Chapter 1A0/A1
山の車
The Van in the Hills
Before you read
は and が
は marks what the sentence is about. が often marks the person or thing that does the action, or the thing that comes into view. Japanese can use both in nearby sentences without repeating English-style subjects.
Small particles
を marks the thing affected by an action, as in a book picked up or a map received. の links nouns, like a road in the mountains or the key of the van. へ shows a direction.
Quoted speech
Japanese quotations use double quotation marks here. The phrase と森さんが言う means that Mori says the quoted words; the same pattern works with 聞く for asking.
Maho is about to leave her grandmother's house.
She picks up the bag she brought from Osaka to Tokushima.
She looks through the window at the small community hall.
The road to the hall is quiet.
Maho opens the door.
Maho goes outside.
Maho walks to the small community hall.
The mountain road comes into view.
A small van arrives.
Books are visible through its window.
Maho stops walking.
Mori opens the van.
"Please, come in," Mori says.
People come one by one.
Mori welcomes each person.
Maho also goes to the van.
The van is full of books.
Yuto picks up a book.
"I'll borrow this," Yuto says.
Mori takes the book.
"Will you come next week too?" Yuto asks.
"I come on the same day each week," Mori says.
Yuto takes the book home.
Mori looks at Maho.
"The assistant is leaving next month," Mori says.
Maho looks at the van.
"Would you drive the van?" Mori asks.
Mori takes out a map.
The map has been used for a long time.
Maho looks at the map.
The last community hall is high in the hills.
Mori shows her the van key.
Maho takes the map.
Chapter 1 complete
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