JLPT N5 Grammar Checklist

The JLPT N5 is not a huge body of grammar — roughly a hundred points and a few hundred kanji — but it is the whole skeleton the rest of Japanese hangs on. Get it genuinely solid and N4 becomes a matter of adding muscle, not rebuilding the frame. This page is that skeleton as a checklist: every N5-testable point, grouped the way the exam builds them up, with each item linked to the page that teaches it. Work top to bottom, tick a box only when you can produce the form without thinking, and you will cover everything the exam can throw at you.

0. The writing system (do this first)

You cannot take the exam in rōmaji. Before any grammar, you need both kana syllabaries cold and a first handful of kanji.

If kana is still shaky, start one step back on the absolute-beginner path and come back here.

1. The copula です／だ

The copula is the "=" of Japanese: it links a noun to a description. N5 tests all four tense-polarity cells plus the plain/polite split.

2. Sentence architecture

Japanese puts the verb last and marks the topic with は. Internalize this early or every later point will fight you.

3. The core particles

If any block deserves the most drilling, it is this one. N5 lives on は, が, を, に, で, へ, と, も, の, か, から／まで.

Notice how much one N5 sentence carries: に marks the time, と the companion, を the object. Particles, not word order, do the grammatical work — that is the single biggest way Japanese differs from English.

4. Adjectives (two classes)

Japanese adjectives come in two kinds that inflect differently. The i-class conjugates like a verb; the na-class leans on the copula. N5 tests present, negative, and past for both.

5. Verbs: classes, plain, polite, past, negative

The verb system is where N5 gets its shape. Learn the three classes, then the five workhorse forms: dictionary, ます, plain past た, plain negative ない, and their polite twins.

6. Existence: ある and いる

Japanese splits "there is" by whether the thing is alive. This has no English parallel and it is guaranteed to appear on the exam.

7. Demonstratives (こそあど)

The こ／そ／あ／ど system encodes distance from the speaker and listener. N5 wants これ／それ／あれ, この／その／あの, and ここ／そこ／あそこ.

8. Question words

9. Counters, numbers, time

Japanese counts with classifiers, and telling time and dates has its own reading quirks. N5 samples the everyday counters plus the calendar and clock.

10. The essential N5 patterns

These fixed patterns turn your building blocks into things you can actually do: express desire, invite, request, and forbid.

Self-testing with real text

Grammar in isolation isn't the goal — reading it in the wild is. Once the boxes above are ticked, prove it on the annotated N5 texts, where every line is broken down for you:

• 自己紹介 — a self-introduction
• 日記 — a simple diary entry
• 買い物の会話 — a shopping exchange
• コンビニのレジ — a convenience-store transaction

When you can read all four comfortably and explain why each particle is there, you are ready to sit N5 — and ready to start the N4 checklist.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• N5 is about a hundred points and the frame of the language — the copula, ten core particles, both adjective classes, the five verb forms, existence, demonstratives, question words, and counters.
• Particles carry the grammar, not word order. Drilling は／が／を／に／で to automaticity pays off more than anything else at this level.
• The ある／いる animate split and the 好き-takes-が pattern are the two spots English speakers reliably get wrong — mark them.
• Treat 〜てください and 〜たい as fixed N5 phrases now; learn the full て-form machinery when you reach N4.
• Verify with the annotated N5 texts before booking the exam.