Learn Hardcore Japanese: yoru osoku kaetta toki ha, densirenzi de gohan wo atatamete, huraipan de tamago wo yaku dake de kantanna syokuzi ga dekimasu. - When I come home late at night, I can make a simple meal just by heating rice in the microwave and frying an egg in a pan.

夜 is being specified/modified by 遅く in a looser, adverbial way.
The whole chunk 夜遅く modifies 帰った:
→ 夜遅く帰った = “(I) came home late at night.”

You wouldn’t normally say 遅く夜に; that sounds unnatural. The common pattern is:

朝早く – early in the morning
夜遅く – late at night

These are set, natural adverbial time phrases in Japanese.

Why is it 帰ったとき and not 帰るとき or 帰ったら? What nuance does ～たとき have here?

All three are possible in some contexts, but they have different nuances.

In this sentence:

夜遅く帰ったときは、…

帰ったとき uses the past tense before とき. This usually means:

The action in the とき-clause is completed before the main action.
So it’s “when I have come home late at night / after I get home late at night.”

Compare:

帰るとき
- “when (as) I go home” / “when I am about to go home”
- The timing is while or just before going home, not after arriving.
- So 夜遅く帰るときは would imply something like “when I (am on my way) going home late at night,” which doesn’t match the idea of cooking after arriving.
帰ったら
- Conditional: “when/if I (have) come home” / “once I get home”
- More like a trigger or condition: “Once I get home late at night, I heat rice…”
- It feels a bit more “if/when this happens, then I do that,” slightly more conditional and casual.
帰ったとき
- Neutral “at the time when I have come home”
- Describes a time frame rather than a condition.
- Very natural for habitual descriptions, like “When I come home late at night, I can make a simple meal…”

So 帰ったとき fits best because the cooking happens after the coming home is already completed.

What is the function of the は after とき: 帰ったときは? Why not just 帰ったとき?

Here, は is the topic marker attached to the whole phrase 帰ったとき:

帰ったときは = “as for when (I) come home late at night” / “in the case when (I) come home late at night”

Nuances:

Without は: 帰ったとき、～
→ Simply “When I came home (late at night), ~”, a straightforward time clause.
With は: 帰ったときは、～
→ Puts “that situation/time” in focus as the topic, similar to:
- “When I come home late at night, (at those times) I …”

It can also feel a bit like the “in that case / in such times” usage of は, slightly emphasizing that specific situation as something distinctive:

(普段は外食するけど) 夜遅く帰ったときは、電子レンジで…
“(Normally I eat out, but) when I come home late at night, I just use the microwave …”

Why do we use で after 電子レンジ and フライパン? What is this で doing?

Here で is the instrumental particle:

電子レンジでご飯を温めて
→ “heat the rice with / in the microwave”
フライパンで卵を焼く
→ “fry the egg in a frying pan”

Main roles of で in this sentence:

Means / instrument
- “using / by means of”: 電子レンジで温める = “to heat using a microwave”
Place of action (also expressed by で in general), but here it’s primarily “by using (this tool).”

So you can think:

Xで V ≈ “V with X / using X.”

Examples:

ナイフで切る – cut with a knife
スプーンで食べる – eat with a spoon
パソコンでメールを書く – write email on a computer

Why is 温めて in the て-form, followed by 卵を焼く? What does this て-form connection mean?

The て-form of a verb is commonly used to:

Connect actions in sequence, like “do A and then do B.”

In the sentence:

電子レンジでご飯を温めて、フライパンで卵を焼くだけで…

We have:

温めて (て-form of 温める “to heat/warm”)
Then 卵を焼く (“fry an egg”)

So it means:

“heat the rice in the microwave, and (then) fry an egg in a frying pan”

Nuances of te-form here:

It strings two actions together as a natural sequence.
It’s neutral about whether it’s strictly “first A, then B” or just “A and B,” but context usually implies order.

You could imagine:

温めて、焼いて、食べる。
“Heat (it), fry (it), and eat (it).”

The primary grammar point: Vて, followed by another verb, links actions in one sentence instead of making separate sentences.

What does だけで mean in this sentence? How is it different from just だけ?

In the phrase:

卵を焼く だけで 簡単な食事ができます。

だけで combines:

だけ – only, just
で – here marking a condition/means: “with that alone / by doing just that”

So:

卵を焼くだけで ≈ “just by frying an egg” / “if you do nothing more than fry an egg”

Function here:

It says that those actions alone are sufficient for the result:
- heat rice in the microwave + fry an egg
- → that alone is enough to make a simple meal.

If you had only だけ after the verb:

卵を焼くだけ
Just “I only fry an egg / all I do is fry an egg.”
It’s a noun-like phrase; you’d need something else after it (e.g., だ, です, etc.).

But だけで explicitly sets up a condition or means:

V-dictionary + だけで + result
→ “by just V-ing, (this result happens)”

Examples:

この本を読むだけで、基本がわかります。
“Just by reading this book, you can understand the basics.”
毎日１０分運動するだけで、体調がよくなります。
“Just by exercising 10 minutes every day, your health will improve.”

What does 簡単な食事 mean exactly, and why is it 簡単な and not 簡単の?

簡単な食事 literally means:

簡単な – simple, easy (adjectival form of the な-adjective 簡単)
食事 – meal

So: “a simple meal” or “an easy meal to make.”

Grammar:

簡単 is a な-adjective (簡単な, きれいな, 便利な, etc.)
When a な-adjective directly modifies a noun, you attach な:
- 簡単な食事 – a simple meal
- きれいな部屋 – a clean room
- 便利な道具 – a convenient tool

You do not use の with such adjectives in their normal attributive form.
簡単の食事 is ungrammatical.

Related forms:

食事は簡単です。 – “The meal is simple.”
簡単な食事ができます。 – “You can make a simple meal.”

Why is it 簡単な食事ができます and not something like 簡単な食事をします? What does ～ができます mean here?

～ができます is the potential / “can do” expression:

できる – can do / to be possible
～ができます – “can do ~” / “~ becomes possible”

In this sentence:

簡単な食事ができます。

Literally:

“A simple meal becomes possible.”
Natural English: “You can make a simple meal.” / “It’s possible to have a simple meal.”

Why が?

With できる, the thing that becomes possible is marked by が:
- 日本語ができます。– I can speak Japanese.
- 予約ができます。– You can make a reservation.
- 料理ができます。– I can cook.

So:

簡単な食事ができます。
→ “A simple meal is something that you can have/make.”

If you said 簡単な食事をします, it would be:

“(I) have/do a simple meal.”
That states what you do, not that it’s easy/possible using just those steps.
It loses the nuance of “just by doing X, you can achieve Y.”

What’s the difference between ご飯 and 食事 here? Don’t they both mean “meal”?

Both can be translated as “meal” in some contexts, but they’re different words:

ご飯 (ごはん)
- In everyday speech, usually = cooked rice.
- By extension, sometimes = “a meal” (since rice is the core of a Japanese meal).
食事 (しょくじ)
- More general, abstract word for a meal / eating a meal.

In this sentence:

ご飯を温めて
→ specifically heating the rice (probably leftover or refrigerated rice).
簡単な食事ができます
→ you can have a simple meal (rice + fried egg).

So:

ご飯: a specific food item (rice).
食事: the whole meal made from that rice and egg.

Why are some verbs in the plain form (帰った, 温めて, 焼く) while the end is polite (できます)? Is that mixing levels of politeness?

This is normal and grammatical in Japanese.

In complex sentences:

The final verb (the main predicate) determines the overall politeness level.
Verbs in subordinate clauses (before とき, before だけで, etc.) are typically in the plain form, even if the main verb is polite.

In this sentence:

帰ったとき – clause before とき → plain form
ご飯を温めて、卵を焼く – verbs in connected/sequential actions → plain form
できます – final main verb → polite

So overall the sentence is polite, because it ends with できます.

This pattern is very common:

仕事が終わったとき、飲みに行きましょう。
“When work is finished, let’s go for a drink.”
(終わった is plain, 行きましょう is polite.)
時間があるとき、本を読みます。
“When I have time, I read books.”
(ある is plain, 読みます is polite.)

So there is no rude mixing here; it’s the standard way to combine clauses in polite speech.