Grammar– category –
Japanese grammar for English speakers. Particles, verb conjugation, sentence patterns, conditionals, and nuanced expressions organized by JLPT level N5 to N1. Browse by level: N4/N5, N2/N3, N1/N2. By topic: Particles, Verb Conjugation, Conditionals, Sentence Patterns. Full overview at the Japanese Grammar Hub.
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飲み会 and Workplace Social Phrases: How to Navigate Japanese Office Culture
The 飲み会 (nomikai — drinking party) and other workplace social events are an important part of Japanese office culture. How you behave — and what you say — at these events can shape your workplace relationships as much as your work per... -
Keigo Usage Map: 丁寧語, 尊敬語, 謙譲語 — Which to Use When
Keigo (敬語) is Japanese honorific language — the system that adjusts your speech based on social relationships. Most learners know it exists but don't know how to navigate the three types systematically. This guide gives you a practical... -
Japanese Business Phone Call Scripts: Incoming, Outgoing, and Messages
Business phone calls in Japanese follow a strict script. The language is more formal than emails, the pace can be fast, and there's no second chance to re-read what was said. This guide gives you templates for every common business call ... -
報連相 (Hou-Ren-So): Japan’s Essential Workplace Communication Framework
報告（ほうこく）・連絡（れんらく）・相談（そうだん）— known as 報連相 (ほうれんそう) — is the communication framework that underpins Japanese workplace culture. If you work in a Japanese company, mastering these three types of communicat... -
Japanese Business Meeting Phrases: Propose, Discuss, and Close Effectively
Business meetings in Japan have their own vocabulary — from opening remarks to facilitating discussion to closing with next steps. This guide covers the key phrases, the different stages of a meeting, and how politeness level shifts depe... -
Japanese Business Email: Templates, Structure, and Politeness Explained
Japanese business emails follow a strict structure — opening, body, close — and each section uses specific formal phrases. This guide gives you copy-paste templates for the most common business email scenarios, with explanations of the p... -
Japanese Mora and Rhythm: Why Japanese Timing Is Different From English
Japanese is a mora-timed language — every mora takes the same amount of time. English is stress-timed, where stressed syllables are longer and unstressed ones are shorter. This difference is why Japanese sounds choppy or sing-song to Eng... -
Japanese Consonants: ら行, つ, し, ふ — How to Say the Hard Sounds Correctly
Japanese has several consonant sounds that don't exist in English — and some English sounds that Japanese doesn't use. This guide focuses on the 5 sounds that trip up English speakers the most: ら-row, つ, し, ふ, and the voiced/unvoiced... -
っ and ん: How to Pronounce Japanese Double Consonants and the N-Mora
Two of the most mispronounced elements in Japanese are っ (small tsu) and ん (n). They each take a full mora — a unit of time — but produce no vowel sound. This guide explains exactly how to pronounce them correctly. CharacterNameDuratio... -
Japanese Pitch Accent: A Beginner’s Guide to High and Low Tones
Japanese uses pitch accent — not stress accent like English. The same sounds can mean completely different things depending on which syllable is high or low. This guide covers the basics English speakers need to understand pitch accent. ...
