Lesson 1 of 24
The Invitation in the Group Chat
about 13 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Read a short group invitation and introduce yourself to the group.
Your phone buzzes. Maya has added you to a group chat called こもれびオープンデー. There are six members. One of them is a cat.
Maya
みなさん、こんにちは。あたらしい メンバーですよ。
Hi everyone. We have a new member.
Aki
オープンデーは いつですか。
When is Open Day?
Ren
10月18日、どようびです。
October 18th, a Saturday.
Maya
あきさんと じゅんびを します。
I'll do the preparation with Aki.
Aki
だれが てつだいますか。
Who's helping?
An account called MUGI_MANAGER joins the chat. It posts one photograph, badly out of focus, of what is unmistakably a paw. It then leaves the chat.
You
はじめまして。オープンデーを てつだいます。よろしくおねがいします。
Nice to meet you all. I'll be helping with Open Day. I look forward to it.
Maya replies with a thumbs up and a photo of a notebook page. The notebook is titled Things I Pretended to Understand. Your introduction is not on it, which she seems to think is worth noting.
Words this lesson teaches
- オープンデー
- Open Day
- チーム
- team
- メンバー
- member
- てつだいます
- helps, lends a hand
- じゅんび
- preparation
- メッセージ
- message
- きょう
- today
- あした
- tomorrow
- いっしょに
- together
- あたらしい
- new
What it explains
だれ, なに, どこ, いつ
Question words sit where the answer would go, rather than moving to the front as they do in English: オープンデーは いつですか keeps いつ in the answer's slot. Once you notice that, the word order of Japanese questions stops needing any thought.
と for "with"
あきさんと じゅんびを します — I'll do the prep with Aki. The same と also joins nouns into a list, which you meet properly in N5.2. Which job it is doing is clear from whether a verb of doing-together follows.
ね and よ — recognise, do not rush to use
ね invites agreement about something you both know; よ offers something the listener does not yet know. あたらしい メンバーですよ tells the group news. Getting these subtly wrong is very audible, so the target here is understanding them, not producing them.
