15 docs tagged with "advanced-topics"

A bungo (文語) grammar primer for modern readers: the six conjugation bases, classical verb classes, auxiliaries, and kakari-musubi to read pre-modern Japanese.

The Japanese causative form (使役形) explained: せる・させる conjugation, the make-vs-let ambiguity, the を/に force-vs-permission split, and short -す/さす.

The causative-passive (使役受身) ～させられる means "was made to do." Build it from causative plus passive, master the 五段 contraction, and the nuance.

Classical grammar survivals in modern Japanese: recognize and parse ～ぬ, ～ざるをえない, ～がたい, ～ごとし, ～や否や and other bungo forms in idioms, signage, and formal text.

Japanese ellipsis explained: what gets left unsaid (object, verb, whole clauses), how context recovers it, and why over-specifying sounds condescending.

Focus particles こそ, さえ, すら, だに compared: how the scalar "even" trio さえ, すら, だに splits by register, why すら cannot take さえ〜ば, and where だに survives.

Japanese inversion (倒置) puts words after the verb, breaking the verb-final rule. See how afterthought tails and literary 倒置法 work, and when to avoid it.

koto vs no nominalization made simple: こと is abstract and formal, の is concrete and spoken. See which verbs force which, with a verb-class table.

Japanese passive voice (受身形) explained: れる/られる formation, the direct passive, the adversative "suffering" passive, and passive of intransitive verbs.

The Japanese potential form (可能形, kanoukei) lets you say "can do." Learn how to form ～られる, ～える, and できる by verb class, plus the を→が shift and ら-抜き言葉.

Ra-nuki kotoba is the dropped-ら potential (見れる, not 見られる). Learn which 一段 verbs it hits, why it disambiguates られる, and when it stays exam-safe.

Japanese scrambling lets you reorder most sentence parts freely because particles mark grammatical roles. The one rule that never bends: the verb stays last.

Spontaneous Voice (自発) is the られる reading where feelings arise by themselves. Learn its verbs, the が-subject, and how to tell it from the other three.

まじ is the classical negative of べし, surviving today only as ～まじき in set phrases like あるまじき行為 and 許すまじき. Learn the form, nuance, and formal register.

べき is a moral or logical "should" in Japanese, from classical べし. Learn the form (including すべき), べきではない and べきだった, and how it differs from なければならない.