Hover a line for its reading in kana and its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Alex is lost near the city center and stops a passer-by.
分かりました is past tense in form but present in use: it means 'I've got it now', not 'I understood earlier'. Japanese marks the moment understanding arrived, where English marks the state.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. …はどこですか — where is…?
The question word どこ simply takes the place of the answer, and the sentence order does not change. 駅は東京です and 駅はどこですか are built identically — you swap in どこ where the answer would go.
2. …てください — please do…
A polite request is a verb in its て-form plus ください: 行ってください, 曲がってください, 待ってください. Treat these as whole phrases for now; the て-form itself is a later lesson.
3. に — the direction you turn
に marks where something ends up: 右に曲がる, 駅に行く. Compare を in 道を歩く, which marks the route travelled along rather than the destination.
4. AのB — B of A
の links two nouns with the owner or larger thing first: 駅の前 is 'the station's front'. English runs the other way round, so 駅の前 and 'in front of the station' are mirror images.
A. Fill in the Blank · 空欄をうめましょう
Fill in the blank with a word from this lesson's vocabulary.
- 1.駅はですか。where
- 2.信号をに曲がってください。right
- 3.歩いてです。five minutes
- 4.銀行は駅のにあります。front
B. Multiple Choice · えらびましょう
Choose the best answer.
- 1.How do you ask where the station is?
- 2.Which means "in front of the station"?
- 3.Complete: 右___曲がってください。
- 4.What does 分かりました mean here?
C. Rearrange the Sentence · ならべかえましょう
Rearrange the words into a correct sentence, adding the punctuation shown in parentheses.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · ○か×か
Based on the dialogue, mark each sentence T (true) or F (false).
- 1.Alex must turn right at the traffic light.
- 2.The station is far away.
- 3.The walk takes five minutes.
- 4.The bank is behind the station.
E. Matching · せんでむすびましょう
Match each line on the left with the best response on the right.
F. Translation · やくしましょう
Translate items 1–2 into Japanese, and items 3–4 into English.
- 1.Excuse me, where is the station?
- 2.Please turn right.
- 3.歩いて五分です。
- 4.駅の前にあります。
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 16 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
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The streets have no names
Japanese addresses are not built from street names, because most streets do not have any. An address narrows by area instead: city, then 町, then 丁目, then a block, then the building — largest to smallest, the reverse of an American address. Japanese people themselves navigate by landmark and map rather than by address. Which is what the 交番 is for: the small police box near stations and junctions, staffed around the clock, where giving directions is part of the job rather than an imposition.