30 articles
grammar
Japanese has more than one way to say 'if.' Start with ば and なら: ば sets up cause-and-effect conditions, while なら is perfect for giving advice.
grammar
春になると桜が咲く, ボタンを押すとドアが開く — と describes inevitable cause-and-effect: natural laws, habits, and automatic consequences.
grammar
たら/ば + past tense + のに — the regret formula in Japanese. The deed is done, but you still want to say 'if only things had been different.'
grammar
ます, ました, ません, ませんでした — four polite verb forms, one simple pattern. Master them and you can talk about anything in any tense.
grammar
たことがある, たまま, た方がいい, たあとで — four practical patterns built on the た-form, all in one lesson.
grammar
ところ isn't just 'place' -- after a verb's た-form, it becomes a time marker meaning 'just finished' at that exact moment.
grammar
「この本を読んだら貸してあげる」 and 「この本を読むなら貸してあげる」 — both are about lending a book, but the timelines are completely reversed. Master the time gap between たら and なら.
grammar
How do you say 'reading books, listening to music, and stuff like that' in Japanese? たり〜たりする handles listing, alternation, and contrast.
grammar
Both 「窓が開いている」 and 「窓が開けてある」 translate to 'the window is open,' but Japanese speakers hear completely different information: one just describes a state, the other implies someone opened it.
grammar
「持っていく」means 'take (away),' 「持ってくる」means 'bring (here).' But ていく and てくる don't just handle spatial direction — they also express trends over time.
