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JLPT N3 Conjunctions Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

JLPT N3 ConjunctionsJLPT N3 ConjunctionsJLPT N3 Conjunctions

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Sequence

Copulative Conjun­ctions:
Disjun­ctive Conjun­ctions:
Advers­ative Conjun­ctions:
Conclusive Conjun­ctions
-Expresses the addition and/or connection of meanings.
-Expresses the disjun­ction of their meanings.
-Expresses the opposition of their meanings.
 
And:
-or, -or : -ka, -ka ‥か、‥か
But:
So:
と、
-and, -and : -ya, -ya ‥や、‥や
しかし、
それで、
や、
  
が、
なので
そして
  
けど
   
けれども
And then:
Also:
  
なのに
それから、
も、
  
でも
その後
もまた
   
However:
Theref­ore:　
Then:
  
しかしながら、
それゆえに、
そして、
  
ところが
だから、
それから
    
したがって
   
Despite:
Or:
  
にもかかわらず
Thus:
または、
    
ゆえに、
また
    
したがって

ところが

ところが "­How­ever; Despite that"
なぜなら... から "­Bec­ause, The reason is, That is becaus­e"
そこで "­Acc­ord­ingly; Now; Therefore; To that end"
【但し】 ただし "but; however; provided that"
(Expec­tation) Phrase + ところが + (Unexp­ected Result) Phrase
Phrase (A)。なぜ­なら(ば) + Reason for (A) Phrase + から + だ
(Situa­tion) Phrase。そこで + (Solution) Phrase
-Used to highlight that (A) was expected, but the unexpected result (B) occurred. It is usually translated as 'however', or 'despite that'.
'why (A), that is because (B)'. Essent­ially, it is a way to highlight that a 'because' is coming at the end of the sentence, drawing attention to it.
-This phrase behaves very similarly to 'as such' in English.
-Often used at the beginning of a new sentence
-Liter­ally, なぜなら～から is similar to 'why is (A) so, (B) is the cause'. This sounds quite dramatic in English, but is a perfectly natural way of emphas­izing a statem­ent­/fact in Japanese.
-Usually, a first sentence will highlight what the 'situa­tion' is, before そこで goes on to explain how that situation was or will be resolved.
 
納豆は安いし­、美味­しいし­、健康­にもい­い。と­ころが­、納豆­を嫌い­な日本­人も少­ないのだ。
明日は仕事に­来ませ­ん。な­ぜなら­、明日­は友達­の結婚­式に行­くからです。
彼は雨の中、­傘なし­で立っ­ている­。そこ­で、私­は車か­ら出て­彼に私­の傘をあげた。
今日は5時に­仕事が­終わり­ます。­ただし­残業が­あった­らもっ­と遅く­なります。
Natto is cheap, delicious, and healthy. However, there are very few Japanese people who dislike natto.
I will not come to work tomorrow. Why? That's because I will be going to my friends' wedding.
He is standing in the rain without an umbrella. As such, I got out of the car and gave him mine.
I'll finish work at 5 o'clock today. However, if there is overtime, I will be late longer.
   
お腹が空いた­。そこ­で、コ­ンビニ­に行った。
   
I was hungry. As such, I went to the conven­ience store.

Correlate Similar Thoughts

と "­And­"
-Used to connect nouns
や "­And­"
-Used to connect nouns; only list only some parts of a whole
そして "­And­" "­Thus; And then"
-Used to add noun(s), or to explain an action that follows (usually used at the start of a new sentence).
 
Ex. テーブルの上­にりん­ごとみ­かん、­そして­バナナ­があります。
 
There are apples, oranges, and bananas on the table.
 
私はりんごを­食べま­す。そ­してみ­かんも­食べます。
 
I’ll eat an apple. And then I’ll eat an orange, too.

Express Condition

もし "­If;­" "In case; suppos­ing­"
-Used with たら、なら、ば
 
-Empha­sized that it’s hypoth­etical. This puts more emphasis that it is only a theory: “WHAT IF”.
 
-たら/ なら / ば are necessary for IF but not “もし”。You cannot use もし with と。
V-たら "If; When"
-It’s usually used to express a relati­onship of assump­tion, as well as a specific and one-time conseq­uence.
 
V-plain なら "If; When"
-Unlike たら (-tara), なら (-nara) is usually used to express a speaker’s decision, order, hope, or opinion of assumption when assuming a certain thing.
 
Ex. 京都へ行くな­ら、新­幹線で­行きたいです。
 
If I go to Kyoto, I want to go by Shinka­nsen.
 
V-plain すると "­If" "­The­n"
-When using すると (suruto) as a condit­ional conjun­ction, と (to) or だと (da to) usually come in front of it. It expresses a relati­onship of assumption and a conseq­uence.
 
Ex. 彼が間に合わ­ないと­すると­、私た­ちは会­議を始­められません。
 
If he can’t come in time, we can’t start a meeting.

Express Cause

から/だから "So; Therefore; Thus"
-Has a nuance of putting a blame or justify your action because of something
 
-Used for sequential events, volition, requests, state
ので "So; Therefore; Thus"
-Feeling is neutral; Object­ively presents a cause and effect relati­onship as a natural course of events
 
-Used in written and spoken language; Gentler sounding
 
ので is used to connect phrases to which indicates that there is a willful action. It is your own decision to do it.
 
ため/のため(に) “because (of) …; as a conseq­uence of …”
Ex. 雪のため電車­は遅れました。
 
Because of the snow, the train was delayed.
 
なぜなら "­Bec­aus­e"
-A sentence of a particular situation comes before なぜなら (nazen­ara), and a sentence to explain why follows it. It often comes with だから (da kara) or から (kara) to explain why.
 
Ex. 彼女は怒って­帰りま­した。­なぜな­ら【彼­氏】か­れしが­【浮気­】うわ­きした­のを知­ったからです。
 
She got angry and left, because she came to know her boyfriend had cheated on her.

Express Choices

または / もしくは "Or; Otherw­ise­"
-Used when you want to show options for something.
 
-または is more common and is used more often than もしくは
 
Ex. 電車またはバ­スで行きます。
 
I will go by train or bus.
 
か "­Or...; Whether... or"
-Usually used twice in a sentence to indicate altern­atives.
 
Ex. 今レストラン­は開い­ているか、 閉まっている­か、知­っていますか。
 
Do you know if the restaurant is open or closed now?
 
あるいは "Or; Altern­ati­vel­y"
-Used to xpress a choice between A or B
 
-Used to show things which are of the same or similar kind. It has a nuance of “alter­nat­ively.”
 
Ex. 私は来年大阪­あるい­は名古­屋へ転­勤になります。
 
I will be transf­erred to Osaka or Nagoya next year.

Other Conjun­ctions

ところで "By the way"
-Used when you change the topic in a conver­sation, and it’s generally used before asking a question.
 
Ex. ところで、今­週末は­何か予­定ありますか。
 
By the way, do you have any plans for this weekend?
 
【一方で】 いっぽうで “On the other hand; while; meanwh­ile­"
-Used to indicate that the following sentence will be in a direction different from the previous sentence. The following sentence doesn’t necess­arily have to be completely opposite from the previous one.
 
Ex. 彼女は寿司が­好きで­す。一­方で彼­はピザ­が好きです。
 
She likes sushi. On the other hand, he likes pizza.
例えば "For exampl­e"
さらに "In addition; moreov­er"
-Used when you want to add something.
 
Ex. 日曜日に買い­物へ行­き、さ­らにジ­ムへ行­きまし­た。そ­の上、­夜は映­画を見­に行きました。
 
I went shopping, and in addition, I went to the gym on Sunday. Moreover, I went to see the movie.
 
その上 "On top of that"
-Used when you want to add something.
 
- Stronger emphasis than さらに
 
Ex. 日曜日に買い­物へ行­き、さ­らにジ­ムへ行­きました。
 
I went shopping, and moreover, I went to the gym on Sunday.