3.1 Essential N5 Vocabulary by Theme

Vocabulary Is 30% of Your N5 Score

The Language Knowledge (Vocabulary) paper — 文字・語彙 (もじ・ごい, moji-goi) — is the first section you sit, and it lasts just 20 minutes. Despite the short clock, it carries roughly 30% of the exam and about 30 of the ~100 questions, so a strong vocabulary base is the fastest way to bank points before the longer grammar and listening papers. N5 expects a working knowledge of about 800 words. The smartest way to reach that number is to study words in themed clusters rather than as an alphabetical list, because the exam's 文脈規定 (context) questions reward you for knowing which word fits a situation, not merely its English gloss. This section walks through the highest-yield themes with real script, romaji, and meaning.

Numbers and Counters

Master the Sino-Japanese digits first — they drive prices, times, dates, and phone numbers.

Japanese also keeps a native count for loose objects, 1–10: 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, とお. Specific counters attach to numbers by category: 〜人 (にん, people), 〜枚 (まい, flat things), 〜本 (ほん, long cylindrical things), 〜個 (こ, small items), 〜匹 (ひき, small animals), 〜階 (かい, floors), and 〜歳 (さい, age). Watch the sound shifts that examiners love: 一匹 → いっぴき, 三匹 → さんびき, 六階 → ろっかい. Currency uses 円 (えん, yen) directly after the number, and shopping questions expect quick arithmetic such as 150円 × 2 = 300円.

Time, Days, and Months

Relative-time words take no particle: 今日 (きょう, today), 明日 (あした, tomorrow), 昨日 (きのう, yesterday), 毎日 (まいにち, every day), and 今 (いま, now). Clock time uses 〜時 (じ, o'clock) and 〜分 (ふん / ぷん, minutes) with 半 (はん, half past), plus 午前 (ごぜん, AM) and 午後 (ごご, PM). The seven weekdays all end in 曜日 (ようび): 月 (Mon), 火 (Tue), 水 (Wed), 木 (Thu), 金 (Fri), 土 (Sat), 日 (Sun). Months are simply a number + 月 (がつ): 一月 (いちがつ, January) through 十二月 (じゅうにがつ, December). Day-of-the-month readings are irregular at the start — 一日 (ついたち, 1st), 二日 (ふつか, 2nd), 二十日 (はつか, 20th) — and appear as reading and listening traps.

People, Places, and Actions

Family Terms

Japanese uses two sets of family words: humble forms for your own family and respectful forms for someone else's. Choosing the wrong set is a classic N5 trap.

Also learn 家族 (かぞく, family), 両親 (りょうしん, parents), 子供 (こども, child), and 友達 (ともだち, friend).

Places and Directions

High-frequency place nouns include 学校 (がっこう, school), 会社 (かいしゃ, company), 病院 (びょういん, hospital), 駅 (えき, station), 銀行 (ぎんこう, bank), 図書館 (としょかん, library), 店 (みせ, shop), and 空港 (くうこう, airport). Position words are tested constantly in listening route dialogues: 上 (うえ, above), 下 (した, below), 右 (みぎ, right), 左 (ひだり, left), 中 (なか, inside), 外 (そと, outside), 前 (まえ, front), 後ろ (うしろ, behind). The compass — 東 (ひがし), 西 (にし), 南 (みなみ), 北 (きた) — combines with 口 (ぐち, exit): 東口 (ひがしぐち, east exit), 入口 (いりぐち, entrance), 出口 (でぐち, exit).

High-Frequency Verbs

Give special attention to the 来る / 行く pair: 来る (くる) means come toward the speaker while 行く (いく) means go away — the exam swaps them as distractors in both vocabulary and listening.

Adjectives and Adverbs

い-adjectives (ending in い) usually come in tested pairs: 大きい (おおきい, big) / 小さい (ちいさい, small), 高い (たかい, tall or expensive) / 安い (やすい, cheap), 新しい (あたらしい, new) / 古い (ふるい, old), 暑い (あつい, hot) / 寒い (さむい, cold), 多い (おおい, many) / 少ない (すくない, few), plus 忙しい (いそがしい, busy) and 白い (しろい, white). な-adjectives include 好き (すき, liked), 上手 (じょうず, skilled) / 下手 (へた, unskilled), 便利 (べんり, convenient), 静か (しずか, quiet), 元気 (げんき, well), and きれい (pretty or clean). Common adverbs are とても (very), ちょっと・すこし (a little), たくさん (a lot), よく (often or well), あまり (not very, with a negative), ときどき (sometimes), and いつも (always).

The 文脈規定 (Contextual) Question

Vocabulary question type 3 gives a sentence with one blank and four candidate words; you pick the word that fits the context. Example: 「さむいですね。まどを（　）ください。」(It's cold, please ___ the window.) The choices are あけて (open), しめて (close), なおして (fix), and こわして (break); the cue さむい (cold) makes しめて (close) the only sensible answer. Strategy: read the whole sentence, find the emotional or logical cue word, then eliminate options that clash with it. Learn verbs with their typical objects — まどを あける, おんがくを きく, しゃしんを とる — because these questions test collocation, the words that naturally travel together.

Two Kanji-Focused Question Types and How to Retain 800 Words

Beyond the context question, the vocabulary paper opens with two kanji-based types that reward the theme lists above. Question type 1, 漢字読み (kanji reading), prints a word written in kanji inside a short sentence and asks you to choose its correct hiragana reading from four options. For 山 you pick やま over the on-reading さん; for 先生 you choose せんせい, and for 毎日 you choose まいにち. The distractors are usually plausible alternative readings, so knowing which reading a word actually uses matters more than merely recognising the character. Question type 2, 表記 (orthography), does the reverse: it gives a word in hiragana and asks which kanji spelling is correct, planting visually similar characters as traps — 体 (body) against 休 (rest) and 林 (grove), or 雨 (rain) against 雪 (snow) and 雲 (cloud).

Number and Counter Exceptions

Several numbers prefer a specific reading when counting: 四 is normally よん rather than し (which sounds like 死, death), 七 is normally なな, and 九 can be きゅう or く. Counter sound changes are frequent listening traps as well: 一本 → いっぽん, 三本 → さんぼん, 六本 → ろっぽん, and 一杯 → いっぱい. Memorise these as sound patterns rather than as abstract rules, because you must recognise them at speed.

Retention Strategy and Common Mistakes

The most durable way to reach 800 words is to learn each word inside a short example sentence with its typical particle and partner verb — おんがくを きく (listen to music), しゃしんを とる (take a photo), でんわを かける (make a phone call) — so that the 文脈規定 questions feel familiar rather than abstract. A frequent beginner mistake is treating 高い (たかい) as only 'tall' when it equally means 'expensive'; another is mixing 暑い (あつい, hot weather) with 熱い (あつい, hot to the touch), which share a reading but differ in kanji and usage. Review your themed clusters daily in short bursts, and quiz yourself in both directions — kanji to reading and hiragana to kanji — so you are ready for both opening question types at once. Spending your first ten minutes of study on numbers, time, and directions pays off across the vocabulary, grammar, listening, and reading papers alike.