Bunpro Grammar Explanations, N3!

[Asher]

Hi Everyone!

Without extending the wait any further, we’d like to officially release our N3 writeups.

This release was delayed from the originally planned 15th of April by several days, so we apologise for that first and foremost.

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Our Focus

As N3 is the largest level in terms of new structures and the introduction of patterns that will continue to repeat themselves throughout N2 and also N1, we chose to put a bit of extra time into the creation of our entry level explanations. This means that there may occasionally be a few extra example sentences in the writeup itself, or sometimes an extra Fun-fact aimed purely at giving you a better intuition of how a particular structure will/should be used.

Apart from that, as with N5 and N4, we have tried to keep a mix of traditional, along with more literal translations. Particularly on grammar points where more literal translations may be helpful.

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Did Anything Change?

While the writing/formatting style is exactly the same as it has been throughout N5 and N4, we have slightly upped the amount of Japanese expressions used in the writeups again. This is for things like word type, and occasionally purely some Japanese dictionary definitions of grammar structures that actually hit the nail on the head better than their standard English interpretations. Naturally, we did include a direct translation for any Japanese definitions.

For word type (形容詞, 助動詞, 助詞, etc), this will go hand in hand with blogs that we are aiming to start releasing in the near future. They will be accessible in their own portion of the website, or directly by clicking on them wherever you see them mentioned in other explanations.

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New Learning Order

As with previous levels, we have rearranged the learning order (please allow a bit of time before this reflects on the website). Themes are fairly similar to what we used in N5 and N4, with a bit of extra focus on phrases that are similar, are useful to learn together, or will be used in the same situations. (Please click each lesson tile for a full look at the new lineup)

Lesson 1 (Possibilities and Timeframes)

ばいい、たらいい、ばよっかた、中、の間に、うちに、ないうちに、べき、べきではない、って、なかなか、あまり、なかなか～ない、によると、によって、全く～ない、ことだ、そうだ、すると、そうすると、のは～の方だ、Noun + 型、てごらん

Lesson 2 (Extents and Reasons)

Combined Particles、である、ところが、ところで、ほど、ば～ほど、ほど～ない、では、のに、ため（に）、ために、という、ということだ、というのは、的、もの、ものだ、最中に、上で、おかげで、に基づいて、点

Lesson 3 (Limitations and Results)

なぜなら～から、こそ、からこそ、ばかり、ばかりだ、ばかりに、ことがある、ことにする、ことなの、ことになる、～は～で有名、ことはない、～と言っても、～と言っても②、といえば、合う、に合わせて、について、～（の）姿、と言える、ちゃんと、そのために、その結果

Lesson 4 (Amounts and Comparisons)

に比べて、どんなに～ても、いくら～でも、～かは～によって違う、かなり、あまりに、わけだ、わけではない、と同時に、ところだった①、だって、んだって、関係がある、に関する、に対して、くらい②、は～くらいです、さ (interjection)、さ (filler)、さ (casual よ)、それぞれ

Lesson 5 (Suppositions and Statements)

まま（に）、そこで、しかない、てもかまわない、～ても～なくても、わけがない、としたら、として、にしては、にしても、～というのは事実だ、からいうと、にとって、ことから、というより、はもちろん、をはじめ、て初めて、さえ、さえ～ば、たものだ

Lesson 6 (Topic Changes and Counterstatements)

さて、むしろ、つまり、即ち、却って、まるで～ようだ、ような気がする、とても～ない、別に～ない、ばかりでなく、ではなくて、だけでなくて～も、だけしか、は言うまでもない①、決して～ない、わけにはいけない、～ようとしない、もしかしたら、たとえ～ても、ことに、ことか、～かというと①、～かというと②、で言うと

Lesson 7 (Precision and Frequency)

～ずつ、ずっと②、だらけ、もっとも、再び、み、と同じくらい、と同じで、と並んで、に違いない、当たり、に当たる、に限る、とは限らない、めったに～ない、割に、Verb (volitional)、Verb (volitional) + としたが、言うまでもない②、そうもない、ないことはない

Lesson 8 (Co-occurring and Increasing Actions)

なんか、又～も、ついでに、と共に、につれて、直ちに、たとたんに、おきに、たびに、あるいは、ながらも、において、第一、ますます、一方だ、一方で、遂に、すでに、ずに、ずにはいられない、なし、考えられない

Lesson 9 (Do it this way, Did it that way)

必ずしも、連用形、向き、向け、上がる、切る、切れない、きり、かけ、にかけて、たて、込む①、込む②、ふりをする、できれば、でよければ、次第、とおり、でもある、どうしても、もしも～なら、同士

Lesson 10 (Labelling and Blame)

がたい、まさか、前者は、つい、せいで、くせに、がち、ぎみ、っぽい、っぱなし、わざわざ、一体、折角、っけ、代わりに、に代わって、どころか、という理由で、～は～となっている、左右する

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Next Up?

Before continuing with N2, we will be going back through N5 and N4, and fixing any inconsistencies. This will be everything from titles, to search functionality, audio, spelling errors, etc. Basically, we want our N5 and N4 to be so good that we never get an error report from it again stating that something is missing.

There is no set time frame for this, but it will be done in the most timely manner as possible, so that we can continue through N2 and beyond.

Final Caution - As we are still in the process of adding hyperlinks to all of the grammar structures/words used within the writeups, please hold off on sending error reports until the end of April, as we will be continuing to go through them bit by bit and making sure each grammar point has all of the links required.

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As Always

Thank you all for your ongoing support, and for creating an environment where we (the workers) are able to be part of a team that is driven largely by the passion and enthusiasm of its userbase. We will continue to aspire to deliver content that is engaging, interesting, and …perhaps more importantly than anything… provides as many people as possible with the tools they need to succeed with their own language learning journey.

Hope you all enjoy the new writeups, and that you’re having an absolutely stellar week! For me, it is time for an energy drink

[SteveB]

That’s awesome, well done team!
I’m about 1/3 of the way into N3 and things are fairly slow going. I really like the way you explain the grammar and language overall, the N4 + N5 explanations are much clearer than any of the linked resources, so I’m really excited to have these out for N3 so I can use these for primary reading from now on.

Thanks again for all the hard work and continuous improvement.

[severian]

Might be worth resetting the 30 N3 points I’ve readded (after my Big Reset™) to go through with the new fancy explanations and order

After I’ve had an energy drink myself, too. It’s that Wednesday feeling, haha.

Thanks so much for all the hard work, it’s super appreciated and I have no idea where my Japanese learning would be without you guys at this point!

[Houndstooth]

Another home run from the Bunpro team. さすがです！ Keep up the good work y’all, it’s been amazing to watch Bunpro grow over these last 4 years!

[jrmr50]

Perfect, the quality of the write up changes done for N5 &N4 meant I’ve been waiting for this before starting N3.

[Megumin]

Thank you so much team!

Finally my poor excuse to not do my last burst of N4 lessons is gone and I’ll have to stop procrastinating them.

[camytang]

You guys rock! Thanks!

[rikvg]

You guys are right on my heels.

Looking forward to being caught up with.

お疲れ様です

[Ches]

Amazing work Bunpro team!

I just finished N4 grammar yesterday and today you post this D: N5/N4 explanations were very well-put and clear. The example sentences (+ audio) were extremely helpful. I’m so excited to get into N3!

[cineebon]

I just finished N3 a few days ago, but I’m super excited to see this because I’m sure I need to go back through some of them. Thank you guys for this!

[qazrt]

oh that’s brilliant! thanks to the Bunpro team!

[salsaria]

Oof I wish I had delayed the N3 study for a couple more weeks, but it’s still appreciated, thanks Bunpro Team!

[kebekor]

Wonderful!!! I will soon be reaching N3 this will absolutely take my japanese to the next level. Thank you ご苦労さまでしたBUNPROのみなさん。

[msbrown]

The grammar explanations for N4 were a game-changer for me. I’m soooo glad that you all are ahead of me! I’m still a ways from getting to N3 but I’m not sure I could do it without the the bunpro writeups.

[Woody883]

bunpro just keeps getting better. thanks alot for your hard work

[kush]

Nice work!
I have been taking it slowly but im sure i will eventually make it to see these new explanations

[Harald1]

I’ve been delaying my grammar studies for 3 weeks waiting for this, glad to see it release!

And that it happened mostly when I expected it to (if it wasn’t up by end of april I was going to continue anyway).

[kaitotorabera]

Thank you really much. You are saving me a bunch of time.

[Edo9]

[Haruka]

Thank you for the great writeups!

My one small piece of feedback would be that the trailing furigana in parentheses makes text hard for me to read; using ruby or even no furigana would be much more readable.