Japanese Language Learning

Flashcards for Vocabulary Review

Plain Forms

Also known as 'short forms', 'informal forms', and 'direct style' in Japanese.

Polite Forms

Also known as 'long forms', 'formal forms', and 'distal style' in Japanese.

Distal Style

Polite language in Japanese that creates a social or psychological distance between the speaker and the listener, showing respect.

Usage of Short Forms

Used in casual speech and informal writing, often with friends, family, and people of equal or lower status.

Usage of Long Forms

Used in polite speech and formal writing, often with superiors, customers, strangers, and in official situations.

Short Form

Suitable for talking to friends, family, colleagues, in personal thoughts and casual writing.

Long Form

Used for speaking to teachers, bosses, customers, in formal settings and in formal writing

ます (masu) and です (desu) endings

Create distance, making speech sound less personal and more polite.

い Adjectives

Conjugated differently than な Adjectives. Past tense form: take out い and add "かった". Example: さむかった (It was cold).

な Adjectives

Conjugated differently than い Adjectives. Past tense form: take off な and add "だった". Example: きれいだった (It was pretty).

Copula Usage with な Adjectives

な adjectives behave like nouns and thus use a copula. The copula at the end of a statement is だ/です, but when it comes before a noun, it becomes な.

Ichidan Verbs

Follow a straightforward conjugation pattern, making them easier to learn and are verbs like 'taberu' - to eat.

Godan Verbs

Have more varied conjugation rules but are equally essential in daily conversation and are verbs like 'kaku' - to write.

Irregular Verbs

Don't follow standard rules but are crucial for many common expressions such as 'suru' and 'kuru'.

ある (aru)

Exception to the negative rule る (ru), there is no “aranai.” The negative of ある (aru) is ない (nai).

Hiragana

Japanese phonetic alphabet with characters representing syllables (e.g., あ, か, さ).

Katakana

Japanese phonetic alphabet predominantly used for foreign words and onomatopoeia (e.g., ア, カ, サ).

Zero/Rei

Zero/れい: Japanese word for the number 0. Zero/ree

Ju

Japanese word for the number ten 10

Hyaku

Japanese word for the number hundred 100

Sen

Japanese word for the number thousand 1,000

Ichiman

Japanese word for ten thousand 10,000

Topic Marker (は - wa)

Indicates the main topic of the sentence.

Location/Time Marker (に - ni)

Indicates a specific point in time or location.

Object Marker (を - o)

Indicates the direct object of a verb.

From (から - kara)

Indicates the starting point of an action or location.

Up to/Until (まで - made)

Indicates the endpoint of an action or location.

Kana

Kana: Japanese phonetic alphabet with characters representing syllables (e.g., あ, か, さ).

Number

Describes how many or in what order things are.

Year

Time cycles usually in 4 parts. Each part having 3 month such as: January, February, and March

Numbers (used to count small items)

一つ (hitotsu), 二つ (futatsu), 三つ (mittsu), 四つ (yottsu)

Counting people

一人 (hitori), 二人 (futari), 三人 (sannin), 四人 (yonin)

おねがいします

Onegaishimasu is a polite way of saying please or to request something

おきます

Okimasu, means I wake up and is the polite form the the regular I wake up from おきる okiru

食べます

Tabemasu, means I eat and is the polite form the the regular I eat from たべる taberu.