Japanese grammar

日本語文法 (Japanese grammar) The Japanese language has a highly regular agglutinative verb morphology, with both productive and fixed elements. Typologically, its most prominent feature is topic creation: Japanese is neither topic-prominent, nor subject-prominent; indeed, it is common for sentences to have distinct topics and subjects. Grammatically, Japanese is an SOV language, with verbs rigidly constrained to the sentence-final position. The word order is fairly free as long as the order of dependent-head is maintained among all constituents: the modifier or relative clause precedes the modified noun, the adverb precedes the modified verb, the genitive nominal precedes the possessed nominal, and so forth. Thus, Japanese is a left-branching language; to contrast, English is right-branching. For simplicity, this article presents examples in plain informal and non-literary style. The reader must keep the general grammatical principles of politeness and respect in mind.

Textual classifications

Text (文章 bunshō) is composed of sentences (文 bun), which are in turn composed of phrases (文節 bunsetsu), which are its smallest coherent components. Like Chinese and classical Korean, written Japanese does not typically demarcate words with spaces; its agglutinative nature further makes the concept of a word rather different from words in English. Word divisions are informed by semantic cues and a knowledge of phrase structure. Phrases have a single meaning-bearing word, followed by a string of suffixes, auxiliary verbs and particles to modify its meaning and designate its grammatical role. In the following example, bunsetsu are indicated by vertical bars: :太陽が｜東の｜空に｜昇る。 :taiyō ga | higashi no | sora ni | noboru :sun SUBJECT | east POSSESIVE | sky LOCATIVE | rise :The sun rises in the eastern sky. Some scholars romanize Japanese sentences by inserting spaces only at phrase boundaries (''i.e.'', "''taiyōga higashino sorani noboru''"), in effect treating an entire phrase as the equivalent of an English word. There is a good reason for this: phonologically, the postpositional particles are part of the word they follow, and within a phrase the pitch accent can fall at-most once. Traditionally, however, a more basic concept of word (単語 tango) forms the atoms of sentences. Words unlike phrases need not have intrinsic meaning, therefore admitting particles and auxiliary verbs. It must be noted that some classical auxiliary verbs such as -ta (which might have developed as a contraction of -to aru) are grammaticalized as conjugations or verb endings in modern Japanese, not individual words. :私｜は｜毎日｜学校｜へ｜歩いて｜行く。 :watashi | wa | mainichi | gakkō | e | aruite | iku :first-person | TOPIC | everyday | school | TOWARDS | walk-CONTINUATIVE | go :Every day I walk to school. Subjects are de-emphasized in Japanese: they are most commonly found at introductions of topics, or in situations where an ambiguity might result with their omission. Thus, the following sentence has more than one possible translation :日本に行きました :''nihon ni ikimashita'' :Japan LOCATIVE go-POLITE-PERFECT The words translate literally to "went to Japan", but the meaning depends on context: if the topic is the first person, then it means "I went to Japan"; for a third person, "he/she went to Japan", and so forth. The closest analogue in Japanese of the subject-predicate structure of Western languages is the so-called topic construction. Consider the following pair of sentences: :太陽が昇る。 :''taiyō ga noboru'' :sun SUBJECT rise

:太陽は昇る。 :''taiyō wa noboru'' :sun TOPIC rise Both sentences mean "the sun rises", but the sun (太陽 taiyō) in the first sentence is the subject, and in the second the topic. The difference is a matter of context and focus. As a subject—indicated by the particle が (''ga'')—the sentence is a specific observation that the sun rises. For instance, one might say the following (surprising) statement: :今夜は、太陽が昇る。 :''kon'ya wa, taiyō ga noboru'' :tonight TOPIC sun SUBJECT rise :The sun rises tonight. When the sun is a topic—using the particle は (''wa'')—the statement is less focused on the sun, and is a general statement of fact. It is often a description of a state or a judgement, rather than a particular observation. The structure of this article will mirror the following classification of words. There are two broad categories: independent words (自立語 jiritsugo) having internal meaning, and ancillary words (付属語 fuzokugo) which are meaning modifiers. Independent words divide into a conjugable (活用語 katsuyōgo) class containing verbs (動詞 dōshi), i-type adjectives (形容詞 keiyōshi), and na-type adjectives (形容動詞 keiyōdōshi); and a non-conjugable (無活用語 mukatsuyōgo) class containing nouns (名詞 meishi), adverbs (副詞 fukushi), conjunctions (接続詞 setsuzokushi), and interjections (感動し kandōshi). Of ancillary words there are two classes: grammatical particles (助詞 joshi) and auxiliary verbs (助動詞 jodōshi).

Nouns and other deictics

Japanese nouns are non-inflecting, and have no gender or number; in addition, Japanese lacks articles. Thus 猫 (''neko'') can be translated into English as "cat", "cats", "a cat", "the cat", "some cats" and so forth, depending on context. Unlike conjugating words, nouns do not inflect to show politeness or respect. Generally, the prefix o- for native nouns, and go- (written either ご or 御) for Sino-Japanese nouns, serve to make the noun polite. There are exceptions to this rule of thumb, and some common nouns have unpredictable polite or respectful forms. A few examples are in the adjoining table. As Japanese lacks number, there is no distinction between count and mass nouns, though an English-speaker would be well-advised to treat Japanese nouns as mass-nouns. A small number of nouns have collectives formed by reduplication (possibly accompanied by rendaku); for example: 人 (''hito'', "person") and 人々 (''hitobito'', "people"). Reduplication is not productive, and these words are not true plurals, though they always refer to more than one. A limited number of nouns have collective forms that refer to groups of people. Examples include 私達 (''watashi-tachi'') for "we", あなたたち (''anata-tachi'') for "you (plural)", 僕等 (''bokura'') for "we (inform. male)". Interestingly, one uncommon personal noun, 我 (''ware'', I) has a much more common reduplicative collective 我々 (''wareware'', we). 達 (''-tachi'') and 等 (''-ra'') are by far the most common collectivizing suffixes. Keep in mind that these are not pluralizing suffixes; to illustrate, 太郎達 (''Tarō-tachi'') does not mean "some number of people named Taro", but instead "Taro and those people who are with him". Depending on context, Tarō-tachi could mean "Taro and his friends", "Taro and his siblings", "Taro and his family", or any other other logical grouping of people that has Taro as the representative. Some words with collectives have become fixed phrases, and can refer to one person. Specifically, 子供 (''kodomo'', child) and 友達 (''tomodachi'', friend) can refer to one person, even though -[t]omo and -[t]achi were originally collectives in these words. To explicitly refer to group of them, one adds an additional collectivizing suffix: 子供たち (''kodomotachi'', children) and 友達たち (''tomodachitachi'', friends). The suffix ズ (''-zu''), derived from the English plural suffix -[e]s, is occasionally used, but this is not remotely standard Japanese; e.g., ガイジンズ (''gaijin-zu'', gaijins). Although many grammars and textbooks mention pronouns (代名詞 daimeishi), the words that are translated into English as pronouns are not true pronouns. Pronouns are closed-class words that stand in for other nouns; also, pronouns do not take modifiers. However, unlike true pronouns, Japanese "''daimeishi''" can take modifiers: 背の高い彼 (''se no takai kare'', lit. "tall he") is valid in Japanese. Also unlike true pronouns, Japanese daimeishi are not closed class: new ones are introduced and old ones go out of use relatively quickly. A large number of nouns refering to people are translated as pronouns in their most common uses. Examples include 彼 (''kare'', "he"); 彼女 (''kanojo'', "she"); 私 (''watashi'', "I"), among others; see the adjoining table and http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/afaq/pronoun.html for a longer list. Some of these "personal nouns" such as 己 (''onore'', I (exceedingly humble)) or 僕 (''boku'', I (young male)) also have second-person uses: onore in second-person is an extremely rude "you", and boku in second-person is a diminutive "you" used for young boys. This usage is also distinct from true pronouns. Like other subjects, personal nouns are de-emphasized: personal nouns are seldom used, but this is partly because Japanese sentences do not always require explicitly-stated subjects. Names or titles are often used where pronouns would appear in a natural translation: :「木下さんは、背が高いですね。」 :''Kinoshita-san wa, se ga takai desu ne.'' :(addressing Mr. Kinoshita) "You're pretty tall, aren't you?"

:「専務、明日福岡市西区の山本商事の社長に会っていただけますか？」 :''Semmu, asu Fukuoka-shi nishi-ku no Yamamoto-shōji no shachō ni atte itadakemasuka?'' :(addressing the managing director) "Would it be possible for you to meet the president of Yamamoto Trading Co. of Fukuoka's West Ward tomorrow?" While there is no lexical difference between nouns and personal nouns, the possible referrents of personal nouns are sometimes constrained depending on the order of occurrence. The following pair of examples (due to Bart Matthiashttp://groups-beta.google.com/group/sci.lang.japan/msg/fed63fa6c3614895?dmode=source) illustrate the difference. :ホンダ君にあって、彼の本を返した。 :''honda-kun ni atte, kare no hon wo kaeshita'' :(I) met Honda and returned his book. ("His" here can refer to Honda.)

:彼に会って、ホンダ君の本を返した。 :''kare ni atte, honda-kun no hon wo kaeshita'' :(I) met him and returned Honda's book. (Here, "him" cannot refer to Honda.) Reflexive pronouns are an important class of pronouns in a language like English, containing a large variety (''himself'', herself, itself, themselves, etc.); Japanese, in contrast, has a single reflexive noun 自分 (''jibun''), with a few literary synonyms like 自ら (''mizukara''). The uses of the reflexive (pro)nouns in the two languages are very different, as demonstrated by the following incorrect literal translations (

• =impossible, ??=ambiguous):

valign="top" valign="top" |

• John expects that Mary will take good care of himself.

| ??ジョンはメリーが自分を大事にすることを期待している。
??''Jon wa Merī ga jibun wo daiji ni suru koto wo kitaishite iru.''
either "John expects that Mary will take good care of him", or "John expects that Mary will take good care of herself." | jibun can be in a different sentence or dependent clause, but its target is ambiguous

- valign="top"	History repeats itself.	歴史は自分を繰り返す。 *Rekishi wa jibun wo kurikaesu.	the target of jibun must be animate
??John talked to Bill about himself.	ジョンはビルに自分のことを話した。 Jon ga Biru ni jibun no koto wo hanashita. John talked to Bill about himself (=John)	jibun refers unambiguously to the subject.

If the sentence has more than one grammatical or semantic subject, then the target of jibun is the subject of the primary or most prominent action; thus in the following sentence jibun refers unambiguously to Mary (even though John is the grammatical subject) because the primary action is Mary's reading. :ジョンはメリーに自分の家で本を読ませた。 :Jon ga Merī ni jibun no uchi de hon wo yomaseta. :John made Mary read book(s) in her house. In practice the main action is not always discernible, in which case such sentences are ambiguous. The use of jibun in complex sentences follows non-trivial rules. Demonstratives occur in the ko-, so-, and a- series. The ko- (proximal) series refers to things closer to the speaker than the hearer, the so- (mesial) series for things closer to the hearer, and the a- (distal) series for things distant to both the speaker and the hearer. With do-, demonstratives turn into the corresponding question form. Demonstratives can also be used to refer to people, for example :「こちらは林さんです。」 :''Kochira wa Hayashi-san desu.'' :"This is Mr. Hayashi." Demonstratives limit, and therefore precede, nouns; thus この本 (''kono hon'') for "this/my book", and その本 (''sono hon'') for "that/your book". When demonstratives are used to refer to things not visible to the speaker or the hearer, or to (abstract) concepts, they fulfill a related but different anaphoric role. The anaphoric distals are used for shared information between the speaker and the listener. :A：先日、札幌に行って来ました。 :A: Senjitsu, Sapporo ni itte kimashita. :A: I visited Sapporo recently.

:B：あそこ(

• そこ)はいつ行ってもいい所ですね。

:B: Asoko (

• Soko) wa itsu itte mo ii tokoro desu ne.

:B: Yeah, that's a great place to visit whenever you go. Soko instead of asoko would imply that B doesn't share this knowledge about Sapporo, which is inconsistent with the meaning of the sentence. The anaphoric mesials are used to refer to experience or knowledge that is not shared between the speaker and listener. :佐藤：田中という人が昨日死んだって... :Satō : Tanaka to iu hito ga kinō shinda tte... :Sato: I heard that a man called Tanaka died yesterday...

:森：えっ、本当? :Mori: E', hontō? :Mori: Oh, really?

:佐藤：だから、その(

• あの)人、森さんの昔の隣人じゃなかったっけ？

:Satō : Dakara, sono (

• ano) hito, Mori-san no mukashi no rinjin ja nakatta 'kke?

:Sato: It's why I asked... wasn't he an old neighbour of yours? Again, ano is inappropriate here because Sato doesn't (didn't) know Tanaka personally. The proximal demonstratives do not have clear anaphoric uses. They can be used in situations where the distal series sound too disconnected: :一体なんですか、これ(

• あれ)は?

:Ittai nan desu ka, kore (

• are) wa?

:What on earth is this?

Conjugable words

Stem forms

Prior to discussing the conjugable words, a brief note about stem forms. Conjugative suffixes and auxiliary verbs are attached to the stem forms of the affixee. In modern Japanese there are the following six stem forms. ; Terminal form (終止形 shūshikei) : is used at the ends of clauses in predicate positions. This form is also variously known as plain form (基本形 kihonkei) or dictionary form (辞書形 jishokei). ; Attributive form (連体形 rentaikei) : in modern Japanese is practically identical to the terminal form (but see Adjectives, below), but differs in use: it is prefixed to nominals and is used to define or classify the noun. In this function, the root of this stem form is called a prenominal adjective (連体詞 rentaishi). ; Continuative form (連用形 ren'yōkei) : is used in a linking role. This is the most productive stem form, taking on a variety of endings and auxiliaries, and can even occur independently in a sense similar to the -te ending. This form is also used to negate adjectives. ; Imperfective form (未然形 mizenkei) : is used for plain negative (of verbs), causative and passive constructions. The most common use of this form is with the -nai auxiliary that turns verbs into their negative (predicate) form. (See Verbs below.) ; Hypothetical form (仮定形 kateikei) : is used for conditional and subjunctive forms, using the -ba or -domo ending. ; Imperative form (命令形 meireikei) : is used to turn verbs into commands. Adjectives do not have an imperative stem form. The application of conjugative suffixes to stem forms follow certain euphonic principles (音便 onbin), which is discussed below.

Verbs

Verbs in Japanese are rigidly constrained to the ends of clauses in what is known as the predicate position. :猫は魚を食べる。 :

neko	wa	sakana	o	taberu
cat	TOPIC	fish	OBJECT	eats

:(The) cat eats fish. The subject and objects of the verb are indicated by means of particles (see the section on it below), and the grammatical functions of the verb—primarily tense and voice—are indicated by means of conjugation. When the subject and the dissertative topic coincide, the subject is often omitted; if the verb happens to be intransitive, the entire sentence consists of a single verb. Verbs have two tenses indicated by conjugation — past and nonpast. The semantic difference between present and future tenses is not indicated by means of conjugation. Usually there is no ambiguity because few verbs can operate in both uses. Voice and aspect are also indicated by means of conjugation, and possibly agglutinating auxiliary verbs. For example, the continuative aspect is formed by means of the continuative conjugation known as the gerundive or -te form, and the auxiliary verb iru; to illustrate, 見る (''miru'', to see) → 見ている (''mite-iru'', is seeing). Verbs can be semantically classified based on certain conjugations. ; Stative verbs : indicate existential properties, such as to be (いる iru), can do (出来る dekiru), need (要る iru), etc. These verbs generally don't have a continuative conjugation with -iru because they are semantically continuative already. ; Continual verbs : conjugate with the auxiliary -iru to indicate the progressive aspect. Examples: to eat (食べる taberu), to drink (飲む nomu), to think (考える kangaeru). To illustrate the conjugation, 食べる (''taberu'', to eat) → 食べている (''tabete-iru'', is eating). ; Punctual verbs : conjugate with -iru to indicate a repeated action, or a continuing state after some action. Example: 知る (''shiru'', to know) → 知っている (''shitte iru'', am knowing); 打つ (''utsu'', to hit) → 打っている (''utte iru'', is hitting (repeatedly)). ; Non-volitional verb : indicate uncontrollable action or emotion. These verbs generally have no volitional, imperative or potential conjugation. Examples: 好む (''konomu'', to like, emotive), 見える (''mieru'', to be visible, non-emotive). ; Movement verbs : indicate motion. Examples: 歩く (''aruku'', to walk), 帰る (''kaeru'', to return). In the continuative form (see below) they take the particle ni to indicate a purpose. There are other possible classes, and a large amount of overlap between the classes. Lexically, however, nearly every verb in Japanese is a member of exactly one of the following three regular conjugation groups. ; Group 2a (上一段 kami ichidan, lit. upper first group) : verbs with terminal stem form rhyming with -iru. Examples: 見る (''miru'', to see), 着る (''kiru'', to wear). ; Group 2b (下一段 shimo ichidan, lit. lower first group) : verbs with terminal stem form rhyming with -eru. Examples: 食べる (''taberu'', to eat), くれる (''kureru'', to give). ; Group 1 (五段 godan, lit. fifth group) : verbs with terminal form rhyming with -u. This description has a slight ambiguity -- certain verbs like 帰る (''kaeru'', to return) are group 1 instead of group 2. (See Miscellaneous section, below.) In modern Japanese the endings -yu and -fu are impossible, though they were common in classical Japanese; they are spelled with -u in modern Japanese. Historical note: classical Japanese had upper and lower first and second groups and a fourth group (上／下一段 kami/shimo ichidan, 上／下二段 kami/shimo nidan, and 四段 yodan), and nothing like the modern godan group. Since verbs have migrated across groups in the history of the language, conjugation of classical verbs is not predictable from a knowledge of modern Japanese alone. Of the irregular classes, there are two: ; sa-group : which has only one member, する (''suru'', to do). In Japanese grammars these words are classified as サ変 (''sa-hen''), an abbreviation of サ行変格活用 (''sa-gyou henkaku katsuyō'', sa-row irregular conjugation). ; ka-group : which also has one member, 来る (''kuru'', to come). The Japanese name for this class is カ行変格活用 (''ka-gyou henkaku katsuyō'') or simply カ変 (''ka-hen''). Classical Japanese had one further irregular class, the na-group, which contained 死ぬ (''shinu'', to die) and a handful of other now rare verbs, but these verbs are regular group 1 verbs in modern Japanese. The following table illustrates the stem forms of the above conjugation groups, with the root indicated with dots. For example, to find the hypothetical form of the group 1 verb 書く (''kaku''), look in the second row to find its root, ka, then in the hypothetical row to get the ending ke, giving the stem form kake. When there are multiple possibilities, they are listed in the order of increasing rarity. !colspan="2"| 1!rowspan="2">ka >- ! 使・ (''tsuka.'')! Attributive form
(連体形 rentaikei) >使う (''.u'') >書く (''.ku'')

group/ example	sa	-	見る (''.ru'')	食べる (''.ru'')	する (''suru'')	来る (''kuru'')
		(終止形 shūshikei) >colspan="7"| same as attributive form
(連用形 ren'youkei) >使い (''.i'')	書き (''.ki'')	見 (''.'')	食べ (''.'')	し (''shi'')	来 (''ki'')
(未然形 mizenkei) >使わ (''.wa'')1	書か (''.ka'')	見 (''.'')	食べ (''.'')	し (''shi'') せ (''se'') さ (''sa'')	来 (''ko'')
(仮定形 kateikei) >使え (''.e'')	書け (''.ke'')	見れ (''.re'')	食べれ (''.re'')	すれ (''sure'')	来れ (''kure'')
(命令形 meireikei) >使え (''.e'')	書け (''.ke'')	見ろ (''.ro'') 見よ (''.yo'')	食べろ (''.ro'') 食べよ (''.yo'')	しろ (''shiro'') せよ (''seyo'') せい (''sei'')	来い (''koi'')

# the unexpected ending is due to the verb classically conjugating as -ha, phonemic drift moving -ha to -wa, and finally modern spelling reform reuniting pronunciation with spelling. The above are only the stem forms of the verbs; to these one must add various verb endings in order to get the fully conjugated verb. The following table lists the most common conjugations. In cases where the form is different based on the conjugation group of the verb, arrows point to the correct formation rule. ! plain
polite
nonpast >cont. + ます (''masu'') >書き・ます
kaki.masu >見・ます
mi.masu >食べ・ます
tabe.masu >し・ます
shi.masu >来・ます
ki.masu

書く (''kaku'')	見る (''miru'')	食べる (''taberu'')	sa-group する (''suru'')	ka-group 来る (''kuru'') >-
past >cont. + た (''ta'')	書い・た kai.ta	見・た mi.ta	食べ・た tabe.ta	し・た shi.ta	来・た ki.ta
negative nonpast >imperf. + ない (''nai'')	書か・ない kaka.nai	見・ない mi.nai	食べ・ない tabe.nai	し・ない shi.nai	来・ない ko.nai
negative past >imperf. + なかった (''nakatta'')	書か・なかった kaka.nakatta	見・なかった mi.nakatta	食べ・なかった tabe.nakatta	し・なかった shi.nakatta	来・なかった ko.nakatta
-te form (gerundive) >cont. + て (''-te'')	書いて kai.te	見て mi.te	食べて tabe.te	して shi.te	来て ki.te
1 >hyp. + ば (''ba'')	書け・ば kake.ba	見れ・ば mire.ba	食べれ・ば tabere.ba	すれ・ば sure.ba	来れ・ば kure.ba
1 >cont. + たら (''tara'')	書いたら kai.tara	見たら mi.tara	食べたら tabe.tara	したら si.tara	来たら ki.tara
volitional	imperf. + う(''u'')	書こ・う kak.ō	↓
	imperf. + よう (''-yō'')	↑	見・よう mi.yō	食べ・よう tabe.yō	し・よう shi.yō	来・よう ko.yō
>passive	imperf. + れる (''reru'')	書か・れる kaka.reru	↓		さ・れる sa.reru	↓
	imperf. + られる (''-rareru'')	↑	見・られる mi.rareru	食べ・られる tabe.rareru	↑	来・られる ko.rareru
causative	imperf. + せる (''seru'')	書か・せる kaka.seru	↓		さ・せる sa.seru	↓
	imperf. + させる (''-saseru'')	↑	見・させる mi.saseru	食べ・させる tabe.saseru	↑	来・させる ko.saseru
potential	hyp. + る (''ru'')	書け・る kake.ru	↓		出来る dekiru2	↓
	imperf. + られる (''-rareru'')	↑	見・られる mi.rareru	食べ・られる tabe.rareru	↑	来・られる ko.rareru

# See the note on hypothetical forms below. # Note that this is an entirely different verb; する (''suru'') has no potential form. The polite ending -masu conjugates as a group 1 verb. The passive and potential endings -reru and -rareru, and the causative endings -seru and -saseru all conjugate as group 2b verbs. Multiple verbal endings can therefore agglutinate. For example, a common formation is the causative-passive ending, -sase-rareru. :僕は姉に納豆を食べさせられた。 :boku wa ane ni nattō o tabesaserareta. :I was made to eat natto by my (elder) sister. As should be expected, the vast majority of lexically legal combinations of conjugative endings are not semantically meaningful.

Adjectives

Japanese has two main classes of adjectives. ; i-type adjectives (形容詞 keiyōshi) : these are very similar to verbs, having roots and conjugating stem forms. ; na-type adjective (形容動詞 keiyōdōshi, lit. "adjectival verb") : most of these are nouns that are affixed with -na or -no (or in rare cases without an affix) to form the adjective. Unlike adjectives in languages like English, adjectives in Japanese inflect for aspect and mood, like verbs. Japanese adjectives don't have comparative or superlative inflections, which have to be marked periphrastically using adverbs like もっと (''motto'', more) and 一番 (''ichiban'', most). Nearly every Japanese adjective can be used in a predicative position; this differs from English where there are many common adjectives such as "major", like in "a major question", that cannot be used to predicate sentences. The handful of Japanese adjectives that cannot predicate—大きな (''ookina'', big), 小さな (''chīsana'', small), おかしな (''okashina'', strange)—are all stylistic na-type variants of normal i-type adjectives. Every adjective in Japanese can be used in an attributive position. All i-type adjectives except for いい (''ii'', good) have regular conjugations, and ii is irregular only in the fact that it is a corruption of the terminal form of the regular adjective 良い (''yoi''). All na-type adjectives conjugate regularly. !colspan="2"| i-type adjectives! 安・い (''yasu.'')! Attributive form^{1
(連体形 rentaikei) >安い (''.i'')}

stem forms for adjectives

	na-type adjectives >-	-	いい (''.i'')	静かな (''-na'')
	1 (終止形 shūshikei) >安い (''.i'')	いい (''.i'')	静かだ (''-da'')
(連用形 ren'youkei) >安く (''.ku'')	良く (''yo.ku'')	静かで (''-de'')
(未然形 mizenkei) >安かろ (''.karo'')	良かろ (''yo.karo'')	静かだろ (''-daro'')
(仮定形 kateikei) >安けれ (''.kere'')	良けれ (''yo.kere'')	静かなら (''-nara'')
2 (命令形 meireikei) >安かれ (''.kare'')	良かれ (''yo.kare'')	静かなれ (''-nare'')

# The attributive and terminal forms were formerly 安き (''.ki'') and 安し (''.shi''), respectively; in modern Japanese these are used productively for stylistic reasons only, although many set phrases such as 名無し (''nanashi'', anonymous) and よし (''yoshi'', sometimes written yosh', general positive interjection) derive from them. # The imperative form is extremely rare in modern Japanese, restricted to set patterns like 遅かれ早かれ (''osokare hayakare'', sooner or later), where they are treated as adverbial phrases! It is impossible for an imperative form to be in a predicate position. Like verbs, we can enumerate some common conjugations of adjectives. Also, ii isn't special-cased, because all conjugations are identical to yoi. !colspan="2">na-type adjectives
静か (''shizuka'')

i-type adjectives 安い (''yasui'')
polite nonpast >term. + copula です (''desu'')	安いです yasui desu	root + copula です (''desu'')	静かです shizuka desu
past >cont. + あった (''atta'') (''u'' + a collapse)	安かった yasuk.atta	cont. + あった (''atta'') (''e'' + a collapse)	静かだった shizuka d.atta
negative nonpast >cont. + (は)ない (''(wa) nai'')1	安く(は)ない yasuku(wa)nai	cont. + (は)ない (''(wa) nai'')	静かで(は)ない shizuka de (wa) nai
negative past >cont. + (は)なかった (''(wa) nakatta'')1	安く(は)なかった yasuku(wa)nakatta	cont. + (は)なかった (''(wa) nakatta'')	静かで(は)なかった shizuka de (wa) nakatta
negative non past >inf. neg. non-past + copula です (''desu'')1	安くないです yasukunai desu	inf. cont + (は)ありません (''(wa) arimasen'')	静かではありません shizuka de wa arimasen
polite negative past	inf. neg. past + copula です (''desu'')1	安くなかったです yasukunakatta desu	inf. cont + (は)ありませんでした (''(wa) arimasen deshita'')	静かではありませんでした shizuka de wa arimasen deshita
			inf. neg. past + なかったです (''nakatta desu'')1	静かではなかったです shizuka de wa nakatta desu
-te form >cont. + て (''te'')	安くて yasuku.te	cont.	静かで shizuka de
2 >hyp. + ば (''ba'')	安ければ yasukere.ba	hyp. (+ ば (''ba''))	静かなら(ば) shizuka nara(ba)
2 >inf. past + ら (''ra'')	安かったら yasukatta.ra	inf. past + ら (''ra'')	静かだったら shizuka datta.ra
3 >imperf. + う (''u'')	安かろう (''yasukarō'')	imperf. + う (''u'') = root + だろう (''darō'')	静かだろう (''shizuka darō'')
cont.	安く yasuku.	root + に (''ni'')	静かに shizuka ni
root + さ (''sa'')	安さ yasu-sa	root + sa	静かさ shizuka-sa

# note that these are just forms of the i-type adjective ない (''nai'') # see the note on hypothetical forms below. # since most adjectives describe non-volitional conditions, the volitional form is interpreted as "it is possible", if sensible. In some rare cases it is semi-volitional: 良かろう (''yokarō'', OK (lit: let it be good)) in response to a report or request. Adjectives too are governed by euphonic rules in certain cases, as noted in the section on it below. For the polite negatives of na-type adjectives, see also the section below on the copula だ (''da'').

The copula (だ da)

The copula da behaves very much like a verb or an adjective in terms of conjugation.

Euphonic changes (音便 onbin)

Modern pronunciation is a result of a long history of phonemic drift that can be traced back to written records of the thirteenth century, and possibly earlier. However, it was only in 1946 that the Japanese ministry of education modified existing kana usage to conform to the standard dialect (共通語 kyōtsūgo). All earlier texts used the archaic orthography, now referred to as historical kana usage. The adjoining table is a nearly exhaustive list of these spelling changes. Unlike the tradition found in English-speaking countries, where people learn that Middle English (e.g., Chaucer) was pronounced differently from the modern language, it is not generally understood that the historical kana spellings were, at one point, reflective of pronunciation. For example, えふ (lit. efu) for "leaf" (葉, modern ha) was pronounced something like [epu] by the Japanese at the time it was borrowed. However, a modern reader of a classical text would still read this as [yoo], the modern pronunciation. As mentioned above, conjugations of some verbs and adjectives differ from the prescribed formation rules because of euphonic changes. Nearly all of these euphonic changes are themselves regular. For verbs the exceptions are all in the ending of the continuative form of group when the following auxiliary has a ta-sound, i.e., た (''ta''), て (''te''), たり (''tari''), etc.

-	ひ, ち or り	っ	買ひて *kahite → 買って katte *打ちて *uchite → 打って utte *知りて *shirite → 知って shitte
び, み or に	ん, with the following タ sound voiced	遊びて *asobite → 遊んで asonde *住みて *sumite → 住んで sunde *死にて *shinite → 死んで shinde
き	い	書きて *kakite → 書いて kaite
ぎ	い, with the following タ sound voiced	泳ぎて *oyogite → 泳いで oyoide

There is one other irregular change: 行く iku (to go), for which there is an exceptional continuative form: 行き iki + て te → 行って itte, 行き iki + た ta → 行った itta, etc. The continuative form of proper adjectives, when followed by polite forms such as ございます (''gozaimasu'', to be) or 存じます (''zonjimasu'', to know), undergo a transformation.

-	[not し] + く	う, possibly also combining with the previous syllable according to the spelling reform chart	寒くございます *samuku gozaimasu → 寒うございます samū gozaimasu *おはやくございます ohayaku gozaimasu → おはようございます ohayō gozaimasu
しく	しゅう	涼しくございます *suzushiku gozaimasu → 涼しゅうございます suzushū gozaimasu

Respectful verbs such as くださる (''kudasaru'', to get), なさる (''nasaru'', to do), ござる (''gozaru'', to be), いらっしゃる (''irassharu'', to be/come/go), おっしゃる (''ossharu'', to say), etc. behave like group 1 verbs, except in the continuative and imperative forms. ! continuative | ーり changed to ーい ||

• ござります *gozarimasu → ございます gozaimasu
  *いらっしゃりませ *irassharimase → いらっしゃいませ irasshaimase

-
ーれ changed to ーい || くだされ *kudasare → ください kudasai *なされ *nasare → なさい nasai

In speech, common combinations of conjugation and auxiliary verbs are contracted in a fairly regular manner.

colloquial contractions

	colloquial !! example
-てしまう -te shimau	-ちゃう/-じゃう -chau/-jau group 1	負けてしまう (''makete shimau'', lose) → 負けちゃう (''makechau'') 死んでしまう (''shinde shimau'', die) → 死んじゃう (''shinjau'')
-ては -te wa	-ちゃ/-じゃ -cha/-ja	食べてはいけない (''tabete wa ikenai'', must not eat) → 食べちゃいけない (''tabecha ikenai'')
-ている -te iru	-てる -teru group 2b	寝ている (''nete iru'', is sleeping) → 寝てる (''neteru'')
-ておく -te oku	-とく -toku group 1	しておく (''shite oku'', will do it so) → しとく (''shitoku'')
-て行く -te iku	-てく -teku group 1	出て行け (''dete ike'', get out!) → 出てけ (''deteke'')
-るの -ru no	-んの -nno	何しているの (''nani shite iru no'', what are you doing?) → 何してんの (''nani shitenno'')

Other independent words

Adverbs

Adverbs in Japanese are not as tightly integrated into the morphology as in many other languages. Indeed, adverbs are not an independent class of words, but rather a role played by other words. For example, every adjective in the continuative form can be used as an adverb; thus, 弱い (''yowai'', weak, adj) → 弱く (''yowaku'', weakly, adv). The primary distinguishing characteristic of adverbs is that they cannot occur in a predicate position, just as it is in English. The following classification of adverbs is not intended to be authoritative or exhaustive. ; Verbal adverbs : are verbs in the continuative form with the particle ni. Eg. 見る (''miru'', to see) → 見に (''mi ni'', for the purpose of seeing), used for instance as: 見に行く (''mi ni iku'', go to see (sth.)). ; Adjectival adverbs : are adjectives in the continuative form, as mentioned above. ; Nominal adverbs : are grammatical nouns that function as adverbs. Examples: あまり (''amari'', a little/not a lot), どう (''dō'', how), 一番 (''ichiban'', most highly), etc. ; Sound Symbolism : are words that mimic sounds or concepts. Examples: きらきら (''kirakira'', sparklingly), ぽっくり (''pokkuri'', suddenly), するする (''surusuru'', smoothly (sliding)), etc. Often, especially for sound symbolism, the particle to ("as if") is used. See the article on Japanese sound symbolism.

Conjunctions and interjections

These parts of speech are much as in English. Examples of conjunctions: そうして (''sōshite'', and then), また (''mata'', and then/again), etc. Examples of interjections: はい (''hai'', yes/OK/uh), へえ (''hē'', wow!), いいえ (''īe'', no/no way), おい (''oi'', hey!), etc.

Ancillary words

Particles

Particles in Japanese are postpositional—they immediately follow the modified component. A full listing of particles would be beyond the scope of this article, so only a few prominent particles are listed here. Keep in mind that the pronunciation and spelling differ for the particles wa (は), e (へ) and o (を): Wikipedia follows the Hepburn-style of romanizing them according to the pronunciation rather than spelling.

Topic, theme, and subject: は (''wa'') and が (''ga'')

The distinction between the so-called topic (は wa) and subject (が ga) particles is not straightforward, and in fact has been the theme of many doctoral dissertations and scholarly disputes. The reader is warned to take the material in this section, more than any other part of this article, as a poor and approximate guide. Interested readers are referred to two major scholarly surveys of Japanese linguistics in English, (Shibatani 1990) and (Kuno 1973). To simplify matters, the referrents of wa and ga will be called the topic and subject respectively, with the understanding that if one or the other is absent, then the grammatical topic and subject may coincide depending on context. As a first approximation, the difference between wa and ga is a matter of focus: wa gives focus to the action of the sentence, i.e., the verb or adjective, whereas ga gives focus to the subject of the action. However, this description is too abstract; a more useful description must proceed by ennumerating uses of these particles.

=Thematic wa

= The use of wa to introduce a new theme of discourse is directly linked to the notion of grammatical theme. Opinions differ on the structure of discourse theme, though it seems fairly uncontroversial to imagine a first-in-first-out hierarchy of themes that is threaded through the discourse. Of course, human limitations restrict the scope and depth of themes, and later themes may cause earlier themes to expire. In these sorts of sentences, the steadfast translation into English uses constructs like "''speaking of X''" or "''on the topic of X''", though such translations tend to be bulky as they fail to use the thematic mechanisms of English. For lack of a best strategy, many teachers of Japanese drill the "''speaking of X''" pattern into their students without sufficient warning. :ジョンは学生である。 :JON wa gakusei de aru :(On the topic of John), John is a student. The warning against rote translation cannot be overemphasized. A common linguistic joke is the sentence 僕は鰻だ (''boku wa unagi da''), which according to the pattern should be translated as "''(Speaking of me), I am an eel.''" Yet, in a restaurant this sentence can reasonably be used to say "I'd like an order of eel", with no intended humor. This is because the sentence should be literally read, "As for me, it is an eel," with "it" referring to the speaker's order. We can clearly see that the topic of the sentence is not its subject! (As a side note, the separation of grammatical topic and subject is sometimes transported by native Japanese speakers to other languages; for example, a Japanese with a shaky grasp of English might say "I am an eel" in a restaurant in an attempt to order eel.)

=Contrastive wa

= Related to the role of wa in introducing themes is its use in contrasting the current topic and its aspects from other possible topics and their aspects. The suggestive pattern is "''X, but ...''" or "''as for X, ...''". :雨は降っていますが。。。 :ame wa futte imasu ga... :It is raining, but... Because of its contrastive nature, the topic cannot be undefined. :

• 誰かは本を読んでいる。

:

• dareka wa hon o yonde iru

:

• Someone is reading the book.

In this situation ga is forced. In practice, the distinction between thematic and contrastive wa is not that useful. Suffice it to say that there can be at most one thematic wa in a sentence, and it has to be the first wa if one exists, and the remaining was are contrastive. For completeness, the following sentence (due to Kuno) illustrates the difference. :僕が知っている人は誰も来なかった。 :boku ga shitte iru hito wa daremo konakatta :(1) Of all the people I know, none came. :(2) (People came but), there wasn't any of the people I know. The first interpretation is the thematic wa, treating "the people I know" (''boku ga shitte iru hito'') as the theme of the predicate "none came" (''dare mo konakatta''). That is, if I know A, B, ..., Z, then none of the people who came were A, B, ..., Z. The second interpretation is the contrastive wa. If the likely attendees were A, B, ..., Z, and of them I know P, Q and R, then the sentence says that P, Q and R did not come. The sentence says nothing about A', B', ..., Z', all of whom I know, but none of whom were likely to come. The sentence is ambiguous up to this difference. (In practice the first interpretation is the likely one.)

=Exhaustive ga

= Unlike wa, the subject particle ga nominates its referrent as the sole satisfier of the predicate. This distinction is famously illustrated by the following pair of sentences. :ジョンは学生です。 :JON wa gakusei desu :John is a student. (There may be other students among the people we're talking about.)

:ジョンが学生です。 :JON ga gakusei desu :(Of all the people we are talking about), it is John who is the student.

=Objective ga

= For stative transitive verbs, ga instead of o is typically used to mark the object, although it is sometimes acceptable to use o. :ジョンはフランス語が出来る。 :JON wa FURANSU-go ga dekiru :John knows French

Objects, locatives, instrumentals: を (''o''), に (''ni''), で (''de''), へ (''e'')

The direct object of non-stative transitive verbs is indicated by the object particle を (''o''). :ジョンは青いセーターを着ている。 :JON wa aoi SE-TA- o kite iru :John is wearing a blue sweater. This particle can also have a instrumental use for motion verbs. :メリーが細い道を歩いていた。 :MERI- ga hosoi michi o aruite ita :Mary was walking along a narrow road. English allows a similar concept ("walk the road"), though it is usually literary. The general instrumental particle is で (''de''), which can be translated as "using". :肉はナイフで切ること。 :niku wa NAIFU de kiru koto :Meat must be cut with a knife. This particle also has other uses: "at" (temporary location): :町角で先生に会った。 :machikado de sensei ni atta :(I) met my teacher at the street corner. "In": :海で泳ぐのは難しい。 :umi de oyogu no wa muzukashii :Swimming in the sea is hard. "With" or "in (the span of)": :劇は主人公の死で終る。 :geki wa shujinkō no shi de owaru :The play ends with the protagonist's death.

:俺は二秒で勝つ。 :ore wa nibyou de katsu :I'll win in two seconds. The general locative particle is に (''ni''). :東京に行きましょう。 :tōkyō ni ikimashō :Let's go to Tokyo In this function it is interchangeable with へ (''e''). However, ni has additional uses: "at (prolonged)": :私はグロスター通り99番に住んでいます。 :watashi wa GUROSUTA- tōri 99 ban ni sunde imasu :I live at 99 Gloucester road "On": :氷は水に浮く。 :kōri wa mizu ni uku :Ice floats on water. "In (some year)", "at (some point in time)": :春の夕暮れに。。。 :haru no yūgure ni... :On a spring eve...

Quantity and extents: と (''to''), も (''mo''), か (''ka''), や (''ya''), から (''kara''), まで (''made'')

To conjoin nouns, と (''to'') is used. :バグには、教科書三冊と漫画本五冊入れています。 :BAGU ni wa kyōkasho san-satsu to mangahon go-satsu irete imasu :I have three textbooks and five comic books in the bag. The additive particle も (''mo'') can be used to conjoin larger nominals and clauses. :ヨーハンはドイツ人だ。ブリゲータもドイツ人だ。 :YO-HAN wa DOITSU-jin da. BURIGE-TA mo DOITSU-jin da :Johan is a German. Brigette is a German too.

:彼は映画スターであり、政治家でもある。 :kare wa eiga SUTA- de ari, seijika de mo aru :He is a movie star and also a politician. For an incomplete list of conjuncts, や (''ya'') is used. :ボリスやアイバンを呼べ。 :BORISU ya AIBAN wo yobe :Call Boris, Ivan, etc. When only one of the conjuncts is necessary, the disjunctive particle か (''ka'') is used. :スシかサシミか、何かを注文してね。 :SUSHI ka SASHIMI ka, nanika wo chūmon shite ne :Order sushi or sashimi or something. Quantities are listed between から (''kara'', from) and まで (''made'', to). :92度から96度までの熱は心配するものではない。 :92 do kara 96 do made no netsu wa shinpai suru mono de wa nai :A temperature between 92 F and 96 F is not worrisome. This pair can also be used to indicate time or space. :朝8時から11時まで授業があるんだ。 :asa hachi-ji kara jūichi-ji made jugyō ga aru n da :You see, I have classes between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Because kara indicates starting point or origin, it has a related use as "because": :スミスさんは強引な人ですから、いつも頼まれているかもしれない。 :SUMISU-san wa gōin na hito desu kara, itsumo tanomarete iru kamoshirenai :Mr. Smith, I think it's because you're so assertive that you're always asked to do everything. The particle kara and a related particle yori are used to indicate lowest extents: prices, business hours, etc. :我々は7時より営業して居ります。 :wareware wa shichi-ji yori eigyō shite orimasu :We are open for business from 7 onwards. Yori is also used in the sense of "than". :お前は姉ちゃんよりうるさいんだ! :omae wa nē-chan yori urusai n da :You are louder/more talkative than my sister!

Coordinating: と (''to''), に (''ni''), よ (''yo'')

The particle と (''to'') is used to set off quotations. :「殺して。。。殺して」とあの子は言ってたの。 :"koroshite... koroshite" to ano ko wa itte'ta no :The girl was saying, "Kill... kill."

:猫はニャー、ニャーと鳴く。 :neko wa NYA- NYA- to naku :The cat says: meaow, meaow. It is also used to indicate a manner of similarity, "as if" or "like". :彼は「愛してるよ」と言って、ぽっくりと死んだ。 :kare wa "aishite'ru yo" to itte, pokkuri to shinda :He said "I love you," and dropped dead. In a related conditional use, it functions like "after", or "upon". :雨が上がると、子ども達はもう学習を忘れて、太陽に表を向ける水溜りの誘惑を従う。 :ame ga agaru to, kodomo-tachi wa mou gakushū o wasurete, taiyō ni omote wo mukeru mizu-tamari no yūwaku o shitagau :Rain stops and then: children, forgetting their lessons, give in to the temptation of sun-faced puddles. Finally it is used with verbs like to meet (with) (会う au) or to speak (with) (話す hanasu). :ジョンはメリーと初めて会ったのは、1942年の春の夕暮れだった。 :JON ga MERI- to hajimete atta no wa, 1942 nen no haru no yūgure datta :John met Mary for the first time on a dusky spring afternoon in 1942. This last use is also a function of the particle に (''ni''), but to indicates reciprocation which ni does not. :ジョンがメリーと恋愛している。 :JON ga MERI- to ren'ai shite iru :John and Mary are in love.

:ジョンがメリーに恋愛している。 :JON ga MERI- ni ren'ai shite iru :John loves Mary (but Mary might not love John back). Finally, the particle よ (''yo'') is used in a hortative or vocative sense. :可愛い娘よ、顔をしかめて私を見るな。 :kawaii musume yo, kao o shikamete watashi wo miruna :O my beloved daughter, don't frown at me so!

Final: か (''ka''), ね (''ne''), よ (''yo'') and related

The sentence-final particle か (''ka'') turns a declarative sentence into a question. :そちらはアメリカ人でしょうか? :sochira wa amerika-jin deshō ka? :Are you perchance an American? Other sentence-final particles add emotional or emphatic impact to the sentence. The particle ね (''ne'') softens a declarative sentence, similar to English "you know?", "eh?" or "I tell you!". :彼に電話しなかったのね。 :kare ni denwa shinakatta no ne :You didn't call him up, did you?

:近々ロンドンに引っ越されるそうですね。 :chikajika rondon ni hikkosareru sou desu ne. :I hear you're moving to London soon. Is that true? A final よ (''yo'') is used for emphasis. :嘘吐いてないよ！ :uso tsuite nai yo! :I'm not lying! There are many such emphatic particles; some examples: ぜ (''ze'') and ぞ (''zo'') used by (young) males; な (''na'') used in macho speech instead of ne; わ (''wa'') used by females (and males in the Kansai region) like yo, etc. They are essentially limited to speech or transcribed dialogue.

Compound particles

Compound particles are formed with at least one particle together with other words including, other particles. The commonly seen forms are:

• particle + verb (term. or cont. or -te form)
• particle + noun + particle
• noun + particle

Other structures are rarer, though of course possible. A few examples: :その件に関して知っている限りのことを教えてもらいたい。 :sono ken ni kan-shite shitte-iru kagiri no koto wo oshiete moraitai :Kindly tell me everything you know concerning that case. (particle + verb in cont.)

:外国語を学習する上で大切なことは毎日の努力がものを言ということである。 :gaikokugo wo gakushū suru ue de taisetsu na koto wa mainichi no doryoku ga mono wo iu to iu koto de aru :In studying a foreign language, daily effort gives the most rewards. (noun + particle)

:兄は両親の心配をよそに、大学をやめてしまった。 :ani wa ryōshin no shinpai o yoso ni, daigaku wo yamete shimatta :Ignoring my parents' worries, my brother dropped out of college. (particle + noun + particle)

Auxiliary verbs

All auxiliary verbs attach to a verbal or adjectival stem form and conjugate as verbs, but they differ from normal verbs in having no independent meaning. In modern Japanese there are two distinct classes of auxiliary verbs: ; Pure auxiliaries (助動詞 jodōshi) : are usually just called verb endings or conjugated forms. These auxiliaries cannot possibly function as an independent verb. ; Helper auxiliaries (補助動詞 hojodōshi) : are normal verbs that lose their independent meaning when used as auxiliaries. In classical Japanese which was more purely agglutinating than modern Japanese, the category of auxiliary verb included every possible verb ending after the stem form, and most of these endings were themselves active participants in composition. In modern Japanese, however, some auxiliaries have stopped being productive. The most classic example is the classical auxiliary たり (''-tari'') whose forms た (''-ta''), て (''-te''), etc. are now no longer viewed as verbal endings, i.e., they can take no further affixes.

some pure auxiliary verbs

-	ます (''masu'')	1	continuative	makes V polite	書く (''kaku'', to write) → 書きます (''kakimasu'')
られる (''rareru'')1	2b	cont. of grp. 2	makes V passive/polite/potential	見る (''miru'', to see) → 見られる (''mirareru'', to be able to see) 増える (''fueru'', to increae) → 増えられる (''fuerareru'', to have the ability to increase)
る (''ru'')		hyp. of grp. 1		飲む (''nomu'', to drink/swallow) → 飲める (''nomeru'', to be able to drink)
させる (''saseru'')2	2b	cont. of grp. 2	makes V causative	考える (''kangaeru'', to think) → 考えさせる (''kangaesaseru'', to cause to think)
せる (''seru'')		imperf. of grp. 1		思い知る (''omoishiru'', to realize) → 思い知らせる (''omoishiraseru'', to cause to realize/to teach a lesson)

:¹ られる (''rareru'') is often shortened to れる (''reru'', grp. 2); thus 食べれる (''tabereru'', to be able to eat) instead of 食べられる (''taberareru''). :² させる (''saseru'') is sometimes shortened to さす (''sasu'', grp. 1), but this usage is somewhat literary. Much of the agglutinative flavour of Japanese stems from helper auxiliaries, however. The following table contains a small selection of an abundant store of such auxiliary verbs.

some helper auxiliary verbs

-	ある (''aru'', to be (inanimate))	1	-te form only for trans.	indicates state modification	開く (''aku'', to open) → 開いてある (''aite-aru'', opened and is still open)
いる (''iru'', to be (animate))	2a	-te form for trans.	progressive aspect	寝る (''neru'', to sleep) → 寝ている (''nete-iru'', is sleeping)
	2a	-te form for intrans.	indicates state modification	閉まる (''shimaru'', (intransitive) to close) → 閉まっている (''shimatte-iru'', is closed)
いく (''iku'', to go)	1	-te form	"goes on V-ing"	歩く (''aruku'', to walk) → 歩いていく (''aruite-iku'', keep walking)
くる (''kuru'', to come)	ka	-te form	inception, "start to V"	なる (''naru'', become) → なってくる (''natte-kuru'', start becoming)
始める (''hajimeru'', to begin)	2b	continuative non-punctual	"V begins", "begin to V"	書く (''kaku'', to write) → 書き始める (''kaki-hajimeru'', start to write)
		continuative punctual & subj. must be plural		着く (''tsuku'', to arrive) → 着き始める (''tsuki-hajimeru'', have all started to arrive)
出す (''dasu'', to emit)	1	continuative	"start to V"	輝く (''kagayaku'', to shine) → 輝き出す (''kagayaki-dasu'', to start shining)
みる (''miru'', to see)	1	-te form	"try to V"	する (''suru'', do) → してみる (''shite-miru'', try to do)
なおす (''naosu'', to correct/heal)	1	continuative	"do V again, correcting mistakes"	書く (''kaku'', to write) → 書きなおす (''kaki-naosu'', rewrite)
あがる (''agaru'', to rise)	1	continuative	"do V thoroughly" / "V happens upwards"	立つ (''tatsu'', to stand) → 立ち上がる (''tachi-agaru'', stand up) 出来る (''dekiru'', to come out) → 出来上がる (''deki-agaru'', be completed)
得る (''eru''/''uru'', to be able)	2b/1	continuative only for group 1 verbs	indicates potential	ある (''aru'', to be) → あり得る (''arieru'', is possible)
かかる (''kakaru'', to hang/catch/obtain)	1	continuative only for intrans., non-volit.	"about to V", "almost V"	溺れる (''oboreru'', drown) → 溺れかかる (''obore-kakaru'', about to drown)
きる (''kiru'', to cut)	1	continuative	"do V completely"	食べる (''taberu'', to eat) → 食べきる (''tabe-kiru'', to eat it all)
消す (''kesu'', to erase)	1	continuative	"cancel by V" "deny with V"	揉む (''momu'', to rub) → 揉み消す (''momi-kesu'', to rub out, to extinguish)
込む (''komu'', to enter deeply/plunge)	1	continuative	"V deep in", "V into"	話す (''hanasu'', to speak) → 話し込む (''hanashi-komu'', to be deep in conversation)
下げる (''sageru'', to lower)	2b	continuative	"V down"	引く (''hiku'', to pull) → 引き下げる (''hiki-sageru'', to pull down)
過ぎる (''sugiru'', to exceed)	2a	continuative	"overdo V"	言う (''iu'', to say) → 言いすぎる (''ii-sugiru'', to say too much, to overstate)
付ける (''tsukeru'', to attach)	2b	continuative	"become accustomed to V"	行く (''iku'', to go) → 行き付ける (''iki-tsukeru'', be used to (going))
続ける (''tsuzukeru'', to continue)	2b	continuative	"keep on V"	降る (''furu'', to fall (eg. rain)) → 降り続ける (''furi-tsuzukeru'', to keep falling)
通す (''tōsu'', to show/thread/lead)	1	continuative	"finish V-ing"	読む (''yomu'', to read) → 読み通す (''yomi-tōsu'', to finish reading)
抜ける (''nukeru'', to shed/spill/desert)	2b	continuative only for intrans.	"V through"	走る (''hashiru'', to run) → 走り抜ける (''hashiri-nukeru'', to run through (swh))
残す (''nokosu'', to leave behind)	1	continuative	by doing V, leave sth behind	思う (''omou'', to think) → 思い残す (''omoi-nokosu'', to regret (lit: to have sth left to think about))
残る (''nokoru'', to be left behind)	1	continuative for intrans. only	be left behind, doing V	生きる (''ikiru'', live) → 生き残る (''iki-nokoru'', to survive (lit: to be left alive))
分ける (''wakeru'', to divide/split/classify)	2b	continuative	the proper way to V.	使う (''tsukau'', use) → 使い分ける (''tsukai-wakeru'', to indicate the proper way to use)
忘れる (''wasureru'', to forget)	2b	continuative	to forget to V	聞く (''kiku'', to ask) → 聞き忘れる (''kiki-wasureru'', to forget to ask)

Annotated bibliography and references

Grammar fr:grammaire japonaise

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