Too many grammar points bunched up together

Bunpro
#1

At least early on, many grammar points are crammed into each singular ‘grammar point’. Conjugation is a perfect example: “past tense u verbs” will teach you the separate conjugations for ru-u-tsu groups, the ku/gu groups, nu-bu-mu groups, and su. It also teaches 5 exceptions. It also teaches polite form on each of these, although since that is a simple ‘u-i’ conversion you can just count that as one. So that’s a total of 10 things taught all at the same time.

This is way, way, way too fucking much. This is missing the entire point of SRS. SRS is supposed to be a single point hammered home repeatedly at spaced intervals until it gets stuck in your memory; instead it keeps jumping around these 10 points randomly, meaning that none of them actually stick. It also means that all 10 of these points have to share a single time slot, so you’re not repeating them nearly as often as you should be for such an important grammar point. So then I’m forced to try and figure out my own external way of memorizing these through anki and outside study, but then, at that point, why am I even using bunpro?

Other examples are actually broken into separate points. Instead of, say, one single grammar point for ‘ko-so-a(re)’ that tries to stuff every possible variation into your head at once, each and every one is given their own space to breathe. It is much more effective and as a result those were easy to learn. It makes it even more baffling why some other grammar points are all forced to share a single room and bunk together.

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#2

Have you utilized the cram feature on Bunpro to specifically target conjugation to help you get as many reps as you need?

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#3

I am sympathetic to your frustration that the grammar point is overwhelming by throwing all of the conjugation forms of all verbs at you at once, but this is why it’s really important to read the new in depth explanations.

To use your example of past-tense conjugation. The reason why they’re all taught together is because they are one grammar point. They aren’t separate conjugations, they’re all the same. You move the final character of the word from the う-column of the hiragana chart to the あ-column.

る → ら
く → か
ぶ → ば

etc. etc.
They’re all like that with only the only exceptions are the verbs which end in う (those just become わ), いく-> いった, する->した、and くる-> きた. That’s it.

If Bunpro or any other grammar resource were to teach these separately it would be almost impossible for beginners to see that they almost all follow the same pattern. This is also why every other conjugation you’ll see on Bunpro does the same thing and teaches all of the different verb types together. Polite, potential, passive, causitive, all of the conjugation forms follow very regular patterns. Here’s an extra tip on the た-form specifically, once you know it, you know the て-form because it’s exactly the same but with a て instead of a た.

Some grammar points are just harder than others.

Sometimes it feels like Bunpro is throwing a lot at you at once, but it’s better to see it all together than for that information to be separate. I know it can be frustrating, but in the long run you’ll have a much better understanding this way.

P.S. You should absolutely be using other resources on top of Bunpro regardless. No one resource will make you fluent and no one resource will have the best explanations. If you’re not also learning from other materials, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

Also, check out Cure Dolly’s videos on conjugation, they’re very enlightening

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#4

Overall I very much agree with this post, however it seems at least as of the current edit the explanation of past tense conjugation is a bit off. You say “you move the final character of the word from the う-column of the hiragana chart to the あ-column”, however this would produce something like 聞く→聞か instead of 聞く→聞いた. The correct past tense chart should look more like:

る→った
く→いた
ぶ→んだ

etc.
Which is admittedly a bit more complex, although its still very much worth learning them together.

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#5

I totally get where you’re coming from. Although I’m generally happy with the way grammar points are split up, some do seem rather random.
As for past tense conjugations, I actually used to have Anki cards split in exactly the way you described. And it didn’t help me one bit. Sure, I had the conjugation rules memorized, but I was way too slow to actually use them in conversation. I ended up regularly using an online conjugation practice tool (which I think the Bunpro team is also working on?) until I could do it without thinking about it. So I guess what I’m saying is, SRS isn’t the best way for everything, and I think this is one example.

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