Human Japanese: Extra Credit
Reading, listening, and sentence construction practice based on grammar and vocabulary learned in Human Japanese.
Human Japanese was this team's first course. It starts from square one and offers a guided, step-by-step introduction to Japanese with no assumption of any previous knowledge. If you're just getting started or you want a light refresher, Human Japanese is a warm and friendly voice that will help you get up to speed.
Best of all, Human Japanese is now available for free to all Satori Reader subscribers. You can even use your existing Satori Reader account to sign in. Just click the link above to jump in.
While the content in this "Extra Credit" series is tightly linked to what we introduce in Human Japanese, it's also designed to be useful for people coming from other backgrounds. Starting from literally the level of "It is a dog" and working up slowly, it provides a smooth ramp into reading Japanese. Please have a look at these exercises, and if you find that you'd like a little more explanation of each grammar point, please have a look at Human Japanese as well!
Drill yourself on sentences that use various forms of desu.
Notes: This exercise also illustrates how nouns can be either singular or plural, and that subjects are often omitted from Japanese sentences.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers |  |
| Standard | Unread | 19091 | |
| No Katakana | Unread | 2740 |
Combine vocabulary for things found around the house with the patterns learned in the previous lesson.
Notes: This exercise uses every vocabulary word presented in Human Japanese Chapter 8.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 9750 | |
| No Katakana | Unread | 1004 |
Pro
Put your counting skills through their paces in both directions with this numerically-oriented drill.
Notes: Remember to keep your wits about you when you get over 10,000!
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 5017 |
Pro
Practice your vocabulary for words like "today," "next month," and "September" in sentences using grammar learned in previous chapters.
Notes: This chapter also utilizes the newly learned words for "good" and the agreement-seeking particle ne.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 3343 | |
| No Katakana | Unread | 237 |
Pro
The addition of the question marker ka unlocks lots of new sentences. Drill yourself here.
Notes: This chapter also utilizes the newly-introduced word sou, "so/that way."
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 2563 | |
| No Katakana | Unread | 186 |
Pro
Combine the new words from this vocab-centric chapter with previously learned patterns in nearly 60 test sentences.
Notes: This chapter also includes a note about yes-or-no responses to negative questions, like "Isn't it a restaurant?"
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 2563 |
Pro
With the addition of wa to our language toolbox, we can suddenly create much longer sentences.
Notes: This chapter also introduced the pluralizer -tachi.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1991 |
Pro
Drill yourself on the food-related vocab from this chapter, combined with the patterns for saying you like or dislike something.
Notes: This episode exercises all the new vocabulary learned in Human Japanese Chapter 17.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1913 |
Pro
Test your grasp of words like "this," "that," "here," "there," and many others.
Notes: This chapter also introduced a polite way to refer to a person when introducing them.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1666 |
Pro
Sharpen your pencils and sit up straight for this review of school-related vocabulary.
Notes: This chapter also introduced the way to name a year in school, as well as the names of many countries.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1540 |
Pro
Prove that you've nailed no by working through these example sentences.
Notes: This particle also allowed us to make sense of the words for "boy" and "girl."
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1456 |
Pro
Test yourself on the "big five" verb forms: positive, negative, present, and past, plus the "let's do" form.
Notes: In this chapter, we also learned to use the -te form to create requests.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1574 |
Pro
Make sure you get where you're going with this crucial particle.
Notes: We also learned how to create phrases like "on Thursday" or "in September" with the same particle.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1420 |
Pro
The object-marker wo is the key to using verbs that do something to something else (e.g., "She drank the water"). Make sure you've got it securely under your belt by running through these example sentences.
Notes: This article also contains a discussion of why the patterns for liking and disliking things seem to break the rules.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1338 |
Pro
Test your mettle with arimasu/imasu and a new use of ni.
Notes: This chapter also introduced two ways to create lists of items.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1388 |
Pro
In this vocab-centric chapter, we learned about how to refer to family members within the family and when speaking to someone outside the family.
Notes: In this chapter, we also learned the words for "boyfriend" and "girlfriend," which happen to be the same words as for "he" and "she."
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1300 |
Pro
In this vocabulary-building chapter, we learned the words for various leisure activities.
Notes: We also learned a few patterns for using the new vocabulary, such as the way to talk about "going for a walk" or "going on a drive."
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1181 |
Pro
Drill on phrases like "on top of the desk" and "in front of the school" to make sure you've got everything securely "inside your head."
Notes: This chapter also introduced a handful of new vocabulary words like ue, shita, mae, ushiro, and so on.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1181 |
Pro
Review the new verbs introduced in Chapter 29.
Notes: Also includes drills for the particle mo.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1145 |
Pro
Get to the bottom of the who, what, when, where, why, and how with this drill.
Notes: Now you can finally find out who ate those leftovers in the fridge you had your eyes on!
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1144 |
Pro
Rediscover the simple joy of naming how many things there are with nearly fifty sentences.
Notes: Drill on the tsu numbers plus counters for people; sheets; smallish and roundish objects; long cylindrical objects; and small animals.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1092 |
Pro
Add the counters for time and dates to become a calendar master.
Notes: This lesson also drills on ages and prices.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 963 |
Pro
Drill yourself on the various different ways of using putting together contradictory thoughts.
Notes: Uses the words shikashi, demo, ga, keredomo, keredo, and kedo.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1119 |
Pro
Review the first of the three classes of adjective-like words: conjugating adjectives.
Notes: We also learned about nai and how it can create and informal version of dewa arimasen.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1050 |
Pro
Nail down the remaining two categories of adjective-like words: no adjectives (which are actually nouns), and na adjectives.
Notes: This review also provides guidance on what to do if you can't remember if a word is a na or no adjective.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 961 |
Pro
Go adjective-crazy in this review of vocabulary from chapter 35.
Notes: Also includes a review of adjectives from chapter 34.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 956 |
Pro
Armed with the adjectives from the previous chapters and a few new ones, charge through town pointing out everyone's long legs, short fingers, big ears, slender waists, and more.
Notes: This lesson also provides a chance to drill on the use of "ornamental desu" after a conjugating adjective.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 935 |
Pro
Practice asking and reporting about various health concerns and their remedies.
Notes: Includes lots of hospital vocabulary.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 846 |
Pro
Drill on sentences that exercise the patterns for saying some one "is" or "is not," or "was" or "was not" doing something.
Notes: This episode also includes two sentences that utilize "contrastive wa," with notes to break it down.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1003 |
Pro
Combine new vocabulary for clothing with the progressive forms to talk about what everyone is wearing.
Notes: Also contains notes about variants of certain color words.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 908 |
Pro
Drill on the two primary uses of the particle de.
Notes: This episode also contains several sentences that help contrast de with ni.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 942 |
Pro
Practice talking about various kinds of roles and responsibilities.
Notes: Also, one new and easy pattern for saying that you work "in the role of" a certain position is introduced.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 870 |
Pro
Review the -tai ending, which allows you to name what you want to do, and ask others what they want to do.
Notes: Includes a short review of why both wo and ga are used with the -tai forms.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 923 |
Pro
Drill on your adverbs really, truly, incredibly thoroughly.
Notes: This episode also contains a note on the use of sono to refer to a recently mentioned thing.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1057 |
Pro
You'll be reviewing up a storm in this chapter on weather conditions large and small.
Notes: Also contains extensive notes on understanding wa in unexpected places.
| Editions | Status | Total Readers | |
| Standard | Unread | 1202 |