VCE Japanese First Language cheat sheet
VCE Japanese First Language · Keep the key ideas within reach.
Unit 1: 自己と他者 - Self, Family and Community
Japanese sentence order is Subject–Object–Verb; the verb always closes the main clause, so hold the predicate until the end when composing.
Particles mark grammatical role, not position: が marks the subject (often new information), は marks the topic (known information), を marks a direct object, に marks destination/time/recipient, で marks location of action or means.
Transitive/intransitive verb pairs (ドアを開ける / ドアが開く) select を or が; choosing the wrong member of the pair is a common accuracy error in self-introduction writing.
Plain form (dictionary, ない, た, なかった) is used before と思う, と言う, から and in casual speech; ます/です form is used for formal self-introduction and letters.
Family vocabulary splits by in-group/out-group: 母/父/姉/兄 for one's own family when speaking to outsiders, お母さん/お父さん/お姉さん/お兄さん for another person's family.
Counters must match the noun class: 人 for people, 歳 for age, 年生 for school year, つ for generic objects, 枚 for flat things, 本 for long thin things.
Katakana is used for loanwords (アルバイト, パートタイム), onomatopoeia, and emphasis; foreign names are written in katakana with ー for long vowels.
Hiragana long vowels and small っ (gemination) change meaning: おばさん/おばあさん, きて/きって - check mora count when writing about people.
Unit 2: 学校と地域 - School, Work and Community Life
Japanese verbs have two tense forms only: non-past (る/ます) covers present and future; past (た/ました) covers completed actions. Context supplies the time reference.
て-form functions: 〜ている (ongoing state/action), 〜てから (after doing), 〜てもいい (permission), 〜てはいけない (prohibition), 〜ておく (do in advance), 〜てしまう (completion/regret).
Giving and receiving: あげる (I/we give), もらう (I/we receive), くれる (someone gives to me/us); て-form + these expresses doing a favour.
Conditionals differ in nuance: と (natural consequence, no volitional ending), ば (hypothetical condition), たら (once/when, widest use), なら (speaker responds to a stated premise).
Transitive request forms: 〜てください (neutral request), 〜ていただけませんか (polite request), 〜てもらえますか (casual-polite request) - politeness rises with length and negative question form.
School-life vocabulary register: 授業, 宿題, 部活, 文化祭, 委員会, 進路 - use する/ある collocations correctly (授業を受ける, 部活に入る, 委員会に入る).
Time expressions take no particle when deictic (今日, 明日, 毎日) but take に when specific (3時に, 月曜日に); duration takes 間 or から〜まで.
Unit 3: 情報と社会 - Media, Technology and Society
Passive form: godan u→a + れる, ichidan る→られる, する→される, くる→こられる; the agent takes に, and the subject is often inanimate in Japanese passives.
Causative: godan u→a + せる, ichidan る→させる, する→させる, くる→こさせる; causative-passive (させられる) expresses forced action.
Nominalisation with こと/の lets a clause act as a subject or object: 〜ことは大切だ, 〜のが好きだ; こと cannot follow a verb of perception (見える/聞こえる take の).
Quotation and reported speech: plain form + と言う/と思う/と書いてある; 〜によると signals a source, and 〜そうだ (hearsay) attaches to plain form.
Concession and contrast connectors: が/けれども (but), のに (despite, often complaint), ても (even if), 一方で (on the other hand) - connector choice signals the writer's stance.
Formal written style (だ・である体) replaces です・ます in reports and essays; である is used for statements of fact, だ for definitional sentences.
Numbers and statistics in Japanese: 〜% (パーセント), 〜倍, 増える/減る, 上がる/下がる; 約 and 以上/以下/未満 qualify figures precisely.
Unit 4: 異文化と未来 - Culture, Identity and Future Plans
Keigo has three registers: 尊敬語 (respect for the other's action: いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, 召し上がる), 謙譲語 (humbling own action: 伺う, 申す, いただく), 丁寧語 (です・ます・ございます).
Honorific patterns: お + ます-stem + になる (respect) versus お + ます-stem + する (humble); する verbs take ご + noun (ご連絡する).
Volitional and intention: 〜(よ)うと思う (I intend to), 〜つもりだ (plan), 〜予定だ (scheduled), 〜ことにする (decide), 〜ことになる (decided by circumstance).
Purpose and result: 〜ために (purpose/cause, deliberate), 〜ように (purpose with non-volitional verbs, or effort toward a state), 〜ようになる (come to be able), 〜ようにする (make an effort to).
Hypothetical and regret: 〜ば〜のに (if only), 〜てしまった (regret), 〜はずだ (should be, expectation), 〜わけではない (it is not that).
Essay structure in Japanese: 問題提起 → 理由・例 → 反論への言及 → 結論; explicit signposting (まず, 次に, さらに, したがって) is expected.
Cross-cultural comparison language: 〜に比べて, 〜に対して, 〜とは異なり, 〜と共通している - these frame contrast without asserting superiority.
Quote and cite: 〜と述べている, 〜という指摘がある, 〜によれば - attribute claims rather than presenting them as the writer's own.
Unit 4: 異文化と未来 - Culture, Identity and Future Plans
Keigo has three registers: 尊敬語 (respect for the other's action: いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, 召し上がる), 謙譲語 (humbling own action: 伺う, 申す, いただく), 丁寧語 (です・ます・ございます).
Honorific patterns: お + ます-stem + になる (respect) versus お + ます-stem + する (humble); する verbs take ご + noun (ご連絡する).
Volitional and intention: 〜(よ)うと思う (I intend to), 〜つもりだ (plan), 〜予定だ (scheduled), 〜ことにする (decide), 〜ことになる (decided by circumstance).
Purpose and result: 〜ために (purpose/cause, deliberate), 〜ように (purpose with non-volitional verbs, or effort toward a state), 〜ようになる (come to be able), 〜ようにする (make an effort to).
Hypothetical and regret: 〜ば〜のに (if only), 〜てしまった (regret), 〜はずだ (should be, expectation), 〜わけではない (it is not that).
Essay structure in Japanese: 問題提起 → 理由・例 → 反論への言及 → 結論; explicit signposting (まず, 次に, さらに, したがって) is expected.
Cross-cultural comparison language: 〜に比べて, 〜に対して, 〜とは異なり, 〜と共通している - these frame contrast without asserting superiority.
Quote and cite: 〜と述べている, 〜という指摘がある, 〜によれば - attribute claims rather than presenting them as the writer's own.