Phase 1 · new grammar · Day 27 of 100 · ~13 min

ある・いる — existence

English uses one verb — “there is” — for everything. Japanese splits it by whether the thing is alive: いる for people and animals (things that move on their own), ある for objects, plants, and everything else. 猫がいる (“there’s a cat”), 本がある (“there’s a book”). Note が, not は, marks the thing that exists.

Today's words
tomorrow
to drink; to swallow
police
Sunday
company; corporation
force; strength
to teach; to instruct
Write today's kanji — tap to replay
See it in real sentences
I get on well with him.
We are doing business at piecework payment basis.
Thank you very much for inviting me.
Thank you very much for coming to see me.
I'm keeping a record of basal body temperature.
I'll take it.

Practice

Spaced review — recall from earlier days (tap to flip)
to turn back (e.g. half-way)
(もど)
1d ago
marriage
結婚(けっこん)
1d ago
mother
(かあ)さん
3d ago
voice
(こえ)
3d ago
to stand (up)
()
7d ago
then
では
7d ago
Recall
Which word means “force”?
Which word means “to teach”?
Which word means “to drink”?
Which word means “company”?
Listen and choose
What did you hear?
What did you hear?
What did you hear?
Your turn — say it, then check
Say: “I get on well with him.”
(かれ)とはうまくやっている。
Say: “We are doing business at piecework payment basis.”
出来高(できだか)(はら)いでやっています。
👀 Today’s input · ~10 min — where fluency actually comes from
Read your first real books
You can read kana now — so read. Open a Level 0 Tadoku graded reader: picture books made for absolute beginners, almost all kana. Sound each page out loud and don’t stop to look up every word; getting the gist is the goal.
Tadoku free graded readers — Level 0 →

Furigana by kuroshiro · stroke order by KanjiVG · audio by your browser. Sentences are real native sentences, auto-selected for this day.