Category: Japanese Grammar

～とともに means 2 things are “together” or “simultaneous.” They can be replaced with ～といっしょに, ～と同時（どうじ）に or ～につれて. Check the details here.

とちゅう is a noun which refers to a point between the starting point and the ending point. It can be a location or a time, or “in the middle of doing something”

とたん is a noun meaning “the moment” or “the instant”. It can also be used after a past plain verb and ～とたん（に）… means “as soon as ～, … happens.”

If としても follows a predicate, it is an expression for “assumption,” and ～としても can be translated as “even if ～,” “although ～,” “supposing that ～,” etc.

If the phrase として follows a noun, ～として means “in the capacity of ～” and can be translated as “as ～.” It’s different from when として is used with a verb.

～としたら、～とすると、～とすれば all are expressions to express an assumption. “Assuming ～, …” or “If ～, …” Here’s my attempt to explain the differences.

～とされている is very similar to ～といわれている but it can also be used to describe well-accepted customs. Check the usage with examples here.

～とか is an expression to list examples. It is similar to ～や or ～など but ～とか is more casual and doesn’t get used in writing very often.

通り itself means “a street” but today I’m writing about ～とおり/～どおり which can be translated as “as ～,” “in accordance with ～,” or “according to ～.”

とおす itself means put someone/something through (to …) but it can be used after a verb stem and ～とおす adds the meaning of “continuously” and/or “to the end.”

～てもみないで means “even though one doesn’t do ～” and implies the sense of criticism and/or accusation. ～てもみないで can be used with a wide variety of verbs.

～てもみない is an expression to emphasise surprise or unexpectedness. It is usually used in the past tense and that means “one has never thought …”

～てもよろしいですか or ～てもよろしいでしょうか is a more formal and more polite way of saying ～てもいいですか (May I ～?). Check its usage and how to respond here.

はじまらない is the negative of the intransitive verb はじまる, to begin or to start, so ～てもはじまらない literally means “even if ～, nothing will start.” 

～てもしかたがない or ～てもしょうがない is one of the very common phrases Japanese people use. Do you know what it means? Check it out here.

～てもかまわない is used in 2 different meaning. One is a politer version of ～てもいい and the other one is “It doesn’t matter.” Check the usage here.

～ても is used twice to convey “the result would be the same even if different conditions are met.” ～ても、…なくても is for “the result is the same whether or not ～.”

～ても means “even if ～.” We sometimes use ～ても twice to convey the feeling that “the result would be the same even if different conditions are met.”

～てみると can describe an action that we do without thinking about the outcome which is expressed in the latter half of the sentence. ～てみたら is almost the same.