Ask any long-term student of Japanese which book they couldn’t live without, and chances are they’ll name A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. For decades, it has been quietly sitting on desks, a reliable companion whenever a classroom explanation fell short.
Now, 36 years after its publication, The Japan Times has released a fully revised edition of this indispensable guide. What’s new isn’t just the examples or formatting — it’s the reflection of how Japanese itself has shifted, from changes in politeness and gendered speech to modern interpretations of core grammar points like という (to iu) and だ/です (da/desu).
First off, the dictionary itself is called 日本語基本文法辞典 (Nihongo kihon bunpō jiten) in Japanese. Breaking that 題名 (daimei, title) down results in this: 日本語 (Nihongo, Japanese), 基本 (kihon, basic/standard), 文法 (bunpō, grammar) and 辞典 (jiten, dictionary). Note that the word for “dictionary” is usually 辞書 (jisho), but 辞典 is used when referring to more specialized reference works.
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