JLPT N5 Japanese Grammar Guide

Japanese grammar starts with a few small building blocks: how to say what something is, how verbs and adjectives change, and how particles hold a sentence together. At JLPT N5 level, those basics grow into useful Japanese for asking questions, talking about places, expressing what you want, and much more.

The lessons below explain how each grammar point works, with plenty of example sentences and exercises to help you practise what you’ve learned.

Build your first Japanese sentences

These patterns cover some of the foundations of Japanese: saying what something is, making sentences negative, and changing verbs and adjectives.

Particles: small words with big jobs

Particles show how words fit together in a Japanese sentence. They can mark the topic, subject, object, destination, location, and much more. If particles currently look like tiny pieces of chaos, our Japanese Particles Guide gives you a clear introduction.

Ask questions and point things out

Learn the basic words and patterns for asking who, what, when, and where—as well as pointing to the thing over here, the thing over there, or the thing whose name you have temporarily forgotten.

Talk about places, movement, and change

Say that something exists, explain where it is, talk about going somewhere for a reason, or describe how something becomes different.

Say what you want, like, give, and receive

Talk about things you want to do, things you like, and the sometimes surprisingly complicated business of giving someone a gift in Japanese.

Do more with the て-form

The て-form appears everywhere in beginner Japanese. It helps you describe actions in progress, make requests, ask permission, explain what happens next, and connect several useful patterns.

Build sentences with the ない-form

The plain negative form lets you say that you don’t do something. It also becomes the base for requests, rules, and expressions such as “without doing,” “don’t have to,” and “must do.”