This is a discussion topic for the N4 Lesson 1 reading passages.
I really thought that “母は家にいなくてはならない人” meant the mom is a person who has to be in the house…
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I’d like an explanation for why it isn’t read like that-- I had the same point of confusion!
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Because there wasn’t an answer yet, I’d like to also say, that I don’t see why it couldn’t have this translation.
First, there might be confusion here between two verbs:
いる（居る） = to be (ichidan)
いる（要る） = to need (godan)
いない = isn’t there
いらない = doesn’t need
Second, the grammar てはならない can be translated “must be”, “has to be”, or “needs to be”.
So, for clarity, I’d say “mom is a person who has to be at home” is a more literal translation. But considering the given English translation, maybe it was a hiragana typo and they meant いらなくてはならない?
(In either case, note 1 needs to be cleaned up too.)
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Thanks for the tag Fred. I am not sure what happened here. I believe the original hiragana was いらなくてはならない, but then we may have changed it to いなくてはならない to make it sound more natural (without remembering to also change the English).
Regardless, fixing it right now!
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The first reading passage (“The Stroll”) is an N4 L1 passage, but uses some grammar (~なさい) which is only introduced in N4 L7.
(Also, I think the last “OK” and “オッケー” have accidentally been swapped between the Japanese and its English translation?)
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Yup. The content moderators think it’s more important to be funny than to make sense. (This has been pointed out before.)
Feel free to comment either for or against.
Hi @jungliemonkey thanks for the message! The current readings were written before we revised the order of the N4 grammar to be easier to follow. Rewriting the readings to reflect this is on our list of tasks to do in the near future! We apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime. 
As for the OK / オッケー swap, that was just a little joke thrown in to reflect native Japanese speakers sometimes using English words. We hope you continue to enjoy the content! 
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Maybe, I’m misunderstanding, but N4’s reading " 母の入院" seems sexist. Why does Mom need to be at home? It just seems like her obligation to be a caretaker is more important than her own health. Wouldn’t something like 母は治らなくてはならないけど、はやくかえってほしいです be a better fit?
I think the idea is that she’s an integral part of the family who’s direly missed during her stay at the hospital, and not that she’s not allowed to go anywhere else…
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Oh I see. That makes sense to me. I appreciate it!
退院するときは迎えに行ってあげます。
Is it appropriate to use あげる when talking about your mom?
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