Free JLPT N5 Exam Flashcards

Kun-yomi やま means 'mountain'; the on-yomi サン appears in 富士山 (ふじさん, Mt. Fuji) and 山下 (やました, surname). Pictograph of three peaks; contrast with 川 (かわ, river), which shows flowing water between banks.

Kun-yomi みず ('water'); on-yomi すい appears in 水曜日 (すいようび, Wednesday). One of the five N5 element kanji (火/水/木/土/金). Don't confuse with 氷 (こおり, ice), which adds a stroke of water at the top.

Kun-yomi ひ ('fire'); on-yomi か appears in 火曜日 (かようび, Tuesday). Pictograph of flames; pairs with 水 (water) and 木 (tree) as the elementary-element kanji set tested in day-of-week questions.

Kun-yomi き ('tree'); on-yomi もく in 木曜日 (もくようび, Thursday). The kanji doubles inside 林 (はやし, grove, two trees) and triples inside 森 (もり, forest, three trees) — a productive radical that builds related words.

Prefix meaning 'every-': 毎日 (まいにち, every day), 毎週 (まいしゅう, every week), 毎年 (まいとし, every year), 毎月 (まいつき, every month). The kanji that follows determines the unit; don't confuse 毎日 (day) with 毎月 (month) in time-expression questions.

Right (右) and left (左), heavily tested in N5 directions listening. 右 keeps the 'mouth' component under the hand; 左 keeps the 'craft' component. Listen carefully for which one a route-giving dialogue names.

Kun-yomi ひと ('person'); on-yomi ジン/ニン in 日本人 (にほんじん, Japanese person) and 三人 (さんにん, three people). Visually distinct from 入 (はいる, to enter) — note the longer left stroke in 入 and the shorter, capped shape in 人.

雨 (あめ, rain) is a single pictograph of rain falling; 雷 (かみなり, lightning) stacks the 'rain' radical (雨) above 田 (rice field). Shared radicals cluster N5 kanji — recognize the top radical first, then read the lower component.

家 (いえ, house) uses the 'roof' radical うかんむり over 豕 (pig, historical); 休 (やすむ, to rest) uses the 'person' radical イ beside 木 (tree, a person leaning on a tree). Visually similar characters are common distractors in orthography questions.

Compound kanji for 'telephone': 電 (electric) + 話 (talk/conversation). N5 compounds combine two known characters; learning each component's meaning lets you guess the compound. 同系の語: 電気 (でんき, electricity), 会話 (かいわ, conversation).

Marks the topic of the sentence: 「わたしはがくせいです」(I am a student). Pronounced 'wa' but written with the hiragana は; sets what the sentence is about. Distinct from が (subject/new information) — は highlights known background, が introduces new info.

Marks the grammatical subject or new information: 「だれがいますか」「たなかさんがいます」. Required with existence verbs あります/います; also used in preference/skill patterns like 「すしがすきです」 and in wh-questions.

Marks the noun a transitive verb acts on: 「コーヒーをのみます」(I drink coffee). Pronounced 'o' but written を; appears nowhere except as a particle. Don't confuse with お (polite prefix on verbs/nouns like おちゃ, おすし).

Marks a specific clock time, day, or date: 「６じにおきます」(I wake up at 6). Skip に with relative time words like きょう (today), あした (tomorrow), まいにち (every day) — these take no particle. Absolute times use に.

Two roles: place of existence with あります/います「あそこにあります」(it is over there), and destination with motion verbs「がっこうにいきます」(I go to school). Same particle, decided by the verb — existence verbs take location-of-being, motion verbs take destination.

Two roles: means or instrument「バスでいきます」(go by bus) and place of action「こうえんであそびます」(play at the park). Distinct from に (destination) — で focuses on how or where the action happens, not the endpoint.

Links two nouns: 「わたしのほん」(my book), 「日本のたべもの」(Japanese food). Shows possession or modification; never terminates a clause, so the next noun must follow. Chainable: 「わたしのともだちのかのじょ」(my friend's girlfriend).

Group I (五段/u-ending): のむ, いく, かく, まがる. Group II (一段/ru-ending): たべる, みる, おきる. Group III: する (する-verbs like べんきょうする) and くる. Conjugation rules differ per group, so identify the group before conjugating.

Links sequential actions: 「パンをたべて、コーヒーをのみます」(eat bread then drink coffee). Also the base for 〜てください (request), 〜ている (ongoing), 〜てもいい (permission). Group I te-forms vary by final kana (のむ→のんで, いく→いって, exception); Group II simply drops る → て.

Polite past affirmative: ます → ました (drank = のみました). Polite past negative: ません → ませんでした (did not drink = のみませんでした). Copula です past is でした; past negative is ではありませんでした / じゃありませんでした.

Polite verb negative: のみません (I don't drink). い-adjective negative: drop い → くない (おもしろくない, not interesting). The pattern まだ + 〜ていません means 'haven't done it yet' (まだたべていません), heavily tested at N5.

Marks ongoing action or current state: 「あめがふっています」(it is raining), 「ともだちがまっています」(a friend is waiting). Formed with te-form + いる; N5 listening tests it for weather and waiting scenes. Some verbs (know, have) take 〜ている for a state, not action.

Group II adds られる (たべられる, can eat); Group I shifts final -u to -eru (のむ→のめる, can drink); くる→こられる. Also expressed periphrastically with 「〜ことができます」(できる = can do). N5 tests recognition more than production.

Ends in い and attaches directly to です: 「たかいです」(it's expensive). Negative drops い → くない: 「たかくないです」(not expensive). Past: 〜かった (たかかった). N5 examples: おもしろい, たかい, おおきい, ちいさい, わかい, あたらしい.

Ends in な before a noun: すき (好き), じょうず (上手), べんり (便利), しずか (静か). Drops な before です: 「すきです」. Add な when modifying a noun directly: 「すきなたべもの」(liked food). Polite negation: じゃありません / ではありません.

あまり (not very) + negative = 'not very': 「あまりおもしろくないです」(not very interesting). Softens negative answers — the natural reply to いいえ on a quality question. Don't use あまり with an affirmative sentence.

「このほんは あのほんより たかいです」= this book is more expensive than that book. より marks the standard of comparison; the topic (は) is the thing being compared. No particle between adjective and です.

いい is the casual spoken form of よい. Conjugates from the よ- stem, not い-: negative よくない, past よかった, te-form よくて. Don't apply normal い-adjective rules — 'よかったです' is correct, 'いかったです' is wrong.

Polite request formed with te-form + ください: 「すわってください」(please sit). Softer than direct commands; standard for N5 dialogue requests. The negative version 〜ないでください means 'please don't,' and the permission ask 〜てもいいですか means 'may I?'

Permission pattern: 「たばこをすってもいいですか」(may I smoke?). Reply いいですよ (yes, fine) or すみません、だめです / きんえんです (no, sorry). N5 listening tests both the question and the reply — match the refusal to the reason given.

Volitional: 「いきましょう」(let's go) — suggests joint action. 〜ましょうか offers to do something for the listener: 「もちましょうか」(shall I carry it?). Both formed from the ます-stem + ましょう; the か version invites a yes/no answer.

Asks someone not to do something: 「すわらないでください」(please don't sit). Formed with the plain negative (〜ない) + でください. Softer than direct prohibition; tested in 'no smoking / no entry' signage and rules-in-public-place dialogues.

なら = 'if (it's the case that)': 「てんきがいいなら、いきましょう」(if the weather is good, let's go). たら = 'when/if (event happens)': 「あめがふったら、いきません」(if it rains, I won't go). なら takes a known condition as topic; たら hypothesizes the event.

Counter for years of age: 「にじゅうさんさいです」(23 years old). Used for any age. Written 歳 in formal text; hiragana さい is also accepted. Question word: なんさいですか (how old are you?).

Counter for small animals: いぬが ３びき (3 dogs). Sound changes by number: いっぴき (1), にひき (2), さんびき (3), ろっぴき (6), はっぴき (8). Don't use for people (use にん) or for large animals (use とう).

Counter for building floors: 「にかいにあります」(it's on the 2nd floor). Sound shifts: いっかい (1F), にかい (2F), ろっかい (6F), はっかい (8F). N5 listening often tests this in elevator and directions dialogues; check whether きかい (machine) is a distractor.

General counter for items without a specific counter: 「みっつ」(3 items), 「ふたつ」(2), 「よっつ」(4). Used for apples, bags, generic objects. Native readings 1-9: ひとつ, ふたつ, みっつ, よっつ, いつつ, むっつ, ななつ, やっつ, ここのつ; 10 is とお.

Japanese currency: 「150えん」(150 yen). No particle needed; えん follows the number directly. The same kanji 円 also means 'round/circle.' N5 shopping questions test arithmetic: りんご 150えん × ２こ + バナナ 80えん × ３ほん = 540えん.

まいにち (every day), まいあさ (every morning), まいしゅう (every week). 毎 + time word = 'every-'. These are relative-time expressions and take no particle: 「まいにちコーヒーをのみます」(I drink coffee every day). Compare まいげつ (every month) vs まいとし (every year).

げつようび (Mon), かようび (Tue), すいようび (Wed), もくようび (Thu), きんようび (Fri), どようび (Sat), にちようび (Sun). Each named for a celestial body/element — Moon, Fire (Mars), Water (Mercury), Wood (Jupiter), Metal/Gold (Venus), Earth (Saturn), Sun.

ごぜん (before noon, AM) and ごご (after noon, PM) precede the clock time: 「ごご６じ」(6 PM). Distinct from よる (night) and あさ (morning), which are time-of-day nouns used without clock numerals. N5 listening tests 「ごぜん９じ」vs「ごご９じ」 distractors.

Formal morning greeting, used before about 10-11 AM. Casual form おはよう with close peers/family. N5 listening quick-response section tests it in workplace/school settings; don't use it in the afternoon — switch to こんにちは.

Meal phrases: いただきます before eating (gratitude for food); ごちそうさまでした after finishing. Fixed pair — don't reverse them. いただきます is also the humble verb for 'receive,' so the same phrase appears in receiving-items contexts.

Two meanings: declining an offer「けっこうです」= 'no, thank you, I'm fine'; approving「もうけっこうです」= 'that's enough.' In N5 listening, watch the context — the same phrase can yield opposite outcomes. The hint is often a following いいえ or a hand gesture.

Standard response to ありがとうございます / ありがとうございました ('You're welcome'). N5 listening quick-response (即応) section tests this exchange; the slightly casual いいえ、どういたしまして is also common. Don't use it for すみません (use いいえ or だいじょうぶです).

Listen to a short dialogue, choose the matching picture or action. Focus on the verb (のる, かう, たべる) and its object; distractors usually swap one. Watch for the negative 〜ません — it often flips the correct answer.

Identify one specific fact: time, price, location, or count. Numbers are the most common distractors — ３じ１５ふん vs ３じ５０ふん, or １５０えん vs １１０えん. Listen for ふん vs ごふん, long vs short vowels, and the final confirming repetition.

Choose the natural reply to a short utterance. Memorize set exchanges: ありがとうございます→どういたしまして; いい てんきですね→そうですね; すみません、おそくなりました→だいじょうぶですよ; いただきます→(どうぞ). The reply must match the function (thanks, apology, greeting, offer).

A short descriptive text plus one question. Skim for the topic word and the descriptor; the answer restates the main adjective or fact (せまい but きれい, あかるい). Distractors pick a minor detail and exaggerate it or flip its polarity.

Notices, flyers, menus, schedules. Match the question word (いつ, どこ, いくら, なに, だれ) to the matching field in the display. For prices, compute totals (リンゴ 150えん × ２こ = 300えん) and watch the unit (こ vs ほん vs ふくろ).