LinguaThe words are old friends; only the writing is new
学生, 先生, 日本, 電車, 食べます, 見ます – you have been saying all of these for nine units. What changes now is that each one has a written shape built from characters with meanings: 学 learning plus 生 life gives a student, 先 ahead plus 生 life gives the one born earlier, a teacher. Reading them is easier than reading them in kana, because the eye stops guessing where the word begins.
| Word | Characters | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| 学生 | 学 + 生 | learning + life |
| 先生 | 先 + 生 | ahead + life |
| 日本 | 日 + 本 | sun + origin |
| 電車 | 電 + 車 | electricity + vehicle |
| 学校 | 学 + 校 | learning + institution |
Okurigana: the kana tail that bends the verb
A verb is written with a character for its meaning and kana for its ending: 見ます, 見ません, 見ました. The character never changes and the kana carries all the grammar, which is why the same 見 appears in every form. The kana tail is called おくりがな, and where it starts is fixed by convention: 食べます always keeps べ outside the character.
学生は車で大学へ行きますThe student goes to the university by car.
先生はしょくどうでごはんを食べていますThe teacher is eating in the canteen.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 私 | I, me | 私は本をよみます I read a book. |
| 本 | book, origin | 日本の本 a Japanese book |
| 車 | vehicle, car | 車で行きます I go by car. |
| 行 | to go | 学校へ行きます I go to school. |
| 見 | to see, to watch | えいがを見ます I watch a film. |
| 食 | to eat | しょくどうで食べます I eat at the canteen. |
| 学 | learning | 大学へ行きました I went to the university. |
| 校 | school (as an institution) | 学校は大きいです The school is big. |
| 先 | ahead, previous | 先生に聞きます I ask the teacher. |
| 生 | life, to be born | 先生と学生 a teacher and a student |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 2
- translate the sentence: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which characters make up the word for a student?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.