Essential Japanese Grammar: A Comprehensive Guide to Contemporary Usage

by Masahiro Tanimori, Eriko Sato

Essential Japanese Grammar is an indispensable reference for students of Japanese at all levels.

Long the standard in education, it provides clear, jargon-free explanations of how Japanese grammar works and offers hundreds of example sentences. It is an essential handbook for self-study or for the classroom and should be a valued resource for years to come.

Essential Japanese Grammar presents a number of unique features. First, grammatical terminology has been kept to a minimum so that extensive prior knowledge of grammar is not required. Second, abundant example sentences written in Japanese characters (kana and kanji) followed by romanji and English translations. Third, the authors have tried to reveal aspects of grammar that may not be found in comparable grammar books.

This book contains:
-parts of speech
-sentence constructions
-conjugations forms
-speech styles and tones
-accentuation rules
-essential words and functional elements
-an appendix for referencing and cross-referencing Japanese words

Genres: Language, Japanese Literature, Reference, Nonfiction, Education, Linguistics, Japan

416 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2012

About the author

Masahiro Tanimori is associate professor of Japanese education at Tottori University in Japan. He is the author of Handbook of Japanese Grammar and a member of the Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language.

Reviews

[Sushi (寿司) · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some mistakes but it is a good book. 😉

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book isn't the most enticing grammar read in terms of its presentation; it feels very dry. However, its explanations are solid and easy to follow.

[David Cowhig]

Studied Japanese for years many years ago especially to make sentence patterns more active in my mind. This book was a helpful review before my trips to Japan last year.

[Black Tea Lady ☕️📚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

El japonés no es un idioma fácil porque no hay nada que pueda compararse con la escritura y estructura gramatical del occidente. Todo libro disponible, siempre será una buena fuente de información y soporte. Definitivamente es un buen complemento para los que están estudiando el idioma japonés nivel principiante y principiante medio. Lo que me hubiera gustado más es que el libro tuviera menos romanji y más hiragana, katakana y kanji.