Japanese Grammar structure can seem confusing and complicated – but it isn’t!

It’s just the way it’s taught.

Right from the start there are some basic secrets you need to know that the textbooks and websites never tell you.

That’s why this course teaches Japanese xxx structure from scratch. It’s not just for beginners. It’s because in order to explain how Japanese really works we have to sweep away all the mental fuzz of textbook “Japanese grammar” and start again with the real thing.

If you’ve already learned some Japanese this course will open your eyes. If you haven’t, it’s the very best way to start.

In this second lesson we are able to get deeper into the Japanese Core Sentence, see how it really works and explain one vital secret that unlocks the real simplicity and regularity of Japanese grammar structure.

This lesson builds on the train metaphor and introduces the all-important “invisible Car” – the mysterious vehicle that takes the mystery out of Japanese grammar structure – because once you know it’s there it isn’t a mystery any more.

If you want to submit exercises, please post them on the comments section at YouTube.

Format for Japanese grammar structure exercises

1. The practice sentence (can be in full Japanese, hiragana or romaji)

If you use romaji you should place a hyphen between a particle and its noun to show that they are part of the same carriage.

歌を歌う
or うたをうたう
or uta-wo utau

2. If there is an invisible carriage, please write the sentence a second time showing the zero pronoun and its particle (you can copy-paste the zero symbol from here).

∅が歌を歌う
or ∅がうたをうたう
or ∅-ga uta-wo utau

3. Give the English meaning (you can put the zero pronoun part in brackets)

(I) sing a song

Note: since there is no singular/plural distinction in Japanese grammar structure,  “(I) sing songs” would also be correct.