SACE Stage 2 Japanese (beginners) key terms

The basic Japanese syllabary of about 46 characters, each standing for one sound. Used for native words, grammar endings and words not written in kanji.

A second syllabary with the same sounds as hiragana, used mainly for foreign loanwords, names, onomatopoeia and emphasis. Its shapes are more angular than hiragana.

Characters borrowed from Chinese, each carrying meaning and usually more than one reading. Beginners learn a limited set for everyday nouns, verbs and adjectives.

The hiragana written after a kanji stem to complete a verb or adjective and show its ending. For example, the べる in たべる changes with tense and form.

Words borrowed from other languages, mostly English, written in katakana. Examples include パン, テレビ and アルバイト. They are often shortened from the original word.

A long vowel sound held for roughly two beats. In katakana it is shown with a dash ー, as in コーヒー; in hiragana it is written with an extra vowel such as おかあさん.

Pronunciation: the way sounds are produced, including vowel length, small っ and pitch. Clear pronunciation matters for the speaking and listening parts of the exam.

Greetings and set social phrases such as おはようございます, こんにちは and しつれいします. Beginners are expected to use them appropriately for time of day and situation.

Polite and honorific language used to show respect to the listener or a third person. Beginners mainly need the polite です・ます style and common set phrases.

The polite style of speech taught first to beginners. Verbs end in ます and nouns or adjectives combine with です, making the sentence suitable for most formal situations.

Verbs: words expressing actions or states, such as たべる, いく and ある. In Japanese they come at the end of the sentence and change form for tense, politeness and negation.

Adjectives. Japanese has two kinds: い-adjectives like たかい, which change their own ending, and な-adjectives like しずかな, which take な before a noun.

Particles: short grammatical markers placed after words to show their role. For example, は marks the topic, を marks the object and に marks time or destination.

Grammar: the rules for how words and particles combine into sentences. A key beginner point is that the verb comes last and the topic is marked with は.

Word order. Japanese normally follows subject–object–verb order, with the verb at the end, unlike English. Particles show who did what regardless of position.

Past tense form. For polite verbs, ます becomes ました and ません becomes ませんでした; adjectives and です also change to show past time.

The polite register of verbs and sentences, typically using です and ます. It is the default style for classroom speaking, interviews and writing to unfamiliar people.

The plain or casual form of a verb, adjective or noun, such as たべる rather than たべます. Used with close friends and family, and needed to build other grammar patterns.

The て-form of a verb, made by changing the ending, as in たべて from たべる. It links actions, makes requests with ください and forms the present progressive with います.

The dictionary form, the plain present form listed in dictionaries, such as いく or のむ. Beginners need it to look up words and to form casual speech and some patterns.

Counters: suffixes attached to numbers, chosen according to the type of object. Examples include まい for flat things, ほん for long objects and ひき for small animals.

Numbers. Learners must handle both native Japanese counting for some items and the Chinese-derived set いち, に, さん, as well as large units such as まん (ten thousand).

Time expressions, including hours with じ, minutes with ふん or ぷん, and words like あした and まいにち. These are placed before the verb and often take the particle に.

Family vocabulary. Learners must distinguish words for their own family, such as ちち and はは, from polite words for someone else's family, such as おとうさん and おかあさん.

Work and occupations, for example せんせい, かいしゃいん and がくせい. Talking about jobs and daily routines is a common topic in the oral and written tasks.

Self-introduction: a short speech giving your name, nationality, school, year level, hobbies and so on. It is a standard opening task in the beginners course.

Food and cooking terms, such as ごはん, さかな, おいしい and たべます. Ordering food and describing likes and dislikes are frequent exam topics.

A school-based quiz checking recognition and writing of the kanji set for the course. Results count towards school assessment rather than the final external examination.

School assessment: marks awarded during the year for tasks set by the teacher, such as written responses, oral presentations and listening tests. It contributes a set share of the final grade.

Oral expression: speaking performance assessed in class, often through a conversation, interview or short talk. Fluency, pronunciation, range of language and communication of meaning are judged.

A written composition in Japanese, usually on a familiar topic and with a set length. Teachers assess range of vocabulary, grammar accuracy, structure and suitability of register.

Listening comprehension: understanding spoken Japanese from recordings or the teacher. Tasks may ask for main ideas, specific details or the speaker's intention.

Reading comprehension: understanding written Japanese texts such as notices, emails or short articles. Candidates answer questions in English or Japanese about details and main ideas.

External assessment: the final examination set and marked outside the school. It tests listening, reading and writing, and its weighting is fixed by the subject outline.

An examination or test. In this subject the final external examination covers listening, reading and writing, while school tests also contribute to the overall result.

Vocabulary: the range of words a learner knows and can use. Marks are given for accurate and varied vocabulary, so learning topic word lists is essential.

An email or short message, a common text type in reading and writing tasks. Learners should know greetings, requests and closing phrases used in polite written Japanese.

A short prepared talk in Japanese, often part of oral assessment. It needs a clear opening, connected sentences and a closing, spoken with reasonable fluency.

A role-play conversation where you act out a situation, such as shopping or asking directions. It tests the ability to respond appropriately and keep the exchange going.

Culture: knowledge of Japanese customs, festivals, food and daily life. It supports understanding of texts and is often assessed in written responses and research tasks.