N5 · UNIT 3 FREE

Daily Actions

Your first verbs. Describe your daily routine, what you do, where you do it, and where you're going, with the particles を, で, and へ.

About this unit

Verbs arrive. With ます and just three particles, を, で, へ, your Japanese goes from naming things to narrating life: what you do, where you do it, and where you're headed. This is the engine of every sentence you'll build from now on.

語彙 · Vocabulary 42 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
to eat
to drink
to see; to watch
to listen; to hear
to read
to write
to buy
to go
to come
to return; to go home
to get up; to wake up
to sleep; to go to bed
to do
to study
cooked rice; meal
breakfast
lunch
dinner
bread
water
tea; green tea
coffee
TV
movie
music
letter
supermarket
library
train station
home; my place
school
company; office
today
tomorrow
every day
every morning
every evening
morning
night
direct-object marker (pronounced o)
at; in (place where an action happens)
to; toward (pronounced e)
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.

go
come
see
hear; listen
eat; food
drink
read
write
buy
day; sun
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

Over lunch in the university cafeteria, Mr. Tanaka asks Maria about her daily routine.

たなか
Maria, what do you do every day?
マリア
In the morning I eat bread. Then I go to the university.
たなか
What do you study at the university?
マリア
I study Japanese. I read books in the library.
たなか
What about at night?
マリア
I watch Japanese TV at home. Then I sleep.
たなか
Nice. At night I drink tea. Then I sleep.
Notice: the verb always comes LAST. Everything before it, パンを、だいがくへ、としょかんで, is a labeled box of information, and the particles are the labels. Also: particle を is pronounced o, and particle へ is pronounced e.
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 n5-unit3-deck.apkg into Anki or Migaku. (SRS connection status lives on your dashboard.)
  2. Learn all 42 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.
Polite verb endings: ます (do / will do) and ません (don't / won't). One form covers both present habit and future.
I drink coffee every day.
I won't watch TV tomorrow.
Note: Japanese verbs never change for person, 食べます can mean I eat, you eat, she eats. Context decides, so relax: there's exactly one form to learn.
を marks the direct object, the thing the action lands on.
I eat bread.
I study Japanese.
Note: を survives only as a particle, no other modern word uses this kana. See it, and you know a verb is coming.
で marks WHERE an action happens.
I read books at the library.
I buy tea at the convenience store.
Note: One action, one で. Stack the boxes in any order, としょかんで本を読みます and 本をとしょかんで読みます are both correct; only the verb's position is fixed.
へ (pronounced e) marks the direction of movement, and pairs with the three motion verbs.
I go to the university.
At night, I return home.
Note: で is where something HAPPENS; へ is where something is HEADED. だいがくで行きます ✗, the classic mix-up.

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.

いただきます & the Rhythm of Meals

Japanese meals open and close with set phrases. Before eating: いただきます, literally “I humbly receive,” often with palms together. After finishing: ごちそうさまでした, “thank you for the feast.” They're said solo at home, in cafeterias, even before a konbini sandwich at your desk.

Slurping noodles is not rude, it's correct. It cools the noodles and signals enjoyment. What IS rude: walking while eating (except at festivals), sticking chopsticks upright in rice (a funeral image), and passing food chopstick-to-chopstick.

Breakfast culture explains half this unit's vocabulary: あさごはん is literally “morning rice,” and ごはん means both “cooked rice” and “meal”, rice is so central that the words merged centuries ago.

Try it: Say いただきます before your next meal, even alone. Habits you build at the table stick faster than flashcards.

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