JLPT N5 — Grammar Patterns flashcards
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Fifty grammar points commonly tested at N5 — the particles, polite and plain tenses, て-form uses, たい and invitations, the six basic counters, あります/います, likes and skill, adjective conjugation and comparison, reasons and sequence — each as a prompt with the pattern, a one-line rule and an example.
Learn deck · part of JLPT N5 · written against: The 100 kanji and the full ~700-word vocabulary commonly listed for N5 (no official list since 2010; checked against the Tanos N5 list, CC BY), with pitch accent from the Kanjium data. Updated 2026-10-10.
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Which particle marks the topic of a sentence — the thing the sentence is about — as in As for my mother's hobby, it is cooking?〜はParticles
は (pronounced わ) marks what the sentence is about; everything after it is the comment on that topic.
Example: ははの しゅみは りょうりです。 — My mother's hobby is cooking. -
How do you make the polite form of a verb from its dictionary form (かく → ?, たべる → ?, する → ?), and what two tenses does 〜ます cover?〜ます — u-verbs change the final -u to -i and add ます (かく → かきます), ru-verbs drop る (たべる → たべます), する → します and くる → きます; ます covers both habitual present and future.です/ます & Tenses
Example: まいあさ パンを たべます。 — I eat bread every morning. -
Give the て-form rules: u-verbs ending in う/つ/る, む/ぶ/ぬ, く, ぐ, す; ru-verbs; する and くる.て-form — う/つ/る → って, む/ぶ/ぬ → んで, く → いて (exception: いく → いって), ぐ → いで, す → して; ru-verbs drop る and add て; する → して, くる → きて.て-form Uses
Example: かう → かって, のむ → のんで, かく → かいて, およぐ → およいで, はなす → はなして, たべる → たべて — to buy, to drink, to write, to swim, to speak, to eat -
How do you say For dinner I want to eat hot udon using the verb stem?〜たいDesire & Invitations
ます-stem + たい; it conjugates like an い-adjective (たくない, たかった), and the object can take が or を.
Example: ばんごはんは あたたかい うどんが たべたいです。 — For dinner I want to eat hot udon. -
Count one thing, two things … ten things with the general counter. Which readings do you have to memorize?〜つ — All ten are native readings: 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 (no つ on ten).Counters
Example: りんごを みっつ ください。 — Three apples, please. -
There is a bicycle in front of the postbox vs There is a police officer at the station entrance — which verb for each, and which particles mark the thing and the place?〜に 〜が あります / います — あります is for things that don't move by themselves, います for people and animals; the thing takes が and the place takes に. The same verbs express having: いもうとが います, おかねが ありません.Existence & Location
Example: ポストの まえに じてんしゃが あります。えきの いりぐちに おまわりさんが います。 — There is a bicycle in front of the postbox. There is a police officer at the station entrance. -
My father likes old songs — which particle marks the thing liked, and what kind of word is すき?〜が すきです — すき and きらい are な-adjectives, so the thing liked normally takes が rather than を; dislike is 〜が きらいです.Likes & Skill
Example: ちちは ふるい うたが すきです。 — My father likes old songs. -
Conjugate the い-adjective さむい: not cold, was cold, was not cold — and which い-adjective is irregular?い-adjective: 〜くない / 〜かった / 〜くなかった — Drop い and add くない, かった or くなかった (+ です for politeness); いい is irregular: よくない, よかった, よくなかった.Adjectives & Comparisons
Example: きのうは さむくなかったです。 — It wasn't cold yesterday. -
It's cold, so I'll close the window — how do you give a reason with から?reason + から、result — から follows the reason clause, which keeps its own polite or plain form; the result follows.Reasons & Sequence
Example: さむいですから、まどを しめます。 — It's cold, so I'll close the window. -
Yamada-san will probably have gone home already — which ending expresses probability?〜でしょう — Plain form (or noun / な-adjective) + でしょう means probably; said with rising intonation it asks the listener to agree.Sentence Endings
Example: やまださんは もう うちに かえったでしょう。 — Yamada-san will probably have gone home already.
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About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Grammar points follow the patterns commonly listed for JLPT N5 (no official list exists since 2010); rules checked against Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese Grammar (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0), JMdict (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Kotobank (デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典). Reference only; all example sentences are original.
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