An example of overview materials created and used by Wells College Lecturer in Japanese, Kurt Pipa, to introduce what materials will be covered in a specific chapter of the textbook and clarify learning expectations. This is an overview of the sentence structures and grammar introduced in chapter 4 of the Genki textbook. Students also use this as a chapter review aid.

1. Wells College Japanese Language Program
ウェルズ大学日本語の教室
Genki Ch 4 Overview
Kurt Pipa, Lecturer in Japanese

2. Genki Ch 4 Overview
Grammar and sentence structures covered

3. ・ “There is …” & “I have …” sentences
・ Describing locations of things
・ Past tense of the copula です and of verbs
・ More advanced use of 「も」
・ The ～時間 counter
・ 「たくさん」
・ Using 「と」 to mean “and” or “together with”
Grammar / Sentence Structure

4. There is … / I have…
We’ll make these sentences using the verbs
あります and います, depending on whether the
subject (or topic) of the sentence is a living
thing.
See this slideshow to learn the basics.

5. Describing Locations
In addition to saying “here,” “there” and “over
there” (which we learned in Ch 2), we’ll learn
how to explain where objects are in location to
other objects. We’ll use descriptors like:
● to the right/left of
● in front of
● behind
● inside
● on/above
● below/under
● near
● next to

6. Past tense of the copula 「です」
The past of 「です」 is 「でした」.
The past of 「じゃないです」 is 「じゃなかったです」.
We will master the basic use of these two forms for
making past tense sentences.

7. Past Tense of Verbs
We will learn the past affirmative and negative
of the ～ます form.
A quick primer:
Non-past
● ～ます
● ～ません
Past
● ～ました
● ～ませんでした

8. More Advanced Use of 「も」
In Ch 2 we learned a basic way to use も to
express “too” or “also” by replacing the topic
marker 「は」 with 「も」.
We will learn how to replace other particles with
も, which is slightly more complicated and
needs quite a bit of practice.

9. The counter ～時間
時間（じかん）
is used for counting hours.
We will learn how to use it, and to write it in
Kanji.

10. 「たくさん」 for “a lot” or “many”
We'll learn how to use たくさん to say “a lot” or
“many” and express a large amount.

11. 「と」 for "and"
We'll learn how to use と to say “and.”
と is used for X and Y constructions, such as:
「先生と学生」 → “teachers and students”

12. 「と」 for “together with”
「と」 is also used to describe with whom you do
something.
So we’ll learn how to use 「と」 to say “together
with,” or simply “with.”

13. おわり
おつかれさまでした！
Kurt Pipa, Lecturer in Japanese