Japanese from zero · N4 Lesson 30
Reading like the exam
a full N4 passage ・ connectives ・ exam-style questions ・ the forms recapped
In this lesson, you will learn to read a full N4-length passage the way the exam asks you to: find its topic and facts, follow the words that link its sentences, spot the traps in the answer options, and name the N4 forms it uses. The passage is Lisa's letter home about her second semester.
By the end you will be able to say
今日は この 秋からの 生活の ことを 書きます。Today I'll write about my life since this autumn.
最近は ニュースが 大体 わかるように なりました。These days I can understand most of the news.
すると、テストの 点が 少しずつ よく なりました。And then my test scores slowly went up.
例えば、交通や 社会の ニュースです。For example, news about traffic and society.
もう 一年 日本で 勉強すると 決めました。I've decided to study in Japan one more year.
The grammar in this lesson
- The passage: finding the topic and the facts — The topic sits in the first and last lines; each fact is found by the words the question uses.
- Connectives and clause links in the wild — それで, すると, それに, けれども and 例えば tell you how a sentence follows from the last.
- Exam-style questions: what is asked, what is a trap — Read the question first; wrong options reuse the passage's words but change who, when or why.
- The forms in the passage, recapped — ように なる, the passive, て くれる / て もらう and the potential carry the letter's meaning.