FREE N4 READING · MISSING A SHOP DELIVERY
五分前の配達
The Delivery Five Minutes Ago
Read once, check the English, then switch style and reread. Dotted words open help, which closes when you scroll or tap outside.
土曜日、町の小さな店でしたかばんがので、私は午後ずっと家にいるつもりでした。
がないことに気づき、家から二分の店だけなら大丈夫だとってかけました。
家にると、ポストに紙が入っていて、店の人が五分前に来たと書いてありました。
すぐに店へ電話をかけると、店の人は「今、店へったところです」と言いました。
次に届けられるのは月曜日だと言われましたが、私は日曜日の旅行でそのかばんを使う予定でした。
そこで、店が時間を聞いてから、自分で受け取りに行ってもいいか、店の人にねました。
店の人は「六時まで開いていますよ」と答えたので、私は時計をて、すぐに家を。
店でかばんを受け取った時は少し疲れていましたが、旅行に間に合ったので安心しました。
Read for meaning
私が自分でかばんを受け取りに行ったのは、どうしてですか。
English translation
On Saturday, a bag I had ordered from a small shop in town was due to arrive, so I intended to stay home all afternoon. I noticed I was out of milk and went out, thinking it would be all right if I only went to the shop two minutes from home. When I came back, there was a note in my mailbox saying that someone from the shop had come five minutes earlier. I called the shop immediately, and the person there said, “I have just returned to the shop.” I was told that the next possible delivery was Monday, but I planned to use the bag on a trip on Sunday. So, after asking what time the shop closed, I asked whether I could collect it myself. The person replied, “We are open until six,” so I looked at the clock and left home immediately. I was a little tired when I collected the bag at the shop, but I was relieved because I had it in time for my trip.
Useful vocabulary
- to order
- to arrive; to be delivered
- milk
- ポスト
- mailbox
- to receive; to collect
- to close
- to make it in time
- to feel relieved
Grammar in context · to have just finished doing something
～たところ
A verb’s ta-form followed by ところ describes the point just after an action finishes. In the quotation, the shop worker has just returned to the shop at the moment of the call. This is a time expression, not the noun meaning a physical place. The quotation keeps its original polite ending in both narration versions.
すぐに店へ電話をかけると、店の人は「今、店へったところです」と言いました。
ALSO NOTICE · A SECOND USEFUL PATTERN
～てもいいかwhether one may do something
行ってもいいか embeds a permission question before ねる. The narrator asks whether they may collect the bag themselves, not whether the shop worker will make another delivery that day.
FROM THIS STORY · POLITE
そこで、店が時間を聞いてから、自分で受け取りに行ってもいいか、店の人にねました。English: So, after asking what time the shop closed, I asked whether I could collect it myself.
Compare styles: 行ってもいいか stays plain inside the reported question. ねました becomes ねた.