What are the most difficult grammar concepts?

Japanese
#1

Yeah, so I’m wondering what the most difficult grammar concepts are for people (and how you overcame the more difficult ones in the past). I’m mostly just curious to see if it’s the same for other people as it is for me.

For me, when I was studying N5 material I remember being confused by negative て form and other combined verbs. Bunpro repetition and reading books really helped me understand that eventually.

N4, anything related to keigo or the transitive vs intransitive verbs still occasionally cause me grief lol. I almost feel like these concepts are more difficult than the N3/N2 content simply because they require a lot more practice.

Anyway, I’d love to hear what grammar is causing you emotional pain or any cool ways you overcame your struggles.

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#2

は and が
There’s other stuff I also get wrong a lot or have to stop and think about for a while (transitive/intransitive, all the different “if” and “seems like” versions, and I haven’t even gotten into keigo yet).
But は and が so far are the only grammar points that I do not get. I’m hoping that with time and exposure I’ll just get a feel for when to use which one, without having to understand why that is lol.

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#3

I have an on-again off-again relationship with understanding は and が.

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#4

Even though I can’t stand the feel of the videos, I find Cure Dolly’s explanation of は and が as the best, most self-consistent explanation of these particles. (ie. you don’t have to remember a bunch of special rules to make sense of it)

Lesson 1: Japanese made easy! What schools never teach. The core Japanese sentence -organic Japanese - YouTube
Lesson 3: WA-particle secrets schools don't ever teach. How WA can make or break your Japanese - YouTube

p.s. I saw these after having gone through the traditional explanations of these particles and being never quite satisfied with the explanations.

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#5

Was I the only one who struggled really hard with にfor the longest time? Yes? OK good to know heh.

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#6

か. As a question marker I get it, but then it’s also used for “or,” as well as a few other things (なにか, etc.). I sort of get that it represents some level of “questioniness,” but I find it really hard to think about what it means outside of whatever fixed meanings are given in the grammar points.

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#7

Oh man, that took me a while too and I still don’t use them correctly all the time. I think the only way I got those was exposure, and something about indirect vs direct objects. All of the particles really just require a lot of exposure if you haven’t studied a language that uses something similar.

I think in general with particles, it’s best to just keep going with Japanese instead of intensely understanding them linguistically. If you can understand how they’re used in sentences, then you’re mostly good. Now particle combinations… those still get me lol

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#8

Was I the only one who struggled really hard with にfor the longest time?

Not at all. I’m still caught off guard by some of に’s less obvious or common uses. When I see how much ESL learners struggle with English prepositions I feel a little better, though. I think that’s just a common factor in second language learning.

The thing I struggle with the most when it comes to grammar is when there’s no obvious correlation between the literal reading of the Japanese and the actual meaning. For instance, というものでもない translates as “there is no guarantee,” or “not necessarily.” How does “it’s not a thing that is called” mean “there is no guarantee?”

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#9

I feel like I have trouble with the most basic grammar particles more often than anything else. Later grammar usually only has one specific meaning. However a lot of the simple grammar particles have a handful of uses that, at least in my head, tend to overlap which throws me off.

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#10

I find the hardest ones to remember are ones that are similar but have different nuances.
For example, it’s easy enough to learn いよいよ、やっと、ようやく、とうとう、ついに as “finally” but learning the difference between each of them is much harder.
I also find remembering grammar points that look similar but have different meanings to be difficult. Things like よりほかない and にほかならない 、or ないではいられな、わけにはいかない、さるをえない and ないわけにはいかに。 It doesn’t help that outside of Bunpro, I haven’t really encountered this points all too often.

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#11

I am having a hard time with this too, and just by accident stumbled upon Onomappu’s video regarding it, he also explained it in a very understandable way, here’s a link to the video: How do you use "WA" and "GA" in Japanese to sound natural? | Easy Japanese - YouTube

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#12

における. It can mean like 5 different things. How I overcame it? I didn’t

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