Before your first grammar unit.

Three ideas to carry with you

1. The important word usually comes last.私は学生です。 means “I am a student.” The sentence ends with what it says about me.
2. Japanese often leaves out “I” and “you.”When the context makes the person clear, speakers do not repeat it.
3. Small words show a noun’s job.Words such as は, が, and を tell you how a noun fits into the sentence. The first units build this carefully.

The words used in early examples

私

watashi, I

これ / それ

this / that

誰 / 何 / どこ

who / what / where

You will also meet nouns (people and things), verbs (actions), and adjectives (descriptions). The first units name these as they become useful.

Four labels you will see

Know just enough terminology to keep going.

Dictionary / plain form

A verb’s dictionary form is the form dictionaries list: 食べる “eat.” It is also the casual present/future form. A polite ending changes it to 食べます. Unit 3 makes this relationship concrete.

i-adjective

A describing word ending in い, such as 高い “expensive.”

na-adjective

A describing word such as 静か “quiet.” It needs な before a noun (静かな部屋) but uses です at the end of a polite sentence.

You do not need to memorize every label now. They are signposts: they tell you which pattern a lesson is talking about.

When a page feels hard

Use this reading routine.

1. Find the final word. It usually tells you what the sentence says.
2. Find the particle after each noun. It tells you that noun’s job.
3. If a page names a form, first ask “what shape is this?” Then ask “what does this shape let me say?”

Follow the units in order at the beginning. A link to a later page is a preview, not a requirement to stop and learn it first.