tooku kara densya no oto ga kikoemasu.

It is read:

とおく から でんしゃ の おと が きこえます。

In more natural spacing, you would usually see it written as:

遠くから電車の音が聞こえます。

遠くから means from far away or from the distance.

• 遠く（とおく） = far away / a distant place
• から = from

So 遠くから tells you where the sound is coming from.

遠い is the plain i-adjective meaning far.

But here, Japanese uses 遠く, which is the adverbial / noun-like form often used in expressions about location or distance.

Compare:

• 遠い山 = a far mountain
• 遠くに見える = can be seen in the distance
• 遠くから聞こえる = can be heard from far away

So in this sentence, 遠く fits naturally because it is part of the expression 遠くから.

から means from.

In this sentence, it marks the starting point or source:

• 遠くから = from far away

It tells us the origin of the sound. The train sound is coming from a distant place.

Literally, 電車の音 means the sound of a train.

Breaking it down:

• 電車 = train
• の = linking particle, often like of
• 音 = sound

So 電車の音 is train sound or more natural English, the sound of a train.

の connects nouns.

Here it shows that 音 is related to 電車:

• 電車の音 = the train’s sound / the sound of a train

This use of の is very common in Japanese. It often works like:

• possession: 私の本 = my book
• category/relationship: 日本の文化 = Japanese culture
• source/content: 雨の音 = the sound of rain

So here, の links train and sound.

Because 聞こえます does not usually take を.

聞こえる means to be audible, to be heard, or can hear. It describes something that reaches your ears naturally. The thing that is heard is marked with が.

So:

• 音が聞こえます = a sound is audible / I can hear a sound

By contrast:

• 聞きます = to listen to / to hear intentionally
• This verb often takes を:
  • 音楽を聞きます = I listen to music

So the difference is:

• 音が聞こえます = the sound can be heard
• 音を聞きます = I listen to the sound

This is a very important difference.

聞きます means to listen or to hear intentionally. It implies an action you do.

• 音楽を聞きます = I listen to music

聞こえます means to be heard, to be audible, or can hear. It usually describes something you hear naturally, without focusing on the action.

• 鳥の声が聞こえます = I can hear birds / The آواز of birds is audible

So in this sentence, 聞こえます is used because the speaker is noticing a sound that reaches them:

遠くから電車の音が聞こえます。 = The sound of a train can be heard from far away.

Yes, very often it is translated that way.

But the nuance is slightly different from English can hear.

聞こえる often focuses on the sound being audible rather than on your ability. So depending on context, it can mean:

• I can hear
• You can hear
• It can be heard
• is audible

In this sentence, all of these are close in meaning, but the Japanese does not explicitly say I.

Because Japanese often leaves out subjects when they are understood from context.

English usually needs a subject:

• I can hear the sound of a train from far away.

Japanese often does not say I if it is obvious that the speaker is describing what they hear:

• 遠くから電車の音が聞こえます。

The listener naturally understands that this is from the speaker’s point of view unless context suggests otherwise.

が marks the thing that is heard: 音.

• 音が聞こえます = a sound is audible / I can hear a sound

With verbs like 聞こえる, 見える, ある, and sometimes いる, が is very common because it marks what exists, appears, or is perceived.

If you used は, the nuance would change. は would make 音 the topic, often with contrast or emphasis:

• 電車の音は聞こえます。
  = As for the sound of the train, I can hear it.
  (maybe implying something else is not audible)

So が is the most natural neutral choice here.

Yes. 聞こえます is the polite non-past form.

In Japanese, the non-past can mean:

• present
• habitual
• near future, depending on context

Here it is naturally understood as present:

• I can hear the sound of a train from far away.

It is polite because of ます.

The plain form is:

• 聞こえる

So:

• 聞こえる = plain
• 聞こえます = polite

Yes, to some extent. Japanese word order is more flexible than English because particles show each word’s role.

The most neutral order is:

遠くから電車の音が聞こえます。

But you might also hear:

• 電車の音が遠くから聞こえます。
• 遠くから聞こえます、電車の音が。
  (more dramatic or spoken-style)

However, the original order is very natural and easy to understand.

The sentence most naturally suggests that the sound is coming from far away, which usually implies the train is far away too.

Grammatically, 遠くから modifies the source of what is heard:

• from far away, the sound of a train is audible

So the focus is on where the sound comes from, not directly on describing the train with an adjective.

Yes. Depending on context, natural English translations include:

• I can hear the sound of a train from far away.
• From the distance, I can hear a train.
• The sound of a train can be heard from far away.
• I hear the sound of a train in the distance.

All of these capture the basic meaning. The Japanese itself is slightly less specific than English about subject and style, so more than one translation can work.