Category: N3 Other

一方 方 (ほう) is a noun meaning “direction“, side”, or “other one”. It’s also the ほう from ほうがいい. When used with 一 (いち) as 一方(いっぽう) it can be used to express: Continuing in one...

ても Phrases I am considering combining this with the ても page. This page covers more “expression-like” usages of ても. To me, I don’t really see a difference, but other sources list this separately and...

ふり “An act” ふり is a noun meaning “an act” or “pretending“.More specifically, it refers to the “manner” of something.  Examples 猫のふり – Cat-act (act like a cat) 変なふり – Act strange.  子供のふり –...

をはじめ Starting with..Representative Noun + をはじめ をはじめ is used to give a representative noun as a part of a list. Typically, the representative should be the first noun that comes to mind, or the...

中心 Center/Focus 中心 is a noun that means center.It may refer to a physical center or main target of an activity. Examples 的の中心に当てる – Hit the center of the target. 彼が話の中心だった – He has...

ところ Expressions This page explains common ところ using expressions.Expressions covered here include: ところで – By the way ところが – Contrary to expectations どころか – Not X as expected but../More than that For verb +...

比べる This page explains に比べる, を比べる and と比べて phrases.I have listed possible patterns for the phrases as well as the “preferred patterns” for each.This is not a hard rule, or fact, but is based...

代わりに This page explains common 代わりに phrases. 代わりに means “instead of”, “in exchange for”, or “as a tradeoff with”. It can be used for people, objects, actions, and tradeoffs. Noun + の代わりに Instead ofNoun...