You can and you should study grammar from day 1.
Since I’ve done textbooks and apps like iKnow.jp well before WaniKani, most of the vocab here has just been for practice / retention.
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I want to add to the grammar discussion that Cure Dolly is the only place I’ve found with a coherent model of the grammar. To me, that’s very important. Literally everyone else (including the JLPT) treats grammar like a series of unconnected and increasingly less useful facts to memorize.
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I think Tobira often refers to past grammar structures (even beyond, assuming N4 grammar is known), but sometimes these comparisons aren’t entirely useful. For instance, when contrasting ように with ために, but then in the example sentences it seems like there is a very clear overlap between the two structures and the nuance is subtle.
When it comes to explaining grammar I would say Tobira takes some getting used to. But the rest is great 
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I second learning grammar from JFZ. In my opinion, George Trombley explains it in a fun and super easy to understand manner. I like the pace at which he teaches grammar points, but it’s definitely more effective if you learn alongside with the books or the website. They compliment the material you learn from his YouTube videos, which (as has been said) are all completely free. Otherwise you won’t get the full benefits, IMO. All of Book 1 is free, including the website material. You just need to create an account. Then you can decide to pay for a membership, or buy his books, if you find that his method of teaching is right for you.
Another great source for learning grammar is Human Japanese and Human Japanese Intermediate. They’re apps that you can buy in the App Store (and I believe Android too). I like the pacing and introduction of new grammar points in these apps, since it is done in a logical manner (like JFZ). Each level quizzes you on the material learned, so you get to practice it as much as you want. There are also chapters that teach you about the Japanese culture, which are fun and very informative.
Japanese Ammo with Misa is great once you have at least some basic grammar knowledge. Otherwise it’s too much info thrown at you at once, I feel. But if you want to learn grammar to the nth degree, then she’s a good source for that.
As for Cure Dolly, I don’t even know what to say about learning from a doll. I guess use whatever works for you. Personally I find her kinda creepy.
In my opinion, those two (JFZ and Human Japanese) are the most engaging and easy to follow methods to learning Japanese grammar (at least up to N4 level) out there. I’ve tried pretty much everything (apps, subscription based sites, YouTube channels, books), including all the ones mentioned thus far and I still feel that way. Then again everyone learns differently, so you may not agree with me and that’s OK.
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as others have already said it’s not always an easy road. Whatever you do, try to be consistent and as one my dear friend once told me in this very message board:
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Here’s a litmus test I quite like:
Take these sentences:
私はウナギです。 (said to a waiter at a restaurant)
私はウナギがすきだ。
その部屋は綺麗で大きい。
If the source can easily explain why the first two mean what they mean (without treating it as an “abnormal exception”), then that’s a good start. The third one is more of a private yet pervasive pet peeve. The myth of the ‘na adjective’. The confusion about what they are means that I think a ton of people legitimately think that the で particle just shows up for no apparent reason in the third sentence.
I don’t think the context dependent first sentence ever comes up even in Genki, which is probably a shame, because the “meta” aspect of that is extremely useful to understanding Japanese.
It hurt my eyes a little when you wrote 綺麗 
. But I agree, the thing with “na adjectives” being called adjectives is fairly misleading. The second similar thing I notice often is する compounds - sources (Genki mainly) selectively add する to some nouns and not to others. Tobira is very consistent with this and adds する to all such compounds, explaining the nuance and which particles are used when coupling with the object of the する compound. WaniKani seems to struggle with grammar and comes up with weird verb/non-verb meanings like “enlist” for 入隊 (it should be “enlistment”).
I read this at work and giggled out loud. Think I scared my coworker.
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At some point the local takeout place really stopped trying
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well he does look nicely dressed with herbs???
I really do hope that kitty is just really stoned on catnip…
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the IME does as it wills xD
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Out of curiosity, what’s confusing about「な」adjectives? The only thing I can think of that might be confusing about them are words like 綺麗 looking like an「い」adjective. Other than that, the rule concerning stringing together「な」adjectives with「で」seems pretty straightforward. Unless I’m missing something. I’m sincerely curious.
If the following is TLDR or just confusing, watch Cure Dolly’s videos about it, they are color coded and neater than anything I could write here.
Take a look at my example sentence.
その部屋は綺麗で大きい。
Under the model that 綺麗 is an adjective, what exactly is it modifying? It’s certainly not modifying 大きい, and in Japanese the modifier ALWAYS comes before what it is modifying, so it cannot be modifying 部屋. Also, why are な and で used? What does the で particle which signifies limitation within have to do with this grammatical function? Why is the “past form” of きれいな部屋 きれいだった部屋?
The answer is that the fundamental premise is wrong. きれい and every other so-called na-adjective is a noun. You could, in theory, call the unit きれいな a na-adjective to help parse sentences, but きれい in isolation is most definitely a noun.
To really understand what’s going on with ‘na adjectives’ we need to understand how modifying nouns works. One of the ways to modify a noun in Japanese (not the only way, but one of them) is to stick a sentence in front of it. Japanese Sentence + Noun is roughly equivalent to English Noun + optional “that” + Sentence. Be aware that in both languages the redundant element is omitted. The bag was stolen → the bag that was stolen. バッグが盗まれた → 盗まれたバッグ. If you want multiple sentences to modify the same noun, all but the last need to be in some sort of connective form, usually the -て form. The bag that was stolen and can’t be found → 盗まれて見つからないバッグ
For sentences ending in verbs and i-adjectives (the real adjectives), this is extremely simple. Either you just stick them right before raw or you switch to て form which is also simple.
ウナギが美味しくてうまい。(the unagi is delicious and yummy)→ 美味しくてうまいウナギ (unagi that is delicious and yummy)
Now the third type of sentence has a tiny wrinkle that apparently was confusing enough to invent a whole new part of speech. That being the XがYだ sentence (where Y is of course a noun). Side note - I am intentionally ignoring desu/masu for now but I’ll address it at the end. The copula だ has the same 4 basic inflections as every verb and adjective, those being だ ではない/じゃない, だった, ではなかった/じゃなかった. The negative forms are themselves i-adjectives so they behave just like all the rest of them - あの部屋がきれいじゃない。(the room isn’t clean, literally the room isn’t cleanliness) → きれいじゃない部屋 (the room that isn’t clean/cleanliness). だった behaves like a verb. That leaves our little friend だ.
For whatever reason, だ had a sound change to な (notice how the tongue touches the same place it’s just nasalized) when it’s used in a modifying sentence. For that reason Cure Dolly calls it the “soft copula.” Aside from that sound change it works exactly how you would expect. あの部屋がきれいだ。 → きれいな部屋. So what is で here? It is the て form of だ. It is an entirely separate thing from the particle で, similar to how there are 2 different がs, the subject particle and the conjunction that connects sentences. あの女が残酷できれいだ。(that woman is cruel yet/and pretty) → 残酷できれいな女。
That’s pretty much it. When sentences ending in noun + copula modify other nouns, it works just like it does in every other case with one minor irregularity. It’s true that some ‘na adjectives’ are pretty much only used in this kind of construction and rarely serve any other purpose, so if dictionaries want to mark that as a way of helping people know about the common usage of a word, that’s fine. However, grammatically and structurally, there is no denying that they are simply nouns.
Quick side note about desu/masu: these 2 verbs are basically zombies that maintain classical grammar long dead in the rest of japanese, so it’s a bit of a pain to go into, but they can only be used at the real end of a sentence anyway, so don’t worry about it. Just switch to the plain forms if you want to make a modifying clause.
The other quick sidetone is about 大きな and 小さな but even dictionaries recognize that these are weird and i’m out of energy to go into them
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I see what you’re saying. That’s precisely the reason why na-adjectives are their own class, and i-adjectives are called “true adjectives” in Japanese grammar. The former describes nouns, just like you’d expect true adjectives to do. Where na-adjectives are different is in the manner in which they conjugate, as well as their similarity to “no-adjectives in the way they attach to nouns (except that a “na” is required before the noun, rather than a “no”). Basically, they are a mix of an adjective and a noun. Your example sentence is prove that na-adjectives are indeed adjectives too:
その部屋は綺麗で大きい。
You asked, what is「綺麗」modifying. Well, what is「大きい」modifying? They are both found after the noun, so what gives? Well, they are modifying 部屋. The translation of your sentence is “That room is clean and big”. You can see that they work exactly the same in English and in Japanese.
As for「で」, it has the same functionality as 「くて」does on i-adjectives. Yes, it looks different, but the function is the same (a way to connect several adjectives together). There’s no need to overcomplicate things here.
Honestly, I do see your point of view as well. But I feel that this is something not worth getting too hung up over given that it’s just another way to describe the same thing. It’s the typical case of potato-potato. Choose whatever description suits you. As long as it’s not completely different (and I use this word instead because EVERYTHING that has a name is completely made up. We simply agreed to stick to the same naming convention no matter the discipline in discussion), people will still understand you.
Thanks for taking the time to explain. Take care!
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I am in the same boat - as you, not the cat, fortunately - I hope we can both keep up! When it gets hard, just keep working through it and don’t be afraid to make mistakes!
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nice to hear that I got a comrade haha, see you in around a year and see how much progress we’ve made.
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you need to create a schedule and be disciplined.
in early levels i was like crazy doing all lessons as soon as they appeared. Then I realized after reading some recommendations here about batches of reviews. I do 4 times a day: morning, afternoon and 2 at night.
This way I keep fresh in my mind and maintain apprentice levels below 100.
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I agree with all the previous advice in this thread!
You can get PDFs of Genki online if you don’t want a physical textbook and I’ve been going through Genki, it’s lessons and practice with the help of Tokini Andy on youtube. His videos are VERY helpful and he does a great job of explaining grammar and providing real life Japanese usage of said grammar. For example, when learning languages from textbooks, they will often have you repeat the question in your answer a lot of the time. “What is your name?” “My name is Slowopoke” like that. Andy will often tell you what is commonly said/done in Japanese regarding the grammar points which is really helpful so you dont sound like a weird robot when speaking or writing haha
Grammar is definitely important but just take the time to figure out what works best for you and what you like the most!
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yeaa i also realise the review issue and at first I thought its just my own baseless assumption. After reading this then I know that I’m actually half right. I’ve completed my level 1 kanji lesson so I don’t know how to delay levelling up. So I just intentionally answer incorrectly at one particular kanji for now until I think I’ve catch up with my vocab lesson. By all means, thank you for sharing this tips with me, and also to all people above for sharing lengthy advice which helps a lot. Not forgetting the one whom share quirky funny jokes about the cat. That cat is just fine, the owner just have a lazy cat that doesnt care at all even after being put in a large wok and dressed with curry leaves around it. 