Write a Japanese message that clearly proposes, confirms, declines, or changes a plan. Practise changed dates and arrival estimates with six-question companion lessons.
The examples are for a simple exchange with a classmate or acquaintance. They are not templates for every formal business email or sensitive conversation.
Propose a time
こんにちは。日曜日に一緒に勉強しませんか。午後二時はどうですか。
Hello. Would you like to study together on Sunday? How about 2 p.m.?
Vocabulary: 日曜日（にちようび）Sunday; 一緒に（いっしょに）together; 午後（ごご）afternoon; 二時（にじ）two o’clock.
勉強しませんか is an invitation here. It is not simply a statement that the person does not study. The situation and the question ending matter. Keep invitations separate from a rule telling someone what to do.
Confirm the useful details
日曜日の午後二時ですね。図書館で会いましょう。
Sunday at 2 p.m., right? Let’s meet at the library.
Confirm the day, time, and meeting place when those details matter. の links Sunday and its afternoon in 日曜日の午後. で marks the meeting place. If you instead want to locate someone, 図書館にいます uses a different relationship with います.
Decline and suggest another time
すみません。日曜日は都合が悪いです。月曜日はどうですか。
Sorry. Sunday does not work for me. How about Monday?
都合が悪い（つごうがわるい）is a useful expression for a time being inconvenient. Offering an alternative makes the next step clear when you genuinely want to rearrange. Do not add a proposal you do not intend to make merely to fill a template.
Choose a sentence by its job
Job | Useful sentence |
|---|---|
Propose | 午後二時はどうですか。— How about 2 p.m.? |
Confirm | 午後二時ですね。— It is 2 p.m., right? |
Ask for an action | 時間を教えてください。— Please tell me the time. |
State a wish | 一緒に勉強したいです。— I want to study together. |
The last two rows do not automatically replace an invitation. The request lesson and wish lesson explain their forms. For sentence roles, return to basic Japanese sentence structure.
Practice: write the reply
A classmate proposes Sunday at 2 p.m. Confirm that time and suggest the library as the meeting place.
Sunday does not work, but Monday might. Write a short refusal and alternative.
Your message says only 大丈夫です. What important details might still need confirmation?
Possible replies: 1. 日曜日の午後二時ですね。図書館で会いましょう。 2. すみません。日曜日は都合が悪いです。月曜日はどうですか。 3. The exact day, time, place, or what you are agreeing to may still be unclear; add the relevant detail.
Check the names, dates, and facts before using your own message. For further everyday activities, the Japan Foundation’s Irodori Starter materials supply connected situations and audio. Keep one draft and its corrections in your weekly progress record so you can see which patterns you can now use independently.
Make a changed plan unambiguous
A useful correction names both the old detail and the new one. 土曜日ではなく、日曜日に会いましょう makes the replacement clear. If you are only declining Saturday, 土曜日は予定があります explains the difficulty without pretending that a new date has been agreed.
For a delay message, distinguish the original meeting time from your arrival estimate. 九時半の打ち合わせに間に合いません。十時ごろ着きます tells the reader both. ごろ makes the arrival approximate, so it should not be read as a guaranteed exact time.
Before sending a practice message, check four details: the purpose, the day, the time, and the place. Omit any detail the recipient already knows only when doing so will not make the change unclear. A final confirmation such as 日曜日の二時ですね can resolve a misunderstanding before it reaches someone’s calendar.
The companion lessons below contain fictional conversations and automatic checks. For your own free writing, more than one natural sentence may work. Compare whether it communicates the intended change rather than trying to copy every word of a model.
Practise the next step
Try what you have just read
Recognise the pattern, write an answer from memory, then use it in a short reading. Your existing progress carries over.
Open the three-step lessonSources
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