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Taeko Kamiya
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The Handbook of Japanese Verbs Paperback – June 19 2001

by Taeko Kamiya (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
4.4 on Goodreads
79 ratings
From the very earliest stages of study until far into the intermediate level, students of the Japanese language are continually scratching their heads over the usage of verbs. It is no wonder that they should feel the need for a solid reference book, one they can continually turn to throughout their studying careers. The Handbook of Japanese Verbs is just that book.


The Introduction takes the first step toward comprehension by pointing out the features of Japanese verbs that stand in contrast to their English counterparts, such as tense, politeness level, auxiliaries, and transitive and intransitive forms.


Part 1 shows through tables and concise commentary how Japanese verbs are categorized, conjugated, and combined with auxiliaries. Each form is followed by a short exercise, reinforcing the points just made.


Part 2 takes up the forms described in the first part and shows how they function in full-fledged sentences. Each discussion is followed by examples and exercises, ensuring that the student has understood the forms under discussion.


In the appendices, the student is offered a number of look-up methods, including an English-Japanese verb dictionary. This completes the apparatus necessary for a solid handbook on Japanese verbs, a book students can rely on for many years to come
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  1. ISBN-10
    4770026838
  2. ISBN-13
    978-4770026835
  3. Publisher
    Kodansha International
  4. Publication date
    June 19 2001
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    17.53 x 1.78 x 12.45 cm
  7. Print length
    256 pages
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Product description

About the Author

TAEKO KAMIYA received a BA for Doshisha Women's College (Kyoto) and MAs from the University of San Francisco in education and from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in linguistics. She taught Japanese for twenty-five years at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. Among her publications are Speak Japanese Today (1989), Japanese for Fun: Make Your Stay in Japan More Enjoyable (1990), Tuttle New Dictionary on Loanwords in Japanese (1994), Subject-Grouped 1016 Kanji in Context (1997), and Japanese Particle Workbook (1998).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface

In order to master a foreign language, it is crucial for students to acquire a solid knowledge of its verbs and their usage. Japanese is no exception.

Japanese verbs are often said to be difficult and complicated and hard to learn. That is not true. In fact, they are simple and less complicated to learn than those of many other languages. Unlike some European languages, you do not have to memorize different forms to indicate the number or person or gender of the subject of the sentence. The verb kaku, for instance, could mean I/we write, you (sing./ pl.) write, he/she/it writes or they write. Moreover, Japanese verbs are highly regular in the way they make their forms. Once you grasp certain rules for making such forms as the negative, conjunctive, conditional forms, etc., you will be able to apply these rules to almost any verbs.

The purpose of this book is to describe in detail not only how Japanese verbs conjugate, but how you should use the verb forms in connection with sentence structures.

The book is divided into two parts. Part I deals with the conjugations of the three types of verbs--regular I, regular II and irregular verbs, as well as copulas (be-verbs) and auxiliaries. A conjugation practice follows the description of a verb or a group of verbs. Part II deals with the usage of various verb forms. Each usage is illustrated with example sentences, and exercises are provided every few lessons to allow you to test your understanding.

I do hope that this book will prove to be helpful--you will discover how simple and easy conjugating and using Japanese verbs can be.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kodansha International
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 19 2001
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 4770026838
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-4770026835
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 295 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 17.53 x 1.78 x 12.45 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

About the author

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Taeko Kamiya

Taeko Kamiya

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Taeko Kamiya is a internationally recognized linguist, teacher and author. She studied at Doshisha Women's College (Kyoto) before receiving Masters degrees from the University of San Francisco in education and from Monterey Institute of International Studies in linguistics. She taught Japanese for twenty-five years at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and has written several critically acclaimed books about the Japanese Language.

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Top reviews from Canada

  • Benito
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on October 30, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Very good
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  • ZK
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Grammar Source
    Reviewed in Canada on April 24, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This book is an excellent source for learning verbs in Japanese Language. I would recommend it to all Japanese language learners.
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  • Lucky Feather
    5.0 out of 5 stars An amazingly well-written handbook of Japanese verbs
    Reviewed in Canada on February 15, 2011
    The conjugation of Japanese verbs, particularly the godan verbs, is so complicated to a foreign student, yet after learning from this book to use the Japanese syllabary chart as the bases for various functions, it all becomes very comprehensible. Part II of the book further explains the usage of various verb forms very clearly and makes the learning of this major part of Japanese grammar so much easier. I highly recommend this book to all foreign learners of Japanese.
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  • Hypermom
    5.0 out of 5 stars Verbs and nothing else, but...
    Reviewed in Canada on June 27, 2001
    This is a wonderful little book. You need to be at a point in your Japanese studies where working with verbs is a problem before you even bother. And you need to know the hiragana to make best use of the handbook. (Everything is written in romaji in addition to kanji though.)
    Now if you know a fair amount of Japanese and if you know your kana, you might think you aren't going to need a book that deals only with verbs. Unlike a (proper) English sentence, a Japanese sentence can comprise nothing but verbs (although some of them might be acting like nouns). If you know why you say kawanai, but kaimasu, then you don't need this book. If you know the difference between sumitai and sumitagaru, then you don't need this book.
    But if verbs are giving you a problem or if you are moving from a purely auditory learning system to the written language, then you will want this book. I found the "pattern" treatment of Type I or u-dropping verbs particularly helpful. (I learned it in about half an hour.) Also, since I am working with written Japanese more than spoken Japanese, I am finding the comprehensive list of patterns (over 150) extremely useful. But if I were concentrating on the spoken language I would still need to know which form goes with which auxiliary. And it's all here, presented systematically for easy digestion.
    My only complaint is that the practices give too much help with the auxiliaries. It really needs two levels of practice -- one that reinforces verb endings and one that reinforces verb ending + auxiliaries.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • supa
    4.0 out of 5 stars great handbook
    Reviewed in Canada on May 1, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I have japanese verbs at a glance but wanted something a bit more thorough and this book is it!
    Great book and goes great with "A handbook of japanese adjectives & adverbs"!!!
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  • Michael Callaghan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Subarashi!
    Reviewed in Canada on February 28, 2002
    This very friendly little book is a fantastic tutorial in the proper use of Japanese verb forms in nearly all their conjugations and uses. Sample sentences are throughout, most of them quite useful and suitable for memorization verbatim, and workbook style drills accompany every section of every chapter.
    This is, however, more of a workbook than a reference; for the latter, look no further than Naoko Chino's "Japanese Verbs at a Glance". For a workbook, however, this has (in my experience) no peer.
    "Language learning is overlearning", and with that in mind, Kamiya offers lots of practice and sample bunkei which, when worked through, will offer a truly impressive insight into the mechanics of Japanese verb USAGE (not just academic conjugation).
    My last class (I'm a second year student at the Geos School in NYC) taught me the '-nagara' verb ending. By using Kamiya's book at home these past few days I feel confident in my usage of what amounted to no more than a footnote in "Japanese For Busy People II" textbook. Excellent. Now I can tell my girlfriend not to talk with her mouth full!
    A fun, fine, and ultimately indespensible book for any (that means all) verb-challenged intermediate students. Kamiya is one of the best teachers I've studied - try to get a copy of her "Japanese Particle Workbook" - another five star title on a stubbornly difficult subject.
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  • Zack Davisson
    5.0 out of 5 stars A grammar text
    Reviewed in Canada on November 25, 2002
    This is not a "user friendly" book for the casual learner of Japanese. This is nothing more or less than a small, pocket-book sized grammar text for using Japanese verbs. "Te" forms, "tara" forms, "hoshii" forms are all covered, along with pretty much every other possible conjugation. This is no dictionary, however, so do not expect to learn any new words. Just expect to make better use of the verbs you already know.
    The sections are broken down well, and there are very small practice sections at the end of each chapter. For what it is, it is an excellent resource. I would recommend this book to serious, college level learners of Japanese.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • C. Lim
    5.0 out of 5 stars Systematic and clear
    Reviewed in Canada on March 19, 2002
    I like the book for three things. Firstly, it is really systematic. Each section begins with the sentence pattern, followed with several examples, and then the exercise section. Secondly, this book comes with Kanji and Romaji. As Kanji is the so-called life-application form of Japanese (i.e. used in Japanese comic books, newspapers, novels etc), the use of Kanji in the book helps me to recognise written Kanji in my favourite Japanese magazines (for eg.). The use of Romaji helps me to know the pronunciation of each word, so it saves me the trouble of having to check the dictionary. Romaji also helps with my listening. Lastly, its syllabus closely resemble my Japanese class materials, and hence it was a great refresher for someone who has learned Japanese for three years (i.e. but that was four years ago).
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Rover Brown
    5.0 out of 5 stars By far the best on Japanese verb use
    Reviewed in Japan on December 4, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    This book rapidly increased the number of sentences I could use with Japanese verbs, but unless you have a basic understanding of the Japanese language it could prove a little difficult to handle. Many examples are given on how to use the various verb sentence patterns, but unless you already know some Japanese noun, adjective, adverb and verb meanings, the examples may confuse you, because you will also be forced to try and remember the meanings of all the other words in the examples.

    I suggest spending a bit of time on a Japanese textbook, such as "Japanese for Everyone", and once you have the ability to speak basic Japanese you should then add this book to your library. "The Handbook of Japanese Verbs" helps to teach you sentence patterns, not word definitions. You can also practice your kanji, as the examples are firstly written in Japanese, then romaji, then translated into English.

    If you are after a very basic verb book, I recommend starting on "Essential Japanese Verbs", by Setsu Migita. This book is like a dictionary of Japanese verbs and gives simple sentence patterns to practice. It is all in romaji, so it may disappoint those who want to read Japanese writing.
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  • Himeko Shima
    5.0 out of 5 stars My foundation in learning Japanese
    Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    So I purchased this back in 2003 and here I am, over 10 years later, writing a review on it. This was one of the most instrumental books I used to learn Japanese. This review may be a little long, but I'll share how I studied Japanese while living abroad in hopes that some will find it helpful. While stationed in Okinawa, I tried to learn by taking a college Japanese course. In my honest opinion, I learned more from this book than from the college course. Don't get me wrong, the college course was good as it relates to learning how to read/write romaji, hiragana and katakana. It also helped in pronunciation. However, the course taught how to speak using the "polite" verb conjugation, which isn't too helpful if you want to shoot the breeze with the locals. I primarily used what I learned from this book to speak with the local community. What I liked about this book is that it starts off by teaching you the "plain" form of the verb, which all other Japanese conjugations are based off of. From there, it teaches all the other conjugations of the verbs. After I completed my college course, I studied on my own by diving into this book and making hundreds of flash cards containing all the verbs from this book. My flash cards didn't simply have the verbs on them, it had example sentences in them. This way I was memorizing sentences rather than just a single word. I forced myself to review these flashcards EVERY single day. Armed with this book (among others) and the knowledge from hundreds of flash cards, I gathered enough courage to go into a small "mom and pop" restaurant and try to order something on my own. From there, I learned more practical Japanese from the patrons of that particular establishment. Eventually, I was able to meet my future wife and made many local friends (including the owners of various restaurants). Fast forward to now, I'm now married to an Okinawan and converse daily with her in Japanese. I credit this book and the other Kodansha Dictionary books I had (Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs, Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns, All About Particles) in me being able to meet & mingle with the local Japanese community. Negative reviews on this mention that this book isn't for beginners. I disagree, if you go through this book from beginning to end, even a beginner could effectively learn from this book. Word of caution however, this book will only be useful if you're serious and eager about learning Japanese. If not, then you'll be overwhelmed. Some further advice, after you've gotten a good handle on this book and learned to read hiragana & katakana, get yourself a book that's meant to teach English to Japanese tourists. I bought these tourist books from a nearby 100 yen store and learned a lot from them. Also, watching an American movie in English first, then watching it in Japanese was surprisingly helpful. In conclusion, I strongly recommend getting this book if you're serious about learning Japanese. With the help of this book, I've had one of the greatest times in my life learning the language and experiencing the Japanese culture.
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  • jmauvinet
    5.0 out of 5 stars très systématique
    Reviewed in France on June 1, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Cet ouvrage est très clair. Très systématique dans son approche, il clarifie bien les idées sur les verbes et donne beaucoup d'exemples. Excellent et très utile.
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  • tina
    5.0 out of 5 stars received item
    Reviewed in Japan on May 22, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    I received the book on time. Thank you. It's been helping me a lot in reviewing Japanese verbs. Easy to understand.
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  • Caroline
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference book
    Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I've been studying Japanese for 4 years now and this is probably the most helpful book on Japanese grammar I've ever bought! While there are practice sections for each grammar pattern, I would not recommend this book for someone who is just beginning Japanese. However, as a supplement for students who have already been studying the language and want to take their writing and reading to the next level, this product is a must have.

    The sentence pattern index in the back is just amazingly helpful. You can look things up by either the Japanese conjugation or the English equivalent - both things that are necessary for a book to really be helpful for reading and writing, as I can easily look something up. It is also really nice to be able to just look up a conjugation, especially "Te-form" and be able to see ALL of the grammar patterns that go with it.
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