Vocabulary
Word usage tips and nuances to help you choose the right word
Word usage tips and nuances to help you choose the right word
34 articles
vocabulary
きれい ends in い but is a な-adjective. 大きな looks like an adjective but can't be a predicate. This guide walks you through every trap.
vocabulary
嬉しい and 楽しい both mean happy, 悲しい and 寂しい both mean sad — but mixing them up sounds unnatural. This guide sorts them all out.
vocabulary
totemo, kanari, nakanaka all mean something like 'very' — but they're not interchangeable. One chart to master them all.
vocabulary
Japanese has a different word for every shade of 'often' — from 100% itsumo to 0% kesshite. One scale to sort them all out.
vocabulary
Want to say 'take it slow,' 'speak clearly,' or 'do it properly'? Japanese manner adverbs turn flat sentences into vivid ones.
vocabulary
飛び出す means to rush out, 飛び込む means to dive in — one points outward, the other inward. Learn them as a pair.
vocabulary
From starting to finishing, Japanese uses three compound verbs to map out a timeline: 始める, 続ける, and 終わる — plus 直す and 上がる for bonus power.
vocabulary
食べかける means half-eaten, 押しつける means to force upon someone — かける is about incomplete actions, つける is about sticking things on.
vocabulary
Eating too much is 食べ過ぎる, helping each other is 助け合う, starting over is やり直す — master these compound verb patterns and double your expressive power.
vocabulary
Weather-cold is 寒い, water-cold is 冷たい — Japanese splits one English word into two, and there are even more temperature words to discover.