For any beginner of Japanese, adjectives and adverbs are bound to
present a challenge. Unlike English adjectives, Japanese ones conjugate,
meaning that you must memorize their various forms before being able to
build sentences of any complexity. Adverbs do not conjugate, but make
use of particles to show their grammatical relationship to other words,
and some have very subtle shades of meaning that are difficult to grasp.
Moreover, many do not translate into adverbs in English.
The role these parts of speech play in adding flavor to the Japanese
language is invaluable. This handy reference manual introduces the basic
(and basics of) adjectives and adverbs in a clear and sensible way,
enabling students not only to speak Japanese but to do it with pizzazz.
The book is divided roughly in half, the first half dealing with
adjectives, the second with adverbs. Each is prefaced by a short
introduction that serves as an overview of the material introduced. The
section on adjectives is divided into two parts: Part 1 covers the
conjugations of i- and na-adjectives and some basic auxiliary
adjectives, and Part 2 presents common sentence patterns in which
adjectives appear.
The adverb section is arranged by topic. Among the types of adverbs
explained here are those used to express time, quantity, degree,
circumstance, and natural sounds or actions (the ubiquitous onomatopoeic
adverbs).
Each entry in this book is given a simple, concise English explanation
and two or more example sentences to illustrate its usage. Exercises
every few pages enable students to measure their understanding. Finally,
a number of quick-reference lists in the appendixes provide a convenient
means of recalling and building vocabulary.
Together with its sister publication, The Handbook of Japanese Verbs,
this unique manual is certain to provide years of friendly guidance.
