N4 is the level where isolated sentences become connected discourse. At N5 you could name a cat and buy a ticket; at N4 you can say I bought the ticket my friend recommended, so if it rains tomorrow we'll go anyway. The jump is not more vocabulary — it is the connective machinery that stitches clauses together: the て-form and everything that bolts onto it, the four conditionals, the giving-and-receiving system, and plain-form grammar. Work this checklist top to bottom; it assumes everything on the N5 checklist is already solid.
1. The te-form toolkit
The て-form is the hinge of intermediate Japanese. N4 wants you forming it instantly and knowing the high-frequency patterns that attach to it. This whole cluster has its own dedicated route — the Master the Te-Form path — so use that for depth and this table as the checklist.
| Done | Point | Learn it on |
|---|---|---|
| Forming the て-form (all classes) | verbs/te-form-overview | |
| 〜ている: progressive & resultant state | verbs/te-iru-overview-two-meanings | |
| 〜てある: intentional resultant state | verbs/te-aru-resultant-transitive | |
| 〜ておく: do in advance | verbs/te-oku-preparation | |
| 〜てしまう: completion & regret | verbs/te-shimau-completion-regret | |
| 〜てみる: try doing | nuance/te-miru-try | |
| 〜てもいい: permission | nuance/temo-ii-permission | |
| 〜てはいけない: prohibition | nuance/tewa-ikenai-prohibition | |
| 〜てから: after doing | verbs/te-kara-after |
今、駅に向かっているから、あと十分くらいで着くよ。
ima, eki ni mukatte iru kara, ato juppun kurai de tsuku yo
I'm heading to the station now, so I'll be there in about ten minutes.
2. Giving and receiving
Japanese has three separate verbs for a transfer, chosen by who gives to whom relative to you. Attach them to the て-form and they express favors — the backbone of polite social Japanese. This cluster reliably trips up English speakers, so give it real time.
| Done | Point | Learn it on |
|---|---|---|
| あげる・くれる・もらう overview | verbs/giving-receiving-overview | |
| あげる vs くれる: direction of giving | verbs/giving-ageru-kureru | |
| もらう: receiving | verbs/giving-morau | |
| 〜てあげる: doing a favor outward | verbs/giving-te-ageru | |
| 〜てくれる: a favor done for me | verbs/giving-te-kureru | |
| 〜てもらう: getting something done | verbs/giving-te-morau |
引っ越しのとき、友達が手伝ってくれて本当に助かった。
hikkoshi no toki, tomodachi ga tetsudatte kurete hontō ni tasukatta
When I moved, my friend helped me out and it was a real lifesaver.
3. The four conditionals
と, ば, たら, and なら all translate as "if" but divide the job among themselves. Learning where each belongs is one of the hardest N4 tasks — there's a whole conditionals path for it.
| Done | Point | Learn it on |
|---|---|---|
| The four conditionals: overview | verbs/conditional-overview | |
| と: natural consequence | verbs/conditional-to | |
| ば: provisional condition | verbs/conditional-ba | |
| たら: the versatile if/when | verbs/conditional-tara | |
| なら: the copula conditional | copula/nara-conditional |
東京に着いたら、すぐ連絡します。
tōkyō ni tsuitara, sugu renraku shimasu
I'll contact you as soon as I get to Tokyo.
4. Potential and volitional
Two new verb forms: potential ("can do") and volitional ("let's / I intend to"). Both feed higher-level grammar, so lock the formation now.
| Done | Point | Learn it on |
|---|---|---|
| The potential form ("can") | verbs/potential-overview | |
| Potential formation by class | verbs/potential-formation | |
| 〜ことができる: the analytic potential | verbs/potential-koto-ga-dekiru | |
| The volitional 〜よう／おう | verbs/volitional-overview | |
| 〜(よ)うと思う: stating intention | verbs/volitional-to-omou | |
| The plain imperative 〜ろ／〜え | verbs/imperative-plain |
私は辛いものがあまり食べられないんです。
watashi wa karai mono ga amari taberarenai n desu
I can't really eat spicy food.
5. Plain-form grammar
At N5 you mostly stayed polite. N4 grammar attaches to the plain form: quotation, opinion, intention, and nominalization all build on it.
| Done | Point | Learn it on |
|---|---|---|
| Uses of the plain form | verbs/plain-form-uses | |
| 〜と思う: stating an opinion | verbs/volitional-to-omou | |
| Quotation with と (〜と言う) | syntax/quotation-to | |
| 〜つもり: intention/plan | nuance/tsumori-intention | |
| Nominalizing with こと | syntax/koto-nominalizer | |
| Nominalizing with の | syntax/no-nominalizer |
今年こそ、日本語能力試験を受けようと思っています。
kotoshi koso, nihongo nōryoku shiken o ukeyō to omotte imasu
This year for sure, I'm thinking of taking the JLPT.
6. Transitivity, comparatives, and reasoning
The last N4 cluster rounds out expression: transitive/intransitive pairs, comparison, and the connectives that give reasons and contrasts.
| Done | Point | Learn it on |
|---|---|---|
| 自動詞／他動詞: transitivity pairs | verbs/transitivity-overview | |
| Comparatives: より / のほうが | adjectives/comparatives | |
| Superlatives: 一番 / の中で | adjectives/superlatives | |
| から: because (speaker's reason) | conjunctions/kara-because-reason | |
| ので: because (softer, objective) | conjunctions/node-because-objective | |
| のに: although (unexpected result) | conjunctions/noni-although | |
| けど／けれど: spoken "but" | conjunctions/kedo-keredo |
電車より、バスのほうが安いよ。
densha yori, basu no hō ga yasui yo
The bus is cheaper than the train.
たくさん勉強したのに、テストは全然できなかった。
takusan benkyō shita noni, tesuto wa zenzen dekinakatta
Even though I studied a lot, I couldn't do the test at all.
Also on the N4 map
These extend blocks you already started at N5 and are all fair game on the exam:
- Adjective extensions: 〜くて／〜で linking, the adverbial 〜く／〜に, 〜くなる／〜になる (become), 〜すぎる (too much), and 〜そう (looks like).
- The desire family beyond 〜たい: 〜がほしい and 〜てほしい.
- Obligation and its opposite: 〜なければならない (must) and 〜なくてもいい (no need to).
- Experience and representative actions: 〜たことがある, 〜たり〜たり, and 〜とき (when).
Self-testing with real text
Prove the checklist on the annotated N4 passages, which are exactly the register N4 reading tests:
When those read smoothly, move up to the N3 checklist — where the difficulty genuinely spikes.
Common mistakes
❌ 先生が私に本をあげました。
Incorrect — a gift moving toward me (the speaker) requires くれる, not あげる, which points away from me.
✅ 先生が私に本をくださいました。
sensei ga watashi ni hon o kudasaimashita
The teacher gave me a book.
❌ 私は日本語を話せます。
Incorrect (careful register) — the potential turns the object into が: it's 日本語が話せる, not を.
✅ 私は日本語が少し話せます。
watashi wa nihongo ga sukoshi hanasemasu
I can speak a little Japanese.
❌ 時間があると、電話してください。
Incorrect — と can't lead into a request or command; use たら for 'if/when' before an instruction.
✅ 時間があったら、電話してください。
jikan ga attara, denwa shite kudasai
Call me if you have time.
❌ 「疲れた」思った。
Incorrect — a quoted thought must be marked with と before 思う; you can't drop it the way English drops 'that'.
✅ 「疲れた」と思った。
'tsukareta' to omotta
I thought, 'I'm exhausted.'
❌ 田中さんを知ります。
Incorrect — 'I know someone' is an ongoing state in Japanese, so it takes 〜ている: 知っています. The plain 知る means 'come to know'.
✅ 田中さんを知っています。
tanaka-san o shitte imasu
I know Tanaka.
Key takeaways
- N4 is connective grammar: the て-form family, giving-and-receiving, the four conditionals, and plain-form patterns turn N5 fragments into flowing sentences.
- Prioritize the て-form and the giving/receiving verbs — they saturate N4 reading and are the most common failure points.
- Watch the direction of くれる vs あげる, the potential's が, and that 知る means "know" only as 知っている — three reliable English-transfer traps.
- Route the two hardest clusters through the dedicated te-form and conditionals paths.
Now practice Japanese
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- JLPT N5 Grammar ChecklistN5 — Every grammar point the JLPT N5 exam expects, laid out as an ordered checklist that links each item to the page where you learn it.
- Master the Te-FormN4 — A focused route through the single most load-bearing conjugation in Japanese — from forming the て-form to the requests, aspect, permission, and linking that ride on it.
- JLPT N3 Grammar ChecklistN3 — The pivotal intermediate grammar — passive and causative, keigo, evidential endings, and nominal idioms — as an ordered checklist linked to every teaching page.
- Untangling the Conditionals (と・ば・たら・なら)N3 — A study path through Japanese's four 'if/when' forms — と, ば, たら, なら — sequenced as a decision guide: learn each form, learn the diagnostic that picks between them, then watch them work in real annotated texts.
- Giving & Receiving: あげる・くれる・もらうN4 — Why Japanese has three giving-and-receiving verbs where English has two, and how they are chosen by the direction of the transfer relative to the speaker's in-group.