Mini no Nihongo

Japanese is written with two 46-character syllabaries plus kanji. Every kana is a whole syllable, and the two sets spell the same sounds. This app assumes you can read both; if you cannot yet, this chart is the whole map — a week of copying it out by hand is the usual price.

Reading them is enough to start Lesson 1. Writing them by hand is what makes them stick.

Every one of these turns up in a lesson without being explained. Tap any of them here for the definition; the lessons themselves underline Japanese words, not these English ones.

particle 助詞 · joshi

A short word that comes AFTER a noun and says what job it is doing in the sentence: は (wa) topic, が (ga) subject, を (o) object, に (ni) destination or time, で (de) place or means, の (no) of, と (to) and/with, も (mo) too. English does this with word order and prepositions; Japanese does it with these.

conjugation 活用 · katsuyō

Changing the end of a verb or adjective to carry tense, politeness and negation. 食べます eat → 食べません do not eat → 食べませんでした did not eat. The word itself never changes for who is doing it — there is no I/you/he ending.

conjugate 活用する

To change a verb or adjective's ending for tense, politeness or negation. See conjugation.

stem 語幹 · gokan

What is left of a polite verb when ます (masu) is taken off: 食べます (tabemasu) → 食べ (tabe). Half the grammar in the course attaches to it (食べたい tabetai, 食べながら tabenagara, 食べましょう tabemashou), which is why the reference starts there.

masu form ます形

The polite present of a verb, ending in ます. This is the form the course teaches first and the form the vocabulary lists give.

polite form 丁寧語

The ます / です shape you use with strangers, at work, and in class. Neutral, never rude, and where every learner starts.

plain form 普通形 · futsūkei

The shape without ます or です: 食べる instead of 食べます, 高い instead of 高いです. It is what friends and family use to each other, and it is also the form required inside longer sentences (〜と思います, 〜時, 〜前に), which is why it is taught even before you have anyone to speak casually with.

dictionary form 辞書形 · jishokei

The plain present of a verb — 食べる, 行く, する. It is the form a dictionary lists, hence the name.

te-form て形 · tekei

The verb form ending in て (te) or で (de): 食べて (tabete), 行って (itte), 飲んで (nonde). It is not a tense. It joins clauses ("do this, then that"), and it is the socket a dozen later patterns plug into: ています, てください, てもいいです, てから.

onbin 音便 · onbin

The sound changes that make the て-form and た-form easier to say: く→いて, ぐ→いで, む/ぶ/ぬ→んで, う/つ/る→って, す→して. Learn the five and the whole form falls out.

godan 五段動詞 · Group 1

The larger verb group: 書く, 飲む, 買う, 話す. The syllable before ます moves across the five vowel rows as the form changes (書きます・書かない・書こう), which is what "five steps" names. Minna no Nihongo calls these Verbs I.

ichidan 一段動詞 · Group 2

The regular group: 食べる, 見る, 起きる. Drop る and add the ending — one step, no vowel shuffling. Minna no Nihongo calls these Verbs II.

irregular verb 不規則動詞 · Group 3

する (do) and 来る (come), plus every noun + する compound (勉強します, 電話します). Two verbs, memorised whole. Minna no Nihongo calls these Verbs III.

i-adjective い形容詞

An adjective ending in い that conjugates like a verb: 高い → 高くない → 高かった. Never use です to make it past — 高いでした is wrong, 高かったです is right.

na-adjective な形容詞

An adjective that behaves like a noun and needs な before a noun: 静かな部屋. Its past and negative ride on です/じゃありません, exactly like a noun's.

copula です · だ

The "is/are" word. です is the polite one, だ the plain one. It attaches to nouns and な-adjectives; verbs and い-adjectives do not need it.

transitive 他動詞 · tadōshi

A verb that takes an を object — somebody does it to something: ドアを開けます (I open the door). Japanese usually has a matching intransitive twin.

intransitive 自動詞 · jidōshi

A verb with no を object — the thing does it by itself: ドアが開きます (the door opens). Pairs like 開ける/開く, 始める/始まる are learned two at a time.

counter 助数詞

A suffix stuck to a number to say what kind of thing is being counted: 一枚 for flat things, 三本 for long things, 二人 for people. You cannot say "two" on its own about an object.

potential 可能形

The "can do it" form: 書けます / 書ける. Introduced in Lesson 27.

passive 受身形

The "it was done to me" form: 見られます / 見られる. Introduced in Lesson 37.

causative 使役形

The "make or let someone do it" form: 行かせます / 行かせる. Introduced in Lesson 48.

volitional 意向形

The "let's" / "I think I'll" form: 行きましょう politely, 行こう plainly. Introduced in Lesson 31.

conditional 条件形 · ば形

The "if" form: 行けば, 高ければ. Introduced in Lesson 35, alongside たら and と.

imperative 命令形

The bare order: 行け, 食べろ. Blunt to the point of rudeness — taught in Lesson 33 so you can read signs and understand being shouted at, not so you can use it.

polite past negative 〜ませんでした

One of the four slots the trainer asks for. Polite/plain × present/past × positive/negative: 食べます eat · 食べました ate · 食べません do not eat · 食べませんでした did not eat.

kana 仮名

The two phonetic alphabets — hiragana and katakana — 46 characters each. Every one is a whole syllable. This app assumes you can already read them.

hiragana 平仮名

The rounded script (あ か さ), used for Japanese words, all grammar endings and every particle. Learn this one first.

katakana 片仮名

The angular script (ア カ サ), used for words borrowed from other languages, names from abroad and emphasis. Same sounds as hiragana, different shapes.

kanji 漢字

The characters borrowed from Chinese, each carrying meaning rather than sound. You are not expected to write them to use this app — the readings are printed above them.

furigana 振り仮名

The small kana printed above a kanji to give its reading — the 「にほん」 over 日本. The ふりがな button at the top of every lesson turns them on and off.

romaji ローマ字

Japanese written in the Latin alphabet (tabemasu for 食べます). Useful for a week, then a trap: it hides the kana you need. This app does not use it.

ime 入力メソッド

The input method that turns romaji typing into kana — you type "tabemasu" and it writes 食べます. Built into every OS but off by default: add Japanese in the keyboard or language settings, then switch to it with a key or the space bar.

api key APIキー

A long secret string from your own Anthropic account that lets this page talk to Claude on your behalf. You create it at console.anthropic.com, you pay Anthropic for what it uses, and it stays in this browser — it is never sent anywhere but api.anthropic.com.

minna no nihongo みんなの日本語

The standard beginner Japanese textbook, in two volumes of 25 lessons, used by most Japanese language schools. This app follows its lesson order. You do not need a copy: the grammar, vocabulary and drills here are written out in full — what a copy adds is the reading passages, the listening audio and the exercise book.

て-form て形 · tekei

The verb form ending in て (te) or で (de): 食べて (tabete), 行って (itte), 飲んで (nonde). It is not a tense. It joins clauses ("do this, then that"), and it is the socket a dozen later patterns plug into: ています, てください, てもいいです, てから.

ます-stem 語幹 · gokan

What is left of a polite verb when ます is taken off: 食べます → 食べ. Half the grammar in the course attaches to it (食べたい, 食べながら, 食べましょう), which is why the reference starts there.

masu-stem 語幹 · gokan

What is left of a polite verb when ます is taken off: 食べます → 食べ. Half the grammar in the course attaches to it (食べたい, 食べながら, 食べましょう), which is why the reference starts there.

masu stem 語幹 · gokan

What is left of a polite verb when ます is taken off: 食べます → 食べ. Half the grammar in the course attaches to it (食べたい, 食べながら, 食べましょう), which is why the reference starts there.

group i 五段動詞 · Group 1

The larger verb group: 書く, 飲む, 買う, 話す. The syllable before ます moves across the five vowel rows as the form changes (書きます・書かない・書こう), which is what "five steps" names. Minna no Nihongo calls these Verbs I.

group ii 一段動詞 · Group 2

The regular group: 食べる, 見る, 起きる. Drop る and add the ending — one step, no vowel shuffling. Minna no Nihongo calls these Verbs II.

group iii 不規則動詞 · Group 3

する (do) and 来る (come), plus every noun + する compound (勉強します, 電話します). Two verbs, memorised whole. Minna no Nihongo calls these Verbs III.

五段 五段動詞 · Group 1

The larger verb group: 書く, 飲む, 買う, 話す. The syllable before ます moves across the five vowel rows as the form changes (書きます・書かない・書こう), which is what "five steps" names. Minna no Nihongo calls these Verbs I.

一段 一段動詞 · Group 2

The regular group: 食べる, 見る, 起きる. Drop る and add the ending — one step, no vowel shuffling. Minna no Nihongo calls these Verbs II.

た-form た形 · takei

The plain past: 食べた (tabeta), 行った (itta), 飲んだ (nonda). Built exactly like the て-form with た instead of て, so if you can make one you can make the other. It is what たら, たり and 〜たことがある attach to.

ない-form ない形 · naikei

The plain negative: 食べない (tabenai), 行かない (ikanai). It behaves like an い-adjective from there — 食べなかった for the past. Needed for ないでください and 〜なければなりません.

ば-form ば形 · bakei

The conditional: 行けば (ikeba), 食べれば (tabereba), 高ければ (takakereba). "If X, then Y" where X is the condition Y depends on.

syllabary 音節文字 · onsetsu moji

An alphabet whose letters are whole syllables rather than single sounds. か is one letter reading "ka" — you never write k and a separately. Hiragana and katakana are the two Japanese ones.

dakuten 濁点 · dakuten

The two small strokes that voice a kana: か ka → が ga, さ sa → ざ za, た ta → だ da, は ha → ば ba. Same shape, one added mark, a different sound.

handakuten 半濁点 · handakuten

The small circle that turns the は row into p: は ha → ぱ pa, ひ hi → ぴ pi. Only that row takes it.