Lesson 25 of 28
Kanji Unit 25 — four animals and four seasons
about 9 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Write all four seasons.
- Use 多い and 少ない, and say why they behave differently from other adjectives.
Words this lesson teaches
- 牛
- a cow — 牛肉, beef
- 犬
- a dog
- 魚
- a fish
- 鳥
- a bird — 鳥肉, chicken
- 風
- wind
- 夏
- summer
- 秋
- autumn
- 多
- many, much
- 少
- few, a little
What it explains
多い and 少ない do not go in front of a noun
Most い adjectives work either way: 大きい 店 and 店が 大きい. 多い and 少ない do not — 「多い 人」 is wrong, and you say 「人が 多い」 instead. To put many in front of a noun you need たくさんの. It is a small irregularity and one of the few in the adjective system, so it is worth learning as a fact rather than fighting.
牛肉, 魚, and the counters that come with animals
牛肉 is cow-meat, beef, using 肉 from unit 22; 鳥肉 is chicken. Animals also bring their own counters: 匹 for small animals, 羽 for birds, 頭 for large ones. None of those three characters is on the N4 list, so they stay in kana here — ひき, わ, とう — which is what a learner will see written anyway in an ordinary shop.
The scene itself is in the app.
Lesson one of this track is free to read in full. From lesson two on, the story, the audio and the review are part of a free account.