Lesson 20 of 28
Kanji Unit 20 — older, younger, and the thread between
about 9 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Write the four sibling words, choosing older or younger as Japanese requires.
- Recognise 糸 on the left of a character.
Words this lesson teaches
- 紙
- paper
- 終
- end, finish
- 始
- begin, start
- 姉
- older sister
- 妹
- younger sister
- 親
- a parent; close — 親切, kind
- 字
- a written character — 漢字, 名字
- 兄
- older brother
- 弟
- younger brother
What it explains
Your family and somebody else's are different words
Talking about your own older brother he is 兄. Talking about somebody else's he is お兄さん. The same split runs through 姉 and お姉さん, 母 and お母さん — all taught in unit 5 — and it is not politeness you can skip: using お兄さん about your own brother sounds like you admire him from a distance. The characters are the same; the wrapper changes.
始まる and 始める, one character and two verbs
始まる is for something that starts by itself — 「会が 始まります」, the session starts. 始める is for someone starting it — 「会を 始めます」, I'll start the session. One character, two verbs, and the particle tells you which: が for the first, を for the second. 終わる and 終える work the same way, and the learner has been using both in kana since N5.
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.