VCE Japanese SL cheat sheet

Register ladder: plain form (だ/だよ) for close peers and family; です・ます for acquaintances, teachers, and service staff; でございます only in formal service or ceremonial speech.

あいさつ openings and closings pair with register: おはようございます／おはよう, いただきます before eating, おじゃまします when entering someone's home, お世話になりました on leaving a host.

Invitations use 〜ませんか (open, polite) versus 〜ましょう (presumptive, assumes agreement); declining uses ちょっと… or 〜はちょっと難しいですが, never a bare いいえ.

Offering and requesting: 〜てあげる (I do for an in-group person), 〜てくれる (someone does for me), 〜てもらう (I receive an action); choose by who benefits, not by politeness level alone.

Permission and prohibition: 〜てもいいですか asks permission, 〜てはいけません states prohibition, 〜なくてもいいです releases an obligation; 〜なければなりません states obligation.

Giving advice softly: 〜たほうがいいです (suggestion), 〜ないほうがいいです (negative suggestion), 〜たらどうですか (tentative proposal); direct commands (〜なさい) are limited to parents, teachers, or coaches.

Turn-taking markers: あいづち such as そうですね, なるほど, へえ carry the conversation; ええと and あのう signal hesitation or topic search, not content.

Keigo in requests: お〜ください (honorific request), 〜ていただけませんか (humble request), ご〜いたします (humble self-action); the humble form lowers the speaker, the honorific raises the addressee.

Scan for task keywords before reading: いつ (time), だれ (person), どこ (place), なぜ (reason), どのくらい (quantity); the answer type determines which line of the text matters.

Distinguish です・ます written style (letters, notices, textbook prose) from だ・である style (reports, essays, news); the same content shifts register, not meaning.

Katakana loanwords mark foreign or modern items (コンビニ, アルバイト, スマホ); long-vowel marks (ー) and small ッ change the source word, so read them aloud to decode.

Listen for sentence-final particles to infer stance: よ (new information to listener), ね (shared agreement), かな (self-directed doubt), でしょう (conjecture or confirmation seeking).

Numbers and counters: 〜人, 〜枚, 〜本, 〜冊, 〜台 attach to specific noun classes; ぐらい and ごろ approximate quantity versus time respectively.

Inference markers: 〜そうです (hearsay or appearance, decided by what precedes), 〜らしい (hearsay or typicality), 〜かもしれません (possibility), 〜はずです (expectation based on evidence).

Contrast connectors signal the answer: しかし and でも reverse the preceding claim, だから draws a conclusion, ところが marks an unexpected result.

Text-type conventions: メール opens with 件名 and closes with よろしくお願いします; 掲示 (notice) states date, place, and 対象 (who it is for) in short lines.

Speech structure: あいさつ → 話題提示 (today I will speak about X) → 本文 with two or three points → まとめ → しつれいします closing; signpost with まず, 次に, 最後に.

Written text types differ in format: 手紙 uses 拝啓／けいぐ and seasonal greeting; メール uses 件名 and short paragraphs; 作文 uses a stated opinion plus reasons.

Opinion writing formula: 私は〜と思います。なぜなら〜からです。たとえば〜。だから〜のです。 - claim, reason, example, restatement.

Comparison language: AよりBのほうが〜, AとBとどちらが〜ですか, AはBほど〜くない; use these to structure a contrast paragraph.

Sequencing a narrative: 〜とき (when), 〜てから (after doing), 〜ながら (while doing), 〜前に／〜たあとで (before/after); tense inside subordinate clauses follows the main clause's viewpoint.

Nominalisation for formal writing: 〜こと and 〜の turn clauses into nouns (〜ことが大切です, 〜のが好きです); 〜ことにする (decide) versus 〜ことになる (be decided by circumstance).

Politeness in presentations: です・ます throughout, 〜させていただきます for self-introduction of an action, and avoidance of だ/だよ in front of an audience.

Connecting ideas: また (addition), そのうえ (furthermore), 一方 (on the other hand), したがって (therefore, formal), つまり (in other words) - match connector formality to text type.

Writing systems: hiragana (grammatical endings, native words), katakana (loanwords, emphasis, onomatopoeia), kanji (content stems); jōyō kanji number 2,136 as the standard school list.

Verb groups: Group 1 (u-verbs, e.g. 書く), Group 2 (ru-verbs, e.g. 食べる), Group 3 irregular (する, 来る); the て-form and ます-stem derive from the group, so classify before conjugating.

Pitch accent is lexical in Japanese: はし can mean 'chopsticks' or 'bridge' by accent pattern; particles attach to the preceding phrase, and word order is Subject–Object–Verb with the verb final.

Politeness is relational, not absolute: 内 (in-group: family, own company) versus 外 (out-group); one uses humble forms for in-group members when speaking to an outsider.

Seasonal and gift culture: お中元 (summer) and お歳暮 (year-end) gifts; 年賀状 New Year cards; おせち food and 初もうで shrine visits mark New Year.

School and social life: 部活 (club activities), 文化祭 (school festival), 運動会 (sports day), 修学旅行 (school trip) recur as topics in listening and reading texts.

Honorific name suffixes: 〜さん (general), 〜さま (customers, letters), 〜くん (male juniors), 〜ちゃん (children, close friends); dropping the suffix entirely signals intimacy or rudeness.

Counting and calendar: months are numbered 一月–十二月, days use native readings (ついたち, ふつか, みっか…), and 〜日曜日 etc. follow 〜曜日; time is stated before the verb, not after.