Take the Quiz Welcome everyone, this is Mac with another N5 Grammar Lesson from JLPT Boot Camp. In the last episode, we learned about how to express changes in states. Today, we are going to learn how to use the て form. We will look at a few, very short exchanges from our friends Matt and Yu. Let’s give it a try. Conversation 1 (0:24) Yu is at her house, talking to her father. She is leaving to meet Matt. They are speaking casually. Yu:    いってきます。             Itte kimasu.            I’ll be back. Dad: いって　らっしゃい。   &n ..read more

 Take the Quiz Welcome everyone, this is Mac with another N5 Grammar Lesson from JLPT Boot Camp. Last episode, we learned about how to express our wants and to make invitations. Today, we are going to learn how to talk about changes in states using もう and まだ. We are going to look at a few, very short exchanges. Let’s give it a try. Conversation 1 (0:24) Yu and Matt are deciding where to eat. Yu:    たこやきは　食たべたの。             Takoyakiwa    tabetano.            Did you eat takoyaki (before)? Matt: もう食べたよ。おいしかった。 &nb ..read more

 Take the Quiz Welcome everyone, this is Mac with another N5 Grammar Lesson from JLPT Boot Camp. Last episode, we learned how to talk about making changes and changes that happened. Today, we are going over some more of the key particles you need to know for the N5. We are going to look at a few, very short exchanges. Let’s give it a try. Conversation 1 (0:23) Yu is asking about Matt’s day. They are friends, so they will be speaking casually. Yu:    きのう　しごとは　どうだった。            Kinou     shigotowa   doudatta.       ..read more

   Take the Quiz Welcome everyone, this is Mac with another N5 Grammar Lesson from JLPT Boot Camp. Last episode, we learned about a couple of different ways we can use adjectives. Today, we are going to talk about changes with adjectives. We are going to look at a few, very short exchanges. Let’s give it a try. Conversation 1 (0:21) Yu is late meeting Matt to go shopping. They are friends so they will be speaking casually. Yu:    何なにを　しているの。            Naniwo, shiteiruno.            What are you doing? Matt ..read more

 Take the Quiz Welcome everyone, this is Mac with another N5 Grammar Lesson from JLPT Boot Camp. Last episode, we learned about our first two sets of こ, そ, あ, ど words. Today, we are going learn how to use a few more sets of these valuable words. We are going to look at a few, very short exchanges. Let’s give it a try. Conversation 1 (0:25) Matt and Yu are enjoying a meal at a nice restaurant. They are friends, so they will be using the casual form. Yu:   ここは　りょうりが　おいしい。            Kokowa   ryouriga        oishii.   ..read more

My old enemy ひらく You might think that 開く can only be read as あく, but it has a different reading – ひらく. And a long time ago, when I took the N4 test, I had answer a vocabulary question about 開ひらく. It was for the 5th section of the vocabulary where they use a word in 4 different sentences and you have to choose the best one. I don’t remember what was in all of the sentences but they were all different kinds things opening. I had no idea there was a different ‘to open’. My teacher at the time explained to me that 開ひらく  had a basic meaning of ‘to open out’. For example, you can use it for wh ..read more

I’m starting a new series this week called “This Week I Learned”. Over the next few weeks, months, and hopefully years, I’ll be sharing all the quirky things I’ve managed to pick up in my random meandering Japanese studies. I’ll try to stick to only those tidbits that you can reapply and use to improve your Japanese. If you have any feedback, I’d love to hear from you. I’d also love to hear about what you are doing to study Japanese in the comments below. You can use がっている with animals. I stumbled upon an interesting question over at StackExchange the other day about whether or not you can us ..read more

 Take the Quiz Welcome everyone, this is Mac with another N5 Grammar Lesson from JLPT Boot Camp. Last episode, we learned about some important Japanese particles. Today, we are going to talk about wants and invitations. We are going to look at a few, very short exchanges. Let’s give it a try. Conversation 1 (0:23) Matt and Yu are deciding what to order. They are friends, so this is in casual Japanese. Yu:    おこのみやきを　食たべたいの。            Okonomiyakiwo     tabetaino.            Do (you) want to eat okonomiyaki ..read more

 Take the Quiz Welcome everyone, this is Mac with another N5 Grammar Lesson from JLPT Boot Camp. Last episode, we learned how to talk about making changes and changes that happened. Today, we are going over some more of the key particles you need to know for the N5. We are going to look at a few, very short exchanges. Let’s give it a try. Conversation 1 (0:23) Yu is asking about Matt’s day. They are friends, so they will be speaking casually. Yu:    きのう　しごとは　どうだった。            Kinou     shigotowa   doudatta.       ..read more

   Take the Quiz Welcome everyone, this is Mac with another N5 Grammar Lesson from JLPT Boot Camp. Last episode, we learned about a couple of different ways we can use adjectives. Today, we are going to talk about changes with adjectives. We are going to look at a few, very short exchanges. Let’s give it a try. Conversation 1 (0:21) Yu is late meeting Matt to go shopping. They are friends so they will be speaking casually. Yu:    何なにを　しているの。            Naniwo, shiteiruno.            What are you doing? Matt: へやを　きれいに　している。              Heyawo kireini shiteiru.              (I)’m cleaning ..read more