Basic structure for "X is Y."

Variations:

XはQWです。

"(Question word) is X?" (e.g. "What is X?" "Where is X?" etc.)

Counters:

〜ばん、〜じ、〜じん、〜さい、〜ねんせい、〜ご

• "~ばん" is for numbers (e.g. number 1 ---> いちばん)

• "~じ" is used for time of day (e.g. one o'clock ---> いちじ)

• "~じん" indicates nationality (e.g.　American ---> アメリカじん)

• "~さい" indicates age (e.g. 18 years old --->じゅうはっさい, except for 20 years old, which is はたち and has no counter)

• "~ねんせい" indicates year in school (e.g. Freshman ---> いちねんせい)

• "~ご" indicates language (e.g. Japanese ---> にほんご). This counter is added to the name of a country to indicate that country's language.

Particles:

〜の、〜を、〜に/へ、〜で、〜が

• "の" indicates possessiveness (e.g. My hat ---> わたしのぼうし), or is used in the same way as of/at/in/for/on/by (e.g. A college inのミネソタ) Minnesota ---> だいがく

• "を" is used between a direct object and a verb (e.g. I eat sushi ---> すしをたべます)

• "に/へ" can be used interchangeably when they indicate a place of movement (e.g. I will/am going to school ---> がっこうに/へいきます。) However, when indicating a specific place or time, only に may be used (e.g. The party is at 9 o'clock --->　くじにパーティーをします。) Note that no particle is used with relative times (yesterday, today, tomorrow, next week, etc.)!

• "で" indicates a place where something is/will be happening (e.g. I will read/am reading a book at the library ---> としょかんでほんをよみます。)

• "が" is used with the words あります and います which both mean "to exist" (detailed notes on their usage can be found on the "Rules for います and あります" card). The が is placed between the subject and います/あります (e.g. There is a dog ---> いぬがいます。)

 Verb Conjugation:

〜る、〜う、and irregular verbs. 

To conjugate a 〜る verb, drop る and add the appropriate ending (non-past-positive ~ます, non-past-negative 〜ません, past-positive ました, or past-negative 〜ませんでした)

To conjugate a ~う verb, drop う and do the same as above, except add い to each ending (e.g. 〜ます --->　〜います)

To conjugate the irregular verbs, just remember how to go from dictionary form to non-past-positive, and from there on they follow the same patterns as the 〜ます endings.

くる ---> きます

する ---> します 

Relative Times:

• きょう ---> Today
• あした ---> Tomorrow
• きのう ---> Yesterday
• ことし ---> This year
• きょねん ---> Last year
• らいねん ---> Next year

Though います and あります both mean "exist", います is for living things or people while あります is for nonliving or inanimate things (with the exception of trees).

For example, to say "There is a dog　here," (or, more literally, "A dog exists here,") you would say "ここにいぬがいます。"

To say "There is a bank over there," you would say "あそこにぎんこうがあります。" 

あります and います are also used to say, "I have a(n) (object)," (e.g. I have a television ---> テレビがあります。)

Relative location words and their usage:

To indicate an object relative to another one (e.g. The post office is to the right of the hospital), the format is placeのrelative location (e.g. The post office is to the right of the hospital. ---> ゆうびんきょくはびょういんのみぎです。)

The only exception is あいだ, which is in the form place 1とplace2のあいだ, which means "between place 1 and place 2".

Here are some relative location words:

みぎ--right

ひだり--left

まえ--front

うしら--back, though うら can be used for buildings, or if indicating the back of a sheet of paper.

なか--inside

うえ--on top

した-under

そば--near

となり--next to

あいだ --between

Subject (p) time (p) place (p) DO (p) verb

where (p)=particle and DO=Direct Object.