Japanese has three adverbs that all mean something like "surely" or "definitely" in English — きっと, 絶対ず — but they carry very different levels of confidence and are used in different situations. This article will help you choose the...

If you have spent any time listening to native Japanese speakers, you have almost certainly heard ちゃんと (chanto) — probably multiple times in a single conversation. What makes this word tricky is that it carries at least six different...

Both あそこ and むこう point to somewhere "over there", yet native speakers use them in noticeably different situations. Mix them up and you might leave your listener confused about exactly where you mean. This guide will clear that up f...

Have you ever heard a Japanese person say あくまでも and wondered exactly what they meant? This versatile adverb can express two very different things — "just / only / hypothetically" or "insistently / persistently" — and mixing them up ...