Japanese

An Opening Note

This is widely viewed as Duolingo's worst course to date. However, after the updated course was released in 2019, it has vastly improved as is as good as any other Duolingo course, if not better. We do recommend supplementing your studies with the following free resources if you like:

Lingodeer

Tae Kim's free online Japanese textbook, also available in PDF format and as an iOS and Android app.

Hiragana 1

Welcome to the Japanese course!

While many consider Japanese to be very difficult to learn for native English speakers, this is only partially true. Many aspects of the Japanese language are quite simple, such as the sound system, and yes, even most of the grammar.

Writing Systems

Japanese uses three different writing systems, hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

• Hiragana is the most basic Japanese syllabary. It's like an alphabet that uses syllables instead of individual sounds.
• Katakana is the syllabary used to write foreign words and some noises. Although it's different from hiragana, it represents the exact same syllables.
• Kanji are Chinese characters used in the Japanese language to write individual nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Kanji are not phonetic, meaning you need to memorize each pronunciation individually. In this course, we introduce kanji gradually and methodically.

Hiragana Pronunciation

Below are the most basic forms of Japanese hiragana. We'll be introducing some more later as well.

Japanese	IPA, Notes
あ	[a]
い	[i]
う	[ɯ], like the oo in food
え	[e]
お	[o]
か	[ka]
き	[ki]
く	[kɯ]
け	[ke]
こ	[ko]
さ	[sa]
し	[ɕi], like the shee in sheep
す	[sɯ], although it can shorten to more of a [s] at the end of a word
せ	[se]
そ	[so]
た	[ta]
ち	[tɕi], like the tch in itchy
つ	[tsɯ], like the ts in cats
て	[te]
と	[to]
な	[na]
に	[ni]
ぬ	[nɯ]
ね	[ne]
の	[no]
は	[ha], although pronounced like [ɰa] or "wa" as a particle
ひ	[çi], like the h in human
ふ	[ɸɯ], roughly between a short "hoo" and "foo"
へ	[he], although pronounced like [e] or "eh" as a particle
ほ	[ho]
ま	[ma]
み	[mi]
む	[mɯ]
め	[me]
も	[mo]
や	[ja]
ゆ	[jɯ]
よ	[jo]
ら	[ɾa], like the t in the American pronunciation of butter
り	[ɾi]
る	[ɾɯ]
れ	[ɾe]
ろ	[ɾo]
わ	[ɰa]
を	[o], although it's most often romanized as "wo"
ん	[n] or [ŋ], like the n in pink, producing a [m] when combined with a bilabial stop, hence "tempura" and not "tenpura"

As the only solitary consonant in hiragana, ん is especially notable because it is only found at the end of another syllable. In other words, you will never read a Japanese word that begins with ん。

You can also practice Hiragana on Tinycards.

Enjoy the course!

Hiragana 2

Hiragana Pronunciation

Below are the most basic forms of Japanese hiragana. We'll be introducing some more later as well.

Japanese	IPA, Notes
あ	[a]
い	[i]
う	[ɯ], like the oo in food
え	[e]
お	[o]
か	[ka]
き	[ki]
く	[kɯ]
け	[ke]
こ	[ko]
さ	[sa]
し	[ɕi], like the shee in sheep
す	[sɯ], although it can shorten to more of a [s] at the end of a word
せ	[se]
そ	[so]
た	[ta]
ち	[tɕi], like the tch in itchy
つ	[tsɯ], like the ts in cats
て	[te]
と	[to]
な	[na]
に	[ni]
ぬ	[nɯ]
ね	[ne]
の	[no]
は	[ha], although pronounced like [ɰa] or "wa" as a particle
ひ	[çi], like the h in human
ふ	[ɸɯ], roughly between a short "hoo" and "foo"
へ	[he], although pronounced like [e] or "eh" as a particle
ほ	[ho]
ま	[ma]
み	[mi]
む	[mɯ]
め	[me]
も	[mo]
や	[ja]
ゆ	[jɯ]
よ	[jo]
ら	[ɾa], like the t in the American pronunciation of butter
り	[ɾi]
る	[ɾɯ]
れ	[ɾe]
ろ	[ɾo]
わ	[ɰa]
を	[o], although it's most often romanized as "wo"
ん	[n] or [ŋ], like the n in pink, producing a [m] when combined with a bilabial stop, hence "tempura" and not "tenpura"

As the only solitary consonant in hiragana, ん is especially notable because it is only found at the end of another syllable. In other words, you will never read a Japanese word that begins with ん。

You can also practice Hiragana on Tinycards

Hiragana 3

Hiragana Pronunciation

Below are the most basic forms of Japanese hiragana. We'll be introducing some more later as well.

Japanese	IPA, Notes
あ	[a]
い	[i]
う	[ɯ], like the oo in food
え	[e]
お	[o]
か	[ka]
き	[ki]
く	[kɯ]
け	[ke]
こ	[ko]
さ	[sa]
し	[ɕi], like the shee in sheep
す	[sɯ], although it can shorten to more of a [s] at the end of a word
せ	[se]
そ	[so]
た	[ta]
ち	[tɕi], like the tch in itchy
つ	[tsɯ], like the ts in cats
て	[te]
と	[to]
な	[na]
に	[ni]
ぬ	[nɯ]
ね	[ne]
の	[no]
は	[ha], although pronounced like [ɰa] or "wa" as a particle
ひ	[çi], like the h in human
ふ	[ɸɯ], roughly between a short "hoo" and "foo"
へ	[he], although pronounced like [e] or "eh" as a particle
ほ	[ho]
ま	[ma]
み	[mi]
む	[mɯ]
め	[me]
も	[mo]
や	[ja]
ゆ	[jɯ]
よ	[jo]
ら	[ɾa], like the t in the American pronunciation of butter
り	[ɾi]
る	[ɾɯ]
れ	[ɾe]
ろ	[ɾo]
わ	[ɰa]
を	[o], although it's most often romanized as "wo"
ん	[n] or [ŋ], like the n in pink, producing a [m] when combined with a bilabial stop, hence "tempura" and not "tenpura"

As the only solitary consonant in hiragana, ん is especially notable because it is only found at the end of another syllable. In other words, you will never read a Japanese word that begins with ん。

You can also practice Hiragana on Tinycards

Hiragana 4

In the following skill, we introduce a few more elements to basic hiragana.

Hiragana Part II: Dakuten

Putting two little dots or dakuten at the upper right corner of a hiragana syllable voices the consonant. It changes the pronunciation of the hiagana the following way:

Sound	Sound with Dakuten	Example
k	g	か (ka) → が (ga)
s	z	さ (sa) → ざ (za), し (shi) → じ (ji)*
t	d	た (ta) → だ (da), つ (tsu) → づ (zu)*
h	b	は (ha) → ば (ba)

Putting a little circle or handakuten at the upper right corner changes the pronunciation of the は-ひ-ふ-へ-ほ hiragana in the following way:

Sound	Sound with Handakuten	Example
h	p	は (ha) → ぱ (pa)

Hiragana Part III: Small っ

Putting っ (small tsu) between two Hiraganas doubles the letter right after っ and introduces a short pause between two sounds. See some examples below:

Without っ	With っ
きて (kite)	きって (kitte)
もと (moto)	もっと (motto)
あさり (asari)	あっさり (assari)

Hiragana Part IV: Big and Small Characters

Lastly, this skill introduces the big and small versions of three sounds in hiragana. A small や、ゆ、or よ changes the pronunciation of a word in the following way:

Big や-ゆ-よ	Small や-ゆ-よ
きや [ki-ya]	きゃ [kya]
きゆ [ki-yu]	きゅ [kyu]
きよ [ki-yo]	きょ [kyo]

The small character changes the two-syllable construction into a one-syllable construction. Sometimes, the difference can lead to a real change in meaning, as shown below:

Big よ	Small よ
びよういん [bi-yō-in] "beauty salon"	びょういん [byō-in] "hospital"

Greetings

Saying Thank You

The phrase "thank you" in Japanese is dependent on the situation. Below is a table of the most common forms, from least to most formal. Note that the formality increases with the length of the phrase.

Japanese	Explanation
どうも	Thanks, used with friends.
ありがとう	Thank you, used with friends.
どうもありがとう	Thank you very much, used with friends.
ありがとうございます	Thank you, used with strangers, teachers, and bosses.
どうもありがとうございます	Thank you very much, used with strangers, teachers, and bosses.

Saying Thank You for a Past Action

If you'd like to thank someone for something they did in the past, you change the ございます ending to ございました。

Japanese	Explanation
ありがとうございました	Thank you for what you did, used with strangers, teachers, and bosses.
どうもありがとうございました	Thank you very much for what you did, used with strangers, teachers, and bosses.

Katakana 1

Katakana

This lesson will begin introducing katakana. Like hiragana, katakana is a Japanese phonetic writing system. It's used for several things, but one of the most common uses is for foreign words.

Japanese	IPA, Notes
ア	[a]
エ	[e]
オ	[o]
イ	[i]
リ	[ri]
ラ	[ra]
カ	[ka]
メ	[me]
キ	[ki]
フ	[ra]
コ	[ko]
マ	[ma]
シ	[shi]
ン	[n]
ス	[su]
タ	[ta]
ロ	[ro]
ヨ	[yo]
ー	long vowel mark, used to extend the vowel sound that precedes it

Katakana with Dakuten

Japanese	IPA, Notes
ギ	[gi]
ジ	[dʑi], like the jee in jeep
パ	[pa]
ピ	[pi]

If you sound out the words below using the katakana alphabet, you might find some familiar words! Some of the pronunciation is a little different than its English equivalent, though.

Japanese	Romaji	English
カメラ	kamera	camera
アメリカ	Amerika	America/The US
マリア	Maria	Maria (female given name)
アフリカ	Afurika	Africa
メキシコ	Mekushiko	Mexico
フランス	Furansu	France
エリカ	Erika	Erika (female given name)
マリオ	Mario	Mario (male given name)

Just be careful - not all words written in katakana were taken from English!

Japanese	Romaji	English
イギリス	Igirisu	England/The UK
イタリア	Itaria	Italy
ローマ	Rōma	Rome

Not all foreign loan words in Japanese are directly equivalent to their English counterparts! For instance, in Japanese アメリカ (Amerika) isn't commonly used to refer to all of North America or to both North and South America - it's used almost exclusively to mean "The United States." However, イギリス (Igirisu) can be used to refer to both "England" and "The UK."

Introduction

Introduction to Kanji

This lesson introduces the non-phonetic writing system of Japanese, kanji. Kanji literally means "Chinese characters," and they're used to build content words like nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Kanji Readings

So how do you read kanji? Most kanji have at least two possible readings. Typically, one reading is derived from a native Japanese word, and one reading is derived from a Chinese loanword. These are called "kunyomi" ("meaning reading") and "onyomi" ("sound reading") respectively.

Let's take the kanji for "country," 国。On its own, we use the Japanese "kunyomi" reading, くに。In Japanese, くに means "country." However, in compounds, we use the "onyomi" reading of こく。Therefore, China, 中国 or "middle country," is read as ちゅうごく。

Rendaku

So why isn't it ちゅうこく？This is due to a phenomenon known as "rendaku" or "sequential voicing." Syllables that come later in a word are sometimes voiced and marked with a dakuten. This is often rather unpredictable, so rendaku words should be memorized individually.

Example Kanji

Below is a table of the six kanji that are introduced in this lesson, complete with possible readings.

Kanji	Meaning	Kunyomi Reading	Onyomi Reading
人	Person	ひと	じん、にん
中	Middle	なか	ちゅう
国	Country	くに	こく
日	Sun, Day	ひ	にち、じつ
本	Origin, Book	もと	ほん
田	Rice Paddy	た	でん

You may have noticed that the word Japan, or 日本 is composed of the kanji meaning "sun" and "origin." This word was first adopted by the Chinese, and to them, Japan was off to the east, the place where the sun rose or "originated."

Katakana Pronunciation

This lesson also introduces katakana, the phonetic Japanese writing system used for foreign words. See their pronunciation below.

Basic Katakana

Japanese	IPA, Notes
ア	[a]
イ	[i]
ウ	[ɯ], like the oo in food
エ	[e]
オ	[o]
カ	[ka]
キ	[ki]
ク	[kɯ]
ケ	[ke]
コ	[ko]
サ	[sa]
シ	[ɕi], like the shee in sheep
ス	[sɯ], although it can shorten to more of a [s] at the end of a word
セ	[se]
ソ	[so]
タ	[ta]
チ	[tɕi], like the tch in itchy
ツ	[tsɯ], like the ts in cats
テ	[te]
ト	[to]
ナ	[na]
ニ	[ni]
ヌ	[nɯ]
ネ	[ne]
ノ	[no]
ハ	[ha]
ヒ	[çi], like the h in human
フ	[ɸɯ], roughly between a short "hoo" and "foo"
ヘ	[he]
ホ	[ho]
マ	[ma]
ミ	[mi]
ム	[mu]
メ	[me]
モ	[mo]
ヤ	[ja]
ユ	[jɯ]
ヨ	[jo]
ラ	[ɾa], like the t in the American pronunciation of butter
リ	[ɾi]
ル	[ɾɯ]
レ	[ɾe]
ロ	[ɾo]
ワ	[ɰa]
ヲ	[wo] or [o], although it's used very rarely
ン	[n] or [ŋ], like the n in pink, producing a [m] when combined with a bilabial stop, hence "tempura" and not "tenpura"
ー	long vowel mark, used to extend the vowel sound that precedes it

Katakana with Dakuten

Japanese	IPA, Notes
ガ	[ga]
ギ	[gi]
グ	[gɯ]
ゲ	[ge]
ゴ	[go]
ザ	[za]
ジ	[dʑi], like the jee in jeep
ズ	[zɯ]
ゼ	[ze]
ゾ	[zo]
ダ	[da]
ヂ	[dʑi], like the jee in jeep
ヅ	[zɯ]
デ	[de]
ド	[do]
バ	[ba]
ビ	[bi]
ブ	[bɯ]
ベ	[be]
ボ	[bo]
パ	[pa]
ピ	[pi]
プ	[pɯ]
ペ	[pe]
ポ	[po]

Katakana 2

More Katakana

Japanese	IPA, Notes
ド	[do]
ペ	[pe]
ツ	[tsɯ], like the ts in cats
ナ	[na]
ダ	[da]
ブ	[bɯ]
ル	[ɾɯ]
ベ	[be]
ム	[mɯ]
ネ	[ne]
ト	[to]
ヤ	[ja]
ポ	[po]
ガ	[ga]
ウ	[ɯ], like the oo in food
ノ	[no]
ワ	[ɰa]
デ	[de]

Introduction 2

Basic Grammar

One thing that makes Japanese very different from English is the Japanese tendency to drop the subject of the sentence when the meaning is clear from context. Statements usually refer to oneself, while questions usually address the person you're speaking with.

The Question Marker

Adding question marker か at the end will make the affirmative (positive) sentence into question. If the sentences end in ～です, it’s easy to formulate questions by using ～ですか。

Positive	Question
アメリカ人です。(I’m American.)	アメリカ人ですか。(Are you American?)
がくせいです。(I’m a student.)	がくせいですか。(Are you a student?)

Pronouns

Pronouns are relatively rare in Japanese, but they are sometimes used to explicitly specify the subject or topic of a sentence. Below are some of the most common ones.

Person	Singular	Plural
First	私・わたし is used in polite settings by women and men, used by women in most other settings. 僕・ぼく is used by men in informal settings.
Second	あなた is used in polite settings, however, if you know someone's name, it's best to call them by their name, typically followed by さん or せんせい。君・きみ is used by men in informal settings, specifically to those on or beneath one's social level.	あなたたち is used in formal settings, and 君たち・きみたち is used in informal settings, especially to subordinates.
Third - Male	彼・かれ	彼ら・かれら is also used for a mixed-gendered group
Third - Female	彼女・かのじょ	彼女たち・かのじょたち

Kanji from this Skill

Below is a table of the eight kanji that are introduced in this lesson, complete with possible readings.

Kanji	Meaning	Kunyomi Reading	Onyomi Reading
学	Education	まな•ぶ	がく
生	Born, Raw	なま、い•きる	せい
先	Previous	さき	せん
英	English		えい
語	Language		ご
何	What	なに
名	Name	な	めい、みょう
前	Before	まえ	ぜん

Katakana 3

More Katakana

Japanese	IPA, Notes
ク	[kɯ]
ソ	[so]
テ	[te]
バ	[ba]
サ	[sa]
ゼ	[ze]
モ	[mo]
ボ	[bo]
ホ	[ho]
カ	[ka]
ニ	[ni]
ゴ	[go]
ユ	[jɯ]
ケ	[ke]
チ	[tɕi], like the tch in itchy
ヌ	[nɯ]
ビ	[bi]
レ	[ɾe]

Food 1

Object Particle

The marker を is attached to things or people, and means that they are the target of the verb. Subjects are often omitted in Japanese sentences. Unlike English, the location of the verbs are usually at the end of the sentence. を was once pronounced wo, but now it’s the [o] sound.

Object	を	Verb	English
みず	を	のみます。	I drink water.
さかな	を	たべます。	I eat fish.

General Pronouns

This lesson also introduces the general pronouns これ、それ、あれ、and どれ、which translate to "this," "that," "that (over there)," and "which (one)," respectively.

	こ	そ	あ	ど
Japanese	これ	それ	あれ	どれ
English	this	that	that (over there)	which
Notes	closer to the speaker	closer to the listener	far from both the speaker and the listener	question

Kanji from this Skill

Below is a table of the two kanji that are introduced in this skill, complete with possible readings.

Kanji	Meaning	Kunyomi Reading	Onyomi Reading
水	Water	みず	すい
食	Eat	た•べる	しょく

Time

Kanji from this Skill

Below is a table of the six kanji that are introduced in this skill, complete with possible readings.

Kanji	Meaning	Kunyomi Reading	Onyomi Reading
一	One	ひと•つ	いち
二	Two	ふた•つ	に
三	Three	みっ•つ	さん
時	Time	とき	じ
今	Now	いま	こん
分	Minute, Part	わ•かる	ふん、ぶん

Routines

Directional Particle

The particle へ indicates a direction towards which something or someone moves. This movement is the direction away from the current location. When used as a particle, へ is pronounced as [e].　

Location and Time Particle

The particle に with a time expression indicates a specific point in time. に can also express times on a clock, days of the week, or years.

direction へ	English	point in time に	English
かいしゃへ	to work	3じに	at 3 o’clock
がっこうへ	to school	げつようびに	on Monday
にほんへ	to Japan	５がつに	in May
アメリカへ	to America	2016ねんに	in 2016

Home

		#	order ばん	papers まい	birds わ	people にん	countingつ
1	一	いち	いちばん	いちまい	いちわ	ひとり	ひとつ
2	二	に	にばん	にまい	にわ	ふたり	ふたつ
3	三	さん	さんばん	さんまい	さんわ	さんにん	みっつ
4	四	よん	よんばん	よんまい	よんわ	よにん	よっつ
5	五	ご	ごばん	ごまい	ごわ	ごにん	いつつ
6	六	ろく	ろくばん	ろくまい	ろくわ	ろくにん	むっつ
7	七	なな	ななばん	ななまい	ななわ	しちにん	ななつ
8	八	はち	はちばん	はちまい	はちわ	はちにん	やっつ
9	九	きゅう	きゅうばん	きゅうまい	きゅうわ	きゅうにん	ここのつ
10	十	じゅう	じゅうばん	じゅうまい	じゅうわ	じゅうにん	とお

The Verbs あります and います

あります and います are very special verbs in Japanese that refer to something's existence. They're often translated into English as "there is" or "there are." Even though they're often translated identically, they describe different objects:

• あります is used for inanimate objects, like books, rooms, televisions, and apples.
• います is used for animate objects, like people, cats, dogs, and other animals.

Restaurant

	こ	そ	あ	ど
Japanese	この	その	あの	どの
English	this～	that～	that～	which～
Notes	close	closer to the listener	far away	question

で: Place

で usually shows the location of action or event (= at / in / on). で also indicates means (with / by / using) to show language used or tools used.

Activity 1

Past Tense

This lesson introduces the past tense of verbs. In Japanese, there are other varieties of tense, but we will cover those in later lessons. Changing a verb from the present/future tense to the past tense is rather simple.

• パンを食 (た) べます means either "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread."
• パンを食 (た) べました means "I ate bread."

Verb Tense	Positive Ending
Present	〜ます
Future	〜ます
Past	〜ました

Instead of changing the negative ending 〜ません to make a negative past tense verb ("did not eat"), we simply add the word でした to the end.

• パンを食 (た) べません means either "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread."
• パンを食 (た) べませんでした means "I did not eat bread."

Verb Tense	Negative Ending
Present	〜ません
Future	〜ません
Past	〜ませんでした

The endings above apply to all verbs that end with 〜ます。

Clothes

To make the negative form of an adjective (to not be…), drop い(i) and add くない(kunai).

English	Adjective	Positive	Negative
long	長い (ながい)	長いです	長くないです
cheap	やすい	やすいです	やすくないです
fast	はやい	はやいです	はやくないです
spicy	からい	からいです	からくないです

Activity 2

て form: Request ～て + ください is used for request. It means “Please do ~.”

Verb	Plain	Positive	て form	Request
do	する	します	して	してください
close	しめる	しめます	しめて	しめてください
turn on	つける	つけます	つけて	つけてください
open	あける	あけます	あけて	あけてください

Classroom

て form: -ing

～て + います is used for action in progress (-ing). ～て + いません is the negative form.

Verb	Kanji	Positive	て form	-ing
watch	みる	みます	みて	みています
write	かく	かきます	かいて	かいています
begin	はじまる	はじまります	はじまって	はじまっています
finish	おわる	おわります	おわって	-

て form: disallow

～て + は + いけません is used for things you should not do.

Verb	Kanji	Plain	て form	Prohibit
watch	見る	みる	みて	みてはいけません
eat	食べる	たべる	たべて	たべてはいけません
exit	出る	でる	でて	でてはいけません

Feeling

Describing past

Basic form of Adjective ends in い, as in あつい (hot). To make it past tense you can delete い and replace with かった. Adding です at the end will make it polite form.

Adjective	Plain	Past	Polite
hot	あつい	あつかった	あつかったです
fun	たのしい	たのしかった	たのしかったです
interesting	おもしろい	おもしろかった	おもしろかったです
scary	こわい	こわかった	こわかったです

Hobby 3

～のがすきです talks about things you like doing. In the example below, およぐ takes the basic (plain) form of verb and の is added, which become either “to swim” or “swimming”. The sentence is ～がすき（I like something.) as a whole. In this case, what do you like doing? I like swimming in the ocean.

うみ で およぐ の が 好き です。

	Verb (plain)	の	が
	はしる	の	が	はやい	です。
	およぐ	の	が	上手	です。
テニスを	する	の	が	下手	です。
アニメを	見る	の	が	好き	ですか。

Classroom 2

て form: Negative Request

～ないでください is a negative request with the て form (て become で). The first two types are called Godan (u-verbs), which you change the /u/ sound ending into /a/ sound + nai to make a negative form.

u-verbs: ならぶ (-u) → ならば ない (-a nai)

ru-verbs: みる (ru) → み ない (nai)

Type	Verb	Plain	Negative	Negative Request
Godan	line up	ならぶ	ならばない	ならばないでください。
Godan	go	いく	いかない	いかないでください。
Ichidan	look	みる	みない	みないでください。
Ichidan	quit	やめる	やめない	やめないでください。
Irregular	come	くる	こない	こないでください
Irregular	do	する	しない	しないでください。

Health

Short past form きのうは学校をやすんだ。

Short past form is made by taking て-form of the verb and replacing with た or だ.

Verb	Kanji	Plain form	て-form	Past
write	書く	かく	かいて	かいた
swim	泳ぐ	およぐ	およいで	およいだ
rest	休む	やすむ	やすんで	やすんだ
play	遊ぶ	あそぶ	あそんで	あそんだ
buy	買う	かう	かって	かった

Colloquial

Colloquial Language

Welcome to the final skill in the Japanese course! The reason that colloquial language is listed as the final skill is that we wanted you to understand the importance of politeness when speaking with strangers or coworkers.

When you speak with friends in casual settings or watch anime, you may hear a lot of expressions that you have yet to be introduced to.

Pronouns

There are two male pronouns reserved for casual settings, 俺 (おれ), meaning "I" or "me," and お前 (おまえ) meaning "you." In formal settings, use of these pronouns is considered confrontational and impolite. Both 俺 and お前 sound extremely rough and masculine, which is why typically they are reserved for boys or men who are teenagers or older.

In addition, you may hear women and girls use the pronoun あたし (sometimes written 私) to refer to themselves. This is not considered as polite as わたし、but considerably more so than 俺。

Particle Dropping

In polite and written Japanese, grammatical particles that mark parts of speech, such as は and が、see heavy use. However, in more casual settings, they are often dropped when the meaning is clear without them. In Japanese just as in English, formality and sentence length go hand-in-hand.

Formal	Casual
あなたは今どこですか？	今、どこ？
あの方はどなたですか？	彼、誰？
それでは、行きましょう。	よし、行こう。