These sentences were read aloud by real people — native Japanese speakers — for the open Mozilla Common Voice project. Listen to how a phrase sounds in real speech: the intonation, the pace, the way words run together. Two speakers mean two different people read it — compare them.
隣にいる彼は大の友人だ。
となりにいるかれはだいのゆうじんだ。The guy next to me is a close friend.
隣にいた友人が言った。
となりにいたゆうじんがいった。The friend next to me said.
隣からカチャカチャとキーを叩く音が聞こえてくる
となりからかちゃかちゃときーをたたくおとがきこえてくるThe clatter of someone typing comes from next door.