kanozyo ha tomodati no memo wo utusite kara, wakaranakatta tango wo zisyoapuri de sirabemasita.

は marks 彼女 as the topic: as for her...

In this sentence, the speaker is simply telling you what she did, so は is very natural.

• 彼女は... = As for her, ...
• 彼女が... would put more focus on she as the one who did it, often in a contrastive or identifying way.

So here, は sounds like the normal storytelling choice.

友達のメモ means the friend’s notes or notes from a friend.

The particle の connects the two nouns:

• 友達 = friend
• メモ = notes / memo
• 友達のメモ = a friend’s notes

In English, memo usually means a specific written message, but in Japanese メモ often means notes more broadly.

Because メモ is the direct object of 写して.

The verb 写す（うつす） means to copy or to transcribe something, and the thing being copied takes を.

So:

• メモを写す = to copy the notes

Even if English might sometimes say copy from someone’s notes, Japanese focuses on the notes as the thing directly copied.

It is:

• 写して = the て-form of 写す
• から = after

Together, 〜てから means:

• after doing ~
• do ~ and then...

So メモを写してから、調べました means:

• After copying the notes, she looked them up
• or She copied the notes and then looked them up

It shows the order clearly: first copying, then looking up.

Yes.

• 〜て can simply connect actions: did A and did B
• 〜てから more clearly means after doing A, then B

So:

• 写して、調べました = copied them and looked them up
• 写してから、調べました = after copying them, looked them up

The version with から emphasizes the sequence more strongly.

Because Japanese puts a modifier before the noun it modifies.

Here, 分からなかった modifies 単語:

• 分からなかった単語 = the words she didn’t understand

This is a very common Japanese pattern called a relative clause.

Compare:

• 面白い本 = an interesting book
• 昨日買った本 = the book I bought yesterday
• 分からなかった単語 = the words that were not understood / the words she didn’t understand

There is no word like that or which needed in Japanese.

Both can be possible in some contexts, but 分からなかった fits this sentence very naturally.

It refers to the words that she didn’t understand at that time, and then she looked them up.

So the flow is:

1. She copied the notes.
2. There were words she didn’t understand.
3. She looked up those words.

Using 分からなかった makes that past situation clear.

• 分からない単語 = words she doesn’t understand / unknown words
• 分からなかった単語 = words she didn’t understand

In a narrated past event, 分からなかった is especially natural.

Because 単語 is the direct object of 調べました.

• 単語を調べる = to look up words / to examine words

So:

• 分からなかった単語を調べました = she looked up the words she didn’t understand

The particle を marks what was looked up.

Here, で means by using or with.

• 辞書アプリで調べる = to look something up with/in a dictionary app

This is the particle で of means or tool.

Compare:

• ペンで書く = write with a pen
• 箸で食べる = eat with chopsticks
• 辞書アプリで調べる = look it up with a dictionary app

So で does not mean location here. It means the method or tool used.

Yes.

For example:

• 辞書アプリを使って調べました

This means almost the same thing: she looked them up using a dictionary app.

But 辞書アプリで調べました is shorter and very natural. Japanese often prefers this simpler tool + で pattern when the meaning is obvious.

The readings are:

• 写して → うつして
• 調べました → しらべました

So the full sentence is read:

かのじょ は ともだち の メモ を うつして から、わからなかった たんご を じしょアプリ で しらべました。

Not necessarily.

写す（うつす） can mean:

• to copy by writing
• to transcribe
• to make a copy

In this sentence, it most likely means she copied the friend’s notes by writing them down, not that she used a photocopier.

If you wanted to be more specific about copying by hand, Japanese could also use expressions like 書き写す.

Because Japanese relative clauses work differently from English.

English:

• the words that she didn’t understand

Japanese:

• 彼女が分からなかった単語
• or here, just 分からなかった単語

Japanese puts the whole descriptive clause directly before the noun, with no extra word like that, which, or who.

So:

• 分からなかった
  • 単語
• literally: didn’t-understand words

This is a very important and common Japanese structure.

Japanese often omits subjects when they are clear from context.

In this sentence, the topic is already 彼女, so the listener naturally understands:

• 彼女は ... 分からなかった単語を ... 調べました
• As for her, she looked up the words she didn’t understand

So inside 分からなかった単語, the understood subject is still she.

Japanese leaves out repeated information much more often than English does.

The basic relationships are fixed by the particles, but Japanese word order is more flexible than English.

The most neutral order here is:

• topic
• object
• verb
• then next object
• tool
• final verb

So: 彼女は 友達のメモを 写してから、分からなかった単語を 辞書アプリで 調べました。

Because Japanese uses particles like は, を, and で, it can sometimes move parts around for emphasis. But the verb still usually comes at the end of its clause, and the given order is very natural.

The comma helps separate the two parts of the sentence:

1. 友達のメモを写してから
2. 分からなかった単語を辞書アプリで調べました

It makes the sentence easier to read, especially because the first part is a complete time-sequence phrase: after copying the friend’s notes.

Japanese commas are often used more flexibly than English commas. This comma is natural, but punctuation can vary depending on writing style.