Japanese N4
Lesson 6 of 24
It Always Does That
about 11 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Say what always happens when something else does.
- Know why you cannot put a request after it.
Words this lesson teaches
- おします
- presses, pushes
- つまります
- gets stuck, jams
- ボタン
- the button
- かならず
- without fail, always
- まわします
- turns, rotates
- きかい
- a machine
- うごきます
- moves, works
- なおします
- fixes, repairs
What it explains
と reports a law, not a plan
Dictionary form plus と: おすと, なると, いくと. Use it for machines, directions, nature and habits — things that hold every time. 「この ボタンを おすと、つまります」 is a fact about the printer, offered as one.
Which conditional, in one question
Ask whether anyone gets a choice. If the outcome follows by itself, と. If someone will then decide something — go, ask, start — たら. That single question sorts almost every case a learner meets at this level, and it is a better guide than the four-way tables.
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.