JFT Basic Conversation and Expression (Hyougen): Grammar Tips

The JFT Basic Conversation and Expression section (会話と表現, kaiwa to hyougen) tests whether you can choose the right grammar form and the right polite phrase in short everyday dialogues. It has about 12 questions of two types: Grammar and Expression. Below you will find how each type works, 12 practice questions on the trickiest points, a pattern table and a 2-week plan.

What does the Conversation and Expression section test?

The JFT-Basic has four sections in a fixed order, with one 60-minute clock for all of them. Conversation and Expression is the second.

The Japan Foundation describes the section in two categories:

• Grammar. A short dialogue has a gap. You choose the form that fits: a verb ending, a connecting form or a particle. In the official samples, grammar questions have four choices.
• Expression (表現, hyougen). A short dialogue or situation has a gap, and you choose the set phrase that fits the moment: thanking, apologising, asking, refusing, greeting at work. These have three choices.

The good news: this is the fastest section to score in. Each item is a few lines long. If you know the patterns, you can answer in 20 to 30 seconds, and save minutes for listening and reading later.

The one rule: read the reply

Almost every question in this section has the same secret. The answer is in the line after the gap. All four grammar choices are real Japanese, and all three expressions are real, polite phrases. Only the other speaker's reply tells you which one fits.

• If the reply is いいですよ, the gap was probably a request or an invitation.
• If the reply is だめです or だいじょうぶですよ, the gap was asking permission.
• If the reply is おだいじに, someone is sick.
• If the reply is いいえ、だいじょうぶです, someone just apologised.

Train yourself to read the reply first. It takes two seconds and removes most wrong choices.

A 20-second routine for every item

1. Read the English scene line. It tells you who is talking and where: a boss, a shop, a friend. That decides how polite the answer must be.
2. Read the line after the gap. Decide what kind of moment it is: request, permission, invitation, apology, thanks.
3. Read the words right after the gap. In grammar items, the next word often fixes the form. 〜て + から, まえ + に, 〜ても + いいですか.
4. Choose, and move on. Don't reread three times. You can go back and change answers inside a section, but not after you move to the next one, so check any doubtful items before you leave the section.

The four traps that repeat

• Same verb, four forms. In grammar items the choices are often 〜て・〜た・〜ない・〜ば forms of one verb. Meaning alone won't help. The words around the gap will.
• Opposites. あげる / もらう, いただきます / ごちそうさまでした, いってきます / ただいま. The test puts the pair side by side.
• Right phrase, wrong moment. おつかれさまでした is polite, but not when you enter a room. Expression items test timing, not politeness.
• English thinking. "Leave from home" pushes learners to から or に. Japanese uses を. Learn the particle together with the verb.

Requests: asking someone to do something

Requests are everywhere at work, so the test loves them. The key is the direction of the favour: もらう (I receive the action) versus あげる (I give it).

Spot it: Bikash needs help, so the action comes to him. That is 〜て　もらえませんか or 〜て　くれませんか. 〜て　あげる is when you do something for someone else.

Permission and "don't have to"

Three patterns look alike and appear in pairs on the test: 〜ても　いいですか (may I?), 〜なければ　なりません (must) and 〜なくても　いいです (don't have to).

Spot it: the answer to "must I?" with いいえ is 〜なくても　いいです, not 〜ては　いけません. "You don't have to" and "you must not" are very different at work.

Particles in context

Particle questions are short, but they catch many learners, because the English translation does not help. Learn particles with the verb they go with.

Free PDF cheat sheetParticles cheat sheet25 particle uses with example sentences, and に/で, は/が explained.Open the sheet PDF

Spot it: verbs of leaving and passing through take を: うちを　出る, でんしゃを　おりる, はしを　わたる, こうえんを　さんぽする. Verbs of arriving take に: 会社に　つく, でんしゃに　のる.

Invitations and refusing politely

Japanese rarely says a direct "no". To turn down an invitation, people thank the speaker, start a "but", and let the sentence trail off with ちょっと….

Spot it: the reply じゃあ、また　こんど ("another time, then") tells you Ana said no. The phrase before ちょっと… must be a soft refusal.

Keigo-lite: the polite phrases you need at work

You do not need to produce honorific grammar on the JFT-Basic. But you must recognise the polite set phrases used at work and in shops. Two of the most common:

Spot it: learn these as call-and-response pairs. A request from a boss gets かしこまりました or はい、わかりました. A business phone call opens with おせわに　なって　おります. Our workplace phrases by job lists the ones for your field.

Quick check: six fast ones

These are shorter than real test items, but they drill the same phrases and particles. Tap your answer.

The pattern table

Learn these as chunks, not rules. Each one has a clear job in a conversation, and the test asks you to match the job to the moment.

A 2-week drill plan for Conversation and Expression

This plan takes about 30 to 40 minutes a day. It fits next to your main coursebook study. The Japan Foundation's free Irodori course is built around the same daily-life situations, so its dialogues are good reading for this section.

Two habits make this work. First, say every phrase out loud with its reply, as a pair. Second, keep a mistake notebook: write the dialogue, your wrong choice and the reason it was wrong. Review it every few days.

The short version

The Conversation and Expression section is about 12 short dialogues: grammar forms with four choices and set phrases with three. The reply after the gap is almost always your clue. Learn requests, permission, invitations, work phrases and particles as chunks, practise them as pairs, and aim to finish the section fast so you have time for listening and reading.