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© 2019 Richard Hunter

Just Enough Japanese

Volume Three: Basic Japanese Grammar for Reading Go Books

Richard Hunter

Buy the full book at gobooks.com

Learn to read and understand Japanese go books. This book methodically introduces the grammar found in books of go problems, one small step at a time starting from scratch. Examples are taken from go books and are presented with diagrams. This unique approach avoids irrelevant vocabulary and grammar. This book is aimed at go players of all abilities who want to get more out of Japanese go books without years of traditional study. You can enjoy go books however little Japanese you know, but the more you learn, the more interesting it becomes.

Copyright Page

© 2019 Richard Hunter

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.

Photograph of Richard Hunter by Louise Bremner.

Table of Contents

Just Enough Japanese 3

Copyright Page

Introduction

SECTION ONE: STEP BY STEP

1–1: A Common Sentence Pattern

The chapters in gray are included only in the full book.

1–2: Omission

1–3: Asking Questions

1–4: Some Uncertainty

1–5: More Particles

1–6: Move Sequences

1–7: Topic Marker

1–8: Use of Wa and Ga

1–9: Practice and New Vocabulary

1–10: Introduction to Verbs

1–11: An Ichidan Verb

1–12: The Polite Form

1–13: Key Verb Forms

1–14: Importance of the Plain Form

1–15: Verbs Expressing Existence

1–16: Introduction to Adjectives

1–17: More Particles II

1–18: More Ichidan Verbs

1–19: Katakana Ichidan Verbs

1–20: Practice and New Vocabulary II

1–21: Compound Sentences

1–22: Introduction to Godan Verbs

1–23: A Godan Verb

1–24: Another Godan Verb

1–25: Model Godan Verbs

1–26: Godan Te Forms

1–27: Katakana Godan Verbs

1–28: Irregular Verbs

1–29: Some Important Verbs

1–30: Practice and New Vocabulary III

1–31: Past Tense

1–32: Introduction to Negatives

1–33: Adjectives II

1–34: Introduction to Adverbs

1–35: Practice and New Vocabulary IV

1–36 The Te-Iru Form

1–37: Noun Modifiers

1–38: Treating Actions Like Things

1–39: Explaining Things

1–40: Practice and New Vocabulary V

1–41: Compound Sentences II

1–42: Two-Part Verbs

1–43: Move Sequences II

1–44: Practice and New Vocabulary VI

1–45: Negatives II

1–46: Compound Sentences III

1–47: Te Form + Auxiliary Verb

1–48: Expressions using Past Tense

1–49: Conditionals

1–50: Transitive & Intransitive Verbs

1–51: Second Base Suffixes

1–52: Practice and New Vocabulary VII

1–53: Potential

1–54: Practice and New Vocabulary VIII

1–55: Passive

1–56: Demystification

1–57: Practice and New Vocabulary IX

1–58: Volitional

1–59: Causative

1–60: Negatives III

1–61: Double Negatives

1–62: Practice and New Vocabulary X

1–63: Appearances

1–64: Plain Copula

1–65: Practice and New Vocabulary XI

SECTION TWO: PROBLEMS

SECTION THREE: GRAMMAR REFERENCE

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Advice

Appendix 2: External Resources

Appendix 3: Vocabulary Lists

About the Author

Buy This Book

About Go Books

Introduction

This book, Just Enough Japanese Volume Three: Basic Japanese Grammar for Reading Go Books (JEJ3), is a continuation of Volume Two: Intermediate Practical Japanese for Go Players (JEJ2). However, JEJ3 does not require that you have read JEJ1 and JEJ2. While that would be ideal, and would make JEJ3 easier to lay out, it is unrealistic. Therefore, relevant vocabulary covered in those volumes is defined when it first arises in JEJ3. JEJ1 presented a small amount of basic vocabulary in an easy-to-learn style. If you already know those words and characters, then you do not need JEJ1. On the other hand, JEJ2 contains a lot of useful vocabulary that does not reappear here in JEJ3. It also contains information on various topics that is worth reading, so I recommend that you look at JEJ2 if you have not already read it. At the very least, look at the free sample and the Table of Contents.

We have now arrived at the stage of learning to read full sentences in the text of go books. This requires some new vocabulary, an understanding of Japanese grammar, and knowledge of go and Japanese go terms. JEJ3 focuses on the grammar found in go books. Some common grammatical structures that you will encounter in go books are not covered in introductory, or even intermediate and advanced, Japanese courses, even though these structures are not difficult. Some are dismissed as obscure or only used for special purposes. On the other hand, most Japanese courses introduce lots of vocabulary and grammatical structures that you will not need when reading go books. The big advantage of approaching Japanese via reading is that you get to see lots of correct examples of how Japanese grammar is actually used. Focusing on reading side-steps the challenge of composing sentences.

Section One sequentially introduces essential grammatical structures in the context of examples using actual go diagrams and text. I have carefully chosen simple go positions and simple texts that methodically introduce concepts one at a time without much superfluous vocabulary. Many of the examples have a subsection Context, which shows more of the text than the boxed example. Look at the Context, but do not worry if it is incomprehensible now. It is intended for when you reread the book, rather than your first time through it. There may be ‘Similar Examples Readable Now’, which include only grammar and vocabulary already covered. And there may be ‘Similar Examples for Reading Later’ or ‘With a Dictionary’. If you want to study those, you can copy and paste text into a dictionary app or website to look up vocabulary, but dictionaries do not explain grammar. The grammar will be explained later in this book. I may update those sections of the book in future with more context, examples, explanations, and inline diagrams, but no promises.

Section Three covers relevant grammar topics in a different arrangement. In particular, it presents the full conjugations for each model verb, whereas Section One introduces them in separate chapters.

Books are written to achieve goals. Traditional Japanese grammar books, courses, and classes mostly aim to teach you to speak politely, as well as to read and write, on the assumption that you intend to visit Japan.

My primary objective in writing this book was to improve my own Japanese reading ability. I set myself the goal of being able to read the text of the go books on my bookshelf. My initial aim is problem books on tsumego, life and death, tesuji, and semeai. In future, I might extend that range to game commentaries and lecture-style books. Explaining to others is a good way to gain a deep understanding of a topic, as I discovered when writing Counting Liberties and Winning Capturing Races. So my secondary objective is to guide others who have a similar goal, and to promote the understanding and enjoyment of Japanese go material. I hope you will be encouraged to read and understand Japanese go books that you already have, or to buy Japanese go books. There are a lot more Japanese go books than English go books. I find Japanese ones to be physically well made (unlike some English go books), nice to hold and read, and thoughtfully laid out. In many cases, the original Japanese text is more interesting and more richly nuanced than English translations. While there are several excellent translators, some translated books have irritating quirks and errors.

In this book (JEJ3), the blue links preceded by this arrow ⤴ are external links to websites. Blue links without the arrow are internal links to other places in the book.

Learning Kanji

Many Japanese language resources present kanji in the order that Japanese schoolchildren learn them. This may be conveniently familiar to the teachers, but it is not the best approach for adult learners. Japanese schoolchildren learn kanji in order of difficulty of meaning, for vocabulary they already know: hand, eye, nose, sun, tree, etc. They learn a kanji with 18 strokes (顔) that has a simple meaning (face), which seldom appears in go books, before learning a kanji with a mere two strokes (了) that has a more abstract meaning (complete; finish), but is common in go game commentaries. As a go player, you will understand the meanings of most words found in go books. The difficult part for you, not being a Japanese child, is learning complicated kanji. In JEJ1 and JEJ2, I presented useful, relevant kanji that you will encounter in go books. One advantage of learning Japanese through reading is that you can proceed incrementally. You can enjoy and benefit from Japanese go books even if you cannot read a single word of the language. As you learn, little by little, you gain more and more. When you learn a new kanji, word, or grammatical structure, you will see it appear over and over again. Gradually, the gibberish and meaningless squiggles will turn into meaningful writing.

Goals:

1. Read a full sentence
2. Read all the text of a problem presentation page
3. Read all the text of a problem and its answers
4. Read all the problem and answer pages in a problem book
5. Read all of the Japanese in a problem book, including the front and back covers and the cover flaps, preface, introduction, section introductions, and copyright page.

The first goal will be achieved in Chapter 1. The second goal needs to be qualified as some problems books have no text on the problem presentation page. So let me amend that to ‘Read all the text (at least one sentence) on a problem presentation page’. The second and third goals will take a bit longer, but you should achieve them by the end of this book. The fourth goal will definitely require you to look up words in a dictionary. I explain how to do this in the appendix. The fifth goal requires looking up additional vocabulary that is common in general Japanese, but often does not appear in go problems. You can ignore this goal if you want. This is my personal goal, and in fact I have already read several books cover to cover, though I did need to consult a dictionary. I have not yet learned all of those new words. That remains for future study.

SECTION ONE: STEP BY STEP

Chapter 1–1: A Common Sentence Pattern

This chapter starts with a common sentence pattern in order to introduce two key topics. Later chapters mainly introduce new ideas one at a time, but that is hard to do at first, so take a deep breath and prepare to take two large steps and one small one. The examples use vocabulary that was introduced in JEJ1 and JEJ2. If you have not read those books, that is ok.

Vocabulary Review

第１問 dai ichi mon Problem 1
黒番 kuro ban Black to play (lit. black turn)
解答 kaitō answer
図 zu diagram
正解 seikai correct answer
正解図 seikaizu correct answer diagram

Problem Position

黒番

＞＜ ▶︎

This is a very easy problem. The aim here is to focus on the Japanese text in the anwer without getting distracted by challenging go content. The problem header and the diagram caption were introduced in JEJ1 and JEJ2. If they are unfamiliar to you, tap on the hint below.

第１問 dai ichi mon Problem 1
黒番 kuro ban Black to play

第１問　解答

正解図

＞＜ ▶︎

１図（正解）黒１が正解です。

第１問 dai ichi mon Problem 1
解答 kaitō answer
正解図 seikaizu correct answer diagram
１図 ichi zu Diagram 1
正解 seikai correct answer

Sentence Example 1

黒１が正解です。

This is a simple Japanese sentence that often appears in books of go problems. It contains kanji and hiragana. 黒１ means ‘Black 1’ and 正解 means ‘correct answer’. That would be enough in this simple case to extract all of the important information—unless the verb is in the negative. So let us fill in the gaps and work towards understanding the whole sentence and, most importantly, its grammatical structure.

What is が?

が ga is a particle. Particles are an essential element of Japanese grammar, along with nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. When ga comes after a noun, as it does here, it indicates that the previous word (or words) is the subject of the verb or of the rest of the sentence (the actor or doer of the action). Consequently, it is called the subject-marking particle or subject marker. Another useful name for it is ‘the identifier’ as in ‘this is the one that …’. Ga focuses your attention on the information in front of it. In other locations, such as after a verb, ga has a different function, as we shall see later. Japanese has many particles. They are usually written in hiragana, and the most commonly used ones are single kana. All Japanese particles are postpositional. That is they come after the word (or words) on which they act.

▷ が ga ‘subject marking particle’

黒１が
kuro ichi ga
Black 1 {= the subject of the sentence}
Black 1 (is the one that) …

黒１が正解…。
Japanese word order is different from English word order. English word order is typically:
subject verb object.
The particle が, between 黒１ and 正解 does not mean ‘is’.
The subject marker ga is a silent indicator that does not correspond to any English words. It vanishes in translation.

What is です?

です desu is called a ‘copula’ in grammar books. That is pretty meaningless to most people. I do not remember encountering this word at school. I first encountered it when studying Japanese, and I had to look it up. Desu expresses equivalence. In this sentence, it would be translated using the English verb ‘to be’. Literally ‘A = B.’ or more naturally ‘A is B.’ This relationship is not symmetrical.
A => B
‘Go is a game.’
The reverse is not true. It is wrong to say:
‘A game is go.’

Desu is the polite or formal form of the copula. It is very common in go books. It appears in JEJ3 many times. There are also other forms of the copula, which are discussed in a later chapter.

Although desu is often translated into English as ‘is’, desu is not an ordinary conjugating main verb. Treat it as an expression. This is something that many textbooks fail to explain in their efforts to make everything appear simple to beginners. Japanese has two verbs meaning ‘to be’, for animate and inanimate things, as we shall see later. Think of desu as meaning ‘equals’ and the ‘to be’ verbs as meaning ‘existing’. This nuance gets lost in translation.

です desu (expression) be; is

What is the Little Dot: 。 ?

。 is the Japanese symbol for a period or full stop. Yes, it is different from the English period. Commas look different too, as we shall see soon.

Articles

In the sentence 黒１が正解です。 which Japanese word means ‘the’?
There is no such Japanese word.
There are no articles, either definite or indefinite, in Japanese. You have to add them when translating into English. English articles are a major headache for Japanese students learning English, and difficult for native English speaking teachers to explain, but it should not be difficult for you to add ‘a’ or ‘the’ as appropriate.

黒１が正解です。

Literal meaning 1:
Black 1 {subject marker} correct answer {polite} equivalance.

Literal meaning 2:
Black 1 the one that correct answer is.

Literal meaning 3:
Black 1 correct answer is.

Natural English:
Black 1 is the correct answer.

Congratulations

You have read and understood a complete Japanese sentence. It is a very common one that often appears in problem books. Here it is again.

黒１が正解です。
Kuro 1 ga seikai desu.
Black 1 is the correct answer.

Sentence Pattern 1

【noun 1】が【noun 2】です。
【Ａ】が【Ｂ】です。
A is (equivalent to) B.
A is B.

Variations on this Pattern

This sentence pattern, with ga and desu, appears frequently in go books. Here are some common sentences based on this pattern using vocabulary introduced in JEJ2. These vocabulary items will appear many times later in this book.

黒１が急所です。
Kuro 1 ga kyūsho desu.
Black 1 is the vital point.

黒１が手筋です。
Kuro 1 ga tesuji desu.
Black 1 is a tesuji.

黒１が好手です。
Kuro 1 ga kōshu desu.
Black 1 is a good move.

急所 kyūsho the vital point
手 te lit. hand. In go, usually it means ‘a move’.
筋 suji suji; correct shape, correct style, correct move, good shape, right way of playing
手筋 tesuji tesuji
好手 kōshu a good move

好手 kōshu means an ‘expert; skillful person’ in general Japanese. However, in go (and shogi) it means ‘a good move’. This meaning is also given in the dictionaries that I use.

Example 2

黒１のハネが正解です。

Kuro 1 no hane ga seikai desu.
The hane of Black 1 is the correct answer.

This sentence is very similar to the previous one, but slightly longer. The main addition is the word hane, which is written in katakana because it is used here as a go term. Giving the name of the move is a very common style, so you will encounter many go terms in such sentences. You need to be able to read katakana, and you need to know some go terms. You can find a list of common Japanese terms online, for example at Sensei’s Library (⤴ JapaneseGoTerms). Older books tend to use more kanji for go terms. Modern books are full of katakana. Indeed, when I first started buying Japanese go books, I used to pick out the katakana words. I learned katakana from go terms rather than sequentially from a chart.

ハネ hane

Hane is a go term that is familiar to most English go players. It is one of the few Japanese words that is widely used in English go books because it is easy to learn, very useful, and hard to translate. It can be regarded as an English go term.

の no

The particle no has several functions. Here, no links two nouns with a relationship. In this context, the relationship is possession. ‘A no B’ means ‘A’s B’. For example, ‘John no cat’ means ‘John’s cat’. And of course, we can reverse the order to get ‘the cat of John’.

黒１のハネ means ‘Black 1’s hane’ or more appropriately in this case, reversing the order of the nouns, ‘the hane of Black 1’.

黒１のハネ
kuro ichi no hane
the hane of Black 1

Variations

Here are some similar sentences that, again, you should be able to understand using vocabulary from JEJ2. The hint gives all of the vocabulary readings and meanings en bloc, so try and read all the sentences before looking at the hint, if that is necessary.

黒１のサガリが正解です。
黒１のトビが正解です。
黒１のキリが好手です。
黒１のオキが急所です。

サガリ, トビ, キリ, and オキ are go terms written in katagana.
正解, 急所 are nouns used in general Japanese.

サガリ sagari a descent
正解 seikai correct answer
トビ tobi a jump
キリ kiri a cut
好手 kōshu a good move
オキ oki a placement
急所 kyūsho the vital point

Example 3

黒１が眼形の急所です。

Kuro 1 ga gankei no kyūsho desu.

This time the second noun is extended using no. The compounds 眼形 and 急所 were both introduced in JEJ2.

眼形 gankei eye shape

黒１が眼形の急所です。
Kuro 1 ga gankei no kyūsho desu.
Black 1 is the vital point of the eye shape.

Similar Examples

黒１が死活の急所です。
初手が眼形の急所です。

死活 shikatsu life and death
初手 shote the first move

Example 4

黒１のオキが攻め合いの急所です。

Kuro 1 no oki ga semeai no kyūsho desu.
The placement of Black 1 is the vital point of the capturing race.

Here is a sentence where both parts are extended into noun phrases.

オキ oki ‘a placement’
攻め合い semeai ‘a capturing race’.

I recommend using Japanese terms like these directly when reading to yourself, once you are familiar with the meaning, but use the English translations when teaching beginners. The goal is to read and understand Japanese directly without mentally translating.

黒１のオキが攻め合いの急所です。
The oki of Black 1 is the vital point of the semeai.

Example 5

黒１の「２の二」が急所です。

Kuro 1 no “ni no ni” oki ga kyūsho desu.
The “2–2 point” of Black 1 is the vital point.

Notes

「　」 Japanese single quotes.
There are various styles of referring to points on the board by numbers. One common style is to use an Arabic number first and a kanji second, as in the example. Older books often use katakana ノ for no.
２の一
２ノ一

二の一
二ノ一

Summary of Chapter 1–1

Sentence Patterns

{noun 1} が {noun 2} です。

1. 黒１が正解です。
2. 黒１のハネが正解です。
3. 黒１が眼形の急所です。
4. 黒１のオキが攻め合いの急所です。

Vocabulary in This Chapter

第１問 dai ichi mon Problem 1
黒番 kuro ban Black to play (lit. black turn)
解答 kaitō answer
図 zu diagram
正解 seikai correct answer
正解図 seikaizu correct answer diagram
が ga subject marking particle
です desu copula = is
の no linking particle; possessive

急所 kyūsho the vital point
筋 suji suji; correct shape, correct style, correct move, good shape, right way of playing
手筋 tesuji tesuji
好手 kōshu a good move

眼形 gankei eye shape
死活 shikatsu life and death
初手 shote the first move
攻め合い semeai a capturing race; semeai

ハネ hane a hane
サガリ sagari a descent
トビ tobi a jump
キリ kiri a cut
オキ oki placement

In later chapters, I shall not list katakana go terms.

Vocabulary Japanese Only

The link in the header takes you to the Appendix where the above list is repeated without the rōmaji and standard meanings. This is easy to copy and paste into a dictionary app if you wish to do so.

Appendix 3–1: Vocabulary Lists

The lists on the following pages are formatted for easy copying and pasting into dictionary and flashcard apps. This should make it easier for you to study the kanji in more detail if you want to do so.

Dictionary List for Chapter 1–1

黒　白　先　番　正解　失敗
死　生き　活　コウ　劫
第　問　黒番
解答　正解　図
が　です　の
急所　筋　手　手筋　好手
眼　形　死活　初手　攻め合い

Words Probably Not in Dictionary

These words are likely to fail to match or to give ridiculous mismatches.

眼形
ハネ
サガリ
トビ
キリ
オキ

About the Author

Richard Hunter is a British go player currently living in the UK. He lived in Tokyo, Japan, from 1980 to 2008. He was introduced to the game by his elder brother, Derek (then British Go Association Secretary), and began playing at Birmingham University Go Club and then at Oxford University, where he served as club secretary and president. He attended the opening of the London Go Centre, where he met Iwamoto Kaoru 9 dan and Magari Reiki 9 dan and later lost a 9 stone game to Magari in Bristol. Hunter was a member of the BGA council in 1978.

Hunter’s relocation to Tokyo allowed him to take lessons from Iwamoto and some of his disciples, and he eventually managed to get to four stones against Iwamoto and three stones against Magari. He was a regular contributor to the British Go Journal from 1991 to 2006. He received a UK 4 dan certificate in 1991 but currently plays as 3 dan. He regularly plays in British tournaments and has in the past played in several European Go Congresses, most recently Dublin 2001, and one US Go Congress (Washington DC, 1994). While in Japan, Hunter enjoyed browsing through second-hand book stores in Tokyo looking for old go books.

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© 2019 Richard Hunter

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