I am going to put here some very useful Japanese grammar that will hopefully benefit your Japanese language learning. These grammar principles are commonly used in everyday Japanese conversation. 10 principles are henceforth and coming below that may help you towards better Japanese. In the old days, when grammar-translation methods of teaching a foreign language were king, my JPPGG would have been called a substitution drills. I prefer to call this way of studying Japanese JPPGGi or Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar. The idea behind JPPGGi is while you are learning your vocabulary (nouns, verbs, adjectives, expressions, salutations, adverbs, particles etc.) the grammar won't be holding you back. Once you learn a grammar principle you simply continue to plug in more and more learned vocabulary.



It's a lot of fun too. I always use the word for, "to fart", and it makes the learning of Japanese fun. I mean the word,"to go" is fun and all, but the verb to burp or fart makes sentences come alive and all the tediousness of second language learning disappears, like magic. Honest Joe! I'll laugh and laugh about the new constructions I've made. But seriously, I would do whatever it takes to improve my Japanese skills and using JPPGGi in this un-orthodox way seems to have certainly helped me. I know boast a vocabulary of over 7000 words using my JPPGG method. So wherever you are at in your Japanese studies, just keep plugging and playing your way to a healthy and stout Japanese mouth. God luck!

Now below I am going to show you 10 Japanese grammar principles that all use a form of verbs commonly called base III verbs. If you aren't familiar with the term, base III verbs are verbs in their pure dictionary form. Un-adulterated pure words in the form of an action word, or predicate, which are taken straight from any old Wa-Ei (Japanese to English) or Ei-Wa (English to Japanese) dictionary.

Also called plain form verbs, base III verbs always ends by itself or in some sort of u vowel ending syllable cluster like, u, ku, gu, su, zu, tsu, tzu, bu, fu, mu, nu, yu, etc. Feel free to plug any verb that you are fond of into these JPPGGi constructions. Using off the wall verbs like skate boarding, surfing, frying, laying, squatting, will help you retain the essential Japanese grammar longer over time in your long term memory. In this way your vocabulary will have time to develop without being stagnated by your grammar ability (if that made any sense). I guarantee that you will not only have a blast making sentences and learning Japanese in this way, but you will also remember your vocabulary words clearer, faster, and retaining them longer.

Don't feel obligated to use common verbs; instead think of some neat, obscure verb that you would like to know, look it up in the dic. Go for it! Be a rebel! I dare you to get out of that old school mentality and utilize some word like, onara suru (v. to fart). Nobody will ever know, unless you start using it on someone. Uh oh! Even the Emperor will honorifically fart on occasions. What would you say then? Small asides, jokes of no consequence here --- So get on with the grammar Makurasuki Sensei Geeze Maneeze!!!---

Preliminary one point ghetto advice from a plug and play master **

**- Wa is the particle that I have always defined as, "As for ~" where ~ is anything at all, even nothing. Although there is not always an exact equivalent for a Japanese word to some words in English, I have found that thinking of the Japanese word, 'koto' as "the thing of ~". So koto ga and koto wa together, its meaning does sound weird to the ears of a gaijin (foreigner), as tripped out as any English we have ever heard might be, but you learn to accept these kinds of differences between languages because we know that a little disregard for proper sounds will help with our eventual improvement in our Japanese speaking ability. As of yet I have found no better way of describing these Japanese words in English, and they seem to be sufficient interpretations in the situations in which they were used... Again, although they might at first sound a little awkward, we overlook the formalities for our long range goals of Japanese language mastery, and we get over it. This is JPPGGi, It won't cost you anything but a commitment to self and a little time, and plus, if it works--- it is beautiful. Back to Serious-Ville here, geeze, koto wa or koto ga could roughly be translated as "As for the thing of~ ".

1. Verb (base III) + koto ga, koto wa - the thing of verb, the thing of 'verbing'.

2. Verb (base III) + tame ni - in order to verb

3. Verb (base III) + mae ni - before I verb, before 'verbing'.

4. Verb (base III) + koto ga arimasu - Sometimes I verb

5. Verb (base III) + koto ga yoku arimasu - I do a lot of 'verbing'. or I often verb.

6. Verb (base III) + koto ga amari arimasu - I don't often verb, I rarely verb.

6. Verb (base III) + koto ga dekimasu - I am able to verb, I can verb

7. Verb (base III) + deshou - I will probably verb, or the verb will probably happen, or it might verb.

8. Verb (base III) + koto ni suru - decide to verb, I resolved within myself to verb, I have chosen to verb, etc.

9. Verb (base III) + hou ga ii desu - It is better to verb, or, you should verb.

10. Verb (base III) + yo (u) ni - so that verb, like 'verbing'. in similitude of 'verbing'.

As always do your best!

Ganbatte Ne! Makurasuki Sensei.