diff --git a/Test/JavaSources/Main.java b/Test/JavaSources/Main.java
index b79d383..dcb3a9c 100644
--- a/Test/JavaSources/Main.java
+++ b/Test/JavaSources/Main.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ public class Main {
         TestLoop loop = new TestLoop();
         TestMethodOverload overload = new TestMethodOverload();
         TestShenanigance shenanigance = new TestShenanigance();
+        TestOptionalParameter optionalParameter = new TestOptionalParameter();
         
         // constructing a basic class works
         assert empty != null;
@@ -50,8 +51,14 @@ public class Main {
         {
             assert malicious.cursedFormatting(i) == i;
         }
+        // other syntactic sugar
         assert shenanigance.testAssignment() == 5;
         assert shenanigance.divEqual() == 234_343_000 / 4;
         assert shenanigance.testIf(5);
+        // optional parameters
+        assert optionalParameter.oneOptional() == 1;
+        assert optionalParameter.oneOptional(2) == 2;
+        assert optionalParameter.normalAndOptional(1) == 6;
+        assert optionalParameter.normalAndOptional(1, 0, 0) == 1;
     }
 }
diff --git a/Test/JavaSources/TestOptionalParameter.java b/Test/JavaSources/TestOptionalParameter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..faba782
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Test/JavaSources/TestOptionalParameter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+class TestOptionalParameter {
+
+    int oneOptional(int p = 1) {
+        return p;
+    }
+
+    int normalAndOptional(int a, int b = 2, int c = 3) {
+        return a + b + c;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Parser/JavaParser.y b/src/Parser/JavaParser.y
index 0b20ce7..841d68c 100644
--- a/src/Parser/JavaParser.y
+++ b/src/Parser/JavaParser.y
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-module Parser.JavaParser (parse, parseStatement, parseExpression) where
+module Parser.JavaParser (parse, parseStatement, parseExpression, parseMethod) where
 import Ast
 import Parser.Lexer
 }
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import Parser.Lexer
 %name parse
 %name parseStatement statement
 %name parseExpression expression
+%name parseMethod classbodydeclarations
 %tokentype { Token }
 %error { parseError }
 %errorhandlertype explist
@@ -104,13 +105,13 @@ modifiers        : modifier { }
 classbodydeclarations :  classbodydeclaration {
                         case $1 of
                         ConstructorDecl constructor -> ([constructor], [], [])
-                        MethodDecl method -> ([], [method], [])
+                        MethodDecl method -> ([], (convertMethodDeclarationWithOptionals method), [])
                         FieldDecls fields -> ([], [], fields)
                         }
                  | classbodydeclarations classbodydeclaration {
                         case ($1, $2) of
                         ((constructors, methods, fields), ConstructorDecl constructor) -> ((constructors ++ [constructor]), methods, fields)
-                        ((constructors, methods, fields), MethodDecl method) -> (constructors, (methods ++ [method]), fields)
+                        ((constructors, methods, fields), MethodDecl method) -> (constructors, (methods ++ (convertMethodDeclarationWithOptionals method)), fields)
                         ((constructors, methods, fields), FieldDecls newFields) -> (constructors, methods, (fields ++ newFields))
                         }
 
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ constructordeclaration : constructordeclarator constructorbody { case $1 of (ide
 fielddeclaration : type variabledeclarators  SEMICOLON { FieldDecls $ map (convertDeclarator $1) $2 }
                  | modifiers type variabledeclarators  SEMICOLON { FieldDecls $ map (convertDeclarator $2) $3 }
 
-methoddeclaration : methodheader methodbody { case $1 of (returnType, (name, parameters)) -> MethodDecl (MethodDeclaration returnType name parameters $2) }
+methoddeclaration : methodheader methodbody { case $1 of (returnType, (name, (parameters, optionalparameters))) -> MethodDecl (MethodDeclarationWithOptionals returnType name parameters optionalparameters $2) }
 
 block            : LBRACKET   RBRACKET { Block [] }
                  | LBRACKET  blockstatements  RBRACKET { Block $2 }
@@ -166,6 +167,10 @@ methodbody       : block { $1 }
 blockstatements  : blockstatement { $1 }
                  | blockstatements blockstatement { $1 ++ $2}
 
+formalandoptionalparameterlist : formalparameterlist { ($1, []) }
+                 | formalparameterlist COMMA optionalparameterlist { ($1, $3) }
+                 | optionalparameterlist { ([], $1) }
+
 formalparameterlist : formalparameter { [$1] }
                  | formalparameterlist  COMMA  formalparameter { $1 ++ [$3] }
 
@@ -175,8 +180,13 @@ explicitconstructorinvocation : THIS LBRACE  RBRACE   SEMICOLON  { }
 classtypelist    : classtype { }
                  | classtypelist  COMMA  classtype { }
 
-methoddeclarator : IDENTIFIER LBRACE  RBRACE  { ($1, []) }
-                 | IDENTIFIER LBRACE formalparameterlist  RBRACE  { ($1, $3) }
+methoddeclarator : IDENTIFIER LBRACE  RBRACE  { ($1, ([], [])) }
+                 | IDENTIFIER LBRACE formalandoptionalparameterlist  RBRACE  { ($1, $3) }
+
+optionalparameterlist : optionalparameter { [$1] }
+                 | optionalparameterlist COMMA optionalparameter { $1 ++ [$3] }
+
+optionalparameter : type variabledeclaratorid ASSIGN variableinitializer { OptionalParameter $1 $2 $4 }
 
 primitivetype    : BOOLEAN { "boolean" }
                  | numerictype { $1 }
@@ -386,9 +396,9 @@ multiplicativeexpression : unaryexpression { $1 }
 
 {
 
-data MemberDeclaration = MethodDecl MethodDeclaration
+data MemberDeclaration = MethodDecl MethodDeclarationWithOptionals
                               | ConstructorDecl ConstructorDeclaration
-                              | FieldDecls [VariableDeclaration]
+                              | FieldDecls [VariableDeclaration] deriving (Show)
 
 data Declarator = Declarator Identifier (Maybe Expression)
 
@@ -399,6 +409,22 @@ extractFunctionName :: Expression -> (Expression, Identifier)
 extractFunctionName (BinaryOperation NameResolution exp (Reference functionname)) = (exp, functionname)
 extractFunctionName (Reference functionname) = ((Reference "this"), functionname)
 
+data OptionalParameter = OptionalParameter DataType Identifier Expression deriving (Show)
+data MethodDeclarationWithOptionals = MethodDeclarationWithOptionals DataType Identifier [ParameterDeclaration] [OptionalParameter] Statement deriving (Show)
+convertMethodDeclarationWithOptionals :: MethodDeclarationWithOptionals -> [MethodDeclaration]
+convertMethodDeclarationWithOptionals (MethodDeclarationWithOptionals returnType id param [] stmt) = [MethodDeclaration returnType id param stmt]
+convertMethodDeclarationWithOptionals (MethodDeclarationWithOptionals returnType id param (opt : optRest) stmt) = generateHelperMethod returnType id param opt : convertMethodDeclarationWithOptionals (generateBaseMethod returnType id param opt optRest stmt)
+convertOptionalParameter :: OptionalParameter -> ParameterDeclaration
+convertOptionalParameter (OptionalParameter dtype id exp) = ParameterDeclaration dtype id
+generateHelperMethod :: DataType -> Identifier -> [ParameterDeclaration] -> OptionalParameter -> MethodDeclaration
+generateHelperMethod returnType methodName params (OptionalParameter dtype id exp) = 
+        let references = ((map (\(ParameterDeclaration paramType ident) -> (Reference ident)) params) ++ [exp])
+            methodcall = (MethodCall (Reference "this") methodName references)
+            lastStatement = if returnType == "void" then StatementExpressionStatement methodcall else Return $ Just $ StatementExpressionExpression methodcall
+        in MethodDeclaration returnType methodName params $ Block [lastStatement]
+generateBaseMethod :: DataType -> Identifier -> [ParameterDeclaration] -> OptionalParameter -> [OptionalParameter] -> Statement -> MethodDeclarationWithOptionals
+generateBaseMethod returnType methodName params (OptionalParameter dtype id exp) optRest stmt = MethodDeclarationWithOptionals returnType methodName (params ++ [ParameterDeclaration dtype id]) optRest stmt
+
 parseError :: ([Token], [String]) -> a
 parseError (errortoken, expected) = error ("parse error on token: " ++ show errortoken ++ "\nexpected one of:      " ++ show expected)