This is a question about writing katakana, specifically an important point to remember when writing long vowels vertically.

In hiragana, long vowels are written as follows:

aa → あ: おかあさん / okaasan, mother

ii → い: おじいさん / ojiisan, grandfather

uu → う: すうじ / suuji, number

ee → い: えいご / eego, English

oo → う: こうこう / kookoo, high school

In katakana, however, these long vowel sounds are written using 「ー」, the long vowel mark.

Katakana is used for words such as loanwords and onomatopoeia. Therefore, it is not used for the examples above.

Here are some examples:

アート / aato, art　× アアト

スキー / sukii, ski　× スキイ

スープ / suupu, soup　× スウプ

ゲーム / geemu, game　× ゲエム

ローマ / rooma, Rome　× ロオマ

Now, let’s look at the word 「ラーメン」 in the quiz. In terms of pronunciation, it is raamen, with the long vowel aa. However, since 「ラーメン」 is normally written in katakana, we use 「ー」 to represent the long vowel.

And here is the important point: when 「ー」 is used in vertical writing, the horizontal line becomes vertical.

Therefore, the correct answer is B.

This is a beginner-level rule and is usually taught right at the beginning of Japanese study. However, beginners have to absorb so many new things at once that many learners later forget it.

Another reason is that learners are often not very familiar with vertical Japanese writing. In fact, this is a mistake students can still easily make several months after beginning their studies. So use this quiz as an opportunity to make sure you remember the rule.

Incidentally, ramen can also be written in kanji as 「拉麺」. You may occasionally see this spelling, but 「ラーメン」 in katakana is the standard way of writing the word.

If you are interested in why ramen is written in katakana, please see the following essay:

“Why Is Ramen Written in Katakana?”

This question deals with the Japanese verbs used to express give / receive. They may look simple, but they actually require some care and practice.

The first thing to note is that Japanese has three verbs corresponding to the English give / receive: 「あげる／くれる」 (= to give) and 「もらう」 (= to receive).

Let’s start with the relatively simple one, 「もらう」. It is used in sentences such as:

私はお父さんに時計をもらいました。
I received a watch from my father.

There is probably nothing particularly strange about this sentence. One thing that may seem unusual, however, is that Japanese uses the particle 「に」 in 「お父さんに」 for from my father. This is because learners often first learn 「に」 as corresponding to to in English.

In this case, you can also use the particle 「から」:

私はお父さんから時計をもらいました。
I received a watch from my father.

The meaning is the same. In cases like this, you can use either 「に」 or 「から」.

Now let’s look at the slightly more difficult verbs 「あげる／くれる」, both of which mean to give. English uses givein both cases, but Japanese chooses between these two verbs depending on who is receiving something.

お父さんが私に時計をくれました。
My father gave me a watch.

お父さんがお母さんに時計をあげました。
My father gave my mother a watch.

The first thing to remember here is that when you mean 「私に」 (to me), you use 「くれる」. On the other hand, when you give something to another person, or when one person gives something to someone else, you basically use 「あげる」.

Therefore, in this quiz:

お父さんが私に時計を（　　　　）

the correct answer is:

② くれました。

I often hear learners incorrectly use 「私にあげる」. Although the basic rule is not difficult to understand, using these verbs correctly can take some practice.

Instead of memorizing 「くれる」 as an isolated word, it may be better to learn it as part of phrases such as:

私にくれる

私たちにくれる

Learning these verbs as phrases will make it easier to use them naturally.

There are two types of そうです.

① One is used to describe an appearance or a state and can be translated as “it looks like”. The other, ②, is used to report information you have heard and can be translated as “I heard that.”

To determine which meaning of 「そうです」 is being used, you need to look at the form of the word that comes before it.

The first important point is that ① describes an appearance or a state, so it is basically used with adjectives. In ②, verbs, adjectives, and N＋です are changed to their plain forms before 「そうです」.

① そうです — “It looks…”

This type of 「そうです」 is used in the form:

adjective base + そうです

You can think of the adjective base as the part of the word that does not change when the adjective is conjugated.

For example, an い-adjective changes as follows:

美味しい → 美味しくない → 美味しかった → 美味しくなかった
oishii → oishikunai → oishikatta → oishikunakatta

The part that remains unchanged is 美味し (oishi), so this is the adjective base.

A な-adjective changes as follows:

元気だ → 元気じゃない → 元気だった → 元気じゃなかった
genki da → genki janai → genki datta → genki janakatta

Here, 元気 (genki) is the adjective base.

Both い-adjectives and な-adjectives can be used in affirmative and negative forms.

い-adjectives

美味しそうです。
Oishisō desu.
It looks delicious.

美味しくなさそうです。
Oishikunasa-sō desu.
It doesn’t look delicious.

な-adjectives

元気そうです。
Genki-sō desu.
He/She looks well.

元気じゃなさそうです。
Genki janasa-sō desu.
He/She doesn’t look well.

② そうです — “I heard that…”

The second type of 「そうです」 is used to report information you have heard. The phrase before 「そうです」 is in the plain form, regardless of tense or whether it is affirmative or negative.

In the examples from this quiz:

い-adjectives

ケーキは美味しいそうです。
Kēki wa oishii sō desu.
I heard that the cake is delicious.

ケーキは美味しくないそうです。
Kēki wa oishikunai sō desu.
I heard that the cake is not delicious.

ケーキは美味しかったそうです。
Kēki wa oishikatta sō desu.
I heard that the cake was delicious.

ケーキは美味しくなかったそうです。
Kēki wa oishikunakatta sō desu.
I heard that the cake was not delicious.

な-adjectives

おじいさんは元気だそうです。
Ojiisan wa genki da sō desu.
I heard that the old man is well.

おじいさんは元気じゃないそうです。
Ojiisan wa genki janai sō desu.
I heard that the old man is not well.

おじいさんは元気だったそうです。
Ojiisan wa genki datta sō desu.
I heard that the old man was well.

おじいさんは元気じゃなかったそうです。
Ojiisan wa genki janakatta sō desu.
I heard that the old man was not well.

With N＋です

彼は学生だそうです。
Kare wa gakusei da sō desu.
I heard that he is a student.

彼は学生じゃないそうです。
Kare wa gakusei janai sō desu.
I heard that he is not a student.

彼は学生だったそうです。
Kare wa gakusei datta sō desu.
I heard that he was a student.

彼は学生じゃなかったそうです。
Kare wa gakusei janakatta sō desu.
I heard that he was not a student.

In this quiz, picture A shows a girl looking at a cake in front of her and thinking about how it looks. Therefore, you need to use ① 「そうです」.

In picture B, on the other hand, someone has heard the girl’s opinion about the cake. Therefore, you need to use ② 「そうです」.

There is one point to be careful about. In the usage shown in ①, 「そうです」 is not normally used with words such as きれいな (kirei na).

This is because with 美味しそうです (oishisō desu), you cannot know whether something is actually delicious until you taste it. With きれいな (kirei na), however, you can judge the state directly just by looking at it.

At least in the usage covered here, remember not to use 「そうです」 with words such as 「きれいな」.

「〜たい」 is a grammar pattern that highlights some distinctive features of Japanese. First, one important difference from English is that 「〜たい」, which expresses the meaning of want to, functions as an adjective.

In English, we say:

I want to drink wine.

You want to drink wine.

She wants to drink wine.

We want to drink wine.

Although want takes an -s with third-person singular subjects such as she and he, it basically remains the same verb regardless of the subject.

In Japanese, however, 「〜たい」 (or 「〜たいです」 in the polite form) functions as an adjective and conjugates in the same way as an い-adjective.

Here is the important point. In Japanese, 「〜たい」 is used to express your own feelings or desires. However, when describing another person's desire based on what you observe from the outside, 「〜たい」 is generally not used directly.

Therefore, in a situation like the one shown in this quiz, where we are looking at the woman and describing what she appears to want, we do not simply say 「彼女は飲みたいです」. Instead, we use 「〜たがる」.

The final 「い」 of 「〜たい」 is replaced with 「がる」:

〜たい → 〜たがる

「〜たがる」 conjugates as an う-verb.

In the image, the woman appears to want some wine right now, so we use:

〜たがる → 〜たがっています

There is one more point to pay attention to: the particle.

Normally, we say:

私はワインを飲みます。
I drink wine.

Here, 「ワイン」 is the direct object of 「飲む」, so we use the particle 「を」.

However, because 「〜たい」 has the grammatical characteristics of an adjective, it is common to use 「が」:

私はワインが飲みたいです。
I want to drink wine.

You may also hear 「私はワインを飲みたいです」. However, as a Japanese learner, it is a good idea to first learn 「が」 as the basic particle used with 「〜たい」.

Finally, 「〜たがる」 functions as a verb, so its object takes 「を」. Also, because the image shows what the woman appears to want right now, we use 「〜たがっています」.

Therefore, the correct answer is:

彼女はワインを飲みたがっています。
She wants to drink wine.

The two key points in this quiz are:

① Since we are describing another person's desire, we use 「〜たがっています」.
② Since 「〜たがる」 functions as a verb, we use 「ワインを」.

The particle も corresponds to also / too in English. In many cases, it replaces another particle in the sentence, such as は, が, or を.

It may seem like a simple particle, but you need to be careful because the meaning of the sentence can change significantly depending on where you use も.

In this quiz, we first have the sentence:

私はコーヒーを飲みます。
I drink coffee.

Now we want to add the information that the same person drinks juice. In other words, we need to express that the same person drinks two different beverages: coffee and juice.

In 「コーヒーを飲みます」, the particle を marks 「コーヒー」 as the direct object of the verb 「飲む」 (to drink). Since we now want to add that the person drinks ジュースを as well, we replace this を with も.

私はジュースも飲みます。
I also drink juice.

Therefore, A is the correct answer.

B, 「私もジュースを飲みます」, is also grammatically correct, but it has a different meaning.

In this sentence, も is attached to 「私」, so it means that another person and I both drink juice.

For example:

お母さんはジュースを飲みます。
My mother drinks juice.

私もジュースを飲みます。
I drink juice, too.

On the other hand, C, 「私はもジュースを飲みます」, is grammatically incorrect.

Perhaps because of the influence of the English word also, many beginners tend to use 「私も」 in sentences like this. The important thing is to think about what information is being added.

コーヒー + ジュース → ジュース「も」
→ 私はコーヒーを飲みます。私はジュースも飲みます。
→ I drink coffee. I also drink juice.

お母さん + 私 → 私「も」
→ お母さんはジュースを飲みます。私もジュースを飲みます。
→ My mother drinks juice. I drink juice, too.

When using も, thinking about which two things are being connected by the idea of “also / too” will help you understand where to place it correctly.

“凸” is not a symbol—it is a genuine kanji character.

It has a rather unusual shape, but in all my years of teaching Japanese, I have never taught it as a kanji that officially appears in a textbook. It once became a topic of discussion in one of my classes when a student asked me, “Sensei! Does a kanji like this really exist?”

Although you rarely see it in Japanese textbooks, it is a character that people in Japan commonly encounter in everyday life.

Its on-reading is totsu (とつ), and its kun-reading is deko (でこ). It refers to something that bulges or protrudes outward from a surface.

Interestingly, there is also a kanji with the opposite meaning: “凹.” Its on-reading is ō (おう), and its kun-reading is boko(ぼこ). As its shape suggests, it refers to something that is sunken or indented.

These two characters can be combined to form the words “凹凸” and “凸凹.”

The former is read ōtotsu (おうとつ), while the latter is read dekoboko (でこぼこ). Ōtotsu is a slightly more formal expression.

For example:

「道はでこぼこだった。」
Michi wa dekoboko datta.
“The road was bumpy.”

Dekoboko is a very common word in everyday Japanese. In ordinary writing, it is also often written simply in hiragana as 「でこぼこ」 rather than with the kanji 「凸凹」.