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Since I changed my blog name, many of the links on my older masterpost no longer work, and I've posted a lot about kanji (and many diary entries!) since then. So, I decided an updated masterpost was in order!

Below, you'll find many of the same links, just with new blog name (nyahongo) instead of the old one (chokopan). I've also updated the reading practice section, the kanji section, and added a section about the Marugoto material I've already posted (Starter A1 and Elementary A1 levels - I'm still working on Elementary A2 material).

Commonly Used Tags on This Blog

#日記 (Japanese Diary)

#漢字 (Kanji)

#resource

For Beginners

Giant Study Tips masterpost

Kana tips for beginners

Kana Charts: hiragana | katakana

Genki 1

Summary Sheets:

Lesson 1: lesson | kanji sheet

Lesson 2: lesson | kanji sheet

Lesson 3: here and here

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

Lesson 6

Lesson 7

Lesson 8

Lesson 9

Other Genki 1 posts:

Genki 1 grammar point summary

Genki 1 Lesson 12: ～んです

How I study with Genki

How I take notes from Genki

Marugoto

My review of the starter A1 and elementary A1 courses

Starter A1 level: grammar points | writing prompts (part 1, part 2)

Elementary A1 level: grammar points

Grammar Notes

From Lingo Deer: The Particle の | The Verb ある | The Verb いる

Qualifying Nouns with Verbs and Adjectives (Relative Clauses)

Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs

How I Study Japanese Grammar

Children's Stories & Other Reading Practice

How to make No-bake Cheesecake (feat. Cardcaptor Sakura!)

Yuru Camp reading practice (anime screenshots) - part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6

はらぺこあおむし (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)

にじいろさかな (The Rainbow Fish) - part 1 | part 2 | part 3

ぐりとぐら (Guri and Gura) - part 1 | part 2 | part 3

チーズスイートホーム (Chi's Sweet Home), Vol. 1 - Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4

Kanji

How to Use the Sumikko Gurashi Beginner’s Dictionary

How radicals work (and here are some examples using the kanji 時)

Kanken level 10 book information (with English translations, grammar, and vocabulary explanations)

Notes from Eve Kushner's Crazy for Kanji, part 1

Writing practice sheets:

part 1 (using 5 different handwritten fonts) |

part 2 (with different grid/box sizes) |

part 3 (with links to different sheet generators) |

part 4 (a "summary sheet" with all different grid/box sizes) |

part 5 (a customizable tracing sheet with grids)

WaniKani (WK)

How to use WaniKani

WaniKani Study Tips

Writing practice sheets: WK level 1

FIRST SET OF KANJI FOR THE 100 KANJI CHALLENGE!

Click here for more detailed stroke order.

Vocabulary:

Sunday 　日曜日　（にち・よう・び）

Japan 　日本　（に・ほん）

Monday 　月曜日　（げつ・よう・び）

January 　1月　（いち・げつ）

Thursday 　木曜日　（もく・よう・び）

Mt. Fuji 　富士山　（ふ・じ・さん）

Volcano 　火山（か・ざん）

Stream, Brook 　小川　（お・がわ）

Japanese Person 　日本人　（に・ほん・じん）

Entrance 　入口　（いり・ぐち）

Exit 　出口　（で・ぐち）

Population 　人口　（じん・こう）

Train　 電車　（でん・しゃ）

Automobile 　自動車　（じ・どう・しゃ）

There’s this theory that in any given language, there are 600 basic words that are really, really good to know, because, you guessed it, they are the most common. Up next is the second half of some of the most commonly used verbs!

love － 愛する｛あい～｝

make － 作る｛つくる｝

may (=permission) － ～てもいい

may (=possibility) － かもしれない

NB! This is an expression, not a verb.

mean － 意味する｛いみ ～｝

meet － 会う｛あう｝

must － ～ないと行けない｛ ～ないといけない｝

NB! Insert a verb at ～, to indicate what it is that you must do.

need － 要る｛いる｝

obtain － 掴む｛つかむ｝

open － 開く｛ひらく｝

ought to; should － ～べき

NB! Auxiliary verb; add a verb in its dictionary form at ～, to indicate what it is that you should/ought to do.

pay － 払う｛はらう｝

play － 遊ぶ｛あそぶ｝

put － 置く｛おく｝

read － 読む｛よむ｝

remember － 思い出す｛おもいだす｝

say － 言う｛いう｝

see; watch － 見る｛みる｝

sell － 売る｛うる｝

send － 送る｛おくる｝

show － 見せてもらう｛みせて～｝

shut － 閉める｛しめる｝

sing － 歌う｛うたう｝

sleep － 寝る｛ねる｝

speak; talk － 話す｛はなす｝

stand － 立つ｛たつ｝

stay － 泊まる｛とまる｝(overnight)

stop － 止める｛とめる｝

suggest － 言い出す｛いいだす｝・申し入れる｛もうしいれる｝

take － 持つ｛もつ｝(bring) ・飲む｛のむ｝(medicine) ・撮る｛とる｝(pictures)

teach － 教える｛おしえる｝

think － 考える｛かんがえる｝・思う｛おもう｝

travel － 旅行する｛りょこう～｝

try － やってみる

understand － 分かる｛わかる｝

use － 使う｛つかう｝

(get) used to － 慣れる｛なれる｝

wait for － ～に待つ｛～にまつ｝

walk － 歩く｛あるく｝

want － ～が欲しい｛ ～がほしい｝

NB! This is actually an い-adjective, and behaves as such!

will(intend to) － ～をするつもりです

work (=operate) － 動く｛うごく｝

work (=toil) － 働く｛はたらく｝

worry － 心配する｛しんぱい～｝

would － ～したものだった

NB! Auxiliary verb.

write － 書く｛かく｝

副詞・形容詞：レポートで使われる語 vs. 会話などで使われる語

Particularly when learned from textbooks and within classes, language learners studying Japanese tend to learn more “written” than “spoken” words and phrases. That is to say, they learn the words that might be used in a report or a newspaper rather than words that would be used in conversation with friends.

Below is an easy-to-reference table showing which words should be used in spoken and casual conversation versus their more proper, paper-worthy counterparts. 

English translations are not provided because the nuance of written Japanese and spoken Japanese adverbs and adjectives can be different, thus it’s recommended to learn the meanings based on context within sentences.

WRITTEN　　　　　　　　　　SPOKEN 非常に・大変　　　　　　　　ものすごく・とても 少々・少し　　　　　　　　　ちょっと やはり　　　　　　　　　　　やっぱり 多く・多様・数多く　　　　　たくさん・いっぱい 必ず　　　　　　　　　　　　絶対に・きっと あまり　　　　　　　　　　　あんまり 様々　　　　　　　　　　　　いろいろな 全く　　　　　　　　　　　　全然 徐々に・次第に　　　　　　　だんだん 急速に・急激に　　　　　　　どんどん 最も　　　　　　　　　　　　一番 全て　　　　　　　　　　　　全部 深刻な　　　　　　　　　　　ひどい はるかに　　　　　　　　　　ずっと

例文・EXAMPLES

少々難しいようである。しょうしょうむずかしいようである。 ↳ ちょっと難しいみたい。ちょっとむずかしいみたい。 It seems/it looks a little difficult.

様々国から来ている。さまざまくにからきている。 ↳ いろいろな国から来ている。いろいろなくにからきている。 I come from various countries.

急速に寒くなるだろう。きゅうそくにさむくなるだろう。 ↳ どんどん寒くなるだろう。どんどんさむくなるだろう。 It will get colder and colder.

テストは全て終わった。テストはすべておわった。 ↳ テストは全部終わった。テストはぜんぶおわった。 I finished the entire test.

東京は京都よりはるかに人口が多い。とうきょうはきょうとよりはるかにじんこうがおおい。 ↳ 東京は京都よりずっと人口が多い。とうきょうはきょうとよりずっとじんこうがおおい。 Tokyo has a larger population than Kyoto.

in this case, はるかに/ずっと are used in a situation called「ＡとＢの差が大きい」which means that the difference between A and B is very large, so はるかに/ずっと are used. This is not the same meaning as the ずっと which is used for “continuously.” 

I just hit 300 followers!! Thank you so much to all my followers and I’m glad I could get this out just in time for that! 

So this is what I’ve been doing all week.  If the て form is the first circle of hell of Japanese learning, ば, たら, と, and なら are the next four circles like together all at once.  In an effort to help me and help you, I’m going to explain this ridiculous grammar the best I can.

Resources: 

Japanese the Spoken Language Pt 3

日本語の森　(see links later on)

Conjugation ・活用

一段 Verb

Add れば to the stem

例：食べる　⇒　食べれば

五段 Verb

Change the last letter in the dictionary form to the え version and add ば

例：飲む　⇒　飲めば　

焼く　⇒　焼けば

ふきそく Verbs

Memorize the following

する　⇒　すれば

来る　⇒　くれば

い adjectives　・　ない form (Adjectivals)

Drop い and add ければ

例：寒い　⇒　寒ければ

寒くない　⇒　寒くなければ

Nouns ・　な adjectives(nominals) 

Instead of だ use なら.  Add ならば to be more formal.

例：本棚　⇒　本棚なら

不便な ⇒　不便なら

How to Use ・　使い方

So basically ば translates to “What If.”  I used to always think that my high school Japanese teacher used “what if” incorrectly but given the way it works in Japanese it makes a ton of sense..

The best explanation I got for these actually came from two 日本語の森 videos: VS 文法 #15 and #16  and this example video .

To preface this, there are basically five types if/when situations that you can use all four different grammars for

仮定: Hypothetical (What if)

結果: Result (If this, then this)

習慣: Habit (When)

意外: Unexpected (When, but)

未来: Future (When)

This is kind of weird and complicated, so if you are N3 or up I suggest you watch the videos first because it will help.  Basically, ば can only be used for the first two and たら can be used for all of them.

ば usually marks a hypothetical situation: something that hasn’t happened yet, but if it did, you know the outcome. 

もっとお金があればiPhoneXを買った。

If I had more money, I would have gotten the iPhone X.

That’s a hypothetical situation.  My high school Japanese teacher would have said, “What if, I had more money, and then I would have bought the iPhone X.”  I don’t know if that makes sense so here’s another one. 

値段が安ければよく売れます。

If the price is cheap, I can definitely buy it.

I stole this right from one of the videos but basically, as she says, you don’t know if the price is low, but in the hypothetical case that it is, you will totally buy it.  “What if it was cheap and then I could purchase it.”

The second one is　結果 a result you are guaranteed will happen but NOT a habit that always happens. 

この薬を飲めば、元気になる。

If you take this medicine, you’ll get better.

This is kind of weird but basically it’s like also a hypothetical.  “What if you take this medicine, then you will feel better.”  

Grammar Points

Passive verb conjugation (拾う➝拾われる)

ちゃ = informal contraction of では that functions as a conditional statement

Short form verb conjugation (～た = plain past tense)

～んだ (casual, spoken form of のだ; used to provide an explanation or to emphasize a point)

～がる (expresses someone's desire or wish in the third-person, meaning someone else wants to do something)

～みたい (looks like; seems like)

Question: How does 生きていけない work? 生きて is the て form of the verb 生きる, but what is the いけない ending? It's not 〜てはいけない so what is it? A search online revealed it could be the potential form of the verb 行く, which is 行ける, meaning "to be able to go" or "to be able to do something." Is this correct? 🤔

I've been struggling with writing kanji characters in the same size as each other, so I searched online for practice sheets I could print out because the 5 mm squares in the Kokuyo Campus notebooks I already have are difficult to write in being so small.

I think I just need to practice writing in bigger squares first, which I had trouble finding online in a good resolution with the dotted crosshairs in the center. So I made my own!

The grids are of different sizes based on writing notebooks that Japanese schoolchildren use:

25 mm squares - 1st grade

21 mm squares - 1st and 2nd grade

18 mm squares - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades

15 mm squares - 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades

12 mm squares - 3rd, 4th and 5th grades

10 mm - 4th, 5th and 6th grades

The sheet I made has all six of these sizes in descending order from biggest to smallest. The sizes in millimeters are also provided for reference. More rows for the smallest sizes are included compared to the larger sizes since being able to write small is more useful. A bonus of writing the same kanji multiple times is increased muscle memory, which promotes long-term memory retention.

The design of the sheet mimics what schoolchildren use; it includes dotted crosshairs in each square and space at the top to write the current date. The short line to the left is probably for a child's name, but you could put the topic or subject there or whatever other notes you like.

I hope people find this helpful!