The Handbook of Japanese Verbs 1st Edition

by Taeko Kamiya (Author)

31 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-4770026835

ISBN-10: 4770026838

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Buy used

$8.10

Condition: Used - Good

In Stock. Sold by Clean Earth Books, Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

21 Used from $2.37

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

Turn on 1-Click ordering

More Buying Choices

12 New from $7.00 21 Used from $2.37

33 used & new from $2.37

See All Buying Options

There is a newer edition of this item:

The Handbook of Japanese Verbs (Kodansha Dictionary)
$13.77
(31)
In Stock.

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

From the very earliest stages of study until far into the intermediate level, students of the Japanese language are continually scratching their heads over the usage of verbs. It is no wonder that they should feel the need for a solid reference book, one they can continually turn to throughout their studying careers. The Handbook of Japanese Verbs is just that book.

The Introduction takes the first step toward comprehension by pointing out the features of Japanese verbs that stand in contrast to their English counterparts, such as tense, politeness level, auxiliaries, and transitive and intransitive forms.

Part 1 shows through tables and concise commentary how Japanese verbs are categorized, conjugated, and combined with auxiliaries. Each form is followed by a short exercise, reinforcing the points just made.

Part 2 takes up the forms described in the first part and shows how they function in full-fledged sentences. Each discussion is followed by examples and exercises, ensuring that the student has understood the forms under discussion.

In the appendices, the student is offered a number of look-up methods, including an English-Japanese verb dictionary. This completes the apparatus necessary for a solid handbook on Japanese verbs, a book students can rely on for many years to come

The Handbook of Japanese Verbs

Available from these sellers.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Taeko Kamiya

16

Paperback
$17.86
Taeko Kamiya

32

Paperback
$18.99
Naoko Chino

38

Paperback
$11.12
Jay Rubin

75

Paperback
$9.37
Andrew Scott Conning

32

Paperback
$25.36
Seiichi Makino

80

Paperback

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

(What's this?)

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

Series: Kodansha's Children's Classics
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Kodansha USA; 1st edition (July 15, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 4770026838
ISBN-13: 978-4770026835
Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 0.7 x 4.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,288,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #387 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Foreign Languages > Japanese
- #2250 in Books > Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Grammar
- #8123 in Books > Textbooks > Reference

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

(What's this?)

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars

5 star		77%
4 star		10%
3 star		3%
2 star		10%
1 star		0%

See all 31 customer reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Top Customer Reviews

Verbs and nothing else, but...

By Hypermom on June 27, 2001

Format: Paperback

This is a wonderful little book. You need to be at a point in your Japanese studies where working with verbs is a problem before you even bother. And you need to know the hiragana to make best use of the handbook. (Everything is written in romaji in addition to kanji though.)
Now if you know a fair amount of Japanese and if you know your kana, you might think you aren't going to need a book that deals only with verbs. Unlike a (proper) English sentence, a Japanese sentence can comprise nothing but verbs (although some of them might be acting like nouns). If you know why you say kawanai, but kaimasu, then you don't need this book. If you know the difference between sumitai and sumitagaru, then you don't need this book.
But if verbs are giving you a problem or if you are moving from a purely auditory learning system to the written language, then you will want this book. I found the "pattern" treatment of Type I or u-dropping verbs particularly helpful. (I learned it in about half an hour.) Also, since I am working with written Japanese more than spoken Japanese, I am finding the comprehensive list of patterns (over 150) extremely useful. But if I were concentrating on the spoken language I would still need to know which form goes with which auxiliary. And it's all here, presented systematically for easy digestion.
My only complaint is that the practices give too much help with the auxiliaries. It really needs two levels of practice -- one that reinforces verb endings and one that reinforces verb ending + auxiliaries.

Comment 75 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Subarashi!

By Michael Callaghan VINE VOICE on February 28, 2002

Format: Paperback

This very friendly little book is a fantastic tutorial in the proper use of Japanese verb forms in nearly all their conjugations and uses. Sample sentences are throughout, most of them quite useful and suitable for memorization verbatim, and workbook style drills accompany every section of every chapter.
This is, however, more of a workbook than a reference; for the latter, look no further than Naoko Chino's "Japanese Verbs at a Glance". For a workbook, however, this has (in my experience) no peer.
"Language learning is overlearning", and with that in mind, Kamiya offers lots of practice and sample bunkei which, when worked through, will offer a truly impressive insight into the mechanics of Japanese verb USAGE (not just academic conjugation).
My last class (I'm a second year student at the Geos School in NYC) taught me the '-nagara' verb ending. By using Kamiya's book at home these past few days I feel confident in my usage of what amounted to no more than a footnote in "Japanese For Busy People II" textbook. Excellent. Now I can tell my girlfriend not to talk with her mouth full!
A fun, fine, and ultimately indespensible book for any (that means all) verb-challenged intermediate students. Kamiya is one of the best teachers I've studied - try to get a copy of her "Japanese Particle Workbook" - another five star title on a stubbornly difficult subject.

Comment 34 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

A grammar text

By Zack Davisson HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on November 25, 2002

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

This is not a "user friendly" book for the casual learner of Japanese. This is nothing more or less than a small, pocket-book sized grammar text for using Japanese verbs. "Te" forms, "tara" forms, "hoshii" forms are all covered, along with pretty much every other possible conjugation. This is no dictionary, however, so do not expect to learn any new words. Just expect to make better use of the verbs you already know.
The sections are broken down well, and there are very small practice sections at the end of each chapter. For what it is, it is an excellent resource. I would recommend this book to serious, college level learners of Japanese.

Comment 35 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Put some variety in your sentence structure

By A Customer on March 25, 2002

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

As a beginner in Japanese, it feels like everything I can write would sound to a native speaker like, "See Spot. See Spot run." This book will help you to apply the vocabulary you have in new and more interesting ways: "Is that Spot I see? My, Spot can run!"
It is _not_ a good way to improve vocabulary, though. The included list of verbs is somewhat limited. This book is really for helping you apply verbs in new and different ways, not so much about teaching you new verbs.

Comment 19 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Systematic and clear

By C. Lim on March 19, 2002

Format: Paperback

I like the book for three things. Firstly, it is really systematic. Each section begins with the sentence pattern, followed with several examples, and then the exercise section. Secondly, this book comes with Kanji and Romaji. As Kanji is the so-called life-application form of Japanese (i.e. used in Japanese comic books, newspapers, novels etc), the use of Kanji in the book helps me to recognise written Kanji in my favourite Japanese magazines (for eg.). The use of Romaji helps me to know the pronunciation of each word, so it saves me the trouble of having to check the dictionary. Romaji also helps with my listening. Lastly, its syllabus closely resemble my Japanese class materials, and hence it was a great refresher for someone who has learned Japanese for three years (i.e. but that was four years ago).

Comment 13 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Dull but vital

By F. Toro on October 28, 2007

Format: Paperback

Like all of Taeko Kamiya's books, this one is simultaneously dull and vital. You get no gimmicks, no shiny drawings, no funky catchphrases or adorable characters. It's a book you trudge through rather than treasure and read amidsts oceans of giggles.

Still, I like it. There's no BS. The material is presented as straightforwardly as possible. The emphasis is on the examples rather than on the explanations. And this is stuff you just HAVE to know about if you're going to ever speak Japanese.

Arguably, though, you'd be better off buying Kamiya-sensei's Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication, which is similar but more comprehensive. Neither of these books is going to light up your day, but nobody ever said learning Japanese would be easy.

Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

See all 31 customer reviews (newest first)

Write a customer review

Most Recent Customer Reviews

perfect

brand new i got it from allnewbooks aweswome!!

Published 14 months ago by Marsh

Five Stars

Perfect for the beginner of the Japanese language.

Published 14 months ago by Steve

Handy and helpful book!

I love this book, however, it does not have a list of verbs and it's conjugations. What this book does do is clearly explain when to use each verb condition and gives you examples... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Nancy Nguyen

Textbook for Advanced Intermediate Students

This is NOT a handbook; it's a textbook! The "charts" require you to already have a good grasp of Japanese verbs and their root forms. Read more

Published on August 24, 2013 by Loves RPGs

I love this book because it explains how to and why a word is used...

Really like the way Taeko Kamiya created this and the other book The Handout of Japanese Adjectives And Adverbs. Book both show strong yet simple explanations of the use of words.

Published on August 20, 2013 by yves

very useful adunct to a typical textbook

I had a couple of years classroom study in Japanese, many years ago, and have been learning on my own for the last year. Read more

Published on March 30, 2013 by Amazon Customer

The Handbook of Japanese Verbs

Well written and useful...if your studying Japanese this small book at an excellent price is a treasure and invaluable... Read more

Published on March 18, 2013 by wwg

Grammar and vocabulary of verbs

Quite misleading title, I was expecting that this book will give a lot of sample sentences for the verb but it seems to explain more on grammar.

Published on March 7, 2013 by Rahayu

Intermediate level

I wouldn't recommend this book for brand-new beginners as you may not get much benefit from it. Best for those who are serious about studying Japanese. Good book.

Published on August 26, 2012 by Bruno

Love it!

I have not had a chance to get all the way through this book yet but so far it has proven a wonderful companion to my ongoing study of Japanese. Read more

Published on July 28, 2012 by Amazon Customer