Lesson 4

Welcome to Lesson 4!

Ready to describe your surroundings and talk about your past experiences in Japanese? In Lesson 4 at gokigen japanese blog, you will gain the skills to express what exists, how many there are, and what happened before now. This lesson is key to sharing more details in your conversations.

The main goals of this lesson are to enable you to understand and express:

  • The existence and quantity of things and people around you.
  • Actions that took place in the past.

Key grammar and vocabulary you will learn include:

  • Using あります (arimasu) and います (imasu): Learn how to indicate that something or someone exists, using あります for inanimate objects and います for living beings.
  • Counting Things and People: Go beyond simple numbers and learn essential Japanese counter words (数え方) to specify the quantity of items (e.g., 3 apples, 2 people) when using あります and います.
  • Past Tense of Verbs: Building on your knowledge of verb groups from Lesson 3, you will learn how to transform verbs into their past tense forms to talk about completed actions or events.
  • Adverbs: Add richness to your sentences by learning adverbs that express frequency (how often), duration (how long), and quantity (how much).
  • Particle と (To): Explore the uses of the particle と, such as connecting multiple nouns meaning “and,” or indicating that you do something “with” someone.
  • Expressing Locations: Learn vocabulary and sentence structures to describe where things or people are located, often using あります or います in conjunction with location words.

By the end of Lesson 4, you’ll be able to look around, describe what you see and how many items there are, share what you did yesterday or last week, and explain where things are located. These abilities are fundamental for richer daily communication in Japanese!

Explore the articles linked below to master expressing existence, quantity, and past events in Japanese!

level1 (N5)

How to Describe Locations in Japanese | Expressing Where Things Are

Learn how to describe locations in Japanese using the pattern “A no B ni C ga arimasu.” Master common place words like ue(上), shita(下), aida(間), tonari(となり), and how to express where things or people are with に and の particles.
level1 (N5)

How to Use the Japanese Particle To(と) | “And”, “With”, and Quoting Speech

Learn how to use the Japanese particle to(と)to say “and,” “with,” and quote speech. This beginner-friendly guide explains how と connects nouns, shows companionship, and marks quotations, with examples and practice sentences.
level1 (N5)

How to Use Adverbs in Japanese | Frequency, Duration, and Quantity

Learn how to use Japanese adverbs for frequency, duration, and quantity. Master expressions like itsumo(いつも), ichijikan(一時間), and takusan(たくさん)with clear examples, sentence patterns, and beginner-friendly explanations.
level1 (N5)

How to Use the Past Tense of Japanese Verbs | Learn Mashita(ました) and Masen Deshita(ませんでした)

Learn how to use the Japanese past tense with mashita(ました)and masen deshita(ませんでした)to say what you did or didn’t do. This beginner-friendly guide covers grammar rules, verb examples, and how to form polite past-tense sentences.
level1 (N5)

How to Count People and Things in Japanese | Using Arimasu(あります) and Imasu(います) with Numbers

Learn how to count people and things in Japanese using arimasu(あります)and imasu(います) with counters like nin(にん)for people and tsu(つ)for general objects. Includes example sentences, grammar patterns, and practice questions for beginners.
level1 (N5)

How to Say “There is / There are” in Japanese | Learn Arimasu(あります) and Imasu(います)

Learn how to say “there is” and “there are” in Japanese using arimasu(あります)for things and imasu(います)for people and animals. This beginner guide explains grammar rules, usage, questions, negatives, and real-life examples.