There are many differences between English and Japanese in grammar. It takes me lots of time to finish this map about parts of speech. I hope it can help people in need. The image may be not clear, you can check here: [Japanese Parts of Speech](http://processon.io/view/6065a198e4b09f603e717f3a?fromnew=1#map)
[Japanese Parts of Speech – Mind Map](https://preview.redd.it/k8e3g6bl4kq61.png?width=4655&format=png&auto=webp&s=28ff1c6b1aedd4cc5a3bb25a183a5b3b2fe565c0)
Honestly, the map is far from completion and perfection. You guys can save the map and add more details, I’d like to see a more complete version : )
12 comments
Way cool!
Good work! Although, I’m not sure what you mean by a distinction between “no” and “not”. You also spelt hiragana as hiragara in the verbs section lol. Aside from that though, it looks great and it’s really informative for a beginner level!
This is really good for beginners. Thank you 🙂
Nice list but not every adjective that ends with an い is an “i” adjective. There are “na” adjectives like 綺麗 and 嫌い
Good chart but maybe don’t claim a certain part of speech is more important then others, unless you have some reason I’m unaware of
That Mindmap is nice, but it scares me a little
One thing about verbs: they’re not always (but usually) at the end of a sentence, because if you have multiple verbs for one sentence, preceding verbs will get the て form before the final verb gets the dictionary or ます form, or whichever scenario the sentence is in (passive, causative, etc.)
I was taught that the tenses in Japanese are “past” and “non-past” I think calling it present would be incorrect since you use that tense to talk about future events.
Wow, that’s cool! How did you create this map? What software did you use?
You deserve an award. good thing I didn’t use the award inappropriately. I’ll also bookmark the tab because I love it so much
You forgot な for end of sentence
ETA: what software did you use? :O
There are multiple errors and misconceptions/ambiguity here, so I’ll try to add some info clockwise. Feel free to correct me. Just in case, English is not my native language. I hope this helps us all:
**Nouns**
* Japanese counters are not plurals per se. They help us point out the amount of something.
* の is better categorized as a particle. It can be a modifier, but so are adjectives and even verbs.
**Pronouns**
* On point #2 I’d say “pronouns are not required if it was already stablished who gave to whom” or provide an actual example: “If A asks me to take a look at my game and I want to give it to they, I’d say あげる” (or something like that).
* Nice catch on the classification. I usually forget to call the last ones “possessive pronouns”.
**Adjectives**
* This is more about how the text is redacted. It is true that な adjectives include those that do not end with い and those that take な, but it reads as if both parts need to be true. This is further implied with the description of い adjectives, “all that end in い”. You did provide an example of this not being the case: 綺麗.
* I think it’s better to say “all い adjectives end in い” and “な adjectives can end in anything, even in い. If the い is within the last kanji, then it is a な adjective. If not, it most likely is an い adjective, with exceptions like 嫌い”.
**Particles**
* I think the description might be lacking, even though it is true. I’d say “auxiliary words that connect two or more main parts of speech, such as conjunctions in English”. Maybe it is better to leave out the “auxiliary” part, since it is another part of speech (e.g., Vたい).
* The meanings are also lacking, since に／から／まで are not only time/location; を is the direct object, not just an object; と／や is not only with; か is not only for questions (although that is a meaning that permeates through the other uses), etc. Maybe just give one meaning and one example on that one?
**Verbs**
* They are not the most important part. They are just one part.
* Most of the time the classifications are called groups instead of classes, but that’s up to you. Those classes are also called うVerb/るVerb/Irregular, Group 1/Group 2/Group 3, 五段動詞/一段動詞 (just 2 groups that also point out the 不規則動詞 or ～行変格活用)
* All verbs consisting of only one kana before ます are Class 2 (見る、寝る).
* Verbs are not **always** at the end: 食べる人 (person that eats).
* The tenses are past and non-past.
* I wouldn’t call Japanese “extremely rich” when it comes to verb conjugations. It has way less than romance languages (specially since it doesn’t conjugate based on pronouns, gender or quantity), but that impression might differ depending on where you are from.
**Adverbs**
* You missed those that are adverbs by themselves (ゆっくり、だんだん, etc.).