Simplified retelling · JLPT N4

待つ Matsu in easy Japanese (N4)

Retold for N4 learners after the story by Dazai Osamu · 1,135 characters

This is our own simplified retelling of Every Day at the Little Station, written for N4 learners and checked word by word against the N4 vocabulary list. A few story words and grammar patterns go beyond N4; the notes below give each one's level. It keeps the characters, events and ending of the original. When it feels easy, move on to the original text.

The story in brief

Every day after shopping, a twenty-year-old woman sits on a cold bench at a small station and watches the passengers, waiting for someone she cannot name. She is afraid of people and the false greetings they exchange. When a great war begins she wants to be useful but has nowhere to go, so she sits at the station. She tries to name what she is waiting for, rejects every guess, and asks the reader not to forget her or laugh at her.

AI translation · independently checked

小ちいさな駅えきに、私わたくしは毎日まいにち、人ひとをむかえに行いきます。Every day I go to the little station to meet someone.

だれだか分わからない人ひとを、むかえに行いくのです。I go to meet someone, though I do not know who it is.

買かい物ものの帰かえりに、私わたくしはかならず駅えきによります。On my way home from shopping, I always stop at the station.

そして、つめたいベンチにすわります。And I sit down on the cold bench.

かごをひざの上うえにおいて、かいさつ口くちをぼんやり見みています。I set my basket on my lap and gaze absently at the ticket gate.

電車でんしゃが着つくと、たくさんの人ひとが出でてきます。When a train comes in, a great many people come out.

みんな、おこっているようなかおです。They all look as if they were angry.

きっぷをわたして、急いそいで私わたくしの前まえを通とおります。They hand over their tickets and hurry past in front of me.

そして、いろいろな方ほうへ行いってしまいます。And then off they go, every which way.

だれかが一人ひとり、わらって私わたくしにこえをかけたら。If someone, just one person, were to smile and speak to me...

ああ、こわい。Oh, how frightening.

こまる。What would I do?

むねがどきどきします。My heart pounds.

でも、私わたくしはやっぱりだれかを待まっているのです。And yet, all the same, I am waiting for someone.

私わたくしはだれを待まっているのでしょう。Whom am I waiting for, I wonder?

人間にんげんではないかもしれません。Perhaps it is not a human being at all.

私わたくしは人間にんげんがこわいのです。You see, I am afraid of people.

人ひとに会あうと、言いいたくないあいさつをします。When I meet someone, I make greetings I do not want to make.

すると、自じぶんが世界せかいでいちばんのうそつきのような気きがして、死しにたくなります。And then I feel as though I were the biggest liar in the world, and I want to die.

あい手ても私わたくしに気きをつけて、うその話はなしをします。The other person, too, is guarded with me and tells me lies.

それを聞きくと、かなしくなります。When I hear that, I grow sad.

だから私わたくしは、友ともだちの家いえへあそびに行いきませんでした。That is why I did not go to visit my friends at their homes.

家いえで母ははと二人ふたりで、しずかにぬいものをするのが、いちばん楽らくでした。Sewing quietly at home, just my mother and I, was the most comfortable thing of all.

けれども、大おおきなせんそうが始はじまりました。But then a great war began.

私わたくしだけが家いえでぼんやりしているのは、悪わるいことのような気きがしました。I felt it was somehow wrong for me alone to sit idly at home.

はたらいて、人ひとのやくに立たちたいと思おもいました。I wanted to work, to be of use to others.

でも、外そとに出でても、行いくところがありません。But even when I go out, there is nowhere for me to go.

それで、駅えきのベンチにすわっているのです。And so I sit on the bench at the station.

だれかが来きたらいいな、と思おもいます。How nice it would be if someone came, I think.

でも、来きたらどうしよう、とこわくなります。But then I grow afraid: what would I do if they did come?

来きたら、その人ひとに私わたくしのいのちをあげよう、とも思おもいます。If they come, I will give that person my life. I think that, too.

いろいろな気持きもちがまざって、むねがくるしくなります。All these feelings mingle together, and my chest grows tight.

昼間ひるまにゆめを見みているようです。It is like dreaming in broad daylight.

駅前えきまえの人ひとたちが、小ちいさく、とおく見みえます。The people in front of the station look small and far away.

世界せかいがしずかになります。The world goes quiet.

もしかしたら、私わたくしはよくない女おんなかもしれません。Perhaps I am not a good woman.

「やくに立たちたい」というのはうそで、ほんとうは、へんなゆめのために何なにかを待まっているのかもしれません。Perhaps "I want to be useful" is a lie, and the truth is that I am waiting for something for the sake of some strange dream.

はっきりしたかたちは、ありません。It has no clear shape.

でも、私わたくしは待まっています。But I am waiting.

私わたくしが待まっているのは、あなたではありません。The one I am waiting for is not you.

おっと。A husband?

ちがいます。No.

こいびと。A sweetheart?

ちがいます。No.

友ともだち。A friend?

いやです。I would not want that.

お金かね。Money?

まさか。Surely not.

ゆうれい。A ghost?

ああ、いやです。Oh, how horrid.

もっとやさしくて、明あかるくて、すばらしいもの。Something gentler, brighter, more wonderful.

たとえば、春はるのようなもの。Something like spring, for instance.

いいえ、ちがいます。No, that is not it.

五ご月がつの青あおい木き。Green trees in May.

むぎばたけのそばのきれいな水みず。Clear water beside a field of wheat.

やっぱり、ちがいます。No, it is not that either.

けれども、私わたくしは待まっています。And yet I am waiting.

目めの前まえを、たくさんの人ひとが通とおって行いきます。Before my eyes, a great many people go by.

あの人ひとでもない、この人ひとでもない。Not that one, not this one.

私わたくしはかごを持もって、少すこしふるえながら、一生いっしょうけんめい待まっているのです。Holding my basket and trembling a little, I wait with all my heart.

どうか、私わたくしをわすれないでください。Please, do not forget me.

毎日まいにち駅えきへむかえに行いって、ひとりで家いえへ帰かえってくる二十にじゅうさいのむすめを、わらわないでください。Please do not laugh at the twenty-year-old girl who goes to the station every day to meet someone and comes home alone.

その駅えきの名前なまえは、教おしえません。I will not tell you the name of that station.

教おしえなくても、あなたはいつか、私わたくしを見みかけるでしょう。Even without my telling you, someday you will catch sight of me.

Vocabulary

Word	Meaning	JLPT
むかえむかえる	to meet, to go and pick someone updictionary form: 迎えるむかえに行く: 'go to meet' someone arriving. The masu-stem + に shows the purpose of going.	N4
かいさつ口かいさつぐち	ticket gate, ticket barrierdictionary form: 改札口口 becomes ぐち here (rendaku), as in 出口でぐち.	—
ぼんやりぼんやり	absently, vacantly; idlyぼんやり見る means to stare without focus. ぼんやりする means to sit idle and daydream.	N3
こえをかけたらこえをかける	to speak to someone, to call out to someonedictionary form: 声をかける	—
うそつきうそつき	liardictionary form: 嘘つきFrom うそをつく 'to tell a lie'.	N1
気をつけてきをつける	to be careful; here, to be cautious and guarded with someonedictionary form: 気をつける	N2
ぬいものぬいもの	sewing, needleworkdictionary form: 縫い物From 縫うぬう 'to sew' + 物もの.	—
せんそうせんそう	wardictionary form: 戦争	N4
やくに立ちたいやくにたつ	to be useful, to be of helpdictionary form: 役に立つ人のやくに立つ means to be useful to other people.	N4
まざってまざる	to be mixed, to mingledictionary form: 混ざる	N2
いのちいのち	life (one's own life)dictionary form: 命	N3
ゆうれいゆうれい	ghostdictionary form: 幽霊	N1
一生けんめいいっしょうけんめい	with all one's might, as hard as one candictionary form: 一生懸命	N4
見かけるみかける	to catch sight of, to happen to see	N1

Grammar

〜のです N4 explanatory 'it is that…'

Adding のです to a plain-form verb gives an explanation or emphasis. The speaker is explaining her own strange situation, as if confiding it to the listener.

だれだか分からない人を、むかえに行くのです。
I go to meet someone, though I do not know who it is.

〜たら N4 if / when

The た-form + ら sets up a condition. Here the main clause is left unsaid, so the sentence trails off as an anxious 'What if…?'.

だれかが一人、わらって私にこえをかけたら。
If someone, just one person, were to smile and speak to me...

〜ような気がする N3 to feel as if, to have a feeling that

Noun + のような気がする expresses a vague personal impression rather than a fact. The narrator feels like a liar without being sure that she is one.

自ぶんが世界でいちばんのうそつきのような気がして、死にたくなります。
I feel as though I were the biggest liar in the world, and I want to die.

〜てしまう N4 to go and do; completely (often with regret)

て-form + しまう stresses that an action is completed. Here it adds a feeling of loss as the passengers disappear one after another.

そして、いろいろな方へ行ってしまいます。
And then off they go, every which way.

〜かもしれません N4 might, perhaps

This pattern follows a plain form or a noun and marks an uncertain guess. The narrator uses it again and again as she questions her own motives.

もしかしたら、私はよくない女かもしれません。
Perhaps I am not a good woman.

〜ながら N4 while doing

A verb's masu-stem + ながら shows two actions done at the same time by the same person. Here she trembles while she waits.

私はかごを持って、少しふるえながら、一生けんめい待っているのです。
Holding my basket and trembling a little, I wait with all my heart.