Question | Answer |
すき and きらい conjugation | な adjectives |
すき and きらい object | marked by が, because not a verb. |
と | and, complete list |
や | and, partial list |
すき and きらい lists | use と or や between each item |
すき and きらい in describing nouns | すきな and きらいな, meaning favorite and the opposite of favorite |
すき and きらい don't like or dislike | すきでもきらいでもありません. Can also replace ありません with ないです. |
Plain present affirmative form, verbs | dictionary form |
Dictionary form う verb from ます form | remove ます, change vowel of the last letter to u |
Dictionary form る verb from ます form | change ます to る |
Dictionary form します | する |
Dictionary form きます | くる |
Identifying verb group by plain affirmative form, irregular verbs | くる and する are the only irregular verbs. |
Identifying verb group by plain affirmative form, る verbs | -Xiru or -Xeru (where X is any consonant), with some exceptions. |
Identifying verb group by plain affirmative form, う verbs | all regular verbs not ending in -Xiru or -Xeru (where X is any consonant), but also some exceptions like かえる and はいる. |
Changing verb phrases to noun phrases | add の to plain affirmative form. Specific manifestations vary depending on other grammar structures. |
Changing verb phrases to noun phrases, expressing likes and dislikes | Plain affirmative form with の comes before が. |
contrast は | は can be used to mark a contrasting item whether or not it is explicit. It may appear in a second clause or sentence if the contrast is explicit, but this is not a perfect summary of its use. |
contrast は, sentences ending in negative forms | は often may appear in sentences with negative forms. Quite frequently there is no explicit item of contrast in this case. |
contrast は, more explicit than normal use | は makes a contrast more explicit by appearing in more than one sentence or clause. This may lead to a topic marker は and contrast marker は to appear in the same sentence, which is ok. |
contrast は, replacing other particles | は is added to most particles. The exceptions are を and が, as well as well に (point of time) and に・へ (goal) when they can be easily understood from context. |
が as but | が can go onto the end of a clause to connect two opposing clauses. These clauses often are contrasting, and when this is so は is used. |
が to open a conversation or introduce a topic | In this usage, が does not indicate a strong negative relationship. The negative relationship is between the more polite first statement and the more direct second statement. |
superlatives | いちばん |
superlatives, usage | comes before an adjective or adverb, and indicates that it is the most of that adjective or adverb. (usage with an adverb is not explained here) |
superlatives, to describe a noun | to describe a noun with いちばん, いちばん must be affixed to an adjective describing a noun, or an adjective with a noun as an object marked by が. |
superlatives, scope | to indicate the scope of a preference, use a noun followed by the phrase のなかで. |
superlatives, scope in terms of a place | のなか is omitted for place nouns. |
comparatives | to compare two items, follow the more emphasized or preferred one with (の)ほうが, and the less emphasized or preferred one with より.Verb phrases or noun phrases can be compared in this way. |
comparatives, sentence construction | ほうが and より can appear in either order. The sentence can end with an adjective and copula, or よく and a verb. より can be ommitted if obvious from the context. |
comparatives, phrase format | の is only included for noun phrases, and the verb phrases must end in the dictionary form. より never includes の. |
comparatives, asking | to ask which of two items are preferred, follow each item with と, and then afterward include どちらのほうが. Verb phrases should include の, and noun phrases should not. |
comparatives, adjectives | もっと, more or even more, is an adverb used with adjectives. |
comparatives, もっと with verbs | もっと can also me used with verbs, as in もっとたべませんか. (Why don't you eat more?) |
comparatives, equality | follow the two compared phrases with も. Include の only for verb phrases being compared. Otherwise, structure is the same as for other comparatives. |
giving reasons with ので | ので indicates a reason and follows a clause ending with a verb, noun, or adjective in the plain form. A second clause appears afterwards including that which the reason explains. |
な adjective affirmative plain form | ~な where ~ is the adjective. |
な adjective negative plain form | ~じゃない where ~ is the adjective. |
noun and copula verb affirmative plain form | ~な where ~ is the noun. Same as for な adjectives. |
noun and copula verbnegative plain form | ~じゃない where ~ is the noun. Same as for な adjectives. |
い adjective affirmative plain form | normal い adjective affirmative form |
い adjective negative plain form | replace い with くない |
う verb negative plain form | replace the [i] vowel sound from the ます form with the [a] vowel sound, remove ます, and add ない. |
う verb negative plain form, verbs with no consonant before [i] in ます form | replace the [i] vowel sound from the ます form with [wa], remove ます, and add ない. |
あります plain negative form | ない |
る verb negative plain form | change ます to ない. |
します negative plain form, irregular verb | しない |
きます negative plain form, irregular verb | こない |
だいすきです, connotations and degree of affinity | liking something very much or extremely |
すきです, connotations and degree of affinity | liking something |
すきじゃありません, connotations and degree of affinity | not liking something. Polite alternative to きらい |
すきじゃないです, connotations and degree of affinity | somewhat less polite version of すきじゃありません |
きらいじゃありません, connotations and degree of affinity | somewhat less positive than すきじゃないです |
きらいじゃないです, connotations and degree of affinity | somewhat less positive than きらいじゃないです |
きらい, connotations and degree of affinity | disliking something. It is generally better to use すきじゃありません, as it is more polite. |
だいきらい, connotations and degree of affinity | strongly disliking something |