sono onnanoko ha kurai miti wo kowagatte, haha no usiro wo zutto aruite ita.

その means that and points to something already known in the conversation or context.

• その女の子 = that girl
• It suggests the speaker and listener both know which girl is being talked about.

Compare:

• この女の子 = this girl (near the speaker)
• その女の子 = that girl (near the listener, or already mentioned)
• あの女の子 = that girl over there (far from both)

So here, その is just identifying which girl it is.

は marks the topic: the sentence is about that girl.

So:

• その女の子は = as for that girl...

This often sounds natural when the girl is already part of the story or has already been introduced.

If you used が, it would put more focus on the girl herself as the one doing the action, as if identifying her in contrast to someone else.

Very roughly:

• その女の子は... = That girl... / As for that girl...
• その女の子が... = That girl is the one who...

In Japanese, adjectives usually come before the noun they describe.

So:

• 暗い道 = a dark road

This is just like:

• 大きい犬 = a big dog
• 面白い映画 = an interesting movie

Since 暗い is an i-adjective, it directly modifies the noun without needing anything extra.

Here, を marks what she is afraid of.

The verb 怖がる often takes the thing feared with を:

• 犬を怖がる = to be afraid of dogs
• 暗い道を怖がる = to be afraid of dark roads / the dark road

This can feel a little surprising to English speakers because English uses of, but Japanese often uses を here.

This is a very common question.

• 怖い means scary or afraid
• 怖がる means to show fear / to be afraid of / to act scared of

The key point is that 怖がる is often used when talking about someone else's observable feelings or behavior, especially in third person.

Examples:

• 私は暗い道が怖い。 = Dark roads are scary to me / I’m afraid of dark roads.
• その子は暗い道を怖がる。 = That child is afraid of dark roads / acts scared of dark roads.

In this sentence, the subject is that girl, so 怖がって sounds natural because the speaker is describing her behavior from the outside.

The -te form connects actions or states.

Here, 怖がって links to the next part of the sentence:

• 暗い道を怖がって、母の後ろをずっと歩いていた。

This gives the sense of:

• being afraid of the dark road, she kept walking behind her mother
• or because she was afraid of the dark road, she walked behind her mother the whole time

So the -te form here connects the fear with the following action and can suggest reason/background.

It can suggest both, depending on context.

In this sentence, the most natural reading is:

• She was afraid of the dark road, and because of that, she kept walking behind her mother.

The Japanese does not explicitly say because with a word like ので or から, but the connection is easy to understand from context.

So 怖がって here gives background that helps explain why she walked behind her mother.

The の links mother and behind.

• 母の後ろ = behind her mother

You can think of it as:

• the mother's पीछे in a relationship sense
• more naturally: the area behind her mother

This is a very common pattern:

• 家の前 = in front of the house
• 学校の横 = beside the school
• 椅子の下 = under the chair

So の connects the reference point (mother) to the position (behind).

This is another very common point of confusion.

Here, を does not mark a direct object. It marks the path/route along which someone moves.

So:

• 道を歩く = walk along/on the road
• 橋を渡る = cross the bridge
• 空を飛ぶ = fly through the sky

Therefore:

• 母の後ろを歩いていた = was walking behind her mother

The idea is that the walking happened along that position/path behind her mother.

Because they are doing two different jobs.

1. 暗い道を怖がって

   • を marks what she was afraid of

2. 母の後ろをずっと歩いていた

   • を marks the path/location along which she walked

So even though both are を, they do not mean the same thing here.

This is normal in Japanese. A particle can have more than one use depending on the verb and structure.

ずっと here means something like:

• the whole time
• continuously
• all the way

So 母の後ろをずっと歩いていた means she kept walking behind her mother for the duration of that scene.

It does not necessarily mean forever or always in a general sense. It is about continuous action in that situation.

歩いていた is the past progressive / past ongoing form.

• 歩いた = walked
• 歩いていた = was walking / kept walking

Here, 歩いていた gives a picture of an ongoing action in the past. It feels more descriptive, like the narrator is showing us the scene.

So the sentence is not just saying she walked once; it is saying she was walking behind her mother continuously.

Yes. That is exactly the nuance.

歩いた could simply report a completed action:

• She walked behind her mother.

歩いていた describes an ongoing state/action in progress:

• She was walking behind her mother.
• She kept walking behind her mother.

That matches the atmosphere of the sentence very well, especially with ずっと.

母 is a plain, neutral way to say one's own mother when talking about her to other people.

In many situations:

• 母 = used when referring to your own mother
• お母さん = used when addressing your mother directly, or when referring to someone else’s mother more politely, or in childlike/family speech

In a narrative sentence like this, 母 sounds natural and concise.

Yes. Unless Japanese clearly changes the subject, the default assumption is that the same subject continues.

So here, that girl is understood as the subject of both:

• 怖がって = being afraid
• 歩いていた = was walking

That is why Japanese can sound compact: once the topic/subject is established, it often does not need to be repeated.

Yes, that is close to the structure, but it sounds unnatural in English.

A more natural English version would be something like:

• Afraid of the dark road, the girl kept walking behind her mother.
• Because she was scared of the dark road, the girl stayed behind her mother the whole time.

The Japanese structure is compact, and English usually smooths it out a bit in translation.