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
13
It happened: the plain past, and how a story hangs together
≈ 4 min
What you'll learn
- No new words here, only the endings every story is told in.
- The signal is the last syllable: a verb ending in たta or だda is in the past.
- いったitta is both “went” and “said”; a quote in front of it means “said”.
- Describing words carry their own past: かなしいkanashii → かなしかったkanashikatta.
- からkara “because” ends the reason; でもdemo “but” starts the next sentence.
No new words in this section — only new shapes, and every book you are about to read narrates in exactly this plain past. The polite past a beginner course teaches, ましたmashita, is for talking to people; not wrong, a different job.
Your words, in the past
みるmiru“see”
みたmita“saw”
るru usually swaps for たta; so こたえたkotaeta“answered”
いうiu“say”
いったitta“said”
うu takes the held beat: ったtta
きくkiku“ask; hear”
きいたkiita“asked; heard”
くku stretches instead: いたita
いくiku“go”
いったitta“went”
irregular — the くku pattern would give いいた, and it does not
くるkuru“come”
きたkita“came”
irregular at both ends
いるiru“is there”
いたita“was there”
あるaru“exists”
あったatta“there was”
some るru verbs take the beat instead: はしったhashitta“ran”
だda“is”
だったdatta“was”
かなしいkanashii“is sad”
かなしかったkanashikatta“was sad”
a describing word swaps いi for かったkatta — no verb needed; the na class leans on だったdatta
Story openers and joints
| Japanese | What it does |
|---|---|
| むかしむかし、あるところにmukashi mukashi, aru tokoro ni“long, long ago, in a certain place…” | learn it as one lump — it opens half the books you will meet |
| ある日aru hi“one day” | how a new scene starts |
| そしてsoshite“and then” | starts the next sentence |
| でもdemo“but” | starts the next sentence too — why a paragraph is a row of short sentences |
“Because” goes on the end of the reason
おなかが すいたonaka ga suita“I am hungry”
おなかが すいた からonaka ga suita kara“because I am hungry”
literally “stomach-emptied-because”: the stomach emptied, so you are hungry now. The reason is what you just read, not what comes next
木が たおれたki ga taoreta“the tree fell over”
木が たおれた からki ga taoreta kara“because the tree fell over”
たおれるtaoreru“fall over” is worth pocketing — the last reading leans on it. And からkara is the “from” particle: where it comes from
Past or present?
- ミナは もりに いった。
Only the last word is the verb.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Mina wa mori ni itta — “Mina went to the forest.” No quote in front, so “went”, not “said”. - おなかが すいた から、もりに いく。
The reason comes first.
Show answer +Hide answer −
onaka ga suita kara, mori ni iku — “Because I am hungry, I am going to the forest.”