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For details of all components and their English names, see the Component collections.
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The following is a list of Japanese terms for key parts of speech, as well as standard terms for the intent / purpose of a term or grammatical form.
めいし
名詞
noun
こゆうめし
固有名詞
proper noun
けいしきめいし
形式名詞
nominalizer
A nominalizer is a word added to a verb or adjective that turns it into a noun phrase, a very common pattern in Japanese, which contains several nominalizers including の, もの, こと etc. See 形式名詞（けいしきめいし) nominalizers.
どうし
動詞
verb
じょどうし
助動詞
auxiliary verb
ふくごうどうし
複合動詞
compound verb
けいようし
形容詞
adjective; い adjective
けいようどうし
形容動詞
な adjective
The origin of the term 形容動詞, which literally means 'verb adjective', is interesting. Originally, な adjectives emerged through the addition of なる (become) to a noun (1) - for example
いだい
偉大
なる
かわ
川
. So they were literally 'adjectives formed through addition of a verb'. Over time, 'なる' became just 'な’.
れんたいし
連体詞
other (not い or な) adjective
ぜんちし
前置詞
preposition
せつびご
接尾語
suffix
じしょけい
辞書形
dictionary form
The form that appears in a dictionary. For a verb, this is the plain form of the present tense. For a noun or adjective, it is the uninflected form.
ふつうけい
普通形
plain form(s) of a word
The plain forms are the 'casual' or 'short' forms. For example, for the verb
た
食
べる (eat), 食べる, 食べた, 食べている etc. are all plain forms.
ていねいけい
丁寧形
polite form(s) of a word
ふていし
不定詞
infinitive form (dictionary form)
かつようけい
活用形
conjugated form of a word
しゅうしけい
終止形
predicative form (any form that can be used at the end of a clause or sentence - typically a plain form)
めいれいけい
命令形
imperative form
しえきけい
使役形
causative form
よだんかつよう
四段活用
classical Japanese verb form
じょうけんけい
条件形
conditional form
じょすうし
助数詞
counter
たいひ
対比
comparison
ひてい
否定
negative (also used in a non-linguistic context)
うちけし
打消し
negative (used in a linguistics context only)
きょうちょう
強調
emphasis
かんりゃくか
簡略化
simplification (of a kanji etc.)
ひっしゃ
筆者
cursive (form of a kanji)
かくにん
確認
confirmation
せつめい
説明
explanation
でんぶん
伝聞
hearsay
もくてき
目的
purpose
ふかひ
不可避
inevitability
けいご
敬語
respectful (polite) speech
ふくじょし
副助詞
adverbial particle
ぎたいご
擬態語
mimetic word
Mimetic words sound (roughly) like the item they describe. For example: きらきら, つるつる, さらっと, ぐちゃぐちゃ, どんより etc.
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The Kanshudo usefulness level shows you how useful a grammar point is for you to learn.
Grammar point has a Kanshudo usefulness level of
.
You can view a summary of your mastery of grammar points at different usefulness (or JLPT) levels
here.
Grammar points in our system are rated from 1 to 6, where 1 is the most useful.
A usefulness level of 1 roughly corresponds to the first level of the JLPT, level 5 - i.e., you would be expected to know this grammar if your Japanese was at JLPT 5 level. A usefulness level of 5 roughly corresponds to JLPT 1 (the highest JLPT level).
Some grammar points also have a JLPT badge, indicating they appear in standard lists of required JLPT grammar. Some useful grammar points do not have a JLPT badge. These means that you would generally be expected to know the grammar if your Japanese was at that level, but the grammar point does not appear in standardized lists (which are not necessarily comprehensive).
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You can use Quick search (accessible using the icon at the top of every page) to look up any Japanese word, kanji or grammar point, as well as to find anything on Kanshudo quickly.
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Kanshudo tracks your mastery (knowledge) of every kanji, word and grammar point in Japanese individually. In item searches (Kanji search, Word search and Grammar search), you will see a small circle with a number from 0 - 4 next to each item, where zero means 'no mastery' and 4 means 'absolute mastery'. A summary of your mastery data is displayed in your Kanji, Word and Grammar mastery wheels.
The Kanshudo kanji usefulness rating shows you how useful a kanji is for you to learn.
has a Kanshudo usefulness of , which means it is among the most useful kanji in Japanese.
is one of the 138 kana characters, denoted with a usefulness rating of K. The kana are the most useful characters in Japanese, and we recommend you thoroughly learn all kana before progressing to kanji.
All kanji in our system are rated from 1-8, where 1 is the most useful.
The 2136 Jōyō kanji have usefulness levels from 1 to 5, and are denoted with badges like this:
The 138 kana are rated with usefulness K, and have a badge like this:
The Kanshudo usefulness level shows you how useful a Japanese word is for you to learn.
has a Kanshudo usefulness level of , which means it is among the
most useful words in Japanese.
All words in our system
are rated from 1-12, where 1 is the most useful.
Words with a usefulness level of 9 or better are amongst the most useful 50,000 words in Japanese, and
have a colored badge in search results, eg:
Many useful words have multiple forms, and less common
forms have a badge that looks like this:
The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, 日本語能力試験) is the standard test of Japanese language ability for non-Japanese.
would first come up in level
N.
Kanshudo displays a badge indicating which level of the JLPT words, kanji and grammar points might first be used in:
indicates N5 (the first and easiest level)
indicates N1 (the highest and most difficult)
You can use Kanshudo to study for the JLPT. Kanshudo usefulness levels for kanji, words and grammar points map directly to JLPT levels, so your mastery level on Kanshudo is a direct indicator of your readiness for the JLPT exams.
Kanshudo usefulness counts up from 1, whereas the JLPT counts down from 5 - so the first JLPT level, N5, is equivalent to Kanshudo usefulness level .
The JLPT vocabulary lists were compiled by Wikipedia and Tanos from past papers. Sometimes the form listed by the sources is not the most useful form. In case of doubt, we advise you to learn the Kanshudo recommended form. Words that appear in the JLPT lists in a different form are indicated with a lighter colored 'shadow' badge, like this: .
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The pitch accent markings show you how to pronounce a word. A line underneath a kana symbol indicates low pitch, and a line above indicates high pitch. A vertical line at the end indicates the pitch of the next sound in a sentence using the word is different to the last sound of the word. The number(s) to the right of the markings show how this pitch is represented in a Japanese dictionary.
For more information, see our comprehensive guide:
Wherever you see the green star,
you can tag any kanji, word or grammar point for future reference in your
Favorites list, which is accessible from the main menu.
You can automatically create flashcards from your Favorites,
or use Quick Study to study them any time.
Wherever you see the flashcard icon,
you can automatically create a new flashcard or view flashcard status.
Flashcards can be created for any kanji, word, grammar point or example sentence on Kanshudo.
