読デイリー読解 · Daily Dokkai
LessonsThe Daily Dokkai textbook · step by step from zeroReading practice →
N5 · Lesson 11

Rules and states

〜ても いいです ・ 〜ては いけません ・ 〜て います (states) ・ 〜てから ・ 〜て あります

In this lesson, you will learn to ask whether you may do something and to say what is not allowed, to say where you live and what you know or have, to say what you do after something else, and to describe things someone has left done, like a sign on a door.

By the end you will be able to say

May I open the window?
You must not use the kitchen after ten at night.
I live in the dorm.
I wash my hands, and then I make dinner.
The rules are written on the door.

The grammar in this lesson

  1. May I? Must not: 〜ても いいです / 〜ては いけません — て-form + も いいです says something is allowed; て-form + は いけません says it is not.
  2. Live, know, have: 〜て います for a state — With some verbs, て います describes a state that is still true: where you live, what you know, what you have or have on.
  3. After doing: 〜てから — て-form + から says the second action comes after the first is done.
  4. Left that way: 〜て あります — が + て-form + あります describes something someone did that you can still see.