GUIDED PATH · PHASE 5
Guided Japanese Course
A mastery path for complete beginners and technology professionals.
HOW THIS COURSE WORKS
Follow the path. Advance by mastery.
The primary path tells you what to do next. You can still open any available lesson, but completion is based on checkpoints rather than calendar days.
FULL TARGET CURRICULUM
Tracks 0–10
TRACK 7 · 7-1
Plain Form: The Grammar Backbone
Build the present/past affirmative and negative plain forms of verbs, nouns, and adjectives, and understand where plain form is used.
- Polite verb forms, adjective conjugation, and past tense.
Plain form is not merely 'casual Japanese.' It is the form required inside many larger grammar structures: thoughts, reasons, noun modification, intentions, comparisons, and more.
1. Separate politeness from tense/polarity
Japanese forms carry several dimensions. Plain vs polite is one dimension; present/past and affirmative/negative are others.
2. Verb plain forms are the dictionary/ない/た/なかった family
The dictionary form is already the plain non-past affirmative.
Natural: write / will write
Structure: write
Plain non-past affirmative.
Natural: do not write / will not write
Structure: write-not
Plain non-past negative.
Natural: wrote
Structure: write-past
Plain past affirmative.
Natural: did not write
Structure: write-not-past
Plain past negative.
3. Adjectives and nouns have their own plain patterns
い-adjectives do not use だ in affirmative present. な-adjectives/nouns use だ in plain affirmative statements.
Natural: is fast
Structure: fast
い-adjective plain affirmative.
Natural: is not fast
Structure: fast-not
い-adjective negative.
Natural: is convenient
Structure: convenient — copula
な-adjective plain affirmative.
Natural: is a student
Structure: student — copula
Noun plain affirmative.
Natural: is not a student
Structure: student — not
Common plain negative.
4. Plain form and casual speech overlap, but are not identical concepts
You use plain forms when speaking casually, but plain forms also appear inside otherwise polite sentences. Later in this track, 日本に行くと思います contains plain 行く inside polite 思います.
5. Four-quadrant conjugation sheet
Conjugate 12 targets through present affirmative, present negative, past affirmative, and past negative. Include Group 1, Group 2, irregular verbs, い/な adjectives, and nouns.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHEET
5. Four-quadrant conjugation sheet
Create a 4-column matrix for 12 targets. Circle every form that is structurally plain even if it later appears inside a polite sentence.
Tip: on a foldable or tablet, use your pen directly on the page. Your strokes are saved in this browser as you work.
5. Four-quadrant conjugation sheet
Create a 4-column matrix for 12 targets. Circle every form that is structurally plain even if it later appears inside a polite sentence.
6. Treat plain form as a typed grammar interface
This is an ideal Language IDE transformation exercise.
Language IDE
Why here: Plain forms feed many later constructions, so transformation accuracy has high leverage.
How to use it for this lesson: Test 書く, 食べる, する, 来る, 速い, 便利, 学生 across the four quadrants. Keep a separate error list for verbs vs predicates.
Open plain-form lab →Mastery checkpoint
Answer from memory. If something fails, identify whether the bug is conjugation, particle role, or interpretation before retrying.
