N4 · UNIT 5

Movement & Purpose

Go places on purpose, 食べに行きます, and ask how anything works with ～方. Plus 乗りかえ, the art of the Japanese train transfer, and やすい・にくい for what's easy and hard.

About this unit

This unit is your navigation upgrade. ～に行きます states why you're going somewhere in two syllables; ～方 turns any verb into a how-to (使い方, 行き方); and やすい・にくい lets you review the world, easy to use, hard to read. Between them sits the skill every visitor to Japan must earn: the train transfer. Maria plans her first solo-worthy expedition across Tokyo, ramen ticket machine included.

語彙 · Vocabulary 36 words · 10 kanji

1

Read the words

Read straight down the list once, out loud if you can. Don't grind them here, the Anki deck at the bottom does the memorizing. Right now you only want the shapes and sounds to feel familiar.

WordReadingMeaning
map
place; location
place; spot
subway
to transfer (trains)
to get off
to pass through
to commute
how to get there
how to use
how to make; recipe
how to read; reading
intersection
traffic light
corner
to turn
straight ahead
right (side)
left (side)
nearby; vicinity
far away; the distance
town
next to; neighboring
bus stop
taxi
station attendant
ticket gate
exit
entrance
train platform
ticket vending machine
button
to push; to press
to hurry
museum
police box
2

Learn the kanji

The 10 kanji for this unit. Tap any card to flip between its meaning and its readings, and say the reading aloud as it flips.

direction; way; person (polite)
pass through; commute
ride; board
ground; earth
place; site
place
near
use
town
diagram; drawing
3

Read it in context

Everything above, working together. Read the conversation top to bottom, out loud. Every line is built only from words and kanji you have already met, so resist the English, tap a word only if you are truly stuck.

Show English

Maria wants to visit a manga museum across the city, which means a transfer, a neighborhood she's never seen, and her old nemesis, the ramen-shop ticket machine.

マリア
Mr. Tanaka, I want to go to the manga museum on Saturday, but I don't know how to get there.
たなか
Where is it?
マリア
Here, on this map. Is it far from the station?
たなか
No, it's close. First you take the train from this station, then transfer to the subway at the second stop.
マリア
Isn't transferring difficult?
たなか
You'll be fine. That station has an easy-to-read map right by the exit.
マリア
Great. Then for lunch, shall we go eat that neighborhood's famous ramen?
たなか
Sounds good, museum first, then we go eat.
マリア
Um, one more thing. I still don't understand how to use the ticket machines at ramen shops.
たなか
Ah, the ticket machine. You just put money in, then press the button. It's simple, easy to use.
マリア
Got it. So Saturday: go to see the museum, then go to eat ramen!
Notice: Maria doesn't say ラーメンを食べるために行きます, the light ます-stem + に行きます carries the purpose: 食べに行きます, 見に行きます. And every how-to in the dialogue is a ます-stem + 方: 行き方, 使い方. Two tiny patterns, half of daily logistics.
Stop, learn the vocabulary before the grammar

These units are short on purpose. The grammar only clicks when the words are already automatic, so front-load the deck here, and let spaced repetition do the memorizing while the lesson does the teaching.

  1. Import this unit's deck. Generate it with npm run content:deck, then import n4-unit5-deck.apkg into Anki or Migaku. (SRS connection status lives on your dashboard.)
  2. Learn all 36 words as new cards. Get through the whole deck in a sitting or two, you're aiming for recognition, not mastery yet.
  3. Review daily until every card reaches a 3–5 day interval. When the whole deck has settled at that spacing, the words are holding on their own and won't fight you during the grammar.
  4. Then come back. You'll read the patterns instead of decoding the words, and that's when a "small" unit actually soaks in.
Anki open with AnkiConnect? I can confirm the deck for you.

Tick the box above once the deck is soaking in, then the grammar unlocks.

文法 · Grammar 4 patterns

Take one pattern at a time. Read the rule, then read each example out loud until the shape feels obvious. The words should already be automatic from your deck, so all you are learning here is how they lock together.

Quick suggestion: write these patterns down by hand as you read them. It is the one habit that textbook learners and self-taught immersion learners both swear by, and a notebook is the cheapest memory upgrade there is. Not required, just recommended.
Motion with a mission. Drop ます, add に + a motion verb: 食べに行きます (go to eat), 見に来ました (came to see). する-nouns skip the stem: 買い物に行きます, りゅう学に来ました.
Shall we go grab lunch?
I came to Japan to study manga.
Note: The purpose rides on に; the destination keeps へ or に as usual: 東京へラーメンを食べに行きます. Keep the purpose phrase short, for long reasons, use から instead.
How to do it. Drop ます, add 方: 使い方 (how to use), 読み方 (how to read), 作り方 (how to make). The result is a noun, it takes の, が, を like any other.
I don't know how to use this machine.
Please tell me how to read this kanji.
Note: The object's を becomes の inside the how-to: ラーメンを作る → ラーメンの作り方. Search any recipe or manual in Japanese and 〜方 is the word doing the work.
The transport verb kit and its particles: 電車に乗ります (board), 電車を降ります (get off), AからBに乗りかえます (transfer). Vehicles take に going in, を coming out.
I board the shinkansen at Tokyo Station.
Transfer to the subway at the second stop.
Note: The same in/out logic runs the whole language: 家を出ます (leave the house), おふろに入ります (get in the bath). に goes in, を comes out, learn it once, use it everywhere.
Easy or hard to do: ます-stem + やすい (easy to ~) or にくい (hard to ~). The result conjugates as an い-adjective: 使いやすかったです, 読みにくくないです.
This map is easy to understand.
This kanji is hard to read.
Note: やすい・にくい judge the THING, not your skill: 読みにくい means the text itself resists readers. For your own ability, stay with potential forms, 読めません.

文化 · Culture note

A short read on the world these words live in. Nothing to drill here, just the context that makes the grammar feel like something people actually say.

A City With No Street Names

Most Japanese streets have no names. Addresses work by nested areas instead, ward, district, block, building, so 2-11-3 means block 2, lot 11, building 3, and buildings on a block are numbered by when they were built, not where they stand. Even locals navigate by landmarks and station exits, which is why directions in Japan sound like this unit's dialogue: take the East Exit, walk toward the konbini, turn at the third light.

The system works because of two institutions. The first is the こうばん, the neighborhood police box. Asking a police officer for directions is not just acceptable, it's the box's daily bread; officers keep detailed local maps and walk lost visitors to corners. The second is the station itself: Japanese train stations are cities in miniature, and the yellow 乗りかえ signs, with line colors and platform numbers, form a navigation language that works in every city in the country once you've learned to read it in one.

And then there's the けんばいき, the ticket machine standing guard at ramen shops, gyudon chains, and cheap curry joints. You pay the machine first, hand the little ticket to the counter, and sit down; no bill, no tipping, minimal talking. Foreigners find it intimidating exactly once. After that it's the most efficient restaurant interface on earth, and a machine that only speaks 使い方 grammar: ボタンをおして、けんを取ってください.

Try it: Next time you look up any directions, narrate them in Japanese as you walk: 駅を出て、みぎへ行って、しんごうでひだりへ。Your phone knows the way; the narration is for building yours.

生教材 · Immersion 3 assignments · real Japanese, on rails

This week in the wild

Navigation Japanese is wonderfully finite, the same fifty words on every sign, every announcement, every map in the country. This week you learn to read the transit layer of Japan.

You will not understand everything, that is the point. Success is recognizing this unit's patterns in the wild, not full comprehension. Tick what you tried and move on.

発話 · Speaking 8 ghost drills · say it out loud

Ghosting

Direction-asking is survival speaking, you will use these exact sentences in Japan, verbatim, possibly while slightly lost. Drill until the transfer sentence comes out in one breath.

Three passes per line: listen, speak along with the voice (that's the ghost), then speak alone. Out loud, whispering doesn't build the muscle. Prompt drills show English first: answer in Japanese before revealing.

I want to go to the manga museum, but I don't know how to get there.
Take the train from this station, then transfer to the subway at the second stop.
I still don't understand how to use the ticket machine.
Museum first, then let's go eat.
Say it in Japanese: Shall we go get lunch?
Hint: ます-stem + に行きます, the purpose rides on に.
Say it in Japanese: Please tell me how to read this kanji.
Hint: ます-stem + 方, connected with の.
Say it in Japanese: I board the shinkansen at Tokyo Station.
Hint: Vehicles take に when you get on.
Say it in Japanese: This map is easy to understand.
Hint: ます-stem + やすい, conjugated like an い-adjective.

Audio uses your browser's Japanese voice. If you hear nothing, your system may need a Japanese voice installed, read the lines aloud from the text instead; the ghost pass still works.

練習 · Worksheet 8 exercises

Type each missing word in hiragana, then check your answers.

Check your answers to continue, it doesn't matter how many you miss.

Unit Quiz JLPT FORMAT

Pass mark 80% · instant explanations · passing unlocks the next unit