Product Description

A reference to the use and function of Japanese verbs for students of all levels. It has been categorized in a variety of ways so as to render verb conjugations, functions and meanings clear to all levels of ability. It offers examples of use in English, romanized and full Japanese script, along with common and many less common verbs. An easy-to-use 23-page reference chart shows the conjugations for the most commonly used verbs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126274 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-31
• Original language: Japanese, English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 180 pages

Brandon Jirou Hayashi, The Hawaii Herald
"... of great use to the beginner ... from the get-go.... also a good refresher for the intermediate-level student...."

From the Publisher
This book provides useful information about verbs for beginning and intermediate students of Japanese. It's a handy reference to turn to when you have questions about Japanese verbs and how to use them.

Charts and tables make the key points understandable at a glance, and the many example sentences show how to use verbs correctly in context. This book does not attempt a complete exposition of Japanese grammar. Instead, it provides a wealth of practical information in one specific area for people who need to speak or write Japanese.

The book is organized according to how verbs are used. If you want to know how to ask a person to do something, for example, just check the Index for "Asking Favors and Making Requests" and go to that page.

Special sections are devoted to areas of Japanese verbs that often cause difficulty for students, including polite forms, causatives, passives, and transitive/intransitive pairs. Each of these areas is covered clearly and in detail with charts, explanations, and example sentences.

Previously published under the same title in the Power Japanese series.

About the Author
Naoko Chino is a lecturer at Sophia University, Tokyo, and author of All About Particles and A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns.

Customer Reviews

Nice quick reference
This book is very useful for beginners who want to know how to change between the various verb forms without too much hassle. The example sentences are memorable, and quite useful although they don't cover all possible situations. Beginners and intermediate learners alike should find the book extremely useful because most section are quite independent of each other, not necessarily requiring one to know a certain part just to learn the subsequent one. It could get quite technical at times, but never boring. Definitely a very handy little book to have around!

Surprisingly comprehensive
Despite its small size, this book covers topics glossed over by supposedly more complete references. For example, plenty of colloquial and informal verb forms are covered, and the last chapter is a reference of various idiomatic expression that take a verb base.

The book does have some downsides, though. Most of it is structured in a way more fitting for a guide than a reference. It takes the typical constructive approach of building verb forms starting with the base, useful for composing Japanese text, but less useful to a beginning student who would probably be more interested in reading, and would benefit from a deconstructive approach. Japanese text is presented in romanized and kanji forms, which isn't bad at all, but I would have preferred kanji with furigana only. And finally, the typography is a bit too busy, and the small, information-rich pages can be rather hard for your eyes.

Nevertheless, this book can greatly improve your understanding of Japanese, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to any beginning and intermediate student!

highly recommended for self-learning
A reference book for those who know basic Japanese and would like to have a more solid understanding on Japanese verbs (including different forms of verbs and their usage). A must for self-learner.