IPPO, Japanese Learning Coach

In English, "even though," "despite" or "although." But in Japanese, there is a specific grammar point that carries a much heavier emotional weight: 〜のに (noni).

〜のは〜です is a way to turn a whole phrase or a verb into a noun so that you can talk about it as the subject. In English, we call this a "cleft sentence."

〜ば(Ba) If you have been studying Japanese for a while, you have likely hit that inevitable wall where you realize th...

The particle "wa" (は) has two primary jobs. The first is to mark the topic (what the sentence is about). The second is to show contrast (対比 - taihi).

Bakari (〜ばかり) If you have been studying Japanese for a while, especially if you are gearing up for the JLPT N4 or N3...

〜はずだ translates to "it is expected that..." or "I am sure that..." However, it isn't just a random guess, but it is based on objective evidence, or a schedule.

"start-reading" is what we call a compound verb, and it is one of the most essential tools in your Japanese toolkit for sounding more natural and fluent.

~ほう が いい(hou ga ii) Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you wanted to give a friend some helpful advic...

〜必要がある (hitsuyou ga aru) translates to "there is a necessity to..." or simply "it is necessary to..."

The core meaning of 〜ほど〜ない is "not as... as...". It is used to indicate that the subject does not reach the same level or degree as the noun being compared to.