JLPT N5 practice ·

Listening: Verbal Expressions

Look at the picture: what does the person with the arrow say? Three spoken options, no text: greetings, requests and offers.

25 questions. Practice them in sets, with the explanation after each answer.

Sample question (what you hear, written out)

Morning at the front entrance (genkan) of a Japanese house. A schoolboy in uniform, with a school bag on his back, has put on his shoes and is opening the front door to go out. His mother stands in the hallway behind him, smiling and waving. The arrow points to the schoolboy.

N

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
Answer and explanation

3. The arrow points to the boy, who is leaving the house. When you go out from home, you say いってきます: literally 'I'll go and come back'.

Trick: Learn these greetings in pairs: いってきます → いってらっしゃい (going out), ただいま → おかえりなさい (coming back). Then ask: is the arrow person leaving or staying?