Japanese looks intimidating from the outside — three different writing systems, a grammar structure flipped from English, and a politeness system that could fill its own textbook. But the more you look at it, the more you realize it's actually one of the more logical languages out there. Almost everything follows consistent rules. Once you understand the underlying structure, it clicks fast.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The Writing Systems
Japanese uses three scripts simultaneously, which sounds alarming until you understand what each one does.
Hiragana (ひらがな) is the phonetic foundation — 46 characters covering every sound in the language. It's used for native Japanese words, grammar, and verb endings. Katakana (カタカナ) represents the exact same 46 sounds but in angular, distinct characters. Its job is foreign loanwords: コーヒー (kōhī) is coffee, コンピューター (konpyūtā) is computer. When you see blocky characters in Japan, that's katakana, and you can often guess the word just by sounding it out.
Kanji (漢字) are the Chinese characters representing meaning and concepts. There are thousands of them, and Japanese children spend years learning them. The good news: Japanese text often prints small hiragana (called furigana) above kanji to show pronunciation. You can read anything with furigana even before you've learned a single kanji.
The most important thing to know about hiragana and katakana: every character always makes the same sound, no exceptions. There's no "rough, through, though" situation. Learn the character once, and you know it forever.
How the Sounds Work
Japanese is built on five vowels, and every other sound is just a consonant attached to one of them.
The vowels are: a (like "father"), i (like "machine"), u (like "boot"), e (like "bet"), o (like "boat"). That's it. Constant, reliable, never changing.
From those, you get syllables like ka, ki, ku, ke, ko — or sa, shi, su, se, so — or ta, chi, tsu, te, to. Notice a few irregularities in that last row: the Japanese t sounds sometimes shift. The character し is "shi" not "si," ち is "chi" not "ti," and つ is "tsu" not "tu." Those four are the main exceptions worth memorizing upfront.
A few other quirks: long vowels matter, and they change meaning. おじさん (ojisan) means uncle, but おじいさん (ojiisan) means grandfather — one extra "i" makes them completely different words. Double consonants create a brief pause, like the "tt" in きって (kitte, stamp). And です (desu, "is/am/are") is pronounced "dess" — the final u goes quiet. You'll hear this constantly.
Grammar: One Rule to Start With
If you learn one thing about Japanese grammar, make it this: the verb always goes at the end of the sentence.
English says I eat sushi. Japanese says I sushi eat — 私はすしを食べます (watashi wa sushi wo tabemasu). Everything else in the sentence can shift around, but the verb anchors the end. Internalize that, and Japanese sentences start to make sense structurally.
The other major adjustment is particles. In English, word order tells you who did what to whom. In Japanese, small words called particles do that job instead. They attach directly after nouns to show their role:
- は (wa) marks the topic of the sentence — "as for me..."
- が (ga) marks the subject — the one doing the action
- を (wo) marks the object — what's being acted on
- に (ni) marks direction or time — "to school," "on Monday"
- で (de) marks where an action happens — "at home," "in Tokyo"
- の (no) is possessive — 私の (watashi no) means "my"
Never drop particles. "Watashi wa," not just "watashi" — the particle is what tells listeners you're talking about yourself, not introducing a new subject.
Verbs Are Simpler Than You Think
Japanese verbs conjugate cleanly. In polite speech (which you'll use by default), present and future tense ends in ます (masu), past tense in ました (mashita), and negative in ません (masen). That's three endings covering most of what you need early on.
食べます (tabemasu) — eat / will eat 食べました (tabemashita) — ate 食べません (tabemasen) — don't eat / won't eat
Once you can do that, add the て-form, which is the workhorse of Japanese grammar. It connects actions together and creates the progressive "~ing" form. 食べています (tabeteimasu) means "am eating" or "currently eating." 住んでいます (sundeimasu) means "am living" somewhere. You'll use this constantly.
As you get more comfortable, Japanese gives you precise tools for expressing probability. でしょう at the end of a sentence means "probably." かもしれません means "might." はずです means "should be, by all logic." そうです means "it looks like." These feel like subtleties, but Japanese speakers use them constantly, and using the right one signals fluency.
Phrases That Actually Get You Through the Day
To introduce yourself: 私の名前はです (*watashi no namae wa desu) — "My name is ." Follow it with から来ました ( kara kimashita*) — "I came from ." If you're studying: 日本語を勉強しています (nihongo wo benkyou shiteimasu).
When you're lost: はどこですか (* wa doko desu ka) — "Where is ___?" Swap in トイレ (toire) for bathroom, 駅 (eki) for station, ホテル (hoteru*) for hotel.
When you're stuck: 分かりません (wakarimasen) — "I don't understand." もう一度お願いします (mou ichido onegaishimasu) — "Once more, please." 英語を話せますか (eigo wo hanasemasu ka) — "Can you speak English?"
Greetings worth knowing: おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu) for good morning, こんにちは (konnichiwa) for hello/afternoon, こんばんは (konbanwa) for evening, ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) for thank you, すみません (sumimasen) for excuse me or sorry.
Numbers: ichi (1), ni (2), san (3), shi/yon (4), go (5), roku (6), shichi/nana (7), hachi (8), kyuu/ku (9), juu (10). From there, 11 is juu-ichi, 20 is ni-juu, 21 is ni-juu-ichi — the system is completely regular.
Politeness Is a System, Not Just Manners
Japanese has formal layers baked into the grammar itself, not just the vocabulary. In casual speech with close friends, verb forms and endings are short and clipped. In polite speech — the default for anyone you've just met — you use the -masu/-desu endings. In formal or business settings, there's a whole register called keigo (敬語) that uses entirely different verb forms.
The practical rule: start polite and adjust downward only when invited. Use ありがとうございます, not ありがとう. Use 食べます, not 食べる. You won't offend anyone by being too polite. You'll definitely raise eyebrows by being too casual too soon.
In keigo, you elevate the other person by using special forms — いらっしゃる (irassharu) instead of いる for "to be," 召し上がる (meshiagaru) instead of 食べる for "to eat." You lower yourself by using humble forms — 参る (mairu) instead of 行く for "to go." The principle: raise them, lower yourself. You'll hear the phrase お疲れ様です (otsukaresama desu) constantly at work — it's an all-purpose acknowledgment meaning roughly "thank you for your hard work," and everyone says it to everyone.
The Unsaid Half of Every Conversation
Japanese communication is famously indirect, and understanding this is as important as any grammar rule. A direct "no" is rare. Instead, you learn to read what's not being said.
When someone says ちょっと... (chotto, "a little...") and trails off, that almost always means no. When they say 考えておきます (kangaete okimasu, "I'll think about it"), assume the answer is probably no. Silence after a suggestion often signals disagreement. そうですね... (sou desu ne) followed by a pause is gentle pushback, not agreement.
This concept — reading the air, or 空気を読む (kuuki wo yomu) — shapes every social interaction in Japan. Being direct, blunt, or confrontational when expressing disagreement creates friction. Softening words like ちょっと, たぶん (tabun, "probably"), and もしかしたら (moshikashitara, "perhaps") are tools for navigating conversations gracefully.
A few other social basics that matter: bow when greeting, with a deeper bow for apologies or gratitude. Remove your shoes when entering a home — there will be a clear entryway for this. Use both hands when giving or receiving something, especially business cards. Add さん (san) after names as a universal honorific. And at the dinner table, say いただきます before eating and ごちそうさまでした after — skipping these is noticed.
Kanji: The Marathon, Not the Sprint
Kanji are the Chinese-derived characters that carry meaning in Japanese text. Most have at least two readings — one inherited from Chinese (used in compound words) and one native Japanese (used alone). 日 is nichi or jitsu in compounds, but hi when standing alone for "sun" or "day." 本 is hon in 日本 (nihon, Japan) but also just means "book." Put them together: 日本 literally means "origin of the sun."
There are over 2,000 commonly used kanji, which sounds overwhelming. But kanji share components called radicals, and those radicals carry meaning. The water radical 氵appears in 海 (ocean), 湖 (lake), and 泳 (swim). The heart radical 心 appears in 思 (think), 感 (feel), and 忘 (forget). Learning radicals turns thousands of isolated characters into a network of connected meanings.
Start with the 100 most common, learn them in context rather than isolation, and use spaced repetition software like Anki or Wanikani. Don't try to brute-force memorize them all at once.
Where to Go From Here
The fastest path to reading anything: memorize hiragana and katakana first. Apps like RealKana drill them until they're automatic. This alone unlocks pronunciation for every Japanese word you'll ever encounter. Then build vocabulary through real content — NHK Easy News publishes simplified news articles with furigana. Anime and dramas with Japanese subtitles train your ear and your eye at the same time. For speaking practice, HelloTalk and Italki connect you with native speakers.
The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) gives you a useful ladder: N5 is entry-level, N3 is comfortable intermediate (around 650 kanji and 3,750 words), and N1 is near-native mastery. Most people find daily life in Japan manageable around N4.
The hardest part isn't the grammar or the characters. It's the consistency. Japanese rewards daily contact — even 20 minutes a day compounds dramatically over a few months. The language opens up fastest when you stop treating it as study material and start using it as a tool for things you actually care about.
がんばって！— Do your best!