JLPT N5 cheat sheet

N5 vocabulary is approximately 800 words with about 100 basic kanji; common N5 words are often written in hiragana when the kanji is outside the N5 list.

Demonstratives: これ/それ/あれ/どれ stand alone; この/その/あの/どの must precede a noun; ここ/そこ/あそこ/どこ refer to places.

Common counters: 〜つ general objects 1–10; 〜人 people (ひとり, ふたり, さんにん); 〜枚 flat things; 〜台 machines/vehicles; 〜本 long thin objects; 〜冊 books; 〜匹 small animals; 〜歳 age.

Family terms differ by speaker: 父/母/兄/姉/弟/妹 for one's own family; お父さん/お母さん/お兄さん/お姉さん/弟さん/妹さん for others.

い-adjectives end in い in dictionary form and directly modify nouns (大きい家); な-adjectives need な before nouns (静かな部屋); きれい is a な-adjective despite ending in い.

Frequency adverbs: いつも always, よく often, ときどき sometimes, あまり not much, ぜんぜん not at all; あまり and ぜんぜん require a negative verb.

Position nouns: 上/下/前/後ろ/右/左/中/外/隣/間; they follow Noun の, as in 机の上.

Relative time words: 今日, 明日, 昨日, 今朝, 今晩, 毎朝, 毎日 usually take no particle; clock times take に.

Question words: 何 (なに before を; なん before です and counters), 誰, どこ, いつ, どう, なぜ, いくつ, いくら.

Basic Japanese order is subject–object–verb; the verb comes at the end, and modifiers precede the noun they modify.

Core particles: は topic, が subject, を direct object, に time/destination/existence location, で action place/means, へ direction, と with/and/quote, も also, の possessive/link, から/まで from/until.

Noun and な-adjective polite copula: です present, じゃありません negative, でした past, じゃありませんでした past negative; い-adjectives use です after the dictionary form.

Polite verb paradigm: 〜ます present/future, 〜ません negative, 〜ました past, 〜ませんでした past negative; dictionary form is the plain present/future form.

て-form uses: 〜てください polite request; 〜ています ongoing action or resulting state; て connects actions in sequence.

い-adjective conjugation: drop い and add かった for past; negative 〜くない; past negative 〜くなかった; いい becomes よかった and よくない.

な-adjective conjugation: な before nouns; です, じゃありません, でした, じゃありませんでした for polite forms; 静か, にぎやか, きれい, 有名, 好き, 嫌い are common N5 examples.

Existence: あります for inanimate things/plants, います for people/animals; pattern place に thing が あります/います. Comparison: A は B より adjective; A と B と どちらが adjective ですか; A が いちばん adjective です.

Reading connectors: でも but, そして and then, から because, が but, それから after that; sentence-final か marks a question.

N5 listening has four task types: 課題理解, ポイント理解, 発話表現, 即時応答; each has a different question focus.

課題理解 asks what the speaker will do next or needs to do; the final decision is often marked by じゃあ, では, or それじゃ, after earlier plans are corrected.

ポイント理解 asks for one detail such as time, place, person, or reason; the correct detail is stated once, while similar distractors are corrected by いや or じゃなくて.

発話表現 asks which utterance fits a pictured situation; check politeness level, direction of action, and whether the speaker requests, offers, or asks permission.

即時応答 asks for the best immediate reply; common pairs include お願いします/はい、どうぞ, すみません/いいえ, and ありがとうございます/どういたしまして.

Request and offer patterns: 〜てください request, 〜ませんか invitation, 〜ましょうか offer, 〜てもいいですか permission.

Sequence markers order actions: まず first, 次に next, それから then, 最後に finally; task answers follow this order.

Counter sound changes: 一本 いっぽん, 二本 にほん, 三本 さんぼん; 一個 いっこ, 二個 にこ, 三個 さんこ; 一人 ひとり, 二人 ふたり.

Time and negation cues: すぐ immediately, あとで later, もう already, まだ not yet; まだ with a negative means not yet, and ませんでした is past negative.