そう、だろう、らしい and よう

The expressions used to form an opinion or supposition about (something) on the basis of incomplete information – conjectures are really numerous and commonly used in Japanese and are really problematic for language learners. In this post, I will explain you nuances they have. Believe it or not, but once you know them, they become… Continue reading そう、だろう、らしい and よう

The passive

The mystery of passive form, it’s uses, history and what it has in common with potential form explained. ` The passive form is one of the conjugations we learn first and causes us many troubles since it is quite different from the one used in English. Therefore I wanted to introduce it (briefly) to make… Continue reading The passive

Common Slang

Contracted forms used in casual Japanese. When Japanese learners start reading or watching shows, they start to encouter numerous expressions like とこ、こりゃ、とる、てんの that do not appear in their dictionary or in textbooks and the reading or watching becomes quite discouraing. So I thought that it would be really useful if there were a list of… Continue reading Common Slang

の and こと

differences between の and こと and what is this nominaliser THING all about? and also what XVI century has in common with のだ。 Have you ever wondered what is the difference between の and こと? Did you read or heard them being called nominalizers and you didn’t really get it? Or are you curious about… Continue reading の and こと

History of だ

And what it has in common with じゃない。 If we want to understand how the だ came to be, we have to back in time to the auxiliary verb にあり which came to be from particle に expressing localization and あり (modern ある) indicating existence. Eventually, にあり was then shortened to なり. And for example… Continue reading History of だ