Lesson 49: 一人で 浅草へ

N5 · Lesson 49 · 40 min — Lessons 1–48 wrap-up: trains, directions, ordering food, reading a letter. One day uses all of N5

No new grammar in this lesson! We link everything you learned in N5 into Rin's solo trip: Asakusa in the morning, reading a letter on a bench, back to Yanaka at dusk... and one big discovery at the end. In the questions, くまた is Rin's classmate Kumata, リン is Rin, and 先生せんせい is Neko-sensei. Grandpa's family name is also Rin, so the letter's opening 「リンさんへ」 is addressed to Grandpa when he was young.

After this lesson, you can:

• Describe your day with に・へ・で・を・から・まで: where you go, where you do things, how you travel
• Switch verbs freely into ます-form, て-form, ない-form and た-form, and use them in requests, permission and experience patterns
• Describe what you see on a trip with adjectives and comparisons: 大おおきくて きれい, たのしかった, 〜より 小ちいさい
• Use the plain form before nouns, say “when ~”, “plan to ~” and “probably ~”, and read the first part of Grandpa's letter

A Solo Trip: Where's the Lantern?

Rin saw an old festival photo. Now he's off to Asakusa to find the lantern! (ちょうちん = lantern, どんぶり = big bowl)

Use で for the place of an action, and put the plain form before a noun: よく 食たべる 人ひと. The photo's spot is in Yanaka... next, Rin asks shop by shop.

Rin's Trip Report

Rin uses casual speech with Kumata and です・ます with Neko-sensei to tell them about his whole day. Tap each line to hear the Japanese.

Trip Vocab Cards

• 一人ひとりで (hitori de): alone (doing ~)
• 旅行りょこう (ryokō): trip, travel
• 浅草あさくさ (Asakusa): Asakusa (a sightseeing area in Tokyo)
• 雷門かみなりもん (Kaminarimon): Kaminarimon (the big gate at Asakusa)
• ちょうちん (chōchin): paper lantern
• 手紙てがみ (tegami): letter
• リンさんへ (Rin-san e): To Mr. Rin (here, Grandpa) (new)
• どんぶり (donburi): big bowl
• ベンチ (benchi): bench (new)
• 神社じんじゃ (jinja): shrine (new)
• あきまつり (akimatsuri): autumn festival (new)
• おそい (osoi): late; slow
• だんご (dango): dango (rice dumplings)
• 帰かえる (kaeru): to go back, to come back

Grammar 1 / 3: Trip Particles

A particle map for one day of travel: に／へ for where you go, で for where you do things, を for passing through or leaving, から〜まで for start and end points

• に: end point, place of existence, time: に marks where you move to (浅草あさくさに 行いく), where things or people are (谷中やなかに ある), and clock times (九時くじに 出でる). へ only shows direction, and you can replace it with に.
• で: where you do it, what you use: で marks the place where an action happens (ベンチで 読よむ) and also transport or method (バスで 行いく, 日本語にほんごで 話はなす).
• を: the object, and also the place you pass through or leave: In 手紙てがみを 読よむ, を marks the object. In 駅えきを 出でる, 公園こうえんを 歩あるく and バスを 降おりる, を marks the place you leave or pass through. から〜まで gives the start and the end.

• 谷中やなかから 浅草あさくさまで バスで 行いきました。 — I took the bus from Yanaka to Asakusa.
• 駅えきを 出でて、神社じんじゃへ 行いきました。 — I left the station and walked toward the shrine.
• 三時さんじに 先生せんせいに 会あいました。 — I met the teacher at three o'clock.

Grammar 2 / 3: Verb & Adjective Changes

One verb has four faces: ます-form (polite), て-form (linking・requests), ない-form (negative), た-form (past). Patterns just attach parts to them. Adjectives change too: 〜くて, 〜かった

• て-form and た-form are twins: If you know the て-form, you know the た-form: 行いって→行いった, 読よんで→読よんだ, 食たべて→食たべた. With て-form: ください / ても いい / から. With た-form: ことが ある / り / ほうが いい.
• ない-form for “don't・must・don't have to”: Group 1: change the last sound from the う-row to the あ-row and add ない (帰かえる→帰かえらない: る→ら; endings in う become わ: 買かう→買かわない). 〜ないで ください = please don't ~. 〜なければ なりません = must ~. 〜なくても いいです = you don't have to ~.
• Choose the tone by who you talk to: Rin says 「なにを した？」「食たべたり した」 to Kumata, and 「行いきました」「読よみました」 to Neko-sensei. The meaning is the same, but the politeness is different.
• Adjectives: 〜くて・〜かった・AはBより: For い-adjectives, change い to くて to link them (大おおきくて きれい = big and beautiful). Change い to かった for the past (たのしかったです, never たのしいでした). To compare, use AはBより〜: 写真しゃしんの ちょうちんは 雷門かみなりもんのより 小ちいさい = The lantern in the photo is smaller than the Kaminarimon one.

• ここで 写真しゃしんを とっても いいですか。 — May I take photos here?
• 手紙てがみを 読よんでから、谷中やなかに 帰かえりました。 — After reading the letter, I went back to Yanaka.
• 夜よるは 一人ひとりで 歩あるかない ほうが いいですよ。 — It's better not to walk alone at night.

Grammar 3 / 3: Plain-Form Patterns

The patterns in the last N5 lessons all use the plain form: plain form + noun, plain form + とき, plain form + つもり／でしょう／ので. Watch the な・の・だ changes for nouns and na-adjectives

• Plain form + noun = “the ~ that …”: Put the whole sentence right before the noun: きのう 買かった メロンパン (the melon pan I bought yesterday), よく 食たべる 人ひと (a person who eats a lot). Japanese has no word like “that” or “who” here.
• Plain form + とき = “when ~”: 帰かえる とき (when I go back), 日本にほんに 来きた とき (when I came to Japan). Na-adjectives take な and nouns take の: しずかな とき, 子こどもの とき.
• Plain form + つもり・予定よてい・でしょう・ので: さがす つもりです (plan to look for), 行いく 予定よていです (scheduled to go), ある でしょう (probably there is), 雨あめなので (because it rains). Nouns and na-adjectives take no だ before でしょう. Before ので, だ changes to な: 雨あめなので, しずかなので.

• きのう 浅草あさくさで 買かった メロンパンです。 — This is the melon pan I bought in Asakusa yesterday.
• 日本にほんに 来きた とき、ひらがなが わかりませんでした。 — When I first came to Japan, I couldn't read hiragana.
• あしたは 雨あめなので、神社じんじゃは しずかでしょう。 — It will rain tomorrow, so the shrine will probably be quiet.