IxrecAdditional Grammar Topics

Additional Grammar Topics

As the title implies, this is just a short list of things I think are worth listing or explaining, but don't really fit in anywhere else. At the moment it's extremely short, so there's almost certainly something obvious I've forgotten to include, on top of the fact that I don't know very much about non-Kantou dialects yet (though as of v2.3 my kogo knowledge is decent).

Phrasal Verbs
Formal Verbs
Persistent 古語 kogo
Dialects
関西弁 Kansai-ben or 大阪弁 Osaka-ben

Phrasal Verbs

There are very, very few phrasal verbs in Japanese, so what follows is probably close to a comprehensive list.

Formal Words

Several Japanese words have a very specific formal (and longer) synonym, as shown below. For some reason, most of the “ru” verbs below have an irregular -i form ending in “i” not “ri,” which even doubles as a soft command. So, expect to see a fair amount of らっしゃい, 下さい and the like.

Persistent 古語 kogo

古語 kogo is a general term for old forms of Japanese, in contrast with modern Japanese. As of version v2.2, there's a supplemental page all about it since, like many other languages, learning a little about old Japanese helps with understanding modern Japanese. This is partly because it helps explain a lot of the modern language's quirks, but also because most native speakers know a few things about old Japanese and are thus prone to using them even in otherwise modern Japanese. The goal here is to list those things, so you can avoid getting thrown off by them even if you don't care about learning old Japanese.

Before I can simply list all the bits worth knowing, there is one grammar detail that needs explaining. In old Japanese, instead of a single infinitive/nonpast form, there was a separate "predicative form" for verbs/adjectives meant to end a sentence, and an "attributive form" for verbs/adjectives at the end of a clause/phrase meant to describe a noun. The predicative form is the default/infinitive/dictionary form.

• All adjectives end in し in their predicative form, and either き or かる in their attributive form. Thus it's quite common to see adjectives ending in き for no apparent reason. This is also why ない can become なし or なき, and いい/よい can be よし. Adjectives also have a command form ending in -are, though so far なかれ is the only use of this I've seen in modern Japanese.
• The old negative form is -a/-i -zu. Its attributive form is either -zaru or -nu, and its -i form is either -zari or -zu. That is pretty confusing, but all you need to remember is that -zu/-zari/-zaru/-nu are all old ways of indicating negation that modern speakeres may still use.
  -zu is often used just like -nai, but it can also be used with the に particle in a way that's best translated using the word "without".
  -zaru is mainly used in the expression ＿ざるを得ない meaning "unable to not _".
• べき was originally the predicative form of べし. Its negative form is べからず. Also, in old Japanese べし meant a lot more than just "should/ought". Specifically, it indicates likelihood/volition/intent/obvious truth/recommendation/order/possibility. Again, when a modern speaker uses this it's usually very obvious which of these are intended, so don't let it scare you.
• The ancient -a yu form (later replaced by -a ru and -i raru) is both a potential and a passive form. It's probably the origin of the modern words いわゆる (passive of "to say" → said to be → the so-called) and あらゆる (able to exist → all _s which can exit → various/many/all kinds).
• The phrase 言わんばかり is the -a mu/n form (in this case, it's like a volitional form) plus the old ばかり (which means ほど or ぐらい). It's almost always correct to translate it as "as if to say".
• The -i つつ form means "continue _ing", "repeatedly _" or "_ alongside/while _ing".
• The old version of ば, both as a particle and as part of the -eba form, means "since/because" (like から). Nowadays it means "if".
• ごとく means what らしい and みたい do nowadays. However, like -i tsutsu, there are still some authors who use ごとく a lot. You may also see its attributive form ごとき.
• にて can mark place/time (like に), means/method (like で), someone's situation/status (like として), or a cause/reason (like から). Don't let the multiple meanings scare you, it's usually very obvious which is intended.
• なり and たり are just old gobi.
• のみ is pretty much identical to だけ.
• だに means "if nothing else", "at the very least", "not even _ much less _".
• As you may have noticed, modern Japanese has some confusing/redundant verbs such as 言わす and 合わす which seem to be just causative versions of 言う and 合う. The old causative form was in fact -asu instead of -aseru, so this redundancy is just the result of those verbs being so common their old causative forms had a lot of inertia.

Dialects

Unfortunately, I am not very knowledgeable about dialects. But I can list several things distinctive of Kansai-ben which, I feel, is enough to make the vast majority of lines in that dialect comprehensible. I'll expand this if I ever I get the chance to study dialects properly.

For the record, the 関東弁 Kantou Dialect or 東京弁 Tokyo Dialect is the one I've been teaching you.

関西弁 Kansai Dialect or 大阪弁 Osaka Dialect

• や replaces だ, and やん replaces じゃん
• There's the new gobi ねん
• The -te iru (-teru) form is replaced by a -te oru (-toru) form with identical meaning
• Negative verbs now end in ん or へん
• Past negative verbs now end in んかった or へんかった
• ほんとう is replaced with ホンマ
• いかん is replaced with あかん
• いい is replaced with ええ
• すごい/すごく is replaced with ごつい/ごっつ
• The -i form (possibly with the i/e sound elongated) can be a soft/feminine command form
• The -i form (possibly with the i/e sound elongated) followed by な can be a soft/feminine negative command form

That should be enough to make sense out of any random Kansai you come across. There are of course dozens of other minor differences, but the ones listed above are among the most likely to throw you off or genuinely confuse you since they involve forms/particles/words you would never see otherwise.

The thickest, frequently-occuring Kansai dialect I've personally encountered in manga/anime/etc is that of Sket Dance's main heroine Himeko, so I would read some of that if for some reason you really want to learn basic Kansai.