Good evening! everybody! I have a question in regards to japanese grammar: is there a book that only focuses on grammar?
The reason why I’m asking is because I’ve tried the Genki textbook, but I don’t like that there are vocabs(?) I know this sounds really weird but Wanikani makes sense of all the kanjis and vocab, so I don’t want to spend my time there if I can spend my time here
Long story short: can you recommend anything, or should I just jump from grammar topic to grammar topic and use genki? I don’t want to pay for bunpro either
Thanks for your help already, very much appreciated!
Marvin
I’m not sure what you mean. You have to use to vocabulary to illustrate grammar. Plus, WK does not fully teach you vocabulary - it only teaches you how to read it. Genki is a solid book for a beginner.
I bet a bunch of people are about to recommend this, but sounds like you want this:
(The basic grammar dictionary is fantastic, and starting out I found reading through it helpful when, like you, I was hungriest for a pure grammar supplement to wanikani)
I think I understand a little bit, as I am in a beginner class myself that uses Genki, and there are just a lot of exercises and parts to it that don’t seem all that necessary for someone who already knows basic stuff + some kanji. But yeah, I’d just skip what you want to skip if you don’t think you need to do it.
The Tae Kim app/site seems like the easiest reference for me to look some grammar topic up quickly and reliably so far.
Either that or the Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns are both amazing, but I wouldn’t recommend them for a beginner as a grammar guide. They are reference material, just as you wouldn’t study vocabulary from a dictionary. Both of them are sorted by hiragana order; it doesn’t point out what you need to study first, etc.
I would personally just follow Genki. I haven’t used it myself, but it’s pretty similar to Minna no Nihongo. Follow along, and if there’s any vocabulary you don’t know from WaniKani you can study those too. If anything, doing WaniKani will make you ignore many words you already know. And if you encounter that vocabulary later in WaniKani, well, then it won’t be necessary to study it.
I liked it as an “on the bus” type of thing - like “oh I’ve got 20 minutes, might as well reinforce a grammar point.” Absorbed far far less than I read, but the example sentences were approachable early reading practice.
Definitely not structured to be a ground-up sole grammar lesson, and I agree going through Genki (even if you skip around - I was a bad student and didn’t do many exercises…) is a good idea.
But when you just need a fix of that raw unadulterated grammar, the dictionaries are there for you…
I know you specified that you wanted a book, but I wanted to recommend Cure Dolly’s channel on youtube because I think it’s a wonderful resource. There are some vocab words, as she uses example sentences, but she explains them and doesn’t expect you to memorize them. It is also completely free and you could try it out today and see if it works for you.
If Genki is you too much stuff beside grammar, I would recommend you looking at the TRY! JLPT series. (I only have experience with the N2 version, which I really liked.) I think it is described best as a textbook, which sole focus is Grammar. However, you can also find vocab lists online.
everybody! I have a question in regards to japanese grammar: is there a book that only focuses on grammar?
