Why Grammar Matters in Language Learning

Grammar has a bad rep in language learning. If you studied a European language at school, you might remember endless verb drills and confusing rules full of exceptions. I certainly do.

Lots of language learners understandably gravitate towards resources that tell them there's no need to study grammar at all.

The thing is, though, regardless of how you feel about grammar, you can't really avoid it.

What Is Grammar?

Grammar is the set of rules in a language that tell you how to form words and put them together in a sentence.

If you ignore the rules completely, you won't make much sense. Look at the sentence below.

About on going we're earth on what understand to others for difficult really be would it then language the of rules the follow don't we if.

Confusing right?

Now read it backwards, starting at the end.

Why Learn Grammar?

If you only want to learn a few travel phrases, you might not need to know much grammar. You can memorise a few set phrases and you'll be good to go.

However, if you want to express your opinions in depth, share stories and understand native speakers fully, grammar is essential.

How To Learn Grammar

Some language learners say you don't need to study grammar at all. Instead, you can immerse yourself in the language and pick it up naturally.

This is great if it works for you, but in reality, many people will struggle.

One of the problems with the immersion approach is that grammatical mistakes don't always fully impede communication. For example, if someone says in English, "I going park," then a native speaker will understand the sentence even with the missing words.

In fast conversation, it is often inappropriate, even rude, to correct the person you're speaking with. As a result, a learner may go years not even realising they've been making an error.

Believe me, after nearly 23 years in Japan, I am speaking from experience here.

This is why for many learners, a multi-faceted approach to learning that includes studying some grammar can be helpful.

Grammar Is Fun

Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I've always loved learning grammar. I think it's probably because I love patterns and puzzles. Grammar exercises are a challenge to me, and it feels satisfying to get the answers right.

This is purely anecdotal, but I've noticed that with my young Japanese students, the ones who enjoy jigsaw puzzles often end up being quite good at English grammar. Or at least they seem to enjoy it more, anyway.

Grammar Is Intriguing

Maybe puzzles aren't your thing. Instead, you might want to get excited about something else that's cool about grammar.

Isn't it absolutely amazing that humans have created so many different languages with so many different rules!

I mean, look at case systems.

In languages like Hungarian or Polish, meaning isn't shown by word order like it is in English. Instead, there are small word endings (called cases) that show who is doing what to whom. So, rather than saying "to the shop," with three separate words, Hungarian just adds a bit to the end of "shop."

It might sound complicated, but these kinds of case systems make sentences more flexible. You can change the word order and still understand perfectly, something you cannot do in English. Pretty cool, right?

Still Hate Grammar?

If you still hate the idea of studying grammar and this article is making your toes curl, then don't worry. You don't have to become a total grammar guru to get pretty proficient in the language you're learning.

My advice would be to focus on the areas that frequently cause the biggest misunderstandings.

For English and probably many other languages, I would concentrate specifically on mastering two things:

Tenses

At a minimum, learn to separate the past, present and future clearly.

If you're worried about being misunderstood, then use time markers, like 'today', 'tomorrow' and 'yesterday'. This will make it clearer to your listener, even if you get any grammatical tense endings wrong.

Word Order

Every language in the world falls into one of six basic patterns based on three elements:

The subject (S) — Who is doing the action?

The verb (V) — What is the action?

The Object (O) — Who or what is receiving the action

English is a subject-verb-object (SVO) language. A simple example would be "I eat pizza."

Other languages follow different patterns.

Japanese is a subject-object-verb (SOV) language. "I pizza eat."

Malagasy (a language of Madagascar) has the order verb-object-subject (VOS). "Eat pizza I."

I highly recommend learning the basic patterns of word order in the language you are learning. It's the first step in producing coherent sentences.

Do Minor Grammatical Errors Matter?

This is an important question to ask yourself. Of course, grammatical errors will always sound strange to a native speaker. But it could be you're fine with that. Not everyone wants to learn to speak a language perfectly.

Besides, errors that don't cause problems with intelligibility might even become part of how you choose to express and celebrate your identity.

A Positive Mindset

It's such a shame that many people come away from their school years hating grammar. I get why language teachers have often focused on it in the way they have, though. It's one of the aspects of language learning that you can easily test.

But grammar isn't a dry, boring textbook subject that should be crammed for an exam. It's a living, breathing, ever-evolving part of every single language that exists. I think we should look at grammar with curiosity and a sense of wonder. It's amazing!

If you come at grammar with fear and reluctance, it's going to be hard to spend time on it. It's the same with anything in life. If you think it's going to be painful and awful, then it probably will be.

Grammar in the 21st Century

The best thing about being a language learner in 2025 is that studying grammar doesn't mean sitting in a classroom, tearing your hair out over mind-numbing translation drills. There will be no rap of a ruler on your knuckles if you mess it up, either.

Grammar is an important part of language study. It really does matter. But how you learn is completely up to you. With so many creative, interactive resources now available, you can study in a way that suits you.

Maybe if you give it a try, you will completely change your relationship with grammar and take your language skills further than you ever thought possible.