I get so-so-so-so many emails from people saying that Japanese grammar is hard.

I can't make sentences!

How do I, you know, speak?!

I feel your pain, man. But feel better, please, because it's not your fault. It's your teacher's fault.

Seriously. Because Japanese schools and textbooks never teach the ridiculously simple, borderline grammarless Japanese that is used in casual, everyday situations. Instead, they try to drill crazy constructions in your head, quizzing you on which particles to use.

Madness!

Let's ditch school today, though, and get down on this simple sentence formula that brings joy (and sentences) into our lives:

VERB の ADJECTIVE.

Let's say you have a friend named Tanaka. Tanaka is a psycho, because he wakes up at 4:30 a.m. every single day. You didn't know this until he offhandedly mentions that he goes for a run at 4:45 a.m. each morning. So you say (in Japanese): You wake up (so) early.

In a Japanese class, they'll probably make you say something like this:

田中さんは起きるのが早いですね。
たなかさん　は　おきる　の　が　はやい　です　ね。
You wake up early.

I'll give you a list of reasons why this sentence is whack. Before I do, though, I want to talk about the purpose of の in this sentence.

Here の is acting as a "nominalizer." In other words, it's making the verb 起きる（おきる） into a noun (in grammatical terms). In English, we often do this with ~ing or by adding "to" before a verb. For example, you can't say "I love eat," because "love eat" is "verb-verb" and it sounds weird. Instead, you'd say, "I love eating" or "I love to eat."

Similarly, in Japanese you can't say verb-verb or verb-adjective. So when we want to say verb-verb or verb-adjective, we "~ing" it by sticking a の between them, so it's "verb-の-verb" and "verb-の-adjective." Example:

✕　起きる早い
✕　おきる　はやい

〇　起きるの早い
〇　おきる　の　はやい
〇　(He) gets up early."
Literally: "get up + の + early."

Confusing? If so, just don't worry about it. You'll see this enough to learn it naturally.

So, yeah, why is the classroom-like sentence above overly complicated?

First, if we chop off 田中さんは, is it still clear that we're talking about Tanaka? Yes. Because he just said that he goes running at 4:45 every morning, so obviously I'm saying "You wake up early."

Next, we can drop off が, the "pointer particle," as I like to call it, because it "points out" something that we're referring to. Most books say it's a "subject marker," which is extremely misleading... and a topic for another day. Here's the painfully truncated version:

Do I need to explicitly point out or emphasize what's coming directly before が?
If yes --> Don't delete が.
If no --> Delete が.

Consider this casual conversation between two male speakers:

A)
田中は毎朝ジョギングしてるって。
たなか　は　まいあさ　ジョギング　してる　って。
Tanaka said he goes jogging every morning.
Literally: "Tanaka + は + every morning + jogging + is doing + って."

B)
マジ？出勤する前ってこと？
マジ？　しゅっきんする　まえ　って　こと？
Seriously? Like, before (going to) work?
Literally: "Serious? + go to work + before + って + thing?"
Note: ～ってこと or ～ということ is actually grammar stuff... we'll give it a good look-over some other time.

A)
うん。起きるの早いんだって。
うん。　おきる　の　はやい　んだって。
Yeah. He said he gets up early.
Literally: "Yeah. + get up [wake up] + の + early + んだって."

B)
俺朝苦手。
おれ　あさ　にがて。
I'm not a morning person.
Literally: "I + morning + poor (at)."

A)
俺も。
おれ　も。
Me neither.
Literally: "I + too."

Compare that with the following conversation:

A)
英語喋るの難しくない？
えいご　しゃべる　の　むずかしく　ない？
Isn't speaking English difficult?
Literally: "English + speak [chat] + の + not difficult?"

B)
いや、聞き取るのが難しい。
いや、　ききとる　のが　むずかしい。
No. What's difficult is listening. // No. Listening is the thing that's difficult.
Literally: "no [nah], + to catch (a person's words) + のが + difficult."

Why in the world does the first conversation have only の, but this last sentence in the second conversation has のが？

It's because the が is pointing out that the difficult thing about English islistening, as opposed to speaking. In English we often do this with italics, or through intonation: "No, listening is difficult." In Japanese, they can do this with が.

But if we put が in every single sentence (like they tell you to do in school), it loses this awesome italics-like power. Which is why native speakers don't include it in casual sentences unless it is serving a clear, pointed purpose.

Don't worry if that all sounds head-spinningly confusing. Understanding the nuances of particles is something you should worry about after reaching a very advanced level in this language. Why they try to make beginner-level students do it is beyond me.

Annnnnnnd, we just went off on a giant tangent. Oops.

Lastly, since we're speaking casual Japanese (in our convo with Tanaka), we don't need to say です after い-adjectives. So we can just say:

起きるの早いね。
おきる　の　はやい　ね。
You wake up early.
Literally: "get up + の + early + ね."

This is today's power formula!

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VERB の ADJECTIVE.

Step #1: Take a verb in dictionary form (i.e. the way it shows up in dictionaries).

Examples:
行く（いく // "to go"）、起きる（おきる // "to get up [wake up]"）
歩く（あるく // "to walk"）、遊ぶ（あそぶ // "to play [hang out]"）
食べる（たべる // "to eat"）、勉強する（べんきょう．する // "to study"）
教える（おしえる // "to teach"）、出かける（でかける // "to go out"）
踊る（おどる // "to dance"）、運転する（うんてん．する // "to drive"）

Step #2: Snap の onto it.

Step #3: Add an い-adjective.

Examples:
早い（はやい // "early")、 めんどくさい（"annoying; a hassle; a pain"）
楽しい（たのしい // "fun"）、難しい（むずかしい // "difficult"）

#1 + #2 + #3:

起きるの早いね。
おきる　の　はやい　ね。
You wake up early.
Literally: "get up + の + early + ね."

歩くのめんどくさい。
あるく　の　めんどくさい。
Walking is such a hassle.
Literally: "walk + の + bothersome / annoying."

踊るの楽しい。
おどる　の　たのしい。
Dancing is fun.
Literally: "dance + の + fun."

運転するの難しい。
うんてんする　の　むずかしい。
Driving is difficult.
Literally: "drive + の + difficult."

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Step #3, Level-Up Bonus: You can also add な-adjectives.

遊ぶの最高！
あそぶ　の　さいこう！
I love partying! // I love hanging out with friends! // I love playing!
Literally: "play + の + the best."

食べるの大好き。
たべる　の　だいすき。
I love eating.
Literally: "eat + の + loving."

勉強するの大嫌い。
べんきょうする　の　だいきらい
I hate studying.
Literally: "study + の + hating."

Usually there will be no だ at the end of these sentences, unless there is a particle like ね or な, as in these examples:

教えるの上手だね。
おしえる　の　じょうず　だ　ね。
You're good at teaching.
Literally: "teach + の + skilled + だね."
Note: The "you" is understood from context.

行くのやだなー。
いく　の　やだ　なー。
I don't want to go.
Literally: "go + の + unpleasant / disliked + だなー."
Note: やだ is a common contraction of 嫌だ（いやだ）, which means, "I don't like that," or "I don't want to do that." It's hard to translate. Also, the なー makes it sound like the speaker is talking to himself or herself.

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Step #3, Level-Up Bonus: You can also add... nouns?

When collecting sentences for this lesson, Rei presented the following example:

出かけるの禁止。
でかける　の　きんし。
You can't go out.
Literally: "go out + の + prohibited."
Note: For example, a parent might say this to a child, or a wife might say it to her husband (or the other way around... if he's brave).

Technically 禁止（きんし） is a noun, but it works here, too, because... I don't know. It just does. Let's just accept it, yeah?

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Step #3, Level-Up Bonus: You can also add verbs.

考える（かんがえる // "to think about"）
会う（あう // "to meet [see]"）

考えるの疲れる。
かんがえる　の　つかれる。
Thinking is tiring. // I'm tired from thinking so much.
Literally: "think about + の + get tired."

会うの緊張する。
あう　の　きんちょう　する。
I'm nervous to meet her [him]. // I'm nervous about meeting him [her].
Literally: "meet + の + am nervous."

I use sentences like these all the time. They're perfect for casual Japanese because you can sound like you have a masterful control of the language while still only using a couple of words.

Maybe try one next time you speak Japanese!