三つのふうとうThree Envelopes

Read a sample in Japanese

What you'll learn

A young man's morning never varies: one road out of town, the same bench at the small station, the 7:10 train. Then opened envelopes begin appearing on the bench, all carrying the same name and the same address in his own town, and after work he decides to walk to the address instead of going home.

Key vocabulary

Grammar points you'll meet

• ～があります N5あります says a thing exists or is there, and the thing is marked with が. The past form ありました is how this story announces each new envelope on the bench.
  そのあさ、いすの上に手紙がありました。
• ～ている N5Te-form plus いる describes a state that is still going on. あく is 'to open', so あいていました means the envelope was already open, not that someone opened it just then.
  白いふうとうで、もうあいていました。
• も N5も replaces は or が and means 'too, as well'. Repeating it across two items — つぎのあさも、そのつぎのあさも — is how Japanese says 'and the next one, and the one after that'.
  つぎのあさも、そのつぎのあさも、いすの上にふうとうがありました。
• ～がいます N5います is the あります of living things: people and animals take います, objects take あります. Here it introduces someone the writer has never spoken to.
  まいあさ、駅のいすにすわっている人がいます。
• stem +たいです N5Drop ます from the verb and add たいです to say you want to do something. What you want is often marked with が rather than を, which is why it is お茶が here.
  その人とお茶がのみたいです。
• ～ませんか N5A negative question is the ordinary polite invitation: 'won't you…?' rather than 'do you want to?'. のみませんか is an offer, and refusing it politely is a different sentence entirely.
  お茶、のみませんか。

Cultural notes

• Names and addresses on a Japanese envelopeA Japanese name is written family name first, so 「山本よしこ」 is a Yamamoto whose given name is Yoshiko. An envelope carries that name together with the address, and in a small town an address is specific enough to walk to.
• The small station and its one trainAway from the big cities a Japanese station is often a single platform with a bench and a printed timetable. Trains come only a few times an hour, so commuters name them by the clock — 七時十分, the 7:10 — and the same people end up on the same bench every morning.
• Tea is the invitationOffering tea is how a host in Japan asks a visitor to stay. At the door it is less about the drink than about sitting down and talking for a while, and accepting means you are not leaving straight away.

Topics & grammar

Short Storydaily lifeletterssmall townloneliness〜がありますga arimasu · there is (inanimate)〜がいますga imasu · there is (animate)もmo · also / too〜んですn desu · explanatory (んだ / のだ)〜ているte iru · ongoing action / state〜てくださいte kudasai · please do