Reading a katakana menu — coffee, cake, and セット
Read a cafe menu in katakana: コーヒー, ケーキ, サラダ, セット. Order with これ and ください without guessing from English spelling.
August 2026
Numbers and clock time — the first kanji digits
Read 一 to 十, ask 何時ですか, and say clock time with 時, 分, and 半. These are the first kanji you must own as digits, not as art.
な-adjectives — 静か, 便利, 好き is not を
Use な-adjectives the polite way: 静かです, 静かな部屋. Learn きれい is not an い-word, and lock 好き to が — never を.
い-adjectives — 高い, おいしい, and their polite present
Describe things with い-adjectives: 高いです, おいしいです, 新しくないです. Put the adjective before a noun or at the end of a polite sentence — without yesterday’s past yet.
I don’t / I did — ません and ました
Bend polite ます: ません for I don’t, ました for I did, ませんでした for I didn’t. Same を, new tails. Breakfast in three tenses.
I do — object を and polite ます
Put the thing you act on in を, land the polite verb in ます. パンを食べます. Present and future share this tail. を sounds like お.
に vs で — time and destination vs the place of doing
に parks time, destination, and where something exists. で parks where you do the action. Mix them and you study into a cafe instead of at it.
There is — あります for things, います for people and animals
あります sits on objects. います sits on people and animals. Location takes に. A key exists; a cat exists — two verbs, one polite room.
Here and there — ここ・そこ・あそこ
Point at places, not cups: ここ, そこ, あそこ, and the question どこ. Ask for the toilet, the bath, and the lobby without mixing これ into a corridor.