Category: Grammar Guide

We are coming to the end of the fourth major section of the guide. Do you feel like your Japanese has improved? We’ve come to the point where we’ve learned enough conjugations to be able to start mixing them together in various useful combinations. Of course this can be a little difficult to do without some practice, which is the reason for this lesson. But first, since we’ve come to the end of yet another section, let’s learn some more sentence-endings particles.

「な」 and 「さ」 sentence-ending particles

Vocabulary

1. あのう／あの – say; well; errr
2. うん – yes (casual)
3. この – this （abbr. of これの）
4. 間 【あいだ】 – space (between); time (between); period
5. ディズニーランド – Disney Land
6. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
7. すごい (i-adj) – to a great extent
8. 込む 【こ・む】 (u-verb) – to become crowded
9. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
10. 出来る 【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do
11. 今 【いま】 – now
12. 図書館 【と・しょ・かん】 – library
13. 何で 【なん・で】 – why; how
14. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
15. たくさん – a lot (amount)
16. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
17. する (exception) – to do
18. まだ – yet
19. 全然 【ぜん・ぜん】 – not at all (when used with negative)
20. 分かる 【わ・かる】 (u-verb) – to understand
21. 大丈夫 【だい・じょう・ぶ】 (na-adj) – ok
22. なる (u-verb) – to become
23. いい (i-adj) – good
24. 今日 【きょう】 – today
25. 雨 【あめ】 – rain
26. 降る 【ふ・る】(u-verb) – to precipitate
27. 大学 【だい・がく】 – college

After the 「よ」 and 「ね」, 「さ」 and 「な」 are the next most commonly used sentence-ending particles.

「さ」, which is basically a very casual form of 「よ」, is similar to the English “like” in that some people throw it in at the end of almost every single phrase. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a very sophisticated manner of speech but just like using “like” all the time, I cannot deny that it is an easy habit to fall into. In that sense, due to its over-use, it has almost lost any specific meaning. You may overhear a conversation like the following:

Ａ：あのさ・・・
A: Hey…

Ｂ：うん。
B: Yeah.

Ａ：この間さ・・・
A: This one time…

Ｂ：うん。
B: Yeah.

Ａ：ディズニーランドに行ったんだけどさ、なんかさ、すごい込んでて・・・
A: I went to Disney Land and it was really crowded…

Ｂ：うん
B: Uh huh.

Ａ：何もできなくてさ・・・
A: Couldn’t do anything, you know…

And it goes on like this, sometimes the other person might break in to say something related to the topic.

You can use 「な」 in place of 「ね」 when it sounds too soft and reserved for what you want to say or for the audience you are speaking to. Its rough sound generally applies to the male gender but is not necessarily restricted to only males.

Example 1

洋介：今、図書館に行くんだよな。
Yousuke: You are going to the library now huh? (seeking explanation)

智子：うん、なんで？
Tomoko: Yeah, why?

Example 2

ボブ：日本語は、たくさん勉強したけどな。まだ全然わからない。
Bob: I studied Japanese a lot, right? But, I still don’t get it at all.

アリス：大丈夫よ。きっとわかるようになるからさ。
Alice: No problem. You’ll become able to understand for sure, you know?

ボブ：ならいいけどな。
Bob: If so, it would be good.

The 「な」 sentence-ending particle is often used with the question marker 「か」 to indicate that the speaker is considering something.

1. 今日は雨が降るかな？
   I wonder if it’ll rain today.
2. いい大学に行けるかな？
   I wonder if I can go to a good college.

「かい」 and 「だい」 sentence-ending particles

Vocabulary

1. おい – hey
2. どこ – where
3. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
4. 呼ぶ 【よ・ぶ】 (u-verb) – to call
5. いい (i-adj) – good
6. 一体 【いったい】 – forms an emphatic question (e.g. “why on earth?”)
7. 何時 【なん・じ】 – what time
8. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
9. つもり – intention, plan
10. 俺 【おれ】 – me; myself; I (masculine)
11. 土曜日 【ど・よう・び】 – Saturday
12. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
13. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
14. 一緒 【いっ・しょ】 – together

「かい」 and 「だい」 are strongly masculine sentence endings for asking questions. 「かい」 is used for yes/no questions while 「だい」 is used for open-ended questions.

Examples

1. おい、どこに行くんだい？
   Hey, where are (you) going?
2. さきちゃんって呼んでもいいかい？
   Can (I) call you Saki-chan?
3. 一体何時に帰ってくるつもりだったんだい？
   What time were (you) planning on coming home exactly?
4. 俺は土曜日、映画を見に行くけど、一緒に行くかい？
   I’m going to see a movie Saturday, go together?

Gender-specific sentence-ending particles

These sentence-ending particles are primarily used just to emphasize something and doesn’t really have a meaning per se. However, they can make your statements sound much stronger and/or very gender-specific. Using 「わ」 is just like 「よ」 except it will make you sound very feminine (this is a different sound from the 「わ」 used in Kansai dialect). 「かしら」 is also a very feminine version of 「かな」, which we just went over. 「ぞ」 and 「ぜ」 are identical to 「よ」 except that it makes you sound “cool” and manly, or at least, that is the intent. These examples may not be very helpful without actually hearing what they sound like.

Vocabulary

1. もう – already
2. 時間 【じ・かん】 – time
3. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
4. おい – hey
5. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
6. これ – this
7. 終わり 【お・わり】 – end
8. いい (i-adj) – good
9. 大学 【だい・がく】 – college
10. 入る 【はい・る】 (u-verb) – to enter

1. もう時間がないわ。
   There is no more time.
2. おい、行くぞ！
   Hey, we’re going!
3. これで、もう終わりだぜ。
   With this, it’s over already.
4. いい大学に入れるかしら？
   I wonder if I can enter a good college.

That’s a wrap!

Vocabulary

1. 加賀 【か・が】 – Kaga (last name)
2. 先生 【せん・せい】 – teacher
3. ちょっと – a little
4. 質問 【しつ・もん】 – question
5. 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to ask; to listen
6. いい (i-adj) – good
7. はい – yes (polite)
8. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
9. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
10. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
11. そう – (things are) that way
12. 大体 【だい・たい】 – mostly
13. こんにちは – good day
14. 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think
15. ただし – however
16. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
17. 時 【とき】 – time
18. 他 【ほか】 – other
19. 表現 【ひょう・げん】 – expression
20. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
21. これ – this
22. 覚える 【おぼ・える】 (ru-verb) – to memorize
23. 朝 【あさ】 – morning
24. おはよう – good morning
25. でも – but
26. 上 【うえ】 – above
27. 人 【ひと】 – person
28. おはようございます – good morning (polite)
29. 分かる 【わ・かる】 (u-verb) – to understand
30. 間違える 【ま・ちが・える】 (ru-verb) – to make a mistake
31. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
32. なる (u-verb) – to become
33. 洋介 【よう・すけ】 – Yousuke (first name)
34. あのう／あの – say; well; errr
35. 英語 【えい・ご】 – English (language)
36. 教える 【おし・える】 (ru-verb) – to teach; to inform
37. もらう (u-verb) – to receive
38. もし – if by any chance
39. 時間 【じ・かん】 – time
40. うん – yes (casual)
41. アメリカ – America
42. 留学 【りゅう・がく】 – study abroad
43. する (exception) – to do
44. 去年 【きょ・ねん】 – last year
45. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
46. お金 【お・かね】 – money
47. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
48. いつ – when
49. 欲しい 【ほ・しい】 (i-adj) – wanted; desirable
50. 来週 【らい・しゅう】 – next week
51. 木曜日 【もく・よう・び】 – Thursday
52. ありがとう – thank you
53. 怠ける 【なま・ける】 (ru-verb) – to neglect, to be lazy about
54. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
55. そんな – that sort of
56. こと – event, matter

We learned quite a lot of things in this section. Let’s try to put it all together by seeing how different kinds of conjugations are used in different combinations. This is of course by no means an exhaustive list but merely an illustration of how we can use what we learned in various combinations to create a lot of useful expressions.

Example 1

アリス： 加賀先生、ちょっと質問を聞いてもいいですか？
加賀先生： はい、いいですよ。
アリス：「Hello」を日本語で何と言えばいいですか。
何と言えば = quoted sub-clause + if conditional of 言う

加賀先生： そうね。大体、「こんにちは」と言うと思いますよ。ただし、書く時は「こんにちわ」じゃなくて、「こんにちは」と書かなくてはなりません。
「と言うと思います」 = quoted sub-clause + quoted sub-clause
「じゃなくて」 = negative sequence of states

アリス：そうですか。他に何かいい表現はありますか。

加賀先生：これも覚えといてね。朝は、「おはよう」と言うの。でも、上の人には「おはようございます」と言ってください。
「覚えといて」 – 覚える +
abbreviated form of ～ておく + casual ～てください with ください dropped.

アリス：はい、分かりました。間違えないようにします。いい勉強になりました！

Literal translation of Example 1

Alice: Kaga-sensei, is it ok to ask you a question?
Kaga-sensei: Yes, it’s ok.
Alice: If you say what for “hello” in Japanese, is it ok?
Kaga-sensei: Well, mostly, I think people say “konnichiwa”. Only, when you write it, you must write “konnichiha” and not “konnichiwa”.
Alice: Is that so? Are there any other good expressions?
Kaga-sensei: Please memorize this too (in preparation for the future). In the morning, everybody says, “ohayou”. But, please say, “ohayou-gozaimasu” to a higher person.
Alice: Yes, I understood. I’ll do in the manner of not making mistake. It became good study!

Interpretative translation of Example 1

Alice: Kaga-sensei, is it ok to ask you a question?
Kaga-sensei: Sure.
Alice: How do you say “Hello” in Japanese?
Kaga-sensei: Well, most of the time, I think people say “konnichiwa”. Only, when you write it, you must write “konnichiha” and not “konnichiwa”.
Alice: Is that so? Are there any other good expressions?
Kaga-sensei: You should know this too. In the morning, everybody says, “ohayou”. But, please say, “ohayou-gozaimasu” to a higher person.
Alice: Ok, I got it. I’ll try not to make that mistake. That was very informative!

Example 2

洋介：お！アリスだ。あのね、質問を聞いてもいい？
アリス：何？

洋介：ちょっと英語を教えてもらいたいんだけどさ、もし時間があれば、教えてくれない？
「教えてもらいたい」 = receiving favor + to want （たい）

アリス：え？英語を勉強するの？

洋介：うん、アメリカで留学してみたいなと思ってね。去年も行こうとしたけど、お金がなくて・・・
「してみたいなと思って」 = to try something out （～てみる） + want to （たい） + な sentence-ending particle + quoted subquote + te-form of 思う
「行こうとした」 = volitional of 行く + to attempt （とする）

アリス：そうなの？いいよ。いつ教えてほしいの？
洋介：いつでもいいよ。
アリス：じゃ、来週の木曜日からはどう？
洋介：うん、いいよ。ありがとう！

アリス：勉強を怠けたり、来なかったり、しないでね。
「怠けたり来なかったりしないで」 = List of actions （～たりする） + negative request of する.

洋介：そんなことしないよ！

Literal translation of Example 2

Yousuke: Oh! It’s Alice. Hey, is it ok to ask a question?
Alice: What?
Yousuke: I want to receive the favor of you teaching English and if, by any chance, you have time, will you give the favor of teaching?
Alice: Huh? You are going to study English?
Yousuke: Yeah, I was thinking that I want to try studying abroad in America. I tried to make motion toward going last year too but, without money…
Alice: Is that so? It’s good. When do you want me to teach you?
Yousuke: Anytime is good.
Alice: Then what about from next week Thursday?
Yousuke: Yeah, ok. Thanks!
Alice: Don’t do things like shirk on your studies or not come, ok?
Yousuke: I won’t do anything like that!

Interpretative translation of Example 2

Yousuke: Oh! It’s Alice. Hey, can I ask you a question?
Alice: What up?
Yousuke: I want to learn English so if you have time, can you teach me?
Alice: Huh? You’re going to study English?
Yousuke: Yeah, I was thinking about studying abroad in America. I tried going last year too but I didn’t have the money.
Alice: Really? No problem. When do you want me to teach you?
Yousuke: Anytime is fine.
Alice: What about from next week Thursday then?
Yousuke: OK, thanks!
Alice: You’re not going to shirk on your studies or not come or anything right?
Yousuke: I won’t do anything like that!

So far, for every grammar we have covered, we also went over all the casual variations as well. However, even though we have already covered all the casual forms, truly mastering casual speech in Japanese requires far more than just learning the various casual forms. There are countless numbers of ways in which wordings and pronunciations change as well as differences between male and female speech. Understanding slang also requires knowing various vocabulary that is also growing with every new generation. Many adults would be hard-pressed to understand the kind of slang being used by kids today.

While comprehensively covering slang and relevant vocabulary would require a book in and of itself (a book that would soon become out of date), I’ll instead cover some broad patterns and common phenomenon which will at least help you get started in understanding the most common aspects of Japanese slang. There is no particular order in the material presented here and I expect this page to grow continuously as I find different things to cover.

Please note that slang is also heavily influenced by local dialects. Although all the material presented here is valid for the greater Tokyo area, your mileage may vary depending on where you are located.

Basic Principles of Slang

In the world of slang, anything goes and rules that apply to written Japanese are often broken. The most difficult part is that, of course, you can’t just say whatever you want. When you break the rules, you have to break it the correct way. Taking what you learned from textbooks or Japanese classes and applying it to the real world is not so easy because it is impossible to teach all the possible ways things can get jumbled up in the spoken language. Learning how to speak naturally with all the correct idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies in a language is something that requires practice with real people in real-world situations. In this section, we’ll look at some common patterns and themes that will at least help you get an idea of where the majority of slang originates from.

One thing you’ll soon realize when you first start talking to Japanese people in real life is that many sounds are slurred together. This is especially true for males. The fact is voices in instructional material such as language tapes often exaggerate the pronunciation of each letter in order to make aural comprehension easier. In reality, not all the sounds are pronounced as clearly as it should be and things end up sounding different from how it’s written on paper.

There is one major driving factor behind the majority of slang in Japanese. The primary goal of most slang is to make things easier to say. In other words, the goal is to reduce or simplify the movement of your mouth. There are two primary ways in which this is accomplished, 1) By making things shorter or, 2) By slurring the sounds together. We have already seen many examples of the first method such as shortening 「かもしれない」 to 「かも」 or preferring 「と」 to the longer conditional forms. The second method makes things easier to say usually by substituting parts of words with sounds that fit better with the sounds surrounding it or by merging two or more sounds together. For example, the same 「かもしれない」 might be pronounced 「かもしんない」 since 「しん」 requires less movement than 「しれ」.

Let’s see some more examples of words that get shortened or slurred. Try saying both versions to get a feel for how the slang saves space and some calories for your mouth.

Examples

Vocabulary

1. ここ – here
2. つまらない (i-adj) – boring
3. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
4. 家 【1) うち; 2) いえ】 – 1) one’s own home; 2) house
5. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
6. まったく – entirely; indeed; good grief (expression of exasperation)
7. いつ – when
8. こんな – this sort of
9. 所 【ところ】 – place
10. ぐずぐず – tardily; hesitatingly
11. する (exception) – to do

1. ここはつまらないから私の家に行こう。
2. ここつまんないから、私んち行こう。

1. まったく、いつまでこんなところで、ぐずぐずするんだよ。
2. ったく、いつまでこんなとこで、ぐずぐずすんだよ。

You’ll see that a great deal of slang in Japanese stems from this single principle of making things easier to say. It’s very natural because it’s guided by how your mouth moves. With a fair amount of practice, you should be able to naturally pick up shorter, alternative pronunciations and incorporate them into your own speech.

Sentence ordering and particles (or the lack thereof)

Vocabulary

1. それ – that
2. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
3. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
4. あの – that (over there) （abbr. of あれの）
5. 人 【ひと】 – person
6. もう – already
7. 食べる 【たべ・る】 (ru-verb) – to eat
8. 昨日【きのう】 – yesterday
9. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
10. アイス – ice (short for ice cream)

While written Japanese already has fairly loose rules regarding sentence order, casual spoken Japanese takes it one step further. A complete sentence requires a verb at the end of the sentence to complete the thought. However, we’ll see how this rule is bent in casual conversations.

Conversations are sporadic and chaotic in any language and it’s common for people to say the first thing that pops into their head without thinking out the whole proper sentence.

For example, if you wanted to ask what something was, the normal, proper way would be to ask, 「それは何？」 However, if the first thing that popped into your head, “What the?” then it would be more natural to say 「何」 first. However, since 「何はそれ？」 doesn’t make any sense (Is what that?), you can simply break it up into what are essentially two sentence fragments asking “what” first （何？）, and then following it up with the explanation of what you were talking about （「それ」 in this case）. For the sake of convenience, this is lumped into what looks like one sentence.

Examples

1. それは何？
   What is that?
2. 何それ？
   What? That. (Two sentences lumped into one)

Sometimes, the first thing that pops into your head might be main verb. But if the main verb has already slipped out of your mouth, you’re now left with the rest of the sentence without a verb to complete the thought. In conversational Japanese, it’s perfectly acceptable to have the verb come first using the same technique we just saw by breaking them into two sentences. The second sentence is incomplete of course, but that kind of thing is common in the speech of any language.

1. 見た？ あの人？
   Did you see? That guy?
2. もう食べた？昨日買ったアイス。
   You ate it already? The ice cream I bought yesterday.

Using 「じゃん」 instead of 「じゃない」 to confirm

Vocabulary

1. サラリーマン – office worker (salary man)
2. 残業 【ざん・ぎょう】 – overtime
3. たくさん – a lot (amount)
4. する (exception) – to do
5. まあ – well
6. いい (i-adj) – good
7. ほら – look
8. やはり／やっぱり – as I thought
9. レポート – report
10. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
11. 駄目 【だめ】 – no good
12. 誰 【だれ】 – who
13. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
14. ここ – here
15. 着替える 【きが・える】 (ru-verb) – to change clothes
16. ～君 【～くん】 – name suffix
17. 知る 【し・る】 (u-verb) – to know
18. やはり／やっぱり／やっぱ – as I thought
19. 駅 【えき】 – station
20. 近い 【ちか・い】 (i-adj) – close, near
21. カラオケ – karaoke
22. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
23. うん – yes (casual)
24. あそこ – over there
25. すぐ – soon; nearby
26. 隣 【となり】 – next to

「じゃん」 is an abbreviation of 「じゃない」, the negative conjugation for nouns and na-adjectives. However, this only applies to 「じゃない」 used in the following fashion.

• サラリーマンだから、残業はたくさんするんじゃない？
  Because he’s a salaryman, doesn’t he do a lot of overtime?

The important thing to note about the example above is that 「じゃない」 here is actually confirming the positive. In fact, a closer translation is, “Because he’s a salaryman, he probably does a lot of overtime.” But it’s still a question so there’s a slight nuance that you are seeking confirmation even though you are relatively sure.

「じゃん」 is a shorter slang for expressing the same type of thing except it doesn’t even bother to ask a question to confirm. It’s completely affirmative in tone.

In fact, the closest equivalent to 「じゃん」 is 「じゃない」 used in the following fashion.

• まあ、いいじゃない。
  Well, it’s probably fine (don’t you think?).

This type of expression is the only case where you can attach 「じゃない」 directly to i-adjectives and verbs. Once you actually hear this expression in real life, you’ll see that it has a distinct pronunciation that is different from simply using the negative. Plus, you have to realize that this type of 「じゃない」 sounds rather mature and feminine, unlike 「じゃん」, which is gender-neutral.

Like the above, specialized use of 「じゃない」, you can also attach 「じゃん」 directly to verbs and i-adjectives as well as the usual nouns and na-adjectives. Because slang is usually created to make things easier, it’s not surprising that the rules for using 「じゃん」 are so lax and easy.

Finally, let’s get to the examples. Hopefully, you can see that 「じゃん」 is basically saying something along the lines of, “See, I’m right, aren’t I?”

Examples

1. ほら、やっぱりレポートを書かないとだめじゃん。
   See, as I thought, you have to write the report.
2. 誰もいないからここで着替えてもいいじゃん。
   Since there’s nobody, it’s probably fine to change here.

Ａ：たかし君は、ここにいる？
A: Is Takashi here?

Ｂ：知らない。
B: Dunno.

Ａ：あっ！やっぱ、いるじゃん！
A: Ah! See, he is here!

There’s also another variation, which attaches the question marker as well. The meaning is mostly the same but it adds more to the questioning, confirming tone.

Ａ：駅の近くにカラオケがあるじゃんか。
A: There’s a karaoke place near the station, right?

Ｂ：うん。
B: Yeah.

Ａ：あそこのすぐ隣だ。
A: It’s right next to there.

Using 「つ」 for 「という」

Vocabulary

1. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
2. 何で 【なん・で】 – why; how
3. お前 【お・まえ】 – you (casual)
4. ここ – here
5. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
6. 宿題 【しゅく・だい】 – homework
7. 時間 【じ・かん】 – time
8. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
9. デート – date
10. する (exception) – to do
11. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
12. 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to ask; to listen
13. 明日 【あした】 – tomorrow
14. 試験 【し・けん】 – exam
15. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
16. 違う 【ちが・う】 (u-verb) – to be different

As we learned in the defining and describing section, 「いう」 serves many more functions than the equivalent English verb, “to say”. It is used all the time and therefore, it’s not too surprising that a number of variations and slang have developed. Here’s one more that I felt was too “slangy” to cover so early at that point of the guide.

This may sound hard to believe but if you really slur 「という」 together, it becomes something resembling 「つ」. Or least, that’s what somebody thought when he or she began replacing 「という」 with 「つ」 or in some case 「つう」.

Now, in my opinion, 「つ」 is a lot harder to say than 「という」 so using it like a native might take a bit of practice. Rather than making things easier to say, as is usually the case, the real purpose of this substitution is to sound rougher because 「つ」 has a harder, hissing sound. This is ideal for when you’re pissed or for that young and rough image you’ve always wanted. As you might expect, this type of speech is usually used by males or very tough females.

Examples

1. つうか、なんでお前がここにいんのよ！
   Or rather, why are you here?!
2. 宿題で時間がないつってんのに、みきちゃんとデートしにいったと聞いたよ。
   Although he’s saying he doesn’t have time due to homework, I heard he went on a date with Miki-chan.
3. 明日は試験だぞ。つっても、勉強はしてないだろうな。
   Yo, tomorrow’s the test. Even if I say that, you probably didn’t study anyway, huh?
4. だから、違うんだつうの！
   Like I said, you’re wrong!

If you want even more emphasis, you can even add a small 「つ」. This usually means you are really at the brink of your patience.

• だから、違うんだっつうの！
  Like I said, you’re wrong!

Using 「ってば」 and 「ったら」to show exasperation

Vocabulary

1. もう – already
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. あなた – you
4. いつも – always
5. 忘れる 【わす・れる】 (ru-verb) – to forget

「ってば」 and 「ったら」 is yet another type of abbreviation for 「という」 similar to 「って」 as discussed in the defining and describing section. In this case, it’s an abbreviation of the conditional form of 「という」, which is 「といえば」 and 「といったら」. By using this abbreviation, you are essentially saying something along the lines of, “If I told you once, I told you a million times!” You can use this expression when you tired of repeating yourself or when you are exasperated with somebody for not listening to you.

Examples

1. もう行くってば！
   I told you I’m going already!
2. あなたったら、いつも忘れるんだから。
   You’re always forgetting.

Using 「なんか」 just about everywhere

Vocabulary

1. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
2. 食べる 【たべ・る】 (ru-verb) – to eat
3. 今日 【きょう】 – today
4. 忙しい 【いそが・しい】 (i-adj) – busy
5. 風呂 【ふ・ろ】 – bath
6. 超 【ちょう】 – super
7. 気持ち 【き・も・ち】 – feeling
8. いい (i-adj) – good
9. お母さん【お・かあ・さん】 – mother (polite)
10. 明日 【あした】 – tomorrow
11. 戻る 【もど・る】 (u-verb) – to return
12. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
13. こと – event, matter
14. 本当 【ほん・とう】 – real
15. 好き 【す・き】 (na-adj) – likable; desirable

By now, you’re probably aware that 「何」 can be either read as 「なに」 or 「なん」 depending on what comes after it such as 「何色」（なにいろ） versus 「何人」（なんにん）. In the case of 「何か」, while 「なにか」 is the correct reading, it is often contracted to just 「なんか」 in casual speech.

• なにか食べる？
  Eat something?
• なんか食べる？
  Eat something?

However, 「なんか」 also has a function similar to the word “like” in English. By “like”, I’m not talking about the actual word but the kind that has no meaning and some people use just about anywhere in the sentence. Similarly, 「なんか」 can also be used as a filler without any actual meaning. For instance, take a look at the example below.

• 今日は、なんか忙しいみたいよ。
  I guess he’s like busy today.

While 「なんか」 is a shorter version of 「なにか」, only 「なんか」 can be used in this way as a filler.

• 今日は、なにか忙しいみたいよ。
  （「なにか」 cannot be used as a filler word.）

Let’s take a look at a few more examples.

Examples

1. なんかね。お風呂って超気持ちいいよね！
   Like, baths feel really good, huh?
2. お母さんが、なんか明日まで戻らないんだってよ。
   Mom said she’s not coming back until like tomorrow.
3. なんかさ。ボブは、私のことなんか本当に好きかな？
   -Hey like, do you really think that Bob likes somebody like me?

Showing contempt for an action with 「～やがる」

Vocabulary

1. あんな – that sort of
2. 奴 【やつ】 – guy (derogatory)
3. 負ける 【ま・ける】 (ru-verb) – to lose
4. どう – how
5. する (exception) – to do
6. やる (u-verb) – to do
7. 気 【き】 – mood; intent
8. さっさと – quickly
9. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come

「やがる」 is a verb suffix used to indicate hatred or contempt for the person doing the action. Unlike the rest of the slang covered here, this extremely strong language is not used in normal, everyday conversations. You will probably never hear this expression outside of movies, comic books, games, and the like. However, it is covered here so that you can understand when it is used in those mediums.

In order to use 「やがる」, you simply attach it to the stem of the verb. After that, 「やがる」 is conjugated just like a regular u-verb.

Examples

1. あんなやつに負けやがって。じゃ、どうすんだよ？
   Losing to a guy like that. Well, what are you going to do?
2. やる気か？だったらさっさと来やがれ！
   You want to fight? If so, then hurry up and come on!

Numbers and counting in Japanese are difficult enough to require its own section. First of all, the number system is in units of four instead of three, which can make converting into English quite difficult. Also, there are things called counters, which are required to count different types of objects, animals, or people. We will learn the most generic and widely used counters to get you started so that you can learn more on your own. To be honest, counters might be the only thing that’ll make you want to quit learning Japanese, it’s that bad. I recommend you digest only a little bit of this section at a time because it’s an awful lot of things to memorize.

The Number System

The Japanese number system is spread into units of four. So a number such as 10,000,000 is actually split up as 1000,0000. However, thanks to the strong influence of the Western world and the standardization of numbers, when numbers are actually written, the split-off is three digits. Here are the first ten numbers.

As the chart indicates, 4 can either be 「し」 or 「よん」 and 7 can either be 「しち」 or 「なな」. Basically, both are acceptable up to 10. However, past ten, the reading is almost always 「よん」 and 「なな」. In general, 「よん」 and 「なな」 are preferred over 「し」 and 「しち」 in most circumstances.

You can simply count from 1 to 99 with just these ten numbers. Japanese is easier than English in this respect because you do not have to memorize separate words such as “twenty” or “fifty”. In Japanese, it’s simply just “two ten” and “five ten”.

1. 三十一 （さんじゅういち） = 31
2. 五十四 （ごじゅうよん）= 54
3. 七十七 （ななじゅうなな）= 77
4. 二十 （にじゅう） = 20

Notice that numbers are either always written in kanji or numerals because hiragana can get rather long and hard to decipher.

Numbers past 99

Here are the higher numbers:

Notice how the numbers jumped four digits from 10^4 to 10^8 between 万 and 億? That’s because Japanese is divided into units of four. Once you get past 1万 (10,000), you start all over until you reach 9,999万, then it rotates to 1億 (100,000,000). By the way, 百 is 100 and 千 is 1,000, but anything past that, and you need to attach a 1 so the rest of the units become 一万 (10^4)、一億 (10^8)、一兆 (10^12).

Now you can count up to 9,999,999,999,999,999 just by chaining the numbers same as before. This is where the problems start, however. Try saying 「いちちょう」 、「ろくひゃく」、or 「さんせん」 really quickly, you’ll notice it’s difficult because of the repetition of similar consonant sounds. Therefore, Japanese people have decided to make it easier on themselves by pronouncing them as 「いっちょう」、 「ろっぴゃく」、and 「さんぜん」. Unfortunately, it makes it all the harder for you to remember how to pronounce everything. Here are all the slight sound changes.

1. 四万三千七十六 （よんまんさんぜんななじゅうろく）
   43,076
2. 七億六百二十四万九千二百二十二 （ななおくろっぴゃくにじゅうよんまんきゅうせんにひゃくにじゅうに）
   706,249,222
3. 五百兆二万一 （ごひゃくちょうにまんいち）
   500,000,000,020,001

Notice that it is customary to write large numbers only in numerals as even kanji can become difficult to decipher.

Numbers smaller or less than 1

Vocabulary

1. 零 【れい】 – zero
2. ゼロ – zero
3. マル – circle; zero
4. 点 【てん】 – period; point
5. マイナス – minus

Zero in Japanese is 「零」 but 「ゼロ」 or 「マル」 is more common in modern Japanese. There is no special method for reading decimals, you simply say 「点」 for the dot and read each individual number after the decimal point. Here’s an example:

• 0.0021 = ゼロ、点、ゼロ、ゼロ、二、一。

For negative numbers, everything is the same as positive numbers except that you say 「マイナス」 first.

• マイナス二十九 = -29

Counting and Counters

Ah, and now we come to the fun part. In Japanese, when you are simply counting numbers, everything is just as you would expect, 一、二、三、 and so on. However, if you want to count any type of object, you have to use something called a counter which depends on what type of object you are counting and on top of this, there are various sound changes similar to the ones we saw with 六百, etc.. The counter themselves are usually single kanji characters that often have a special reading just for the counter. First, let’s learn the counters for dates

Dates

Vocabulary

1. 平成 【へい・せい】 – Heisei era
2. 昭和 【しょう・わ】 – Showa era
3. 和暦 【わ・れき】 – Japanese calendar
4. 一日 【いち・にち】 – one day

The year is very easy. All you have to do is say the number and add 「年」 which is pronounced here as 「ねん」. For example, Year 2003 becomes 2003年 (にせんさんねん）. The catch is that there is another calendar which starts over every time a new emperor ascends the throne. The year is preceded by the era, for example the year 2000 is: 平成12年. My birthday, 1981 is 昭和56年 (The Showa era lasted from 1926 to 1989). You may think that you don’t need to know this but if you’re going to be filling out forms in Japan, they often ask you for your birthday or the current date in the Japanese calendar （和暦）. So here’s a neat converter you can use to convert to the Japanese calendar.

Saying the months is actually easier than English because all you have to do is write the number (either in numerals or kanji) of the month and add 「月」 which is read as 「がつ」. However, you need to pay attention to April （４月）, July （７月）, and September （９月） which are pronounced 「しがつ」、 「しちがつ」、and 「くがつ」 respectively.

Finally, we get to the days of the month, which is where the headache starts. The first day of the month is 「ついたち」 （一日）; different from 「いちにち」　（一日）, which means “one day”. Besides this and some other exceptions we’ll soon cover, you can simply say the number and add 「日」 which is pronounced here as 「にち」. For example, the 26th becomes 26日 （にじゅうろくにち）. Pretty simple, however, the first 10 days, the 14th, 19th, 20th, 29th have special readings that you must separately memorize. If you like memorizing things, you’ll have a ball here. Notice that the kanji doesn’t change but the reading does.

In Japan, the full format for dates follows the international date format and looks like: XXXX年YY月ZZ日. For example, today’s date would be: 2003年12月 2日

Time

Now, we’ll learn how to tell time. The hour is given by saying the number and adding 「時」 which is pronounced here as 「じ」. Here is a chart of exceptions to look out for.

Notice how the numbers 4, 7, and 9 keep coming up to be a pain in the butt? Well, those and sometimes 1, 6 and 8 are the numbers to watch out for.

The minutes are given by adding 「分」 which usually read as 「ふん」 with the following exceptions:

For higher number, you use the normal pronunciation for the higher digits and rotate around the same readings for 1 to 10. For instance, 24 minutes is 「にじゅうよんぷん」 （二十四分） while 30 minutes is 「さんじゅっぷん」 （三十分）. There are also other less common but still correct pronunciations such as 「はちふん」 for 「八分」 and 「じっぷん」 for 「十分」 (this one is almost never used).

All readings for seconds consists of the number plus 「秒」, which is read as 「びょう」. There are no exceptions for seconds and all the readings are the same.

Some examples of time.

1. 1時24分（いちじ・にじゅうよんぷん）
   1:24
2. 午後4時10分 （ごご・よじ・じゅっぷん）
   4:10 PM
3. 午前9時16分 （ごぜん・くじ・じゅうろっぷん）
   9:16 AM
4. 13時16分 （じゅうさんじ・じゅうろっぷん）
   13:16
5. 2時18分13秒 （にじ・じゅうはっぷん・じゅうさんびょう）
   2:18:13

A Span of Time

Ha! I bet you thought you were done with dates and time, well guess again. This time we will learn counters for counting spans of time, days, months, and years. The basic counter for a span of time is 「間」, which is read as 「かん」. You can attach it to the end of hours, days, weeks, and years. Minutes (in general) and seconds do not need this counter and months have a separate counter, which we will cover next.

1. 二時間四十分 （にじかん・よんじゅっぷん）
   2 hours and 40 minutes
2. 二十日間 （はつかかん）
   20 days
3. 十五日間 （じゅうごにちかん）
   15 days
4. 二年間 （にねんかん）
   two years
5. 三週間 （さんしゅうかん）
   three weeks
6. 一日 （いちにち）
   1 day

As mentioned before, a period of one day is 「一日」 （いちにち） which is different from the 1st of the month: 「ついたち」.

Pronunciations to watch out for when counting weeks is one week: 「一週間」 （いっしゅうかん） and 8 weeks: 「八週間」 （はっしゅうかん）.

To count the number of months, you simple take a regular number and add 「か」 and 「月」 which is pronounced here as 「げつ」 and not 「がつ」. The 「か」 used in this counter is usually written as a small katakana 「ヶ」 which is confusing because it’s still pronounced as 「か」 and not 「け」. The small 「ヶ」 is actually totally different from the katakana 「ケ」 and is really an abbreviation for the kanji 「箇」, the original kanji for the counter. This small 「ヶ」 is also used in some place names such as 「千駄ヶ谷」 and other counters, such as the counter for location described in the “Other Counters” section below.

In counting months, you should watch out for the following sound changes:

Just like minutes, the high numbers rotate back using the same sounds for 1 to 10.

1. 十一ヶ月 （じゅういっかげつ）
   Eleven months
2. 二十ヶ月 （にじゅっかげつ）
   Twenty months
3. 三十三ヶ月 （さんじゅうさんかげつ）
   Thirty three months

Other Counters

We’ll cover some of the most common counters so that you’ll be familiar with how counters work. This will hopefully allow you to learn other counters on your own because there are too many to even consider covering them all. The important thing to remember is that using the wrong counter is grammatically incorrect. If you are counting people, you must use the people counter, etc. Sometimes, it is acceptable to use a more generic counter when a less commonly used counter applies. Here are some counters.

The changed sounds have been highlighted.
You don’t count 0 because there is nothing to count. You can simply use 「ない」 or 「いない」. The chart has hiragana for pronunciation but, as before, it is usually written with either numbers or kanji plus the counter with the single exception of 「とお」 which is simply written as 「十」.

For higher numbers, it’s the same as before, you use the normal pronunciation for the higher digits and rotate around the same readings for 1 to 10 except for 「一人」 and 「二人」 which transforms to the normal 「いち」 and 「に」 once you get past the first two. So 「一人」 is 「ひとり」 while 「11人」 is 「じゅういちにん」. Also, the generic counter 「～つ」 only applies up to exactly ten items. Past that, you can just use regular plain numbers.

Note: The counter for age is often sometimes written as 「才」 for those who don’t have the time to write out the more complex kanji. Plus, age 20 is usually read as 「はたち」 and not 「にじゅっさい」.

Using 「目」 to show order

You can attach 「目」 (read as 「め」) to various counters to indicate the order. The most common example is the 「番」 counter. For example, 「一番」　which means “number one” becomes “the first” when you add 「目」 （一番目）. Similarly, 「一回目」 is the first time, 「二回目」 is the second time, 「四人目」 is the fourth person, and so on.

Politely (and not so politely) making requests

Similar to asking for favors, which we learned in the last lesson, there are also various ways to make requests in Japanese. This is effectively the Japanese way of saying, “please do X”. We’ll first learn the most common way to make requests using a special conjugation of the verb 「くださる」 and the firmer 「なさる」. Finally, we’ll learn the rarely used excessively strong command form for the sake of completeness. You can safely skip the last part unless you’re an avid reader of manga.

「～ください」－ a special conjugation of 「くださる」

Vocabulary

1. それ – that
2. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
3. 漢字 【かん・じ】 – Kanji
4. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
5. ここ – here
6. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
7. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
8. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
9. 消しゴム 【け・し・ごむ】 – eraser
10. 貸す 【か・す】 (u-verb) – lend
11. 遠い 【とお・い】 (i-adj) – far
12. 所 【ところ】 – place
13. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
14. お父さん【お・とう・さん】 – father (polite)
15. 時計 【と・けい】 – watch; clock
16. 壊れる 【こわ・れる】 (ru-verb) – to break
17. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say

「ください」 is a special conjugation of 「くださる」, which is the honorific form of 「くれる」. We will learn more about honorific and humble forms in the beginning of the next major section. We are going over 「ください」 here because it has a slight difference in meaning from the normal 「くれる」 and the honorific 「くださる」. 「ください」 is different from 「くれる」 in the following fashion:

1. それをください。
   Please give me that.
2. それをくれる？
   Can you give me that?

As you can see 「ください」 is a direct request for something while 「くれる」 is used as a question asking for someone to give something. However, it is similar to 「くれる」 in that you can make a request for an action by simply attaching it to the te-form of the verb.

1. 漢字で書いてください。
   Please write it in kanji.
2. ゆっくり話してください。
   Please speak slowly.

The rules for negative requests are same as the rules for 「くれる」 as well.

1. 落書きを書かないでください。
   Please don’t write graffiti.
2. ここにこないでください。
   Please don’t come here.

In casual speech, it is often common to simply drop the 「ください」 part.

1. 日本語で話して。
   Please speak in Japanese.
2. 消しゴムを貸して。
   Please lend me the eraser.
3. 遠い所に行かないで。
   Please don’t go to a far place.

For those who want to sound particularly commanding and manly, it is also possible to use 「くれる」 with the 「る」 removed.

1. 日本語で話してくれ。
   Speak in Japanese.
2. 消しゴムを貸してくれ。
   Lend me the eraser.
3. 遠い所に行かないでくれ。
   Don’t go to a far place.

Because 「ください」 like the masu-form must always come at the end sentence or a relative clause, you cannot use it to directly modify a noun. For example, the following is not possible with 「ください」.

• お父さんがくれた時計が壊れた。
  The clock that father gave broke.

Of course, since direct quotes is merely repeating something someone said in verbatim, you can put practically anything in a direct quote.

• 「それをください」とお父さんが言った。
  Father said, “Please give me that.”

Using 「～ちょうだい」 as a casual request

Vocabulary

1. 頂戴 【ちょうだい】 – receiving (humble)
2. 致す 【いたす】 (u-verb) – to do (humble)
3. スプーン – spoon
4. ここ – here
5. 名前 【な・まえ】 – name
6. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write

A casual alternative of 「ください」 is 「ちょうだい」. While it can be used by anyone, it has a slightly feminine and childish nuance and is always written in Hiragana. Written in Kanji, it is usually used in a very formal expression such as 「頂戴致します」. Grammatically, it’s used exactly the same way as 「ください」.

Examples

1. スプーンをちょうだい。
   Please give me the spoon.
2. ここに名前を書いてちょうだい。
   Please write your name here.

Using 「～なさい」 to make firm but polite requests

Vocabulary

1. 食べる 【たべ・る】 (ru-verb) – to eat
2. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
3. する (exception) – to do
4. いい (i-adj) – good
5. 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to ask; to listen
6. ここ – here
7. 座る 【すわ・る】 (ru-verb) – to sit
8. まだ – yet
9. いっぱい – full
10. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
11. たくさん – a lot (amount)
12. それ – that
13. 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think
14. そう – (things are) that way

「なさい」 is a special honorific conjugation of 「する」. It is a soft yet firm way of issuing a command. It is used, for example, when a mother is scolding her child or when a teacher wants a delinquent student to pay attention. Unlike 「ください」, 「なさい」 only applies to positive verbs and uses the stem of the verb instead of the te-form. It also cannot be used by itself but must be attached to another verb.

Examples

1. よく聞きなさい！
   Listen well!
2. ここに座りなさい。
   Sit here.

You can also drop 「さい」 portion of the 「なさい」 to make a casual version of this grammar.

1. まだいっぱいあるから、たくさん食べな。
   There’s still a lot, so eat a lot.
2. それでいいと思うなら、そうしなよ。
   If you think that’s fine, then go ahead and do it.

The Command Form

Vocabulary

1. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
2. 死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) – to die
3. する (exception) – to do
4. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
5. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
6. 着る 【き・る】 (ru-verb) – to wear
7. 信じる 【しん・じる】 (ru-verb) – to believe
8. 寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) – to sleep
9. 起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) – to wake; to occur
10. 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) – to come out
11. 掛ける 【か・ける】 (ru-verb) – to hang
12. 捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) – to throw away
13. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
14. 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to ask; to listen
15. 遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) – to play
16. 待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) – to wait
17. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
18. 直る 【なお・る】 (u-verb) – to be fixed
19. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
20. 好き 【す・き】 (na-adj) – likable
21. あっち – that way (over there) （abbr of あちら）
22. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
23. 早い 【はや・い】 (i-adj) – fast; early
24. 酒 【さけ】 – alcohol
25. 持つ 【も・つ】 (u-verb) – to hold

We will go over the command form in the interest of covering all the possible verb conjugations. In reality, the command form is rarely used as Japanese people tend to be too polite to use imperatives. Also, this coarse type of speech is rarely, if indeed at all, used by females who tend to use 「なさい」 or an exasperated 「くれる」 when angry or irritated. This form is only really useful for reading or watching fictional works. You may often see or hear 「死ね！」 (“Die!”) in fiction which, of course, you’ll never hear in real life. (I hope!)

Be sure to note that, in addition to the familiar 「する」, 「くる」 exception verbs, 「くれる」 is also an exception for the command form.

Examples

1. 好きにしろ。
   Do as you please.
2. あっち行け！
   Go away!
3. 早く酒を持ってきてくれ。
   Hurry up and bring me some alcohol.

Negative Command

Vocabulary

1. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
2. する (exception) – to do
3. それ – that
4. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
5. 変 【へん】 (na-adj) – strange
6. こと – event, matter
7. 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say

The negative command form is very simple: simply attach 「な」 to either ru-verbs or u-verbs. Don’t confuse this with the 「な」 sentence-ending particle we will be learning at the end of this section. The intonation is totally different.

Examples

1. それを食べるな！
   Don’t eat that!
2. 変なことを言うな！
   Don’t say such weird things!

This is not to be confused with the shortened version of 「～なさい」 we just learned in the last section. The most obvious difference (besides the clear difference in tone) is that in 「～なさい」, the verb is first converted to the stem while the negative command has no conjugation. For example, for 「する」, 「しな」 would be the short version of 「しなさい」 while 「するな」 would be a negative command.

Japanese people like gifts

Vocabulary

1. お歳暮 【お・せい・ぼ】 – year-end presents
2. お中元 【お・ちゅう・げん】 – Bon festival gifts
3. あげる (ru-verb) – to give; to raise
4. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
5. もらう (u-verb) – to receive

One thing about Japanese culture is that they’re big on giving gifts. There are many different customs involving giving and receiving gifts (お歳暮、お中元、etc.) and when Japanese people go traveling, you can be sure that they’re going to be picking up souvenirs to take back as gifts. Even when attending marriages or funerals, people are expected to give a certain amount of money as a gift to help fund the ceremony. You can see why properly learning how to express the giving and receiving of favors and items is a very important and useful skill. For some reason, the proper use of 「あげる」、「くれる」、and 「もらう」 has always haunted people studying Japanese as being horribly complex and intractable. I hope to prove in this section that it is conceptually quite straightforward and simple.

When to use 「あげる」

Vocabulary

1. あげる (ru-verb) – to give; to raise
2. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
3. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
4. プレゼント – present
5. これ – this
6. 先生 【せん・せい】 – teacher
7. 車 【くるま】 – car
8. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
9. 代わり 【か・わり】 – substitute
10. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
11. 学生 【がく・せい】 – student
12. 父【ちち】 – father
13. いい (i-adj) – good
14. こと – event, matter
15. 教える 【おし・える】 (ru-verb) – to teach; to inform

「あげる」 is the Japanese word for “to give” seen from the speaker’s point of view. You must use this verb when you are giving something or doing something for someone else.

Examples

1. 私が友達にプレゼントをあげた。
   I gave present to friend.
2. これは先生にあげる。
   I’ll give this to teacher.

In order to express the giving of a favor (verb) you must use the ever useful te-form and then attach 「あげる」. This applies to all the other sections in this lesson as well.

1. 車を買ってあげるよ。
   I’ll give you the favor of buying a car.
2. 代わりに行ってあげる。
   I’ll give you the favor of going in your place.

For third-person, this verb is used when the speaker is looking at it from the giver’s point of view. We’ll see the significance of this when we examine the verb 「くれる」 next.

1. 学生がこれを先生にあげる。
   The student give this to teacher. (looking at it from the student’s point of view)
2. 友達が父にいいことを教えてあげた。
   Friend gave the favor of teaching something good to my dad. (looking at it from the friend’s point of view)

Using 「やる」 to mean 「あげる」

Vocabulary

1. 犬 【いぬ】 – dog
2. 餌 【えさ】 – food for animals
3. やる (u-verb) – to do

Usually used for pets, animals, and such, you can substitute 「やる」, which normally means “to do”, for 「あげる」. You shouldn’t use this type of 「やる」 for people because it is used when looking down on someone and can be offensive.

• 犬に餌をやった？
  Did you give the dog food?

Here, 「やる」 does not mean “to do” but “to give”. You can tell because “doing food to dog” doesn’t make any sense.

When to use 「くれる」

Vocabulary

1. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
2. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
3. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
4. プレゼント – present
5. これ – this
6. 先生 【せん・せい】 – teacher
7. 車 【くるま】 – car
8. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
9. 代わり 【か・わり】 – substitute
10. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
11. 学生 【がく・せい】 – student
12. 父【ちち】 – father
13. いい (i-adj) – good
14. こと – event, matter
15. 教える 【おし・える】 (ru-verb) – to teach; to inform
16. あげる (ru-verb) – to give; to raise
17. 全部 【ぜん・ぶ】 – everything
18. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat

「くれる」 is also a verb meaning “to give” but unlike 「あげる」, it is from the receiver’s point of view. You must use this verb when someone else is giving something or doing something for you (effectively the opposite of 「あげる」).

Examples

1. 友達が私にプレゼントをくれた。
   Friend gave present to me.
2. これは、先生がくれた。
   Teacher gave this to me.
3. 車を買ってくれるの？
   You’ll give me the favor of buying a car for me?
4. 代わりに行ってくれる？
   Will you give me the favor of going in my place?

Similarly, when used in the third-person, the speaker is speaking from the receiver’s point of view and not the giver.

1. 先生がこれを学生にくれる。
   The teacher give this to student. (looking at it from the student’s point of view)
2. 友達が父にいいことを教えてくれた。
   Friend gave favor of teaching something good to my dad. (looking at it from the dad’s point of view)

The following diagram illustrates the direction of giving from the point of view of the speaker.

From the speaker’s point of view, all the giving done to others “go up” to everybody else while the giving done by everybody else “goes down” to the speaker. This is probably related to the fact that there is an identical verb 「上げる」 meaning “to raise” that contains the character for “above” （上） and that the honorific version of 「くれる」 is 「下さる」 with the character for down （下）. This restriction allows us to make certain deductions from vague sentences like the following:

• 先生が教えてあげるんですか。
  Teacher, will you be the one to give favor of teaching to… [anybody other than the speaker]?

Because all giving done to the speaker must always use 「くれる」, we know that the teacher must be doing it for someone else and not the speaker. The speaker is also looking at it from the teacher’s point of view as doing a favor for someone else.

• 先生が教えてくれるんですか。
  Teacher, will you be the one to give favor of teaching to… [anybody including the speaker]?

Because the giver is not the speaker, the teacher is either giving to the speaker or anyone else. The speaker is viewing it from the receiver’s point of view as receiving a favor done by the teacher.

Let’s see some mistakes to watch out for.

• 私が全部食べてくれました。
  「くれる」 is being used as giving done by the speaker. (Wrong)
• 私が全部食べてあげました。
  I gave favor of eating it all. (Correct)

• 友達がプレゼントを私にあげた。
  「あげる」 is being used as giving to the speaker. (Wrong)
• 友達がプレゼントを私にくれた。- Friend gave present to me. (Correct)

When to use 「もらう」

Vocabulary

1. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
2. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
3. プレゼント – present
4. もらう (u-verb) – to receive
5. これ – this
6. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
7. 宿題 【しゅく・だい】 – homework
8. チェック – check
9. する (exception) – to do
10. 時間 【じ・かん】 – time
11. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
12. 無理 【む・り】 – impossible
13. その – that （abbr. of それの）
14. 時計 【と・けい】 – watch; clock

「もらう」 meaning, “to receive” has only one version unlike 「あげる／くれる」 so there’s very little to explain. One thing to point out is that since you receive from someone, 「から」 is also appropriate in addition to the 「に」 target particle.

Examples

1. 私が友達にプレゼントをもらった。
   I received present from friend.
2. 友達からプレゼントをもらった。
   I received present from friend.
3. これは友達に買ってもらった。
   About this, received the favor of buying it from friend.
4. 宿題をチェックしてもらいたかったけど、時間がなくて無理だった。
   I wanted to receive the favor of checking homework but there was no time and it was impossible.

「もらう」 is seen from the perspective of the receiver, so in the case of first-person, others usually don’t receive things from you. However, you might want to use 「私からもらう」 when you want to emphasize that fact that the other person received it from you. For instance, if you wanted to say, “Hey, I gave you that!” you would use 「あげる」. However, you would use 「もらう」 if you wanted to say, “Hey, you got that from me!”

• その時計は私からもらったのよ。
  (He) received that watch from me.

Asking favors with 「くれる」 or 「もらえる」

Vocabulary

1. 千円 【せん・えん】 – 1,000 yen
2. 貸す 【か・す】 (u-verb) – lend
3. する (exception) – to do
4. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
5. もらう (u-verb) – to receive
6. あなた – you
7. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
8. ちょっと – a little
9. 静か 【しず・か】 (na-adj) – quiet
10. 漢字 【かん・じ】 – Kanji
11. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write

You can make requests by using 「くれる」 and the potential form of 「もらう」 (can I receive the favor of…). We’ve already seen an example of this in example 4 of the 「くれる」 section. Because requests are favors done for the speaker, you cannot use 「あげる」 in this situation.

Examples

1. 千円を貸してくれる？
   Will you give me the favor of lending 1000 yen?
2. 千円を貸してもらえる？
   Can I receive the favor of you lending 1000 yen?

Notice that the two sentences essentially mean the same thing. This is because the giver and receiver has been omitted because it is obvious from the context. If we were to write out the full sentence, it would look like this:

1. あなたが、私に千円を貸してくれる？
   Will you give me the favor of lending 1000 yen?
2. 私が、あなたに千円を貸してもらえる？
   Can I receive the favor of you lending 1000 yen?

It is not normal to explicitly include the subject and target like this when directly addressing someone but is provided here to illustrate the change of subject and target depending on the verb 「くれる」 and 「もらえる」.

You can use the negative to make the request a little softer. You’ll see that this is true in many other types of grammar.

1. ちょっと静かにしてくれない？
   Won’t you be a little quieter?
2. 漢字で書いてもらえませんか。
   Can you write this in kanji for me?

Asking someone to not do something

Vocabulary

1. 全部 【ぜん・ぶ】 – everything
2. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
3. くれる (ru-verb) – to give
4. 高い 【たか・い】 (i-adj) – high; tall; expensive
5. 物 【もの】 – object
6. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy

In order to request that someone not do something, you simply attach 「で」 to the negative form of the verb and proceed as before.

1. 全部食べないでくれますか。
   Can you not eat it all?
2. 高い物を買わないでくれる？
   Can you not buy expensive thing(s)?