Personally vetted instructors
Japanese Grammar tutors, lessons & classes
では始めましょう How a Japanese teacher opens the lesson: "Then let's begin."
Personally vetted tutors who teach Japanese grammar as a working system: particles, verb conjugation, the te-form chain, conditionals, and the politeness layer most courses leave half-explained.
Your instructors
Japanese Grammar tutors for private lessons & classes
Strommen has been teaching languages since 2006, and we vet every teacher ourselves rather than running an open marketplace. The grammar-focused roster is curated tightly because grammar instruction rewards a tutor who can explain the system, not just present it.
Filter by location, age, or price, then book a 30-minute free trial. Bring a recent sentence you wrote that did not feel right; a good tutor will use it to diagnose where the grammar is leaking.
Below are the Strommen tutors who specialize in Japanese grammar. Photos, ratings, and rates are real. Click any card to read a bio and book a free 30-minute trial.
Elisa K
★★★★★
Japanese Tutor in Tokyo
- Merida •
- Online
Specialties: Kansai-ben, Tokyo / Standard Dialect Hyōjungo, Japanese for Business, Japanese for Travel, Japanese for Beginners, JLPT test preperation, Japanese History, Japanese Grammar, Japanese Conversation, Japanese Writing Kanji, Japanese Writing Hiragana, Japanese Writing Katakana
Offers 30 min free-trial
As low as $35.00/hr Online
Elisa K. Offers free-trial
Japanese Tutor in Tokyoこんにちは！Hi! I'm ELISA. I'm a Japanese and Japanese tutor. I'm used to teaching Japanese from beginner to Advanced. My class has conversation,...
Veronika P Stop memorising, start understanding!
- Giarre
Specialties: Tokyo / Standard Dialect Hyōjungo, Japanese for Kids, Japanese for Business, Japanese for Travel, Japanese for Beginners, JLPT test preperation, Japanese History, Japanese Grammar, Japanese Conversation, Japanese Writing Kanji, Japanese Writing Hiragana, Japanese Writing Katakana
Offers 30 min free-trial
As low as $30.00/hr Online
Veronika P. Offers free-trial
Stop memorising, start understanding!Hi! My name is Veronika, I am a multilingual language tutor passionate about helping students feel confident and comfortable using a new language. I tailor...
文法 bunpō — the working system
5 grammar pieces every Japanese learner has to get right
These are not advanced topics for someone preparing for N1. They are the core grammar pieces that determine whether a learner sounds intermediate or sounds like they are still translating from English. Save the list and book a tutor to drill them.
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01
は wa vs が ga
The most famous grammar question in Japanese, and not as mysterious as it gets framed. Wa marks the topic (what the sentence is about, often translatable as "as for X"). Ga marks the grammatical subject (often new or contrastive information, and the subject of subordinate clauses). Information already known to both speakers tends to wa; new or contrastive information tends to ga. Question words like dare and nani take ga.
e.g. 私は学生です (wa, topic). vs だれがしましたか / 私がしました (ga, new/answer info). Watashi wa gakusei desu. Dare ga shimashita ka — Watashi ga shimashita.
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02
五段 godan vs 一段 ichidan
The two productive verb groups, plus the irregulars kuru and suru. Godan verbs end in u, ku, gu, su, tsu, nu, bu, mu, or non-i/e ru. Ichidan verbs end in iru or eru. The two groups conjugate differently, and once a learner can sort a new verb into its group, every form (negative, past, te-form, conditional, potential, passive, causative) follows predictable patterns. Getting the group wrong corrupts every form built on top of it.
e.g. Godan: 書く (kaku) → 書きます (kakimasu), 書いて (kaite). Ichidan: 食べる (taberu) → 食べます (tabemasu), 食べて (tabete).
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03
The て te-form chain
Japanese grammar's connective tissue and the single highest-leverage conjugation. With the te-form you chain actions ("went and bought"), make polite requests (kudasai), build the progressive (te imasu, "is doing"), express permission (te mo ii, "may"), express prohibition (te wa ikenai, "must not"), and form a dozen other constructions. A shaky te-form makes a learner sound choppy; a fluent one makes the whole register sound connected.
e.g. 起きて、シャワーをあびて、朝ごはんを食べました。Okite, shawā o abite, asagohan o tabemashita. ("I got up, took a shower, and ate breakfast.")
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04
～たら / ～れば / ～と / ～なら conditionals
Four conditional constructions that are not interchangeable. -Tara is the most general (and works for past-tense "when"). -Reba is the abstract or hypothetical. -To is deterministic, used when one thing reliably leads to another. -Nara is topic-based, used when the speaker accepts a premise and responds to it ("if that is the case"). Most courses teach -tara and stop, which leaves a learner unable to express most of what real Japanese conditional use covers.
e.g. 雨が降ったら傘を持って行きます (tara). 春になれば桜が咲きます (reba). 春になると桜が咲きます (to). 行くなら早めに出たほうがいい (nara).
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05
～んです / ～がる modal endings
Two endings that change how a sentence lands without changing what it claims. The explanatory -n desu / -n da signals context, reason, or backstory rather than a flat statement. The -garu suffix turns internal-state adjectives into third-person observable verbs (sabishi-garu, "to act lonely"), because Japanese reserves direct claims about another person's feelings for that person to make themselves.
e.g. 遅れてすみません、電車が止まったんです (n desu, explanation). 弟は犬を欲しがっています (hoshigaru, third-person want).
About Japanese Grammar
Japanese grammar as a working system
Japanese grammar is not harder than other Category IV languages; it is differently shaped, and most adult learners who say they are bad at it have been taught it badly rather than incompletely. The standard sequence in beginner textbooks introduces grammar piece by piece, in chapters, with the implicit suggestion that each topic is independent. The reality is that Japanese grammar is a tightly connected system. Particles, verb groups, the te-form, conditionals, the politeness layer, and the modal endings interlock, and a learner who has them as a connected system uses Japanese far more flexibly than a learner who memorized them as a list. A grammar-focused tutor's job is to teach the connections, not just the pieces.
Particles are the obvious starting point and the topic adults wrestle with longest. Japanese is a topic-prominent, subject-object-verb language, and particles tell you what role each noun plays in the sentence. The set most adults eventually need is small: wa for topic, ga for subject, o for direct object, ni for indirect object and time and certain motion, de for instrumental and location of an action, to for with and and, kara for from and because, made for until, e for direction, no for possession and certain modifications, mo for also, ya for nonexhaustive listing. The trouble is not memorizing the list. The trouble is that several particles overlap in ways English equivalents do not, especially the famous wa-versus-ga distinction. Tutors teach particles in contrastive pairs (wa versus ga, ni versus de, ni versus e) with example sentences where swapping the particle changes the meaning, then drill until the pattern is reflexive. The Strommen blog post on 15 essential Japanese particles is the companion most students bookmark.
The wa-versus-ga distinction deserves its own paragraph because it gets framed as mysterious and is actually mostly rule-governed. Wa marks the topic, what the sentence is about, and is often translatable as "as for X." Ga marks the grammatical subject, often introducing new information or marking the subject of a subordinate clause. A useful rough heuristic: information already known to both speakers tends to wa, information being newly introduced or being contrasted tends to ga. Question words like dare (who), nani (what), and dochira (which) take ga in the question and wa is awkward; the answer often flips back to wa. None of this is fully captured by any one rule, and a tutor who teaches the contrastive cases honestly serves a learner better than one who pretends a single formula works.
Verb conjugation is the second core topic and the place where the system shows itself most clearly. Japanese verbs come in two productive groups, godan and ichidan, plus two irregulars (kuru, to come, and suru, to do). Godan verbs end in u, ku, gu, su, tsu, nu, bu, mu, or ru with a non-i or non-e preceding the ru. Ichidan verbs end in iru or eru. Each group conjugates differently, and once a learner can tell which group a verb belongs to, every form (negative, past, te-form, conditional, potential, passive, causative) follows predictable patterns. Tutors teach the group distinction explicitly and drill the conjugation patterns until they are automatic, because the conjugation system is the engine underneath every spoken sentence.
The te-form is Japanese grammar's connective tissue and the single most consequential conjugation. Once you have it, you can chain actions ("I went to the store and bought eggs"), make polite requests ("please wait"), build the progressive ("I am eating"), express permission ("you may smoke"), express prohibition ("you must not"), and form a dozen other constructions. Lessons devote substantial time to the te-form alone, because the payoff for that investment is disproportionate. A learner with a shaky te-form sounds choppy; a learner with a fluent te-form sounds connected.
Conditionals are the topic most courses underexplain. Japanese has four conditional constructions (-tara, -reba, -to, and -nara) and they are not interchangeable. -Tara is the most general and works for past-tense "when" as well as conditional "if." -Reba is the abstract or hypothetical conditional. -To is the deterministic conditional, used when one thing reliably leads to another (cause and effect, natural consequence). -Nara is the topic-based conditional, used when the speaker accepts a premise and responds to it ("if that is the case, then"). Beginner courses tend to teach -tara and stop. A grammar-focused tutor teaches all four, with example sentences that make the distinction visible, and drills until the right form arrives reflexively.
The politeness layer interacts with grammar at every level. The polite -masu form changes the verb ending and is the default for adult learners in any new setting. Casual short form is the unmarked verbs (taberu instead of tabemasu) that friends, family, and most film dialogue use. Keigo, the honorific system used in professional contexts, layers sonkeigo (respect for the listener) and kenjogo (humility about the self) on top of teineigo (the polite -masu form). A grammar tutor teaches the polite form first as the safe default, then introduces casual short form once the polite is automatic, then opens keigo for learners who need it for work. Tutors do not skip levels.
Modal endings are the layer that turns competent Japanese into expressive Japanese. The explanatory -n desu / -n da gives context and reason. The hearsay -sou da reports something someone else said. The appearance-based -sou (without da) describes what something looks like to you (oishi-sou, "it looks delicious"). The -garu suffix turns adjectives describing internal states into third-person observable verbs (sabishi-garu, "to act lonely"), because Japanese grammar reserves direct claims about another person's internal feelings for the people themselves. The conjectural daro / desho marks speculation. The hypothetical no kamo shirenai softens claims. Each is a small piece, and together they are how Japanese marks the speaker's stance toward what they are saying.
A candid note on the relationship between grammar and conversation. Grammar lessons are not the opposite of conversation lessons; they are the structural foundation that makes conversation lessons stick. A learner who has the te-form, the conditional set, the conjugation system, and the particle set as reflexive knowledge picks up new vocabulary and new patterns far faster than a learner who is still untangling the basics every time they speak. Most students benefit from running grammar and conversation lessons in parallel rather than sequentially, and many of our tutors handle both inside the same lesson when the student wants the integration.
Our Japanese grammar tutors include native speakers with teaching credentials, JLPT examination experience, and a strong feel for where English-speaking adults stumble. They calibrate to your actual level and to the gaps your current Japanese has, and they teach the system rather than the chapter. The arc from absolute beginner grammar through JLPT N2 or N1-level structural fluency takes years, but the early wins compound fast once the system clicks.
What you'll cover
Lessons & classes tailored to Japanese Grammar
Particles in contrastive pairs
Lessons teach particles in the pairs that actually matter (wa vs ga, ni vs de, ni vs e, kara vs node, to vs ya), with example sentences where swapping the particle changes the meaning. Drilling continues until the pattern is reflexive rather than computed. The Strommen 15 essential Japanese particles guide is the companion most students bookmark for between-lesson review.
Verb conjugation as a system
Tutors teach the godan-ichidan distinction explicitly and drill until a learner can sort a new verb into its group on first sight. Once the group is clear, every conjugated form follows: negative, past, te-form, conditional, potential, passive, causative, causative-passive. The system view replaces chapter-by-chapter memorization with a small set of rules that generalize, and the te-form gets dedicated time because so many later constructions sit on top of it.
Conditionals, the politeness layer, and modal endings
The four conditional constructions (-tara, -reba, -to, -nara) get taught together with contrastive examples, because beginner courses tend to teach one and stop. The politeness layer (casual short form, polite -masu, full keigo with sonkeigo and kenjogo) gets sequenced so that the polite form is automatic before keigo enters. Modal endings (-n desu, -sou da, -sou, -garu, daro, kamo shirenai) come in once the structural foundation holds, because they are how Japanese marks the speaker's stance toward what they are saying.
Grammar tied to a real proficiency target
Lessons connect to whatever benchmark fits your goal: JLPT N5 through N1, school placement testing, a workplace credential, or simply structural fluency for travel and conversation. Tutors with JLPT examination experience know exactly which grammar points appear at each level and design study plans around them. For more conversation-driven study, paths open from grammar toward conversational Japanese or business Japanese. See also the Japanese classes page for small-group options.
FAQ
About Japanese Grammar lessons & classes
Is は vs が actually rule-based or feel-based?
Mostly rule-based, with a small contested core. The clear cases: wa marks the topic, ga marks the grammatical subject, question words like dare and nani take ga, and subordinate-clause subjects take ga. The contested cases are around new versus known information and contrastive contexts. A grammar-focused tutor teaches the clear rules first, drills them until reflexive, then introduces the harder cases with contrastive example pairs. Most learners stop feeling stuck on the distinction within a few months of dedicated work.
Why do my textbooks teach -masu first when no one talks like that?
Because -masu is the safe default for adult learners in any new setting and using casual short form with the wrong person reads as untrained rather than informal. Plenty of native speech happens in casual form, but a learner who only knows casual form gets stuck the moment they enter a shop, meet someone older, or talk to a teacher or boss. The textbook order (polite first, casual second) is the right order for adults. Once polite forms are automatic, a tutor introduces casual short form for friends, family, and the kind of dialogue you hear in film and anime.
Should I learn ichidan and godan verbs separately?
Yes, and explicitly. Most beginner textbooks teach verbs one at a time without flagging which group each belongs to, which is the source of most early conjugation errors. Tutors should call out the group on first introduction and group new verbs into batches by type. Once the distinction is reflexive, every conjugated form follows automatically, and the learner stops second-guessing whether to drop the final ru or not when forming the te-form, the negative, or the potential.
How important is the te-form, really?
More important than any other single conjugation. The te-form is the backbone of action chaining, polite requests (kudasai), the progressive (te imasu), permission (te mo ii), prohibition (te wa ikenai), and a dozen other constructions. Lessons devote substantial time to it because the payoff is disproportionate. A learner with a shaky te-form sounds choppy; a learner with a fluent te-form sounds connected, and most native-feeling sentences run through it.
Do I need to learn keigo to be good at Japanese?
Not at first. The polite -masu form (teineigo) is sufficient for almost every non-professional adult context, including travel, daily conversation, and most service interactions. Keigo with full sonkeigo and kenjogo enters the picture when a learner moves into workplace Japanese or formal customer-facing roles. A grammar tutor handles the standard polite form first, builds reflex, then layers keigo for learners who need it. Many learners never formally study keigo and are perfectly functional adults in Japanese.
What's the difference between -tara, -reba, -to, and -nara?
All four are conditional constructions, and they are not interchangeable. -Tara is the most general and covers conditional "if" and past-tense "when." -Reba is the abstract or hypothetical "if." -To is the deterministic conditional, used when one thing reliably leads to another (cause and effect, natural consequence). -Nara is topic-based, used when the speaker accepts a premise the listener introduced and responds to it. A grammar tutor teaches all four together with example sentences that make the distinction visible.
Can I just learn grammar from a textbook and skip a tutor?
Possible but slow, and most learners who try this hit a ceiling around upper-beginner. Textbooks present grammar; they do not respond to the specific errors you are making, and they do not catch the patterns you are quietly avoiding because they feel hard. A tutor closes both gaps: targeted correction on real sentences you produce, plus assigned practice on whatever you are dodging. Many of our grammar students use a textbook like Genki or Tobira as a backbone and the tutor as the diagnostic and corrective layer on top.
Can I take grammar lessons online?
Yes. Most of our grammar-focused Japanese tutors teach online via Zoom or Jitsi worldwide. Several also teach in person around Los Angeles. The booking widget on each tutor profile shows their available formats and times. Grammar lessons work especially well online because the tutor can share their screen for sentence breakdowns and conjugation charts in real time.
Ready for Japanese Grammar lessons or classes?
Book a free 30-minute trial with one of our personally vetted tutors. Private lessons or small-group classes — your choice.