作品Free Graded Reading
川の石Every Morning at the River
by Yomimaru
Kaori leaves the house at half past six every weekday and her old dog stays behind. The boy next door keeps telling her what the dog does down at the river each morning. It carries a stone there, sets it down, and looks up as if somebody were standing over it.
What you'll learn
What you'll learnOn a snowy weekday morning a woman leaves for work, saying goodbye to the fourteen-year-old dog sitting by the gate. Yuuta, the boy next door, tells her the dog goes down to the river every morning and carries a stone away. That evening the dog comes home wet, and on Sunday she wakes to find it gone and follows its tracks out through the gate.
Key vocabulary
Key vocabulary| 犬 (いぬ) | dog |
|---|---|
| 門 (もん) | gate at the edge of a property |
| ひも | cord, string; here a dog's leash |
| 川 (かわ) | river |
| 石 (いし) | stone |
| ぬれていた | was wet, had got wet |
| タオル | towel |
| くつ | shoes |
Grammar points you'll meet
Grammar points you'll meet- ～ている N5The te-form plus いる says an action is going on right now, or that someone is in the middle of doing it.「だれかとあそんでいるみたいだよ」
- ～たり …～たりする N5Listing two or three actions with たり means the person does these things among others, in no fixed order. It is how you describe a habit.「うん。上を見たり、川へ走ったり、石を持って来たりするんだ」
- ～んです N5んだ / んです at the end of a sentence explains something the listener did not know. The boy uses it to tell her what the dog does.「その石を持って、どこかへ行くんだ」
- で N5で after a noun marks the tool you use to do something: with a towel, by bus.わたしは、タオルで犬をふいた。
- Dictionary form+と N4Dictionary form plus と means that when the first thing happens, the second follows. Here she gets home and finds it is already past seven.うちに帰ると、七時をすぎていた。
- も N5も replaces は or が and means "too" or "also". It quietly adds the new item to something already said.足もぬれていた。
Cultural notes
Cultural notes- A gate, and then a doorMany Japanese houses have a 門 at the edge of the property as well as a door on the house itself. The strip between them is half public, and it is where neighbours stop to talk without going inside.
- Shoes are left lined up inside the doorShoes come off in the entryway and are set down side by side, facing out. Because they stay there, a glance at the floor tells you who lives in the house and who is home.
- Children speak politely to adult neighboursYuuta says おはようございます, not the plain おはよう he would use with a friend. Japanese children learn early that the neighbour next door gets the polite form.
Sensei's reading tip
Sensei's reading tipKatakana in this story does two different jobs. ユウタ is a boy's name; タオル is a borrowed English word. When a katakana run stops you, ask which of the two it is before you reach for a dictionary.
Read a sample in Japanese
Topics & grammar
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