Lesson 5 of 24
Every Morning, Except Tuesday
about 13 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Say how often something happens and when in the day it happens.
Words this lesson teaches
- いつも
- always
- よく
- often
- ときどき
- sometimes
- あまり
- not very (with a negative)
- ぜんぜん
- not at all (with a negative)
- あさ
- morning
- ばん
- evening
- まいにち
- every day
- あけます
- opens (something)
- そうじ
- cleaning
- みせ
- shop
- まど
- window
- いそがしい
- busy
What it explains
いつも, よく, ときどき
A rough scale from always through often to sometimes. They sit before the verb, usually right after the topic: わたしは よく しごとを します. Unlike English, they do not move to the end of the sentence, so once you have the slot you have all three.
あまり and ぜんぜん need a negative
These two are not optional partners: あまり いそがしくないです is not very busy, ぜんぜん わかりません is I don't understand at all. Saying あまり with a positive verb leaves the sentence hanging — a native listener will wait for the negative that does not arrive.
When に is left off
7時に takes に because it is a clock time. かようびの あさは drops it, because here the time is the topic of the sentence rather than a point inside it — Tuesday mornings, as for those. Words like きょう and まいにち never take に at all.
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.
