Learning guides
Understand readings and expressions, then put them into practice with review and mock tests.
Learn kanji readings in words
A kanji’s reading list gives possibilities. The word and its context determine the reading you use.
一日: a date or a duration?
Learn both ついたち and いちにち for 一日. Distinguishing a calendar date from a length of time helps you interpret the sentence.
愛, 恋, and 好き: more than one kind of love
These expressions can overlap in translation, but they differ in scope and grammar. Consider both the person or thing involved and the situation.
〜たり〜たりする: examples, not a sequence
たり is useful for naming representative activities. Their order in the sentence does not necessarily tell you which happened first.
A short routine with review folders and games
Saving many cards is less useful than checking whether you can recall them. Work on small sets and distinguish why an item was difficult.
JLPT Mock Tests: how they work and sample questions
Explore how Kotomoa’s independently created mock tests work. You can read and check the vocabulary, grammar, and listening samples below without signing in.
Hiragana and katakana
The two kana scripts can represent the same sounds, but they serve different roles. Learn where each appears in words and sentences, not just how the characters look.
Long vowels change words
Vowel length can distinguish Japanese words. Check both the spoken length and the actual kana spelling to avoid confusing what you hear with what you need to write.
Small っ and consonant timing
Small っ is not pronounced like full-sized つ. It changes the timing before the next consonant and can distinguish words, so practice both the spelling and the rhythm.
Small ゃ, ゅ, ょ: two symbols, one mora
きゃ and きや differ in sound and timing because of character size. Learn how small ゃ, ゅ, and ょ combine with the preceding character inside real words.
Telling シ, ツ, ソ, and ン apart
Before guessing a whole word, inspect the stroke arrangement in similar-looking katakana. Compare print and handwriting so that recognition does not depend on just one font.
は and が: topic and focus
A fixed one-to-one translation of は and が misses important context. Ask what the conversation is about and which information the speaker is identifying or highlighting.
に and で: what happens at a place
に and で after a place are not interchangeable variants. Use the verb to distinguish where something exists from where an activity takes place.
を and へ: objects, paths, directions
を can mark a path as well as an action's object. へ marks a direction of movement; the presence of a movement verb does not make these particles interchangeable.
の: connecting nouns
の does more than express possession. The second noun is the main item; the first adds a relationship such as owner, field, or location.
と and や: listing nouns
と and や frame lists of nouns differently. Decide whether you are presenting a complete list or representative examples, and distinguish noun lists from lists of actions.
だけ and しか: expressing limits
だけ and しか can both express a limit, but they require different sentence patterns. Translating the negative after しか in isolation can reverse the intended meaning.
から, まで, and までに
から and まで identify starting and ending points. With time, distinguish まで from までに: is an activity continuing until a time, or must it be completed by a deadline?
Verb groups: not every る is the same
Accurate conjugation requires both a verb's dictionary form and its group. Verbs ending in る do not all change in the same way.
The masu-form: polite verb sentences
The masu-form is a basic way to speak politely. Learn its affirmative, negative, past, and non-past forms separately so that you can read sentence endings accurately.
The te-form: changes by verb ending
The te-form supports requests, connections, and state expressions. Group its changes by verb ending, but do not treat the te-form itself as past tense.
The nai-form: making negatives
The nai-form is the basic plain non-past negative of a verb. Pay attention to changes such as 買わない and こない, then connect the form to negative past statements.
The ta-form: past and completion
The ta-form commonly describes past events, but its role changes in larger patterns. Separate how the form is built from the time reference of the whole sentence.
い-adjectives and な-adjectives
Japanese adjectives take different forms before nouns and at sentence endings. Watch for な-adjectives ending in い, such as きれい, and the special changes of いい.
Plain forms and polite speech
Plain form does not mean dictionary form alone. It includes affirmative, negative, past, and non-past forms, and it also appears inside otherwise polite sentences.
ある and いる: existence and location
Distinguish ある and いる when locating people and things. Also compare introducing something's presence with explaining the location of an already known item.
〜ている: progress and resulting states
Do not translate every 〜ている as an action in progress. The verb and time expressions help distinguish ongoing actions, resulting states, and repeated habits.
Intransitive and transitive verb pairs
'The door opens' and 'someone opens the door' frame the event differently. Learn Japanese verb pairs together with their particles and the participants in the action.
Potential forms: ability versus not doing
Potential forms express ability or situational possibility. Distinguish not doing something from being unable to do it, and check the changes for each verb group.
たい and ほしい: wanting actions and things
Learn the basic contrast between たい for an action you want to do and ほしい for a thing you want. Expressing your own wish is also different from making a request.