Japanese — JLPT N5

Reading the basic hiragana syllabary.

Everyday words every N5 learner needs.

The essential particles は, が, を, に, の.

The second kana syllabary, used for loanwords, foreign names and onomatopoeia — the shapes, the look-alikes, the long-vowel bar and the small tsu.

Counting in Japanese, the counters N5 expects, telling the time, days of the week and the irregular readings for days of the month.

The three verb groups and how to build the four forms N5 tests: polite masu, te-form, nai-form and plain past.

The two adjective classes, how each one conjugates for negative and past, and how to join two adjectives in one sentence.

Core N5 kanji with their on'yomi and kun'yomi readings, plus the everyday compounds each one appears in.

The set phrases (aisatsu) that N5 assumes you know on sight — greetings, apologies, and the fixed exchanges around meals, leaving home and coming back.

The N5 interrogatives — なに, だれ, どこ, いつ, どう and the どれ／どの／どんな family — together with the sentence frames they slot into.

The rest of the N5 kanji: the verb characters, the natural world, directions and the compounds each one turns up in.

Family terms and the humble/honorific split that trips learners up, the parts of the body, and how Japanese actually describes someone's appearance.