Lesson 21 of 28
Kanji Unit 21 — the roof, and what is under it
about 9 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Recognise 宀 across the top of a character — the fourth radical position.
- Read the names of the buildings a learner actually goes into.
Words this lesson teaches
- 家
- a house, a home
- 室
- a room — 教室, 会議室
- 屋
- a shop; a roof — 本屋, 部屋
- 堂
- a hall — 食堂, a canteen
- 院
- an institution — 病院, 大学院
- 開
- open
- 集
- gather, collect
- 台
- a stand; the counter for machines and vehicles
- 工
- craft, construction — 工場, a factory
What it explains
屋 makes shop names
Attach 屋 to a thing and you get the shop that sells it: 本屋 a bookshop, 花屋 a florist, 肉屋 a butcher, using 本 and 花 from earlier units. It also builds 部屋, a room, which is the commonest word in the set and the one that does not follow the rule. Learn the rule for the shops and learn 部屋 separately.
台 counts machines
Japanese counts different things with different words, and 台 is the one for machines and vehicles: 車が 三台, three cars. 枚 counts flat things, 本 long things, 人 people — all met before. There is no shortcut and no way round it; the counters are learned one object at a time, and 台 is worth having because it covers everything with an engine or a screen.
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.