Activities after Genki 1/N5

[ArthurK]

Hey! I'm finishing Genki 1 in a couple of weeks and I'm not starting Genki 2 until I move into uni halls in October. To solidify my knowledge, are there any activities I could do? For example, is there something I could read which is roughly geared towards the N5 level? I really don't want to lose all the progress I've made over the summer. Cheers!

P.S. Also very confused about when to use けど instead of が.

 

[Toritoribe]

When you use が, you need to unify the level of politeness of the two clauses, whereas けど is relatively free about that. Also, an idiomatic usage "the volitional/presumptive form of a verb + が" can't be used with けど.

○難しそうですが、やってみます。
？難しそうだが、やってみます。
○難しそうですけど、やってみます。
○難しそうだけど、やってみます。

○雨が降ろうが槍が降ろうが、必ず行く。
☓雨が降ろうけど槍が降ろうけど、必ず行く。

They are basically interchangeable in most cases other than the above-mentioned. けど sounds more colloquial than が.

 

[Glenn]

I like that example sentence: 雨が降ろうが槍が降ろうが、必ず行く。 Nice.

 

[ArthurK]

Thanks! Any advice on what I should do for a couple of months before Genki 2?

 

[FinancialWar]

Thanks! Any advice on what I should do for a couple of months before Genki 2?

what's wrong with starting Genki 2 now?

I'm doing N2 this December and I am still on Genki 1 Lesson 4...

 

[ArthurK]

Actually that could work too. It's just that I'm afraid of rushing it. Thought I might solidify my knowledge before moving on.
How come you're on lesson 4, having done N5 - N3 already?

 

[FinancialWar]

I just study Kanji and vocab for N5 to N3, never systematically studied grammar. Since vocab and grammar are always marked together, I can not fail grammar section as long as I know most of the JLPT vocabs.

 

[ArthurK]

Ah, right

 

[ArthurK]

Hey again! I didn't want to create a new thread. I thought I might as well post it here. Only now am I getting into the whole transitive/intransitive verb thing. Basically, is it true that you use the に particle for location with intransitive verbs? Is my understanding correct? Is that why you use に instead of で here:
私の後ろに女の人が立っていました。

Thanks again!

 

[Toritoribe]

に indicates the location of existence, whereas で is for the location of action/movement whether transitive or intransitive.
e.g.
昨日[きのう]公園[こうえん]で遊[あそ]びました。
(遊ぶ is intransitive, but it's nothing to do with で. 遊ぶ is an action, so で is used here. )

立っていました is existence, that's the reason of に.

 

[ArthurK]

Oh, so it's like that. Fair enough, makes sense. Thanks!