notes

nearly all Japanese words fall into one of three categories

• the categories are: nouns, verbs, and adjectives
• other word types include particles and conjunctions

  verbs and adjectives are easy to identify

• every verb ends in an う row kana (in its “dictionary” form)
• every adjective ends in the kana い (in its “dictionary” form)
• basically every other word is a noun
• if a word is (or can be) written in only kanji, it is very likely to be a noun

  there are special types of nouns

• adjectival nouns
  • these are nouns that (under certain conditions) can be used adjectivally
  • can use the connective form of the copula 「だ」 (「な」)
• 「する」 nouns
  • these are nouns that can be used with 「する」 and drop the direct object marker 「を」
  • ex: 「勉強をする」 means “do study” and 「勉強する」 means “to study”
• adverbial nouns
  • like 「する」 nouns, they can drop particles (「と」 and 「に」)under certain conditions
  • ex: 「静か」 means “quiet” and 「静かに（する）」 means “(do) quietly”
  • adverbial nouns can drop this 「に」
    • ex: 「ゆっくり」 means “slow” and 「ゆっくり（する）」 means “(do) slowly”
    • ex: 「あまり」 means “excess” and 「悲しみのあまり泣いた。」 means “From sadness’s excess, cried.”
      • ex: 「あまり勉強しない。」 means “Not do an excess of study.”
  • ex: 「随分上手だね。」 means “You’re pretty skilled, huh.”

    resources

• youtube