the command form of a request （くれる） and say, 「ほっといてくれ！」(Leave me alone!). Yet another variant 「ほったらかす」 means “to neglect”.

The grammar I would like to discuss here is the 「っぱなし」 suffix variant. You can attach this suffix to the stem of any verb to describe the act of doing something and leaving it that way without changing it. You can treat the combination like a regular noun.

Here’s a link with more examples of this grammar. As you can see by the examples, this suffix carries a nuance that the thing left alone is due to oversight or neglect. Here are the (simple) conjugation rules for this grammar.

Using 「っぱなし」 to complete an action and leave it that way

  • Take the stem of the verb and attach 「っぱなし」.
    Examples

    1. 開ける → 開けっぱなし
    2. 書く → 書き → 書きっぱなし

Examples

  1. テレビをつけっぱなしにしなければ眠れない人は、結構いる。
    There exists a fair number of people who cannot sleep unless they turn on the TV and leave it that way.
  2. 窓が開けっ放しだったので、蚊がいっぱい入ってしまった。
    The window was left wide open so a lot of mosquitoes got in.
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Time-specific actions

In this lesson, we will go over various ways to express actions that take place in a certain time-frame. In particular, we will learn how to say: 1) an action has just been completed, 2) an action is taken immediately after another action took place, 3) an action occurs while another action is ongoing, and 4) one continuously repeats an action.

Expressing what just happened with 「～ばかり」

Vocabulary

  1. 食べる 【たべ・る】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  2. すみません – sorry (polite)
  3. 今 【いま】 – now
  4. お腹 【お・なか】 – stomach
  5. いっぱい – full
  6. キロ – kilo
  7. 走る 【はし・る】 (u-verb) – to run
  8. 凄い 【すご・い】 (i-adj) – to a great extent
  9. 疲れる 【つか・れる】 (ru-verb) – to get tired
  10. 家 【1) うち; 2) いえ】 – 1) one’s own home; 2) house
  11. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
  12. 昼ご飯 【ひる・ご・はん】 – lunch
  13. もう – already
  14. 空く 【す・く】 (u-verb) – to become empty
  15. まさか – no way, you can’t mean to say
  16. 起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) – to wake; to occur

This is a very useful grammar that is used to indicate that one has just finished doing something. For instance, the first time I really wished I knew how to say something like this was when I wanted to politely decline an invitation to eat because I had just eaten. To do this, take the past tense of verb that you want to indicate as just being completed and add 「ばかり」. This is used with only the past tense of verbs and is not to be confused with the 「ばかり」 used with nouns to express amounts.

Just like the other type of 「ばかり」 we have covered before, in slang, you can hear people use 「ばっか」 instead of 「ばかり」.

Using 「ばかり」 for actions just completed

  • To indicate that an action has ended just recently, take the past tense of the verb and add 「ばかり」.
    Example:　食べる → 食べた → 食べたばかり
  • For casual speech, you can abbreviate 「ばかり」 to just 「ばっか」
    Example:　食べたばかり →　食べたばっか

You can treat the result as you would with any noun.
Positive Negative
食べたばかり（だ） Just ate 食べたばかりじゃない Didn’t just eat

Examples

  1. すみません、今食べたばかりなので、お腹がいっぱいです。
    Sorry, but I’m full having just eaten.
  2. 10キロを走ったばかりで、凄く疲れた。
    I just ran 10 kilometers and am really tired.
  3. 今、家に帰ったばかりです。
    I got back home just now.

Here are some examples of the abbreviated version.

  1. 昼ご飯を食べたばっかなのに、もうお腹が空いた。
    Despite the fact that I just ate lunch, I’m hungry already.
  2. まさか、今起きたばっかなの？
    No way, did you wake up just now?

Express what occurred immediately after with 「とたん」

Vocabulary

  1. 開ける 【あ・ける】 (ru-verb) – to open
  2. 取る 【と・る】 (u-verb) – to take
  3. 窓 【まど】 – window
  4. 猫 【ねこ】 – cat
  5. 跳ぶ 【と・ぶ】 (u-verb) – to jump
  6. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
  7. 観る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to watch
  8. トイレ – bathroom; toilet
  9. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  10. 眠い 【ねむ・い】(i-adj) – sleepy
  11. なる (u-verb) – to become

Kind of as a supplement to 「ばかり」, we will cover one way to say something happened as soon as something else occurs. To use this grammar, add 「とたん」 to the past tense of the first action that happened. It is also common to add the 「に」 target particle to indicate that specific point in time.

Using 「とたん」 to describe what happened immediately after

  • Change the verb that happened first to the past tense and attach 「とたん」 or 「とたんに」.
    Examples

    1. 開ける → 開けた → 開けたとたん（に）
    2. 取る → 取った → 取ったとたん（に）
  • ※Note: You can only use this grammar for things that happen outside your control.

Examples

  1. 窓を開けたとたんに、猫が跳んでいった。
    As soon as I opened window, cat jumped out.

For many more examples, check these examples sentences from our old trusty WWWJDIC.

An important thing to realize is that you can only use this grammar for things that occur immediately after something else and not for an action that you, yourself carry out. For instance, compare the following two sentences.

  • 映画を観たとたんに、トイレに行きました。
    (You carried out the action of going to the bathroom so this is not correct.)
  • 映画を観たとたんに、眠くなりました。
    (Since becoming sleepy is something that happened outside your control, this sentence is ok.)

Using 「ながら」 for two concurrent actions

Vocabulary

  1. 走る 【はし・る】 (u-verb) – to run
  2. テレビ – TV, television
  3. 観る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to watch
  4. 宿題 【しゅく・だい】 – homework
  5. する (exception) – to do
  6. 音楽 【おん・がく】 – music
  7. 聴く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to listen (e.g. to music);
  8. 学校 【がっ・こう】 – school
  9. 歩く 【ある・く】 (u-verb) – to walk
  10. 好き 【す・き】 (na-adj) – likable
  11. 相手 【あい・て】 – other party
  12. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
  13. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
  14. 自分 【じ・ぶん】 – oneself
  15. 気持ち 【き・も・ち】 – feeling
  16. 分かる 【わ・かる】 (u-verb) – to understand
  17. 欲しい 【ほ・しい】 (i-adj) – desirable
  18. 単なる 【たん・なる】 – simply
  19. わがまま (na-adj) – selfish
  20. 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think
  21. ポップコーン – popcorn
  22. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  23. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
  24. 口笛 【くち・ぶえ】 – whistle
  25. 手紙 【て・がみ】 – letter
  26. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write

You can use 「ながら」 to express that one action is taking place in conjunction with another action. To use 「ながら」, you must change the first verb to the stem and append 「ながら」. Though probably rare, you can also attach 「ながら」 to the negative of the verb to express the negative. This grammar has no tense since it is determined by the second verb.

Using 「ながら」 for concurrent actions

  • Change the first verb to the stem and append 「ながら」
    Example
    走る → 走り → 走りながら
  • For the negative, attach 「ながら」
    Example
    走る → 走らない → 走らないながら

Examples

  1. テレビを観ながら、宿題をする。
    Do homework while watching TV.
  2. 音楽を聴きながら、学校へ歩くのが好き。
    Like to walk to school while listening to music.
  3. 相手に何も言わないながら、自分の気持ちをわかってほしいのは単なるわがままだと思わない？
    Don’t you think that wanting the other person to understand one’s feelings while not saying anything is just simply selfishness?

Notice that the sentence ends with the main verb just like it always does. This means that the main action of the sentence is the verb that ends the clause. The 「ながら」 simply describes another action that is also taking place. For example, if we switched the verbs in the first example to say, 「宿題をしながら、 テレビを観る。」, this changes the sentence to say, “Watch TV while doing homework.” In other words, the main action, in this case, becomes watching TV and the action of doing homework is describing an action that is taking place at the same time.

The tense is controlled by the main verb so the verb used with 「ながら」 cannot have a tense.

  1. ポップコーンを食べながら、映画を観る。
    Watch movie while eating popcorn.
  2. ポップコーンを食べながら、映画を観た。
    Watched movie while eating popcorn.
  3. 口笛をしながら、手紙を書いていた。
    Was writing letter while whistling.

Using 「ながら」 with state-of-being

Vocabulary

  1. 残念 【ざん・ねん】 (na-adj) – unfortunate
  2. 貧乏 【びん・ぼう】 (na-adj) – poor
  3. 仕事 【し・ごと】 – job
  4. いっぱい – full
  5. 入る 【はい・る】 (u-verb) – to enter
  6. 今日 【きょう】 – today
  7. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  8. なる (u-verb) – to become
  9. 高級 【こう・きゅう】 (na-adj) – high class, high grade
  10. バッグ – bag
  11. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
  12. 彼 【かれ】 – he; boyfriend
  13. 初心者 【しょ・しん・しゃ】 – beginner
  14. 実力 【じつ・りょく】 – actual ability
  15. プロ – pro
  16. 同じ 【おな・じ】 – same

A more advanced use of 「ながら」 is to use it with the implied state-of-being. In other words, you can use it with nouns or adjectives to talk about what something is while something else. The implied state-of-being means that you must not use the declarative 「だ」, you just attach 「ながら」 to the noun or adjective. For example, a common way this grammar is used is to say, “While it’s unfortunate, something something…” In Japanese, this would become 「残念ながら・・・」

You can also attach the inclusive 「も」 particle to 「ながら」 to get 「ながらも」. This changes the meaning from “while” to “even while”.

Using 「ながら」 or 「ながらも」 with state-of-being

  • To say [X] is something while something else, attach 「ながら」 to [X]
    Example
    残念 → 残念ながら
  • To say [X] is something even while something else, attach 「ながらも」 to [X]
    Example
    貧乏 → 貧乏ながらも

Examples

  1. 仕事がいっぱい入って、残念ながら、今日は行けなくなりました。
    While it’s unfortunate, a lot of work came in and it became so that I can’t go today.
  2. 貧乏ながらも、高級なバッグを買っちゃったよ。
    Even while I’m poor, I ended up buying a high quality bag.
  3. 彼は、初心者ながらも、実力はプロと同じだ。
    Even while he is a beginner, his actual skills are the same as a pro.

To repeat something with reckless abandon using 「まくる」

Vocabulary

  1. やる (u-verb) – to do
  2. ゲーム – game
  3. はまる (u-verb) – to get hooked
  4. 最近 【さい・きん】 – recent; lately
  5. パソコン – computer, PC
  6. 使う 【つか・う】 (u-verb) – to use
  7. アメリカ – America
  8. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
  9. 時 【とき】 – time
  10. コーラ – cola
  11. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink

The WWWJDIC very succinctly defines the definition of this verb as a “verb suffix to indicate reckless abandon to the activity”. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go on to tell you exactly how it’s actually used. Actually, there’s not much to explain. You take the stem of the verb and simply attach 「まくる」. However, since this is a continuing activity, it is an enduring state unless you’re going to do it in the future. This is a very casual expression.

Using 「まくる」 for frequent actions

  • Change the first verb to the stem and append 「まくっている」.
    Example
    やる → やり → やりまくっている

You can use all the normal conjugations you would expect with any other verb.
Positive Negative
Non-Past やりまくっている
doing all the time		 やりまくっていない
don’t do all the time
Past やりまくっていた
did all the time		 やりまくっていなかった
didn’t do all the time

Examples

  1. ゲームにはまっちゃって、最近パソコンを使いまくっているよ。
    Having gotten hooked by games, I do nothing but use the computer lately.
  2. アメリカにいた時はコーラを飲みまくっていた。
    When I was in the US, I drank coke like all the time.
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Hypothesizing and Concluding

In this section, we’re going to learn how to make hypotheses and reach conclusions using: 「とする」 and 「わけ」（訳）.

Coming to a conclusion with 「わけ」

Vocabulary

  1. 訳 【わけ】 – meaning; reason; can be deduced
  2. 直子 【なお・こ】 – Naoko (first name)
  3. いくら – how much
  4. 英語 【えい・ご】 – English (language)
  5. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
  6. する (exception) – to do
  7. うまい (i-adj) – skillful; delicious
  8. なる (u-verb) – to become
  9. つまり – in short
  10. 語学 【ご・がく】 – language study
  11. 能力 【のう・りょく】 – ability
  12. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
  13. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
  14. 失礼 【しつ・れい】 – discourtesy
  15. 中国語 【ちゅう・ごく・ご】 – Chinese language
  16. 読む 【よ・む】 (u-verb) – to read
  17. 広子 【ひろ・こ】 – Hiroko (first name)
  18. 家 【1) うち; 2) いえ】 – 1) one’s own home; 2) house
  19. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  20. こと – event, matter
  21. 一郎 【いち・ろう】 – Ichirou (first name)
  22. 微積分 【び・せき・ぶん】 – (differential and integral) calculus
  23. 分かる 【わ・かる】 (u-verb) – to understand
  24. ここ – here
  25. 試験 【し・けん】 – exam
  26. 合格 【ごう・かく】 – pass (as in an exam)
  27. 今度 【こん・ど】 – this time; another time
  28. 負ける 【ま・ける】 (ru-verb) – to lose
  29. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
  30. あきらめる (ru-verb) – to give up

The noun 「わけ」（訳） is a bit difficult to describe but it’s defined as: “meaning; reason; can be deduced”. You can see how this word is used in the following mini-dialogue.

Example 1

直子：いくら英語を勉強しても、うまくならないの。
Naoko: No matter how much I study, I don’t become better at English.

ジム：つまり、語学には、能力がないという訳か。
Jim: So basically, it means that you don’t have ability at language.

直子：失礼ね。
Naoko: How rude.

As you can see, Jim is concluding from what Naoko said that she must not have any skills at learning languages. This is completely different from the explanatory 「の」, which is used to explain something that may or may not be obvious. 「わけ」 is instead used to draw conclusions that anyone might be able to arrive at given certain information.

A very useful application of this grammar is to combine it with 「ない」 to indicate that there is no reasonable conclusion. This allows some very useful expression like, “How in the world am I supposed to know that?”

  • 中国語が読めるわけがない。
    There’s no way I can read Chinese. (lit: There is no reasoning for [me] to be able to read Chinese.)

Under the normal rules of grammar, we must have a particle for the noun 「わけ」 in order to use it with the verb but since this type of expression is used so often, the particle is often dropped to create just 「～わけない」.

Example 2

直子：広子の家に行ったことある？
Naoko: Have you ever gone to Hiroko’s house?

一郎：あるわけないでしょう。
Ichirou: There’s no way I would have ever gone to her house, right?

Example 3

直子：微積分は分かる？
Naoko: Do you understand (differential and integral) calculus?

一郎：分かるわけないよ！
Ichirou: There’s no way I would understand!

There is one thing to be careful of because 「わけない」 can also mean that something is very easy (lit: requires no explanation). You can easily tell when this meaning is intended however, because it is used in the same manner as an adjective.

  • ここの試験に合格するのはわけない。
    It’s easy to pass the tests here.

Finally, although not as common, 「わけ」 can also be used as a formal expression for saying that something must or must not be done at all costs. This is simply a stronger and more formal version of 「～てはいけない」. This grammar is created by simply attaching 「わけにはいかない」. The 「は」 is the topic particle and is pronounced 「わ」. The reason 「いけない」 changes to 「いかない」 is probably related to intransitive and transitive verbs but I don’t want to get too caught up in the logistics of it. Just take note that it’s 「いかない」 in this case and not 「いけない」.

  1. 今度は負けるわけにはいかない。
    This time, I must not lose at all costs.
  2. ここまできて、あきらめるわけにはいかない。
    After coming this far, I must not give up.

Making hypotheses with 「とする」

Vocabulary

  1. する (exception) – to do
  2. 明日 【あした】 – tomorrow
  3. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  4. 今 【いま】 – now
  5. ～時 【～じ】 – counter for hours
  6. 着く 【つ・く】 (u-verb) – to arrive
  7. 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think
  8. 観客 【かん・きゃく】 – spectator
  9. 参加 【さん・か】 – participation
  10. もらう – to receive
  11. 被害者 【ひ・がい・しゃ】 – victim
  12. 非常 【ひ・じょう】 – extreme
  13. 幸い 【さいわ・い】 (na-adj) – fortunate
  14. 朝ご飯 【あさ・ご・はん】 – breakfast
  15. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  16. もう – already
  17. 昼 【ひる】 – afternoon
  18. お腹 【お・なか】 – stomach
  19. 空く 【す・く】 (u-verb) – to become empty

While this next grammar doesn’t necessarily have anything directly related to the previous grammar, I thought it would fit nicely together. In a previous lesson, we learn how to combine the volitional form with 「とする」 to indicate an attempt to perform an action. We will now learn several other ways 「とする」 can be used. It may help to keep in mind that 「とする」 is really just a combination of the quotation particle 「と」 and the verb 「する」 meaning “to do”. Let’s say you have a sentence: [verb]とする. This means literally that you are doing like “[verb]” (in quotes). As you can see, when used with the volitional, it becomes: “Doing like making motion to do [verb]”. In other words, you are acting as if to make a motion to do [verb]. As we have already seen, this translates to “attempt to do [verb]”. Let’s see what happens when we use it on plain verbs.

Examples

  • 明日に行くとする。
    Assume we go tomorrow.

The example above is considering what would happen supposing that they should decide to go tomorrow. You can see that the literal translation “do like we go tomorrow” still makes sense. However, in this situation, we are making a hypothesis unlike the grammar we have gone over before with the volitional form of the verb. Since we are considering a hypothesis, it is reasonable to assume that the conditional will be very handy here and indeed, you will often see sentences like the following:

  • 今から行くとしたら、９時に着くと思います。
    If we suppose that we go from now, I think we will arrive at 9:00.

As you can see, the verb 「する」 has been conjugated to the 「たら」 conditional form to consider what would happen if you assume a certain case. You can also change 「する」 to the te-form （して） and use it as a sequence of actions like so:

  1. 観客として参加させてもらった。
    Received favor of allowing to participate as spectator.
  2. 被害者としては、非常に幸いだった。
    As a victim, was extremely fortunate.
  3. 朝ご飯を食べたとしても、もう昼だからお腹が空いたでしょう。
    Even assuming that you ate breakfast, because it’s already noon, you’re probably hungry, right?

The same idea applies here as well. In example 1, you are doing like a “spectator” and doing like a “victim” in example 2 and finally, doing like you ate breakfast in example 3. So you can see why the same grammar applies for all these types of sentences because they all mean the same thing in Japanese (minus the use of additional particles and various conjugations of 「する」).

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More negative verbs

We already learned the most common type of negative verbs; the ones that end in 「ない」. However, there are couple more different types of negatives verbs. The ones you will find most useful are the first two, which expresses an action that was done without having done another action. The others are fairly obscure or useful only for very casual expressions. However, you will run into them if you learn Japanese for a fair amount of time.

Doing something without doing something else

Vocabulary

  1. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  2. 寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) – to sleep
  3. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
  4. 歯 【は】 – tooth
  5. 磨く 【みが・く】 (u-verb) – to brush; to polish
  6. 学校 【がっ・こう】 – school
  7. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  8. 宿題 【しゅく・だい】 – homework
  9. する (exception) – to do
  10. 授業 【じゅ・ぎょう】 – class
  11. 止める 【や・める】 (ru-verb) – to stop
  12. 方 【1) ほう; 2) かた】 – 1) direction; side; 2) person; way of doing
  13. いい (i-adj) – good
  14. 先生 【せん・せい】 – teacher
  15. 相談 【そう・だん】 – consultation
  16. この – this （abbr. of これの）
  17. 取る 【と・る】 (u-verb) – to take
  18. こと – event, matter
  19. 出来る 【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do
  20. 彼 【かれ】 – he; boyfriend
  21. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
  22. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
  23. そんな – that sort of
  24. お酒 【お・さけ】 – alcohol
  25. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
  26. 当然 【とう・ぜん】 – naturally
  27. 酔っ払う 【よ・っ・ぱ・らう】 (u-verb) – to get drunk
  28. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
  29. 東大 【とう・だい】 – Tokyo University （abbr. for 「東京大学」）
  30. 入る 【はい・る】 (u-verb) – to enter
  31. 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think

Way back when, we learned how to express a sequence of actions and this worked fine for both positive and negative verbs. For instance, the sentence “I didn’t eat, and then I went to sleep” would become 「食べなくて寝た。」 However, this sentence sounds a bit strange because eating doesn’t have much to do with sleeping. What we probably really want to say is that we went to sleep without eating. To express this, we need to use a more generalized form of the negative request we covered at the very end of the giving and receiving lesson. In other words, instead of substituting the last 「い」 with 「くて」, we need only append 「で」 instead.

Doing something without doing something else

  • To indicate an action that was done without doing another action, add 「で」 to the negative of the action that was not done.
  • Example
    食べる → 食べない → 食べないで

Examples

  1. 何も食べないで寝ました。
    Went to sleep without eating anything.
  2. 歯を磨かないで、学校に行っちゃいました。
    Went to school without brushing teeth (by accident).
  3. 宿題をしないで、授業に行くのは、やめた方がいいよ。
    It’s better to stop going to class without doing homework.
  4. 先生と相談しないで、この授業を取ることは出来ない。
    You cannot take this class without consulting with teacher.

Hopefully not too difficult. Another way to express the exact same thing is to replace the last 「ない」 part with 「ず」. However, the two exception verbs 「する」 and 「くる」 become 「せず」 and 「こず」 respectively. It is also common to see this grammar combined with the target 「に」 particle. This version is more formal than 「ないで」 and is not used as much in regular conversations.

Doing something without doing something else

  • Another way to indicate an action that was done without doing another action is to replace the 「ない」 part of the negative action that was not done with 「ず」.
    Examples

    1. 食べる → 食べない → 食べず
    2. 行く → 行かない → 行かず
  • Exceptions:
    1. する → せず
    2. くる → こず

Examples

  1. 彼は何も言わず、帰ってしまった。
    He went home without saying anything.
  2. 何も食べずにそんなにお酒を飲むと当然酔っ払いますよ。
    Obviously, you’re going to get drunk if you drink that much without eating anything.
  3. 勉強せずに東大に入れると思わないな。
    I don’t think you can get in Tokyo University without studying.

A casual masculine type of negative that ends in 「ん」

Vocabulary

  1. する (exception) – to do
  2. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
  3. すまん – sorry (masculine)
  4. すみません – sorry (polite)
  5. 知る 【し・る】 (u-verb) – to know
  6. 韓国人 【かん・こく・じん】 – Korean person
  7. 結婚 【けっ・こん】 – marriage
  8. なる (u-verb) – to become
  9. そんな – that sort of
  10. こと – event, matter
  11. 皆 【みんな】 – everybody
  12. 今日 【きょう】 – today
  13. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go

Finally, we cover another type of negative that is used mostly by older men. Since 「ない」 is so long and difficult to say (sarcasm), you can shorten it to just 「ん」. However, you can’t directly modify other words in this form; in other words, you can’t make it a modifying relative clause. In the same manner as before, 「する」 becomes 「せん」 and 「くる」 becomes 「こん」 though I’ve never heard or seen 「こん」 actually being used. If you have ever heard ｢すまん」 and wondered what that meant, it’s actually an example of this grammar. Notice that 「すみません」 is actually in polite negative form. Well, the plain form would be 「すまない」, right? That further transforms to just 「すまん」. The word brings up an image of おじさん but that may be just me. Anyway, it’s a male expression.

A shorter way to say negative verbs

  • A shorter way to say a negative verb is to use 「ん」 instead of 「ない」.
    Example
    知る → 知らない → 知らん
  • Exceptions:
    1. する → せん
    2. くる → こん

Examples

  1. すまん。
    Sorry.
  2. 韓国人と結婚しなくてはならん！
    You must marry a Korean!
  3. そんなことはさせん！
    I won’t let you do such a thing!

You can even use this slang for past tense verbs by adding 「かった」.

  • 皆、今日行くって、知らんかったよ。
    I didn’t know everybody was going today.

A classical negative verb that ends in 「ぬ」

Vocabulary

  1. する (exception) – to do
  2. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
  3. 知る 【し・る】 (u-verb) – to know
  4. 韓国人 【かん・こく・じん】 – Korean person
  5. 結婚 【けっ・こん】 – marriage
  6. なる (u-verb) – to become
  7. 模擬 【も・ぎ】 – mock
  8. 試験 【し・けん】 – exam
  9. 何回 【なん・かい】 – how many times
  10. 失敗 【しっ・ぱい】 – failure
  11. 実際 【じっ・さい】 – actual
  12. 受ける 【う・ける】 (ru-verb) – to receive
  13. 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think
  14. 結果 【けっ・か】 – result
  15. 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) – to come out

There is yet another version of the negative verb conjugation and it uses 「ぬ」 instead of the 「ない」 that attaches to the end of the verb. While this version of the negative conjugation is old-fashioned and part of classical Japanese, you will still encounter it occasionally. In fact, I just saw this conjugation on a sign at the train station today, so it’s not too uncommon.

For any verb, you can replace 「ない」 with 「ぬ」 to get to an old-fashion sounding version of the negative. Similar to the last section, 「する」 becomes 「せぬ」 and 「くる」 becomes 「こぬ」. You may hear this grammar being used from older people or your friends if they want to bring back ye olde days.

An old-fashioned way to say negative verbs

  • An old-fashioned way to say a negative verb is to use 「ぬ」 instead of 「ない」.
    Example
    知る → 知らない → 知らぬ
  • Exceptions:
    1. する → せぬ
    2. くる → こぬ

Examples

  1. 韓国人と結婚してはならぬ！
    You must not marry a Korean!
  2. 模擬試験に何回も失敗して、実際に受けてみたら思わぬ結果が出た。
    After having failed mock examination any number of times, a result I wouldn’t have thought came out when I actually tried taking the test.
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Actions that are easy or hard to do

Vocabulary

  1. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  2. しゃべる (u-verb) – to talk
  3. この – this （abbr. of これの）
  4. 字 【じ】 – character; hand-writing
  5. 読む 【よ・む】 (u-verb) – to read
  6. カクテル – cocktail
  7. ビール – beer
  8. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
  9. 部屋 【へ・や】 – room
  10. 暗い 【くら・い】 (i-adj) – dark
  11. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
  12. 難しい 【むずか・しい】 (i-adj) – difficult
  13. 易しい 【やさ・しい】 (i-adj) – easy
  14. 簡単 【かん・たん】 (na-adj) – simple
  15. 容易 【よう・い】 (na-adj) – simple
  16. その – that （abbr. of それの）
  17. 肉 【にく】 – meat

This is a short easy lesson on how to transform verbs into adjectives describing whether that action is easy or difficult to do. Basically, it consists of changing the verb into the stem and adding 「やすい」 for easy and 「にくい」 for hard. The result then becomes a regular i-adjective. Pretty easy, huh?

Using 「～やすい、～にくい」 to describe easy and difficult actions

  • To describe an action as being easy, change the verb to the stem and add 「やすい」. To describe an action as being difficult, attach 「にくい」 to the stem.
    Examples

    1. 食べる → 食べやすい
    2. しゃべる → しゃべり → しゃべりにくい

The result becomes a regular i-adjective.
Positive Negative
Non-Past 食べにくい 食べにくくない
Past 食べにくかった 食べにくくなかった

Examples

  1. この字は読みにくい
    This hand-writing is hard to read.
  2. カクテルはビールより飲みやすい。
    Cocktails are easier to drink than beer.
  3. 部屋が暗かったので、見にくかった。
    Since the room was dark, it was hard to see.

As an aside: Be careful with 「見にくい」 because 「醜い」 is a rarely used adjective meaning, “ugly”. I wonder if it’s just coincidence that “difficult to see” and “ugly” sound exactly the same?

Of course, you can always use some other grammatical structure that we have already learned to express the same thing using appropriate adjectives such as 「難しい」、「易しい」、 「簡単」、「容易」、etc. The following two sentences are essentially identical in meaning.

  1. その肉は食べにくい。
    That meat is hard to eat.
  2. その肉を食べるのは難しい。
    The thing of eating that meat is difficult.

Variations of 「～にくい」 with 「～がたい」 and 「～づらい」

Vocabulary

  1. 彼 【かれ】 – he; boyfriend
  2. 忘れる 【わす・れる】 (ru-verb) – to forget
  3. 思い出 【おも・い・で】 – memories
  4. 大切 【たい・せつ】 (na-adj) – important
  5. する (exception) – to do
  6. とても – very
  7. 信じる 【しん・じる】 (ru-verb) – to believe
  8. 話 【はなし】 – story
  9. 本当 【ほん・とう】 – real
  10. 起こる 【おこ・る】 (u-verb) – to happen
  11. 辛い【1) から・い; 2) つら・い】 (i-adj) – 1) spicy; 2) painful
  12. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
  13. 読む 【よ・む】 (u-verb) – to read
  14. 待ち合わせ 【ま・ち・あわ・せ】 – meeting arrangement
  15. 分かる 【わ・かる】 (u-verb) – to understand
  16. 場所 【ば・しょ】 – location

The kanji for 「にくい」 actually comes from 「難い」 which can also be read as 「かたい」. As a result, you can also add a voiced version 「～がたい」 as a verb suffix to express the same thing as 「にくい」. 「にくい」 is more common for speaking while 「がたい」 is more suited for the written medium. 「にくい」 tends to be used for physical actions while 「がたい」 is usually reserved for less physical actions that don’t actually require movement. However, there seems to be no hard rule on which is more appropriate for a given verb so I suggest searching for both versions in google to ascertain the popularity of a given combination. You should also always write the suffix in hiragana to prevent ambiguities in the reading.

Examples

  1. 彼との忘れがたい思い出を大切にしている。
    I am treating importantly the hard to forget memories of and with him.
  2. とても信じがたい話だが、本当に起こったらしい。
    It’s a very difficult to believe story but it seems (from hearsay) that it really happened.

Yet another, more coarse variation of stem + 「にくい」 is to use 「づらい」 instead which is a slightly transformed version of 「辛い」（つらい）. This is not to be confused with the same 「辛い」（からい）, which means spicy!

Examples

  1. 日本語は読みづらいな。
    Man, Japanese is hard to read.
  2. 待ち合わせは、分かりづらい場所にしないでね。
    Please don’t pick a difficult to understand location for the meeting arrangement.
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Using 「方」 and 「よる」

If you were wondering how to make comparison in Japanese, well wonder no more. We will learn how to use 「方」 and 「より」 to make comparisons between two things. We will also learn other uses of 「方」 and 「よる」 along the way.

Using 「方」 for comparisons

Vocabulary

  1. 方 【1) ほう; 2) かた】 – 1) direction; side; 2) person; way of doing
  2. ご飯 【ご・はん】 – rice; meal
  3. おいしい (i-adj) – tasty
  4. 鈴木 【すず・き】 – Suzuki (last name)
  5. 若い 【わか・い】 (i-adj) – young
  6. 学生 【がく・せい】 – student
  7. いい (i-adj) – good
  8. 赤ちゃん 【あか・ちゃん】 – baby
  9. 静か 【しず・か】 (na-adj) – quiet
  10. 好き 【す・き】 (na-adj) – likable; desirable
  11. ゆっくり – slowly
  12. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  13. 健康 【けん・こう】 – health
  14. こちら – this way
  15. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  16. 早い 【はや・い】 (i-adj) – fast; early
  17. 怖い 【こわ・い】 (i-adj) – scary
  18. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
  19. 観る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to watch
  20. そんな – that sort of
  21. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink

The noun 「方」 is read as 「ほう」 when it is used to mean a direction or orientation. As an aside, it can also be read as 「かた」 when it is used as a politer version of 「人」.

When we use 「方」 to mean direction, we can use it for comparison by saying one way of things is better, worse, etc., than the other way. Grammatically, it works just like any other regular nouns.

Examples

Use it with nouns by utilizing the 「の」 particle.

  1. ご飯の方がおいしい
    Rice is tastier. (lit: The way of rice is tasty.)
  2. 鈴木さんの方が若い。
    Suzuki-san is younger. (lit: The way of Suzuki is young.)

Grammatically, it’s no different from a regular noun.

  1. 学生じゃない方がいいよ。
    It’s better to not be a student. (lit: The way of not being student is good.)
  2. 赤ちゃんは、静かな方が好き。
    Like quiet babies more. (lit: About babies, the quiet way is desirable.)

For non-negative verbs, you can also use the past tense to add more certainty and confidence, particularly when making suggestions.

  1. ゆっくり食べた方が健康にいいよ。
    It’s better for your health to eat slowly.
  2. こちらから行った方が早かった。
    It was faster to go from this way.

The same thing does not apply for negative verbs.

  • 怖い映画は観ない方がいいよ。
    It’s better not to watch scary movie(s).

The negative verb is only in the past tense when the comparison is of something that happened in the past.

  • そんなに飲まなかった方がよかった。
    It was better not to have drunk that much.

Using 「より」 for comparisons

Vocabulary

  1. 方 【1) ほう; 2) かた】 – 1) direction; side; 2) person; way of doing
  2. 花 【はな】 – flower
  3. 団子 【だん・ご】 – dango (dumpling)
  4. ご飯 【ご・はん】 – rice; meal
  5. パン – bread
  6. おいしい (i-adj) – tasty
  7. 若い 【わか・い】 (i-adj) – young
  8. 鈴木 【すず・き】 – Suzuki (last name)
  9. 毎日 【まい・にち】 – everyday
  10. 仕事 【し・ごと】 – job
  11. 嫌 【いや】 (na-adj) disagreeable; unpleasant
  12. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
  13. まし – not as bad
  14. ゆっくり – slowly
  15. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  16. 早い 【はや・い】 (i-adj) – fast; early
  17. いい (i-adj) – good

You can think of 「より」 as being the opposite of 「方」. It means, “rather than” or “as opposed to”. It attaches directly to the back of any word. It is usually used in conjunction with 「方」 to say something like, “This way is better as opposed to that way.”

Examples

  1. 花より団子。
    Dango rather than flowers. (This is a very famous saying.)
  2. ご飯の方が、パンよりおいしい。
    Rice tastes better than bread. (lit: The rice way is tasty as opposed to bread.)
  3. キムさんより鈴木さんの方が若い。
    Suzuki-san is younger than Kim-san. (lit: The way of Suzuki is young as opposed to Kim-san.)

For those curious about the meaning of the proverb, dango is a sweet doughy treat usually sold at festivals. The proverb is saying that people prefer this treat to watching the flowers, referring to the 「花見」 event where people go out to see the cherry blossoms (and get smashed). The deeper meaning of the proverb, like all good proverbs, depends on how you apply it.

Of course, there is no rule that 「より」 must be used with 「方」. The other way of things can be gleaned from context.

鈴木：毎日仕事に行くのが嫌だ。
Suzuki: I don’t like going to work everyday.

スミス：仕事がないよりましだよ。
Smith: It’s not as bad as opposed to not having a job.

Words associated with 「より」 do not need any tense. Notice in the following sentence that 「食べる」 in front of 「より」 is present tense even though 「食べる」 in front of 「方」 is past tense.

  • ゆっくり食べた方が早く食べるよりいい。
    It is better to eat slowly as opposed to eating quickly.

Using 「より」 as a superlative

Vocabulary

  1. 誰 【だれ】 – who
  2. 何【なに】 – what
  3. どこ – where
  4. 商品 【しょう・ひん】 – product
  5. 品質 【ひん・しつ】 – quality of a good
  6. 大切 【たい・せつ】 (na-adj) – important
  7. する (exception) – to do
  8. この – this （abbr. of これの）
  9. 仕事 【し・ごと】 – job
  10. 早い 【はや・い】 (i-adj) – fast; early
  11. 出来る 【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do

You can also use 「より」 with question words such as 「誰」、「何」、or 「どこ」 to make a superlative by comparing with everything or everybody else. In this case, though not required, it is common to include the 「も」 particle.

Examples

  1. 商品の品質を何より大切にしています。
    We place value in product’s quality over anything else.
  2. この仕事は誰よりも早くできます。
    Can do this job more quickly than anyone else.

Using 「方」 to express a way to do something

Vocabulary

  1. 方 【1) ほう; 2) かた】 – 1) direction; side; 2) person; way of doing
  2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  3. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  4. 新宿 【しん・じゅく】 – Shinjuku
  5. 分かる 【わ・かる】 (u-verb) – to understand
  6. そう – (things are) that way
  7. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
  8. 体 【からだ】 – body
  9. いい (i-adj) – good
  10. 漢字 【かん・じ】 – Kanji
  11. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
  12. 教える 【おし・える】 (ru-verb) – to teach; to inform
  13. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
  14. パソコン – computer, PC
  15. 使う 【つか・う】 (u-verb) – to use
  16. 皆 【みんな】 – everybody
  17. 知る 【し・る】 (u-verb) – to know

You can also attach 「方」 to the stem of verbs to express a way to do that verb. In this usage, 「方」 is read as 「かた」 and the result becomes a noun. For example, 「行き方」（いきかた） means, “the way to go” or 「食べ方」（たべかた）means, “the way to eat”. This expression is probably what you want to use when you want to ask how to do something.

Examples

  1. 新宿の行き方は分かりますか。
    Do you know the way to go to Shinjuku?
  2. そういう食べ方は体によくないよ。
    Eating in that way is not good for your body.
  3. 漢字の書き方を教えてくれますか？
    Can you teach me the way of writing kanji?
  4. パソコンの使い方は、みんな知っているでしょう。
    Probably everybody knows the way to use PC’s.

When verbs are transformed to this form, the result becomes a noun clause. Sometimes, this requires a change of particles. For instance, while 「行く」 usually involves a target (the 「に」 or 「へ」 particle), since 「行き方」 is a noun clause, example 1 becomes 「新宿の行き方」 instead of the familiar 「新宿に行く」.

Using 「によって」 to express dependency

Vocabulary

  1. 人 【ひと】 – person
  2. 話 【はなし】 – story
  3. 違う 【ちが・う】 (u-verb) – to be different
  4. 季節 【き・せつ】 – season
  5. 果物 【くだ・もの】 – fruit
  6. おいしい (i-adj) – tasty
  7. なる (u-verb) – to become
  8. まずい (i-adj) – unpleasant
  9. 和子 【かず・こ】 – Kazuko (first name)
  10. 今日 【きょう】 – today
  11. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
  12. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  13. 大樹 【だい・き】 – Daiki (first name)
  14. それ – that
  15. 裕子 【ゆう・こ】 – Yuuko (first name)

When you want to say, “depending on [X]”, you can do this in Japanese by simply attaching 「によって」 to [X].

Examples

  1. 人によって話が違う。
    The story is different depending on the person.
  2. 季節によって果物はおいしくなったり、まずくなったりする。
    Fruit becomes tasty or nasty depending on the season.

This is simply the te-form of 「よる」 as seen by the following simple exchange.

和子：今日は飲みに行こうか？
Kazuko: Shall we go drinking today?

大樹：それは、裕子によるね。
Daiki: That depends on Yuuko.

Indicating a source of information using 「によると」

Vocabulary

  1. 天気 【てん・き】 – weather
  2. 予報 【よ・ほう】 – forecast
  3. 今日 【きょう】 – today
  4. 雨 【あめ】 – rain
  5. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
  6. 話 【はなし】 – story
  7. 朋子 【とも・こ】 – Tomoko (first name)
  8. やっと – finally
  9. ボーイフレンド – boyfriend
  10. 見つける 【み・つける】 (ru-verb) – to find

Another expression using 「よる」 is by using it with the target and the decided conditional 「と」 to indicate a source of information. In English, this would translate to “according to [X]” where 「によると」 is attached to [X].

Examples

  1. 天気予報によると、今日は雨だそうだ。
    According to the weather forecast, I hear today is rain.
  2. 友達の話によると、朋子はやっとボーイフレンドを見つけたらしい。
    According to a friend’s story, it appears that Tomoko finally found a boyfriend.