For example: you might know to count the floors of a building with the counter-suffix 階 (かい). So １階, ２階, ３階, ４階 and so on. That’s fine and dandy if you only ever had to write the words. But we need to be able to pronounce them too, right? If you’re really thorough with your studies or have a teacher that has covered their bases well, you’ll know that these are read: いっかい　にかい　さんがい　よんかい.

But why? Why does 1 become いっ here but keep its original form ( いち) in １年 (いちねん)? And why do the counters get voiced in ３階 (さんがい) and ３千 (さんぜん) but don’t in ３回 (さんかい) and ３線 (さんせん)? This article hopes to answer some of these questions.

The three main pronunciation constructs

There are exceptions which I will get to in a minute, but basically there are three core patterns for the pronunciation of numbers. Here they are:

So first there’s a basic pattern that you’re probably familiar with. But before S and T sounds (= さしすせそたちつてと, NOT including their voiced Z/D counterparts), the “default” readings for 1 and 10 change to abbreviated forms. For K and H sounds (かきくけこはひふへほ, again, excluding voiced/aspirated counterparts G/B/P) the readings for 1, 6, 10 and 100 change. The purported reason for these changes is that they make words easier to pronounce. Whether or not they actually do, I’m not so sure. But that’s the way things are. So now, lets look at cases where these 3 core patterns don’t hold up.

Exceptions

1. The じ sound. (and also the counters 年 and 人)

The counters starting with this sound include 時 and 次 and their derivatives (時間, 時限, 次元, etc.), and also these two counters 年 (ねん) and 人 (にん). These counters follow the Basic pattern, with the following exceptions:

• 4: よ
• 7: しち
• 9: く

Note that this exception does not apply to じゃ, じゅ, or じょ sounds (examples: 重, 条, 畳). Also, the しち is optional for 年 and 人; ななねん and ななにん are also acceptable.

2. The “CH” sounds.

These include ち, ちょ, ちゃ, and ちゅ (though I can’t think of any counters that start with ち or  ちゅ off the top of my head). The CH sound falls within the S/T pattern (remember that ち is a T-line character), but instead of receiving はち for 8, they typically get はっ. This happens to avoid having two “CH” sounds too close together.

• ８丁、８兆、８町：　はっちょう
• ８着：　はっちゃく

3. S counters that take はっ (8).

• ８歳（はっさい）
• ８千（はっせん）
• ８席（はっせき） (the counter for meetings)

S-line counters are in most cases OK with either はち or はっ, it just depends on the speaker’s preference. The 3 listed above definitely tend toward はっ though.

4. Counters that take ひと／ふた

Some counters in Japanese take the native Japanese number stems for numbers 1, 2 and/or 3. Two you might already know are １人（ひとり） and ２人(ふたり). Here are some others:

• １束：　ひとたば (one bundle of things)
• １房：　ひとふさ (one bunch of things, eg. bananas/grapes)
• １箱：　ひとはこ ふたはこ　(one box of thing)
• １粒：　ひとつぶ ふたつぶ (one small, round thing)
• １皿：　ひとさら　ふたさら　みさら (plates of food)
• １文字： ひともじ (one character/letter)

Note that Hi-Fu-Mi readings ONLY apply to 1, 2, and 3. They do not come up again after 10. So １１人 is じゅういちにん, not じゅうひとり.

5. S/K Counters that (are supposed to) get voiced after 3 and 何

• ３千／何千：　さんぜん、なんぜん
• ３間／何間：　さんげん、なんげん
• ３階／何階：　さんがい、なんがい

Other counters that are supposed to get voiced include: 足 (そく) (pairs of shoes, socks), and 軒 (けん) (buildings/houses), and also 斤, 貫, 尺 and 寸. But honestly the only ones I ever actually hear voiced are the three listed above. And of those, even native speakers don’t always voice 階 where they’re supposed to.

6. Katakana words take いち.

Katakana words will generally take いち instead of いっ, regardless of what sound they start with. (１キロ＝いちきろ). However, P sounds can optionally take いっ form. So １ページ can become いっぺーじ.

What to do with H-line counters

Now for the really fun part: how to use H-line counters (including ふ)! Here’s the magic chart:

So 分 (ふん), the counter for minutes, becomes いっぷん　にふん　さんぷん　よんぷん　ごふん　ろっぷん and so on. In the chart, 8 is shown in gray because it’s only used for the most common counters. ８分 can be pronounced as either はちふん or はっぷん . 本(ほん) and 匹(ひき) sound perfectly natural with a P here too (はっぽん, はっぴき).  Other less commonly used H-line counters tend to sound more natural as はち+H, but a lot of it depends on the speaker’s preference.

The other thing you need to be aware of with H-line counters is that a select few become B with 3 and cannot change to P with 4. Notice how I’ve made a subsection to show this on the chart.

The counters that become B for 3 remain H for 4 are:

• 本（ほん）: long objects  – さんぼん, よんほん
• 匹（ひき）: animals – さんびき, よんひき
• 杯（はい） bowls/mugs – さんばい, よんはい
• 票（ひょう）: ballots/votes.　- さんびょう, よんひょう

Final Notes

How to pronounce counting words is an aspect of Japanese that doesn’t always have a clear line between right and wrong. In particular, less common counter suffixes used with higher numbers have more gray area. There’s also variation between individuals and I would also imagine between regions and dialects. The priority for learners is to grasp the basic patterns and the main exceptions, and then just always keep your ears open.

And, I’m sorry updates have been slow lately, but I promise I’m working on a super-awesome semi-secret project and you’ll all understand and forgive me once it’s done. The charts in this post are a hint of that secret project. (Now where have I seen that design style before…)

By the way, please “like” Nihonshock.com on Facebook! Right now the page is still a little lonely…

Indeed, learners will have no problem passing even the N1 level of the JLPT without knowing that 氵 is called さんずい or that 疒 is やまいだれ. However, in my personal experience communicating with native Japanese speakers as well as other Japanese learners, I’ve been thankful to know the names of some common radicals, and regretful that I couldn’t name more. Kanji radicals aren’t required for Japanese proficiency, but ignorance of them is a shortcoming nevertheless.

With that said, this article intends to explain the basics of kanji radicals (as well as their quirkiness), and also introduce to the reader a good beginning vocabulary on the subject.

Why radicals suck

If you’re an intermediate or advanced learner, you probably have a kanji dictionary of some kind. It probably organizes kanji by radicals, which are grouped by stroke count. And it probably has a section for kanji with no apparent radical. This is the most intuitive and effective way to get the job done.

Unfortunately, although the basic idea is the same, the real radical system used in Japan is far less intuitive than you might think. For one thing, there is no such thing as a kanji without a radical.

Even the lowly 一 (いち) has a radical (or rather, is a radical), which by the way is used to classify these guys: 三七上下不丁世且丙丑. Oddly enough, although 一 is the radical for 三, it is not the radical for 二. 二 is a different radical altogether (classifying: 五互井亜云于). I think you can see how this gets out of hand rather quickly. That’s why your learner’s dictionary uses a simplified system.

In many cases it’s impossible to tell for certain what a kanji’s radical is just by looking at it. For example, most Japanese learners would start searching for 歴 under the 厂 radical. Logical enough, but guess what: the actual radical is 止. How about 聞? Would you say 門? Nope, 耳 is the radical. And how about 巡? Think it’s 辶 ? Sorry, it’s 巛, which is also the radical for 川 and 州.

And 巛 leads me to my next gripe; single radicals have multiple forms. 火部 (かぶ: the “fire” radical) can become 灬 (not to be confused with 㣺, which is a form of 心部 (しんぶ). 水部 (すいぶ) is another shape-shifter that can become 氵or 氺. In Japanese, the meaning and origin matters just as much as the shape itself.

Your kanji learner’s dictionary has probably also invented some radicals that (although logical and helpful) don’t actually exist! Those dots at the top of 営 and 学? Sorry. How about the two dots and long stroke on 前, 美, 首? Also imaginary radicals.

Don’t despair!

Even native speakers–unless they’re actively studying kanji–don’t know radicals very well either. To get to their level you basically just need to have a general idea of how the system works including some of its quirks (like those explained above), and also remember terms for a few common radical forms.

So, let’s move on to some vocabulary! Actually, once you get the basics, most of the time you can come up with these terms on the spot. For example; 偏（へん） is the word for a radical on the left side of a kanji, so 松 is 木偏（きへん）, 銀 is 金偏（かねへん), 地 is 土偏 (つちへん) , and so on.

First, a quick note: while each kanji has only one  部首 (ぶしゅ), or radical, which is used for classification purposes. Kanji are usually made up of  multiple components (要素: ようそ). Various kanji components are also referred to as “radicals” (especially in English), which in the strict definition of “radical” is incorrect. Even so, the following terms are still useful for description and communication. For example, the 部首 of 聞 is 耳, but you can still describe the kanji with the word 門構え(もんがまえ).

In this list, I tried to cover common but not obviously-named radicals. Here’s a link (Japanese) to a much more complete collection if you’re interested. The Japanese Wikipedia article on radicals is also packed with detailed info. The English Wikipedia article isn’t so shabby either.

Most radicals can be classified in one of seven types, depending on their position in the kanji.

Table: Basic Radical Vocabulary

This table gives the names of various components (in hiragana), and several example kanji for each. If I thought clarification was helpful or necessary, I added the kanji on which the component is based in parenthesis after the hiragana reading.

A couple other quirks

There’s a couple radicals that appear identical, but are actually considered different. Look at the these two characters:

服 肌

See that 月? Well on the left, it’s the moon radical (月). But on the right it’s the flesh radical (肉). The too components look and are written exactly the same, but if the meaning of the kanji has anything to do with the body, it’s the 肉 radical.

So in 服 the component is called つきへん but in 肌 it’s called にくづき.

Next, look at these:

今 全

The radicals of these kanji are also written and look the same, but differ according to what kanji they are based on. 今’s radical is 人, and this form is called 人屋根（ひとやね) . 全 is 入, and in this instance is referred to as 入頭 (いりがしら).

Finally, I want to mention the kanji 書. Ever thought it strange that the kanji for “writing” had the sun radical? Yes, the 日 on the bottom is the radical. But it’s not 日. It’s actually derived from 曰 (いわく). Look closely: 日 曰. 曰 is a pretty rare kanji/radical that means “to speak”.

The bottom piece of 書 is still written as 日, but just know that the kanji isn’t actually classified that way.

チンピラ

[chinpira] – A small time gangster or a thug.

たかり

[takari] – A shake-down, where a group of people threaten some vulnerable person into giving up their wallet/money/etc. The (infrequently used) kanji is 集り, meaning to “gather.”

かつあげ

[katsuage] – A shake-down. This word is basically the same as たかり, but with more of a slangy nuance. One of my friends reports this word is associated with ヤンキー types and isn’t used much any more. (kanji: 喝上げ)

スリ

[suri] – Pickpocketing. (kanji: 掏摸)
Note: a “pickpocket” (the person who engages in pickpocketing) is also called a スリ, but the kanji is different (掏児).

といち

[toichi] – This is a loan that compounds interest at a rate of ten percent (一割 / ichiwari) every ten days (十日間 / toukakan).

車上荒らし

[shajou arashi] – Stealing things (like navi systems or CD players) from cars.

口止め料

[kuchidomeryou] – Hush money. This word has been on TV a lot with the Sumo gambling story.

ノミ行為

[nomi koui] – Speaking of gambling (賭博/tobaku), ノミ行為 is another related word you should know. It refers to bookkeeping bookmaking (taking bets), or in the context of stock markets it can mean bucketing (taking purchase orders from people without actually making the transaction).

Note: The person who takes the bets (the bookie) is called a 胴元 (doumoto).

空巣

[akisu] – Literally: empty (空) nest (巣). This crime is when a person breaks into houses when no one is at home to steal things. (shortened from: 空巣狙い / akisu nerai)

ポイ捨て

[poi sute] – “poi” is the onomatopoeic sound of tossing something casually on the ground. Hence, this word means littering.

ひったくり

"Watch out for purse snatchers"

[hittakuri] – 引っ手繰る [hittakuru] means to snatch something away from someone. So hittakuri usually refers to the crime of purse snatching. (Ladies, avoid carrying your purses on your road-side shoulder!)

シノギ

[shinogi] – This word refers to any of the many ways illicit groups like yakuza make their money, typically things like bodyguarding, drug dealing, high rate loans, scams, etc. It probably comes from phrase 糊口を凌ぐ [kokou o shinogu] which means “to eke out a living”.

オレオレ詐欺

[ore ore sagi] – This is a kind of telephone scam that has been happening a lot in Japan in recent years. A scammer calls someone and poses as a relative (usually a son), then explains some terrible predicament they are in and how they need the target to send transfer a large sum of money to their bank account. “ore ore” means “it’s me, it’s me” and is a phrase the caller uses to gain the targets trust.

極道 vs. 堅気

This is an interesting pair of words that you would certainly want to know to be able to play 龍が如く. 極道 [gokudou] or the extreme (極) path (道) is the word that refers to people who live illegitimately as gangsters/bookies/etc. 堅気 [katagi] or sturdy (堅) spirit (気) refers to regular people who live honest lives.

But this simple pleasure reveals a problem for us Japanese learners. The reason it happens is because of how insultingly low expectations are in Japan for foreigners to gain true mastery of the language. Japanese are by and large very congenial toward foreigners, but getting people to take you seriously in this country is a high, high hurdle.

So what should we do? I say let’s take the fight to them! I’ve selected 7 polite/advanced Japanese expressions for this article that native speakers won’t see coming. Use these babies to let Japanese know you’re more than just another kawaii gaijin! You are super-gaijin!

1. 恐縮ですが

[kyoushuku desu ga...] Getting what you want through humility? Yes, it’s possible in Japanese. The idea is to be so polite and endearing that people won’t be able to refuse you.

恐縮, taken literally, means something like “to shrink in fear of causing any unpleasant feelings”. It comes in handy when making requests for assistance or information.

つまらない質問で恐縮ですが・・・
I’m terribly sorry to trouble you with such a silly question, but…

2. 光栄に存じます

[kouei ni zonjimasu] Literally “to think of something as an honor”, this is a real whopper of a way to say thanks when you’ve received gifts, praise, or gratitude from a Japanese person.

お役に立てておりましたら光栄に存じます。
I’m honored that I was able to be of assistance.

3. お言葉に甘えます

[o-kotoba ni amaemasu] Take this one to the izakaya with you! In a country where offers and suggestions are almost expected to be refused, this splendid phrase gives you a free ticket to make a Japanese person walk their talk. So if they tell you to order whatever you like, pop them a それでは、お言葉に甘えます and get the most expensive thing on the menu! (but remember it’ll probably still be 割り勘 when you’re done)

お言葉 means “your words” and 甘え means something like “expressing your affinity for someone by letting them spoil you”.

(Note: the concept of 甘え is something very non-western and deserves a better explanation, fortunately there’s already an English-language wikipedia article about it)

4. お見知りおきを

[o-mishiri oki o] Meaning: “please remember me”. We don’t really have an equivalent phrase in English, but this is a very polite line sometimes heard in personal introductions. The ください that would logically come at the end is usually omitted.

〇〇と申します。以降お見知りおきを。
My name is  〇〇. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.

5. ご無沙汰しておりました

[go-busata shite orimashita] 無沙汰 means “going a long time without visiting or corresponding with someone”. The ご makes this phrase more polite, as does the おりました instead of いました. This is a useful phrase for getting back together with someone you haven’t written to or spoken to in a long time.

長らくご無沙汰しておりました。
I’m sorry that I haven’t contacted you in such a long time.

6. 御機嫌よう

[go-kigen you] Probably the easiest phrase on this list to actually use, 御機嫌よう is a sophisticated and polite greeting and parting phrase (that means it can be either “hello” or “goodbye”, similar to aloha). It literally means “may you be in a good mood”. (Note: よう here is a form of 良い)

If you read manga or watch anime, you’ll notice that this is the greeting word of choice for rich and high-class characters.

7. 冥利に尽きる

[myouri ni tsukiru] 冥利 is a kind of divine providence or fortune, a blessing of happiness that comes from having some role or position in life. 尽きる (in this case, at least) means “to be at the highest point”. Put it together, and you get a phrase that expresses attaining the highest level of happiness that can be derived from a role/position, probably because something good just happened to you.

外国人冥利に尽きます！
It’s so awesome being a foreigner!

Now, whenever you view the Nihonshock homepage, below the most recent post you will see:

These are basically short posts (just a paragraph or so) about a specific Japanese word that I thought was either interesting or worth talking about. The words included will (for the most part) be quite high level, or will otherwise offer unique trivia for lower level words, but I’ll do my best to make the explanations accessible to learners of all levels. I will, however, stay away from words that aren’t known even to native Japanese.

Note that on the top page, just an excerpt is given, so be sure to click the words to go to the page with the full explanation.

I haven’t gotten around to making a dedicated page where you can easily browse through all of the vocabulary (there’s only 2 words right now, anyway), but it’s on my “to do” list.

I’ll try to add words at a frequency of every day or every other day, but no guarantees.

There’s 4 ways you can keep up with Nihonshock’s new vocabulary section.

1. Bookmark Nihonshock’s home page and come back every day.
2. Follow me on Twitter (I’ll let everyone know when a new word goes up)
3. Subscribe to the Vocabulary RSS Feed
   • Vocabulary will not appear in the regular RSS feed.
4. Join the Nihonshock vocab goal on smart.fm (I’ll try to keep it as up to date as possible)

As always, I’m interested to hear everyone’s opinions and suggestions.

UPDATE: April 24, 2010

I made a dedicated category page that makes it possible to quickly access past vocabulary. If I can keep up the whole word-a-day thing, this section is going to get pretty big pretty fast.

Check it out: Nihonshock Vocabulary Bank.

You may have already set up your IME and have some experience using it (if not, please check out Greggman.com’s excellent guide to installing/setting up your IME). However, it’s common for foreigners to overlook some of the finer points of its usage. This article aims to provide novice IME users with an introduction to some of the intermediate and advanced features literally waiting at their fingertips, providing a basis for improved typing efficiency, problem solving and expanded usage.

For this article I’ll presume that:

1. You have your IME installed, set up and ready to use
2. You have a basic understanding of how to use it (how to make hiragana appear when you type, how to convert a word to kanji)
3. You have a basic understanding of hiragana/katakana and Japanese phonetics
4. You are a Windows user (sorry Mac and Linux folks)

Tip 1: Easy IME on/off toggle

English Keyboards: ALT + Tilde. (This is a tilde: ~. It’s usually on the top left corner of your keyboard, right below the escape key.)
Japanese Keyboards: 半角／全角／漢字 (Top left key of the keyboard, below the escape key. ALT not needed.)

This is a very basic tip but one of the most important. Everyone needs to start here. Clicking around on your language bar to change the IME mode is just a waste of time; use this quick shortcut whenever you need to toggle your IME.

Tip 2: Reconverting

Reconverting (再変換 – saihenkan). So you’re proof-reading an email or something you wrote in Japanese and notice you accidentally entered the kanji 慎重 when you wanted 身長 (meanings are different but both are read: shinchou). There’s two ways to fix this; you could delete the incorrect characters and type it in again (a minimum of 12 keystrokes), or you could reconvert it.

“Reconverting” is essentially calling back the kanji selection list for a word that has already been entered. Sounds useful, eh? To do this, simply select the word you want to change, right click and choose “Reconversion.” Voila! You’ve got your list back.

On Japanese computers this option does not appear on the right click menu so you must use the 変換 key (usually to the right of the space bar on Japanese keyboards) to initiate a reconvert.

NOTE 1: Reconverting via right-click isn’t possible in all settings.  If your IME is on but you don’t get the reconvert option, try copying the text into a different application (eg. Wordpad).

NOTE 2: On a Japanese computer, you could alternatively use the space bar instead of the 変換 key to initiate a reconvert, but keep in mind that if you’re in English input mode this method will simply replace your text with an empty space. (you should really be using the 変換 key anyway)

Reconverting is also useful for finding the reading to a word you don’t know: copy and paste the unknown word into Notepad or another text editor and reconvert it (the hiragana/katakana will appear on the conversion list box as shown in the image above).

Poweruser tip: if you notice your mistake immediately after you’ve entered it (after you hit enter and the underline goes away), you can use CTRL + Backspace to do a quick reconvert.

Tip 3: Use special characters

This is a fun tip. Having an IME makes it much easier to use the special characters that are available on most computers nowadays. I’m talking about things like arrows, stars, hearts, shapes and more. While these characters don’t always display properly on every computer and in every software environment, they are becoming more usable all the time and are particularly well supported in Japan (because Japanese has so many characters, fonts are fewer and special character sets and more standardized).

To type a special character, you simply need to know the keyword that will call it up in your IME. Here’s a table showing some of the major keywords and a sample of the characters they give you access to (this table is by no means exhaustive, there are many other keywords out there):

Note: Characters in blue require the symbols dictionary to be activated, see Tip #4.

Tip 4: Use more special characters

Out of the box your IME has some symbols, but if you want to use any of the ones from the table above that I’ve colored in blue, you’ll need the symbols dictionary activated. Here’s how:

Tip 5: Mini hiragana characters

The hiragana characters あいうえおやゆよつ and corresponding katakana アイウエオヤユヨツ can all be sized down at will to meet your needs. Simply prefix the sound as you would type it normally with an L (for “little”). For example, L + U = ぅ. This only works with the vowel characters, ya/yu/yo and tsu ( in Japanese these are the only characters you should ever find opportunity to make small.)

Alternatively, you can downsize these characters by converting them (eg. “u” + spacebar), but prefixing the character is a much better option because it allows you to size as you type, which allows your IME’s parsing activity continue interrupted.

Tip 6: Zu and Zu, Ji and Ji

In Hepburn romanization, hiragana ず and づ (and katakana ズ and ヅ) are both “zu.” However, if you want to type 続く (tsuzuku) with your IME, typing t s u z u k u will not work. Why? Because according to your IME, zu is always ず, but the correct character in this case is づ. The keystrokes to bring up this character is du (since T-line sounds become D-sounds with the ゛ added). The same is true of the difference between じ and ぢ.

Tip 7: Save keystrokes with non-Hepburn typing

Your IME supports Hepburn (except as noted in tip #6). But since you need to get used to du and di instead of zu and ji, you might as well take advantage of the opportunity to ditch a couple more Hepburn habits. It seems like very petty keystroke savings but trust me, once you get used to it you will not want to go back.

• TSU　⇒ TU (Hepburn ⇒ Shortcut)
• CHI　⇒ TI
• SHI ⇒ SI

I use the above shortcuts, but still prefer the Hepburn ji/ja/ju/jo for じ/じゃ/じゅ/じょ ( which would be zya/zyu/zyo otherwise), since in these cases the non-Hepburn method doesn’t offer me any keystroke savings and the Z key is less convenient than the J key.

Tip 8: Force the N character

Say you want to type the word 勧誘, which in romaji is kan’yuu. Hey, what’s that apostrophe doing in the middle of the word? It’s there to show that the word is read かん + ゆう and not か + にゅう. It may seem like a small difference to you but in Japanese this is actually a pretty big deal. In cases when you need to make this distinction as you type in Japanese, you can tell your IME that you want to use the ん character by hitting N twice consecutively. So to type 勧誘 your keystrokes would be k a n n y u u.

Tip 9: Register custom words

The IME has some built in functionality for detecting which conversions you use most and prioritizing them, and detecting non-standard conversions you use and automating them. However, there may be cases where it would be easier to just add a certain word to your IME’s dictionary. For example, if your boss or coworker has a name with a rare kanji reading, or if you and your friends use a certain niche word that’s not in the dictionary. Do this:

1. The reading for the word. Put the hiragana in here
2. The kanji you want to come up.
3. Part of speech (noun, adjective, verb, etc.)
4. User comment (optional)

Tip 10: Shift the parsing range

A common source of IME headaches is when a word you want to type is for one reason or another not parsed (split into parts) correctly, preventing you from easily bringing up the particular kanji that you need. This can drive you crazy trying to fix it if you don’t know what to do. Fortunately, the solution is pretty easy:

In cases such as this, you can adjust your IME’s parsing range manually by using Shift + Left/Right. This will move the right-hand delimiter of the currently selected parse range.

By the way typing ハート (type: h a – t o) gives you the following symbols (if you have the symbols dictionary on [Tip #4]): ❤❦❥♡♥❧

Tip 11: Force katakana input

As brought up in the previous tip, by default your IME tries to parse your input for starts and stops of words based on its dictionary. And it’s surprisingly good at it too. But if you’re trying to type a romanized version of someone’s personal name or a company name (anything your dictionary doesn’t know), this can lead to some pretty ugly results. For example, if you’re trying to enlighten a Japanese person about the greatest comedy of all time:

Sure, you could go back part by part and change those kanji into katakana manually, but why not eradicate the problem at its root? To avoid awkward conversions like this, there is a katakana only input mode. Here’s how to toggle it:

On English keyboards: CTRL + Caps Lock to begin Katakana mode. ALT + Caps Lock to return to hiragana.
On Japanese keyboards: use the 無変換 key (next to the space bar)

Just don’t forget that you need to toggle it off again when you’re done.

Tip 12: Temporary English mode

If you’d like to mix an English word or sentence into your Japanese typing for whatever reason, you don’t need to toggle your IME. Begin an inline, temporary English input mode by starting any word with a capital letter. You’ll be able to type in English as usual except with your trusty IME underline. Use the Enter key to close out the inline English segment and return to normal Japanese input.

Important: On non-Japanese keyboards, you should convert your Japanese input before entering temporary English mode. This is because once in temporary English mode, you lose the ability to use your space bar to convert Japanese. On Japanese keyboards this isn’t a problem because you can still use the designated Convert (変換) key.

1. 雲泥の差

Reading: うんでいのさ (undei no sa)
Translation: “the separation between clouds and mud”
Meaning: A vast difference between two things.

2. 犬猿の仲

Reading: けんえんのなか (ken’en no naka)
Translation: “the relationship of dogs and monkeys”
Meaning: A relationship of mutual hatred. Natural enemies.

3. 為せば成る

Reading: なせばなる (naseba naru)
(Literal) Translation: “if you take action, it will become”
Meaning: You can do it if you try.

This proverb comes from a poem by Uesugi Youzan (上杉鷹山), from back in the Edo period. It’s pretty cool and being a Japanese poem isn’t so long, so here’s the full text.

為せば成る
為さねば成らぬ何事も
成らぬは人の為さぬなりけり

naseba naru
nasaneba naranu nanigoto mo
naranu wa hito no nasanu nari keri

If you try, you may succeed.
If you don’t try, you will not succeed. This is true for of all things.
Not succeeding is the result of not trying.

4. 青天の霹靂

Reading: せいてんのへきれき (seiten no hekireki)
Translation: A bolt (lit. thunder) out of the blue (sky).

5. 鴨が葱をしょって来る

Reading: かもがねぎをしょってくる (kamo ga negi o shotte kuru)
Translation: “a duck comes along carrying a leek on its back”
Meaning: A very convenient happening, a stroke of luck.
Explanation: The reason for this proverb is that duck soup is made with leek, so it’s as though the duck came along just asking you to eat it.
Note: This proverb has a short form for everyday usage, 鴨ネギ (kamonegi)

6. 忙中閑あり

Reading: ぼうちゅうかんあり (bouchuu kan ari)
Meaning: Even when you’re very busy, there’s occasionally time to take a rest.

7. 初心忘るべからず

Reading: しょしんわするべからず (shoshin wasuru bekarazu)
Translation: We should not forget our beginner’s spirit. (the excitement/humility of starting something new)

8. 頭隠して尻隠さず

Reading: あたまかくしてしりかくさず (atama kakushite siri kakusazu)
Translation: “hiding your head but not your butt”
Meaning: Failing to completely cover up your bad deeds.

9. 沈む瀬あれば浮かぶ瀬あり

Reading: しずむせあればうかぶせあり (shizumu se areba ukabu se ari)
Translation: “if the current sinks, it will rise (again)”
Meaning: Life has its ups and downs.

10. 猫の首に鈴を付ける

Reading: ねこのくびにすずをつける (neko no kubi ni suzu o tsukeru)
Translation: “to put a bell around a cat’s neck”
Meaning: To discuss doing something that is nearly impossible to do.
Note: This proverb has its origin in one of Aesop’s fables.

11. 長所は短所

Reading: ちょうしょはたんしょ (chousho wa tansho)
Translation: “our strong points are our weak points”
Meaning: Over-reliance on our strengths leads to make careless mistakes.

12. 起きて半畳，寝て一畳

Reading: おきてはんじょう、ねていちじょう (okite hanjou, nete ichijou)
Translation: “(man needs just) half a tatami mat when awake, one tatami mat when asleep.”
Meaning: You need not be rich to live a satisfied life.

13. 李下に冠を整さず

Reading: りかにかんむりをたださず (rika ni kanmuri o tadasazu)
Translation: “don’t straighten your crown under the plum tree”
Meaning: Don’t invite undue suspicion on yourself.
Note: Because if you’re fiddling with your crown under the plum tree, people might think you’re trying to steal plums.

14. 猫を追うより皿を引け

Reading: ねこをおうよりさらをひけ (neko o ou yori sara o hike)
Translation: “rather than chase the cat, take away the plate”
Meaning: Attack problems at their root.

15. 井の中の蛙大海を知らず

Reading: いのなかのかわずたいかいをしらず (i no naka no kawazu, taikai o shirazu)
Translation: “the frog in the well knows not of the great ocean”
Explanation: This proverb is a metaphor for being mentally trapped by a narrow understanding of things.
Note: kawazu is the old way to say “frog”, in modern Japanese they are called kaeru

16. 多芸は無芸

Reading: たげいはむげい (tagei wa mugei)
Translation: “many skills is no skill”
Meaning: a Jack of all trades is a master of none.

17. 盛年重ねて来らず

Reading: せいねんかさねてきたらず (seinen kasanete kitarazu)
Translation: “the prime of your life does not come twice”
Meaning: You’re only young once.

18. 相槌を打つ

相槌

Reading: あいづちをうつ (aizuchi o utsu)
Translation: “striking the forge hammer”
Meaning: Giving verbal feedback while listening (eg. saying things like “yeah”, “uh-huh”, “I see”, etc)
Explanation: This proverb describes the rhythmic exchange of two smiths working on a katana.

19. 天は自ら助くるものを助く

Reading: てんはみずからたすくるものをたすく (ten wa mizukara tasukuru mono o tasuku)
Translation: Heaven helps those who help themselves.

20. 元も子もない

Reading: もともこもない (moto mo ko mo nai)
Meaning: Failure not only to make a profit (子 = 利益), but losing your investment (元 = 元金) too.

21. これを知るをこれを知ると為し、知らざるを知らずと為せ。これ知るなり。

Reading: これをしるをこれをしるとなし、しらざるをしらずとなせ。これしるなり。
Romaji: kore o shiru o kore o shiru to nashi, shirazaru o shirazu to nase. kore shiru nari.
Translation: To know that one knows what one knows, and to know that one doesn’t know what one doesn’t know, there lies true wisdom.
Note: Okay, so it’s not a proverb, it’s a Confucius (孔子／こうし） quote. But it was my 1000th tweet and I wanted to do something a little fancy.
Original Chinese: 知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也 (thanks, @Binglun!)

22. 窮鼠 猫を噛む

Reading: きゅうそねこをかむ (kyuuso neko o kamu)
Translation: “a cornered rat will bite the cat”
Meaning: Left with no choice, even a relatively weak person/animal will fight back.

23. 庇を貸して母家を取られる

A 庇 (hisashi) covering a front door.

Reading: ひさしをかしておもやをとられる (hisashi o kashite omoya o torareru)
Translation: “to lend the eaves and have the main house taken”
Meaning: Give an inch and they take a mile.

24. 悪銭 身につかず

Reading: あくせんみにつかず (akusen, mi ni tsukazu)
Translation: Dirty money doesn’t stay with a person for long.

25. ただより高い物はない

Reading: ただよりたかいものはない (tada yori takai mono wa nai)
Translation: “nothing is more expensive than free”
Meaning: Debts of money are more easily repaid than those of gratitude

26. 毒を以て毒を制する

Reading: どくをもってどくをせいする (doku o motte doku o sei suru)
Translation: “to use a poison to overcome a poison”
Meaning: Sometimes we need shady means to tackle shady problems

27. けんもほろろ

Romaji: ken mo hororo
Translation: cackle and gobble [ken and hororo are pheasant sounds]
Meaning: Being blunt & unsympathetic (attitude, response, etc.)

28. 生兵法は大怪我の基

Reading: なまびょうほうはおおけがのもと (namabyouhou wa ookega no moto)
Translation: Newly learned (unmastered) tactics are the origin of great blunders.

The only one you absolutely must use

20 years old : 二十歳 （はたち）

In Japanese, you don’t say にじゅっさい, you say はたち.

Okay, if you’re just learning Japanese to communicate or for travel, you can stop here and you won’t be missing any vital information. The rest of these words are obscure at best and archaic at worst even for native Japanese (seriously, we’re talking post-JLPT-1級 level, here).

But if you’re like me and the thought of “archaic Japanese” gives you a jolt of excitement, or if you’re just curious, read on…

Words based on the calendar or life events

We’ll start with a collection of age words that are based on perceived or actual life events.

• 10 : 辻髪　（つじかみ） – This is the name of a Japanese children’s hair style.
• 15 : 笄年 　（けいねん） – Girls only. 15 is the age when they could start using hairpins in their hair.
• 20 : 丁年　（ていねん） – Men only. Under the Ritsuryo law system, this was the age when a man became subject to official assignments  (丁) (e.g. to X days of labor or taxes).
• 40 : 初老　（しょろう） – This is when you start (初) becoming old (老). In English, we would say “over the hill.”
• 50 : 中老　（ちゅうろう） – You’re in the middle (中) of becoming old.
• 50 : 艾年　（がいねん） – The age when your hair begins to turn white like a mugwort plant (艾：よもぎ）
• ６0 : 丁年　（ていねん） -The word for the year a person entered the official assignments system was also used for the year when one left it.
• 60: 還暦 （かんれき) - Literally meaning “revolving the calendar”, because the 10 calendar signs　（十干/じっかん） and the 12 astrological signs （十二支/じゅうにし） realign every 60 years.
  • Note: 還暦 is 61 years old under the “counting age” system. (See Below)
• 120 : 大還暦　（だいかんれき） – The “big calendar revolution”, this means you made it twice around the 60 year cycle. Congratulations!

One from a Chinese poem

• 70 : 古希 (こき）

This age word is from a famous poem by Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Du Fu (Japanese： 杜甫／とほ）. In Japanese translation, the relevant lines are:

酒債は尋常行く処に有り 人生七十古来稀なり

There is an English translation of this poem (曲江: Winding River) available, if you’re interested.

One for Shogi players

• 

  将棋　（しょうぎ） : a chess-like Japanese board game

  81 : 盤寿　（ばんじゅ） - Because the 9×9 Shogi board has 81 places.

Kanji play

When your language has thousands of highly complex characters, and you’re bored in the winter with nothing but a bottle of sake, word games are just a natural occurrence. Hundreds of years of Japanese ingenuity brings us these linguistic gems:

• 48 : 桑年　（そうねん） – The old form for 桑 is 桒, which can be broken down as four 十 characters and one 八 character, adding up to 48.
• 61 : 華寿　（かじゅ） – Because 華 can be seen as 6 十 characters and a 一.
• 66 : 緑寿　（ろくじゅ） – Because 緑 can be read as ろく, the same as 六 (6).
• 77 : 喜寿　（きじゅ） – The grass script form for 喜 is 㐂, which is actually 3 sevens, but if you pretend one of them is a 10 it becomes 七十七 = 77.
• 80 : 傘寿　（さんじゅ） – The abbreviated form of 傘 is 仐, which is 八十= 80.
• 81 : 半寿　（はんじゅ） – Because 半 can be broken down as 八 + 十 + 一 = 八十一 = 81.
• 88 : 米寿　（べいじゅ） – Because the kanji can be broken down as 八＋十＋八 = 八十八 = 88.
• 90 : 卒寿　（そつじゅ） – Because the abbreviated form of 卒 is 卆, which is 九＋十 = 九十 = 90.
• 95 : 珍寿　（ちんじゅ） – Because the left side of the kanji can be 十二 and the right 八三 (83 + 12 = 95)
• 99 : 白寿　（はくじゅ） – Because if you take one (一) away from the kanji for 100 (百), it becomes 白
• 100 : 百寿　（ももじゅ） – This one’s obvious… (百 = 100)
• 108 : 茶寿　（ちゃじゅ） – Because the kanji can be broken down as 十十 (20) plus 八十八 (88)
• 111 : 皇寿　（こうじゅ） – Because 白 is understood to be 99 (detailed above), and 王 is 一+十+一 = 12. 99 + 12 = 111
• 111 : 川寿　（せんじゅ） – Because 川 looks like 111.
• 119 : 頑寿　（がんじゅ） - Because 二 + 八 (元） = 10 and 百 + 一 + 八 = 109. 109 + 10 = 119.
• 120 : 昔寿　（せきじゅ） – Because 廿 (= 十十 = 20) + 百 (100) = 120.

And just to make sure that we never, ever run out of words…

• 1001 : 王寿　（おうじゅ） – Because 王 can be broken down as 千 + 一.
• 1007 : 毛寿　（もうじゅ） – Because 毛 can be broken down as 千 + 七.
• 1082 : 科寿　（かじゅ） – Because 科 can be broken down as 千 +八 + 十 + 二

These words (that include 寿), are collectively known as 賀寿　（がじゅ）.

Chouju

In Japanese, longevity (長寿/ちょうじゅ) is broken down into 3 stages, but there’s differences of opinion over which specific ages they indicate, so you might want to think of these words just as general estimates.

• 下寿　（かじゅ） :　60… or 80
• 中寿　（ちゅうじゅ） :　80… or 100
• 上寿　（じょうじゅ） : 100 or higher

Haka: a word with two ages?

破瓜　（はか） is another kanji/wordplay term for age, but is unusual because it means a different age when referring to different genders. The kanji 破 means to split or tear something, and apparently 瓜 (the kanji) can be split into two 八　八 characters (personally, I don’t see it). Hence:

• 瓜 = 八 + 八 = 16 (women)
• 瓜 = 八 ｘ 八 = 64 (men)

Soji

Japan also has a whole class of words ending in 十路　（そじ） to count age in tens.  In really old Japanese, (until about the Heian period) these words were also also used in counting regular objects.

• 20 : 二十路　（ふたそじ）
• 30 : 三十路　（みそじ）
• 40 : 四十路　（よそじ）
• 50 : 五十路　（いそじ）
• 60 : 六十路　（むそじ）
• 70 : 七十路　（ななそじ）
• 80 : 八十路　（やそじ）
• 90 : 九十路　（ここのそじ）

Confucius says

The Confucian text The Classic of Rites also specifies a collection of words for specific ages. Sorry ladies, you’re only allowed to use the ones from 50 on.

• 10 : 幼学　（ようがく）
• 20 : 弱冠　（じゃっかん）
• 30 : 年壮　（ねんそう）
• 30 : 壮室　（そうしつ） (if you have a wife)
• 40 : 強仕　（きょうし）
• 50 : 杖家　（じょうか）
• 60 : 杖卿　（じょうきょう）
• 70 : 杖国　（じょうこく）
• 80 : 杖朝　（じょうちょう）
• 81 : 漆寿　（しつじゅ）

The stages of life

You may have heard the words 少年 (しょうねん) or 青年 (せいねん) before, but did you know that these words point to different, generally understood stages of life? Exactly what ages these words refer to is not set in stone, but some documents from the Japanese Ministry of Health use the following groups:

• 0 to 4 : 幼年期
• 5 to 14 : 少年期
• 15 to 24 : 青年期
• 25 to 44 : 壮年期
• 45 to 64 : 中年期
• 65 onward : 高年期

Note about 壮年 (そうねん): 壮 here means to prosper or be active. 壮年 can refer either to age 30 specifically, or to all of a person’s active and productive years (generally starting at age 30).

Confucian age words

More? Yes, Japan also offers another selection of age words based one passage from the Confucian analects, in which he writes:

At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the mandate of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart’s desire without transgressing the norm.

Source: Electronic Library: The Analects of Confucius (look for passage 2:4)

• 15 : 志学 (しがく）
• 30 : 而立 (じりつ）
• 40 : 不惑 (ふわく)
• 50 : 知命　（ちめい）
• 60 : 耳順　（じじゅん）
• 70 : 従心 (じゅうしん）

Note: these words are only for men.

Counting age the Asian way

The traditional way to count your age in East Asian countries is to start at one, not zero like we do in the west, and to increment by one at the end of every calendar year instead of on the individual’s birthday. The system is known in Japanese as 数え年　（かぞえどし） but Japan and most other Asian countries nowadays have very thoroughly adopted the western counting method (満年齢・：まんねんれい）, with the exception of Korea where the old counting method is still the de facto system.

One relic of the old counting system in Japan is the Coming of Age celebration, where boys and girls who turned 20 during the previous year all get to celebrate their passage into adulthood. Read the wikipedia article on Asian age counting if you’re interested.

Two kanji for “sai”

While we’re talking about age, I figured it would be good to include a short word about 歳 and 才. Both of these characters are read さい, both mean age. What’s the difference? 才 was originally an abbreviated form of 歳, so you can think of it as less “official” than 歳. People often use 才 because it’s easier to read and write, but on government documents and official application forms, you will always see 歳 used.

Interestingly, if you’re talking about the age of an animal, you should write 才. Using 歳 with an animal apparently makes the animal seem more human, so depending on your point of view, you could use it with monkeys and such.

Credit where credit is due

Here I’ve compiled a list of the links I referred to when I was locating and organizing all this information. Although I’m sure you’ll never need to know any more than I’ve covered here, there are a couple alternate forms and other super-obscure words out there (particularly on the Wikipedia page) if you’re for some reason totally crazy about this topic.

• 年齢 on Wikipedia (JP)
• チョット雑学：数を表す文字
• 「寿」模擬授業指導案
• 年齢の名称・異称
• 年齢を表す言葉 (the difference between 歳 and 才)

HIRAGANA Version

ROMAJI Version

* Required software (free): Adobe Acrobat Reader

What is this?

This is a “cheat sheet” for the Japanese language. It is an attempt to condense and organize as many of the basic elements of the language onto one sheet of paper as possible.

How do I use it?

The intended use of this document is for you to download it, print it on two sides of one sheet of paper and keep it wherever you need it (in your Japanese textbook, on your desk, in your pocket, etc).

It’s possible to keep the cheat sheet on your computer, but it won’t be anywhere near as handy or portable as a printed version, and you’ll need to do quite a bit of scrolling and zooming because of the small font size.

What information is inside?

Page 1

• Formal (polite) verb forms
• Informal verb forms
• Neutral verb forms
• Verb conjugation guide for U-Verbs, RU-Verbs and the irregulars (suru, kuru)
• Hiragana chart
• Katakana chart
• Kanji chart listing all JLPT N5 (previously: Level 4) kanji.
• Chart of the forms of de aru (desu)
• Adjective/Adverbs usage chart

Page 2

• Core particles: は, が, を, に, と, で, も, か, へ, の, や (wa, ga, o, ni, to, de, mo, ka, e, no, ya)
  • Usage points
  • Example sentences color coded for easy vocabulary tracking
• Assisting particles: だけ, しか, ほど, より, でも, くらい, ばかり, から, まで (dake, shika, hodo, yori, demo, kurai, bakari, kara, made)
  • Example sentences color coded for easy vocabulary tracking
• Common grammatical words and patterns
  • Example sentences color coded for easy vocabulary tracking
• Verbs for giving and receiving
• A small space to add a couple small written notes of your own

Who is this for?

This document will be most useful for beginner to intermediate Japanese learners. A beginner will find the document to be more of a roadmap to what information they should study next and how it fits into the “bigger picture,” and an intermediate Japanese learner get more use with this document as a reference for review.

Why are there four versions?

There are four versions of the file in order to accommodate for users in different parts of the world (North America uses different paper sizes from the rest of the world), and to provide users with a choice regarding how Japanese text is written: using the Japanese hiragana script, or using romaji (phonetic representation in the western alphabet).

What this document is NOT

This document is in no way intended to be a substitute for serious study and learning. Acquiring a human language with 2000+ years of history is a massive undertaking, and this cheat sheet provides only the bare minimum explanation for topics that have great depth.

Nor is this document a comprehensive overview of Japanese language. I’ve tried my best to include as much of the most useful and basic elements as possible, but to get this onto 1 sheet of paper, many things were omitted.

Changes from the old version

Aside from a complete, from-scratch graphical overhaul in Adobe Ilustrator (the old version was made in Microsoft Word), this new version contains updated and expanded information. Here is a pretty complete list of changes:

• “Polite” verbs forms is now more accurately called “Formal” forms, and the command form ～nasai has been moved into this category accordingly.
• Instead of marking forms that cannot be made into a verb with koto/no, noun-able forms are now marked.
• Added abrupt command forms in the informal category.
• In both the formal and informal categories, the causative form of kuru has been corrected to kosaseru, not koraseru
• Added to the neutral verb forms category: Even (if)…, To do too much…, To do… and so on, To seem to want to…
• The note about using verbs as nouns with koto or no is now in the footer.
• Added a note about potential rudeness with the word darou.
• Added a note about how desu/da changes when noun-ified.
• Changed the na-adjective noun form to the form without sa, since this is the more common method (note added)
• Added the continuous/combining form for na-adjectives.
• Changed the old explanation about easily confused i-adjectives to the true difference (the ~ei thing is just a shortcut, no i-adjectives end in ~ei but there are a few na-adjectives that end in い and are not preceeded by an e-line sound.). Added a couple commonly confused na-adjectives also.
• Added a note about the adjective ii, because it always conjugates as yoi.
• Made numerous changes to explanations and example sentences for the particles.
• Added the particle no.
• To the common grammatical words/structures section, added: ka mo shirenai and no you na/ni
• Removed tame from grammatical words section, to make room and because it was already mentioned in the informal verbs section on page 1.
• Added a note that kudasaru is typically used as kudasai.
• Added a small space for the learner to write a few notes of their own.

With this new cheat sheet, the old version is now a sad sight to behold, but it can be downloaded here (8.5×11) and here (A4).

OMG This is so awesome!!!!!

I think so too!!! That’s why I made it. If this document is helpful to you and you’d like to show your appreciation, please consider making a donation to Nihonshock. I’ll take whatever you feel like you can spare.

Oh, and don’t forget to retweet it, tell all your friends, link to Nihonshock on your blog (if you have one), follow me on Twitter and subscribe to the RSS feed!

Final word

Please comment and let me know what you think of the cheat sheet, if you notice any mistakes or if you have any suggestions for improvement. I’ll release minor updates to the cheat sheet whenever I get a new round of prints, but the next major update probably won’t be until next year.

Of the lot, wa (は) and ga (が) are almost undoubtedly the most annoying pair of particles to keep straight, no doubt because neither of them has a true English equivalent. They’re probably the most frequently used particles in the language, so you need to learn them early (note: you won’t master them early), but it’s very difficult to find a decent explanation for them even in big bulky text books. And if you want to make your Japanese teacher sweat, just ask them to explain the difference.

I’ve devoted a lot of introspective soul-searching time to thinking about these two little guys, and in this article, I’m going to do my best to shed some new, meaningful light on the difference between は and が.

Traditional wa and ga “explanations”

First, lets do a quick wrap up of the 3 big bread-and-butter responses you’re most likely to get when asking someone about the difference between は and が.

Stock response #1: は is the topic marker and が is the subject marker.
Learner reaction: Well gee, thanks, that clears up everything for me (sarcasm). Aren’t “subject” and “topic” synonyms??

Stock response #2: You just have to get used to it. You’ll figure it out eventually. Don’t worry about it.
Learner reaction: I don’t want to figure it out “eventually,” dammit, I want to know right now!!

Stock response #3: Look at this example and see how は and が changes the meaning!
Learner reaction: Well okay, I get the example, at least, but what happens in this different sentence? You’ve given me a fish without teaching me how to do it myself.

While none of these explanations is inherently wrong or useless (except maybe #2), each fails in its own unique way to really get at the root of our problem. There has to be a better way to explain it. So… you ask, what is the real difference between は and が…?

The real difference

は is the topic marker and が is the subject marker. Wait! Cursors off the back button, please. Hear me out.

There’s a reason you’ve heard this explanation so many times. The problem is just that no one bothers to explain what they mean by topic and what they mean by subject. To learn our Japanese, we first have to have our English on right. Here’s a diagram to illustrate:

• Topic: a non-grammatical context for the whole sentence.
• Subject: a grammatical relationship only to the verb.

See, that’s not so hard, right? By the way, I’ve worded these two definitions very carefully so if you just glanced over them, go back and read them closely, please, because this is very important. Okay? done? Let’s move on, then…

The number one difference is that while a subject has a explicit grammatical role (the thing which does the verb), a topic is just like a big cloud, with no set relationship to what’s actually going on in the sentence; it’s just there, floating around the sentence.

Okay, so that’s all well and good: subject versus topic.

Easy.

Piece of cake.

朝飯前.

Right? Not quite…

Subject and topic are very distinct roles and it’s not difficult to understand their difference. But what is a poor gaijin to do in real life situations? Since we only ever have subjects in English (never topics) it still takes some getting used to before you can accurately distinguish between where we should use one or the other in a real-life situation.

To help start you down the (long) path to mastery of these two terrible particles, here is a deeper look.

The feeling of wa and ga

Consider the sentence: A は B. If we were to turn this sentence to an image, here is what it would look like:

Because は marks a topic–something non-grammatically related to the sentence–you can think of it like a picture frame. The thing は marks surrounds and labels the sentence, but is independent of what goes on inside. は is a good observer.

Then we have the sentence: A が B.

が–in contrast to は–is much more involved in the sentence. It’s almost like a conqueror. It specifically lays its claim on the verb, almost like it’s setting up a border and denying outsiders access.

This difference is why when looking at a picture of several cute girls, a young man might point his finger at one and say:

watashi wa kanojo da ne.

and mean, “I like her.” But he could not say watashi ga kanojo da, which would have to mean “I am her.”

Different situations, different particles

You may have heard the explanation that は gives emphasis to what comes after it, and が to what comes before it. This explanation isn’t correct in and of itself, but it does bring attention to the fact that when we do want to bring attention to the subject (ie. who or what did something), が is the usually the most logical choice.

Another example I’ve come across that for some reason stuck with me is one that likened は to the and が to a/an, apparently because we would use が to introduce new information to a discussion and は when it is repeated. Again, this misses the point (and is completely unreliable as a guideline, by the way), but it highlights a tendency that arises from the difference between subject and topic: topics are better suited for description and explanation, subjects are better for declarations and statements.

One clever example sentence for は and が that I’ve come across is: watashi wa [my name] desu. vs. watashi ga [my name] desu. While these sentences in English both come out as “I am Lloyd.” In Japanese, they answer different questions:

Q: Who are you?
A: watashi wa Lloyd desu.

Q: Who is Lloyd?
A: watashi ga Lloyd desu.

Here’s a similar example I came up with, showing how the question changes when we use an adjectival sentence.

Q: What do you think of Japan?
A: nihon wa omoshiroi desu.

Q: Which country is interesting?
A: nihon ga omoshiroi desu.

And one more, for those of you with Japanese girlfriends/boyfriends.

Q: What do you think of my voice?
A: anata no koe wa kirei desu.

Q: What part of me is beautiful?
A: anata no koe ga kirei desu.

Unless you are asked the proper question specifically, you should always use が in situations like this. The reason is because は frames the sentence around the voice, so your darling might mistakenly think you are implying that other things about them are not beautiful.

…which brings me to the next important point…

“Contrasting” versus “Distinguishing”

It’s often said that は is used for comparing things. But this is not quite as straightforward as you think. For example, why do we say A yori B no hou ga ~, using が? Isn’t this sentence making a comparison? What gives?

は compares the nature of things. Think of it like this: if A は B, then C は D and E は F. Everything is unique. When we make a statement about something with は, the implication is that other things lack that quality, or have a completely different quality. は states what makes something unique: it contrasts one thing from other things.

が compares the degree of things. If A が B, then C might be B too, but not as much as A. が is great for calling out one specific thing from a group of similar things and showing it off: it distinguishes one thing from others.

Now might be a good time to scroll back up to the example sentences and have another look, if you can really pin down the difference in nuance between contrasting and distinguishing, and see how that is related to topic versus subject, then you’re well on your way to knowing how to use these particles.

The removal test, the comma test

Okay, now for my final trick, I’m going to tell you how to actually test whether you should use は or が.

This is tricky. In Japanese, there is rarely ever a sentence that becomes grammatically incorrect if you chose は when you should have said が or vice versa. The incorrectness that arises from misusing these particles is that you convey an unintended meaning.

So how can we possibly make a test that will hold true across different situations?  Since は marks a topic, information that–while important–does not have a grammatical role, it is much less central to the message of the sentence than a が marked subject. So try this: take it out altogether.

watashi wa?/ga? kuruma o unten shimashita. (I drove the car.)

What happens to the sentence? Does it:

a) become vague, but still have the core information that we need to convey. (ie. in answer to the question “What did you do?“)
b) completely lose its ability to communicate the information we want. (ie. in answer to the question “Who drove the car?“)

If you answered a, は is probably the particle you’re looking for. On the other hand, if your sentence just became a steaming pile of useless words without it (b), が is probably your best bet. I won’t guarantee that this works in all situations, but give it a try next time you are scratching your head over which particle you should use.

We could do a similar test that works on the same principle, but instead of taking out your problem word, try just marking it with a comma and imagining a pause in the sentence.

watashi, kuruma o unten shimashita. (I, drove the car.)

What happens to the sentence?

a) It doesn’t really seem strange at all.
b) The added pause seems really awkward.

If you answered a, chances are high that you need a は. But if you feel there’s something just not right about the sentence and chose b, I would advise が.

In fact, in real written Japanese, the particle は is often followed by a comma, but が almost never is (note: I’m only talking about が as a subject marker, here, not as a conjunction).

Common uses

I won’t go into too much detail on these, and you should think of them as tendencies rather than fixed rules. Everything depends on the context of the situation and what information you are trying to communicate to your listener, but subjects are better at some things and topics are better at others, and its good for learners to have a general idea which goes with which.

は (Topic)

• Good for contrasting one thing from another, talking about difference in substance.
• Good for relaying factual information, as though you were reading from a text book, encyclopedia or dictionary.
• Good for talking about people’s (including your own) personalities and preferences.
• Good for discussing abstract concepts and philosophical debates.

が (Subject)

• Good for down-to-earth discussion of specific events, plans, things, etc.
• Good for describing specific objects that you can feel and touch.
• Good for “pointing” to one object, pulling it out from a crowd, distinguishing it from others.
• Good for relating a chain of events, telling a narrative.

Summary

To wind up the post, here are two images that I’ve prepared that wrap up the differences between は and が as cleanly and snugly as I could manage. By the way, these summary boxes can also be found on Nihonshock’s new Japanese cheat sheet! Check it out if you haven’t already!

As always, comments are welcome.