Covered in Something When we want to say that something is covered in or full of something else (e.g. “the bookshelf…
Colloquial Japanese One gripe among Japanese learners is that they learn all these verb conjugations and honorifics and then when…
Honorifics in Japanese: A Complete Introduction to Keigo, Sonkeigo, and Kenjogo Honorifics play a huge role in the Japanese language. They define underlying power dynamics and help the speaker…
Japanese Grammar: Causative-Passive Verbs You’re probably thinking, “What the hell the causative-passive?” All I mean by this are verb structures that combine…
The Causative (させる) The causative is used to express “make” or “let” someone do something”. In fact, we’ve already met one…
The Passive (される) First of all, a quick reminder of what we mean by the passive. Present Passive to approve to…
Actions From & Towards Here we introduce how to express actions from and towards someone or yourself, e.g. “I will have him…
Regret at an Action (てしまう) We can use the te form with the group 1 verb しまう to express regret at an action.…
Preparing in Advance (ておく) This structure uses the te form with the verb “to put” to express that you will perform an…
State of Completion (てある) Not to be confused with the present participle, this structure combines the te form with the verb “to…
Must & Must Not The most standard way of saying “to have to” in Japanese is to say, “if you don’t do…