みなさん、こんにちは！Have you ever come across a moment where you realise you are making the same mistakes over and over when you write in Japanese?
I have marked 300+ writing exams this year, and I noticed that many of my students make similar errors. So I thought if I compile these frequently occurring errors, I could save them (and other Japanese learners) from making the same mistakes.
Not Planning
It’s important to plan before you start writing. Planning can be done in your first language or in basic Japanese in bullet point form so you have basic ideas about what you will be writing.
Students who think what to write as they write often end up producing a very incoherent piece of writing. Don’t forget that for a writing exam, you will be marked on vocabulary and grammar points as well as how organised and coherent your text is.
Use Paragraphing
After you have planned what to write, make sure you use paragraphing. Generally, I suggest my students to include one main idea per paragraph, and follow the [statement + reasoning + example] pattern when writing sentences.
With how to develop ideas in Japanese, you can refer to this article.
Using conjunctions can help you organise ideas. Check this page for more.
Use of と
People are often taught that 「と」means ‘and’. But it only joins nouns but not adjectives.
Foe example, you can say おにぎりとカレー . This is fine because these two words are nouns.
However, it would be incorrect to say things like おいしいとやすい because these two words are adjectives.
When you are joining multiple adjectives, you will have to change the ending of all the adjectives except the one you put at the end. In this case, you are using 2 adjectives: おいしい and やすい , therefore, you have to change the ending of the first adjective やすい , but not the second one やすい.
The rules to follow when joining adjectives are…
1 – If it’s an い adjective, you drop the last い character and add くて
2 – if it’s a な adjective, you add で
So, if you combine おいしい and やすい then you will get おいしくてやすい.
そうです – 2 similar but different usage
「そうです」can be used in 2 similar but different ways. One expresses ‘looks like’ and the other expresses ‘hearsay’.
い adjective minus い or な adjective + そうです = looks like …
For example,
おいしそうです = looks tasty
べんりそうです = looks convenient
い adjective as a whole or な adjective plus だ + そうです = I heard it’s …
For example,
おいしいそうです = I heard it’s tasty
べんりだそうです = I heard it’s convenient
たくさん VS たくさんの
たくさん is a word that means ‘a lot’ and it can modify a noun as well as a verb.
When たくさん modifies a verb, you don’t need a の, while when たくさん modifies a noun, you need の.
For example, you can say…
日本語をたくさんべんきょうしました = I studies Japanese a lot
In this sentence たくさん modifies the verb「べんきょうしました」.
Another example is…
たくさんのかもくをべんきょうしました = I studies a lot of subjects.
In this sentence たくさん refers to the noun「かもく」therefore, you will need の after たくさん.
In some cases, these differences don’t make a huge difference in the meanings.
For example, you could say…
昨日、たくさんしゃしんをとりました。(Yesterday, I took pictures a lot.)
Or
昨日、たくさんのしゃしんをとりました。(Yesterday, I took a lot of pictures.)
たくさん VS とても
たくさん means ‘a lot’. This can an adjective as well as an adverb. You can say 「たくさんのお金 (a lot of money)」 or 「たくさんねました (slept a lot)」. The former is an adjective modifying the noun お金, and the latter is an adverb modifying the vern ねました.
とても is an adverb modifying an adjective, which essentially means ‘very’. This word refers to the quality of something, not the quantity.
E.g.
とてもおいしい = very tasty
とてもきれい = very pretty
Errors with adjectives
I often see errors regarding how adjectives are used. One of the most common errors is adding の after an adjective.
Many students add の after both い and な adjectives: たのしいの本 or しずかの人. These are both incorrect.
When you modify a noun with an adjective, (a) if you are using an い adjective, use the whole adjective (e.g. たのしい本), and (b) if you are using a な adjective, use the adjective with な (べんりな本).
I often see past tense errors with adjectives, especially overuse of でした to make a past tense adjective.
Remember, でした can be used for a な adjective (e.g. きれいです→きれいでした) but for い adjectives, you have to remove い and add かったです.
❌たのしいでした
✅たのしかったです
❌たべたいでした
✅たべたかったです
Incorrect Particles
Particles are the concept many Japanese learners find it difficult. Although I am not going to write everything about particles here, you can remember that the following particle combinations are always incorrect. So if you see these combinations, then you know that you got something wrong.
❌Destination「を」行きます
✅Destination「に」行きます
❌Transport「を」乗ります
✅Transport「に」乗ります
❌Topic「を」話します
✅Topic「について」話します
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