Lessons for English speakers
Learn to read Japanese
A short, active path into reading Japanese: decode seven real words from eleven kana, learn why the verb comes last and how nine particles carry the grammar, meet the plain past stories are told in, and read a short fable before opening your first book.
13 core sections · ≈ 34 min + 4 optional lookups · ≈ 55 min with everything
16
A new reading: try it before revealing the help
≈ 3 min
What you'll learn
- This time the pronunciation and the English begin hidden.
- Aim for the scene, not a perfect translation.
- If a line feels scrambled, find the last word first — that is the verb — then find the small characters glued to the backs of the others.
- If a single character will not come back to you, reveal the line, take the sound, and keep going — this is checking scene recovery, not kana memory.
- If you can recover who did what, you are ready for the first book, which uses a deliberately smaller vocabulary.
Three new words; everything else has appeared before
| Japanese | Meaning |
|---|---|
| かぜkaze · ふいたfuita | wind · blew — the wind is an ordinary doer with an ordinary verb last |
| たおれたtaoreta | fell over — what a tree does, from たおれるtaoreru in the “because” examples |
| きてkite | come — くるkuru in the shape that makes a friendly instruction |
The bird is called ティカTika, from the writing-system section.
A bird, a fallen tree, and an old fox
Read each line aloud, say what you think happened, then reveal. If a line resists: last word first, then the small characters on the backs of the others.
- むかしむかし、あるところに 大きい もりが あった。
The opening lump, then: big · forest · there was.
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mukashi mukashi, aru tokoro ni ōkii mori ga atta — “Long, long ago, in a certain place, there was a big forest.” - 木の上に、小さい とりが いた。とりの なまえは ティカ。
A sentence that simply names something may drop its だda.
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ki no ue ni, chiisai tori ga ita. tori no namae wa Tika — “On top of a tree there was a small bird. The bird’s name was Tika.” - ある日、かぜが ふいた。そして 大きい 木が たおれた。
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aru hi, kaze ga fuita. soshite ōkii ki ga taoreta — “One day the wind blew. And a big tree fell over.” - ティカは とても かなしかった。
There is no verb in this line.
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Tika wa totemo kanashikatta — “Tika was very sad.” - そこに きつねの ダラが きた。「なぜ かなしいの。」と ダラが きいた。
A question inside a quote, asked with のno.
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soko ni kitsune no Dara ga kita. naze kanashii no, to Dara ga kiita — “The fox Dara came there. ‘Why are you sad?’ asked Dara.” - 「わたしの 木が たおれた から。」と ティカが こたえた。
The reason is everything in front of からkara.
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watashi no ki ga taoreta kara, to Tika ga kotaeta — “‘Because my tree fell over,’ answered Tika.” - 「わたしと きて。わたしの いえは 小さい。でも いい いえだ。」と ダラが いった。
Three short sentences inside one quote.
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watashi to kite. watashi no ie wa chiisai. demo ii ie da, to Dara ga itta — “‘Come with me. My house is small. But it is a good house,’ said Dara.” - ティカは うれしかった。小さい ともだちは いい ともだちだ。
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Tika wa ureshikatta. chiisai tomodachi wa ii tomodachi da — “Tika was happy. A small friend is a good friend.” The last line is present on purpose: the story was past, the thing it is about is not.