JLPT N4 study guide

The entry point for the N4 study material in this knowledge base. N4 certifies the ability to understand basic Japanese: passages on familiar daily topics written in basic vocabulary and kanji, and daily-life conversations that are generally followable when spoken slowly (official ability summary on the JLPT N4 test page).

What the test looks like at N4

Official structure and pass conditions (details on the JLPT N4 test page and test format):

Test section	Time	Approximate items
Language Knowledge (Vocabulary)	25 min	35
Language Knowledge (Grammar)・Reading	55 min	25 grammar + 14 reading
Listening	35 min	28
Total	115 min	102

Pass: total ≥ 90/180, with Language Knowledge・Reading ≥ 38/120 and Listening ≥ 19/60.

The JLPT publishes no official vocabulary, kanji, or grammar lists — the study sets below are community targets. Question-type mechanics are explained on the question types overview.

Study material in this knowledge base

Page	What it covers
N4 vocabulary	634 headwords in 7 reviewable batches (Tanos PDF set, explicitly non-cumulative)
N4 kanji	the 166-character Tanos N4 set; readings taught through N4 example words, with curated essential readings where the word set does not cover a character
N4 grammar	a 132-pattern community compilation with original study notes, linked to the foundations
N4 reading expectations	what the N4 reading section assumes (3 item types, ≈14 items) and how the study material supports it
N4 listening expectations	what the N4 listening section assumes (4 item types, 28 items, audio played once) and how the study material supports it

Prerequisite: the N5 set

Tanos describes the N4 vocabulary and kanji lists as NON-CUMULATIVE — designed to exclude N5 material (though a few characters and two headwords do overlap in practice). N4 study therefore assumes the N5 study material: review the N5 vocabulary and N5 kanji pages alongside this level's material.

Language foundations the N4 material builds on

• Verb groups and conjugation — including the passive, causative, potential and volitional forms N4 patterns use
• Adjectives and the copula — い-adjective and な-adjective inflections, noun modification
• Core particles — particles across compound grammatical phrases
• Numbers, counters, dates and time — temporal spans, sequences, degrees
• Reading comprehension and listening comprehension — cross-level skills the passages and audio assume

Suggested route

1. Work through the vocabulary batches and the kanji page to build the word and character base (with the N5 set as prerequisite review).
2. Study the grammar page — the sentence patterns that carry passage logic and the spoken forms listening relies on.
3. Read the reading expectations and listening expectations pages as the test-expectation reference for N4.
4. Practise against the official item types using the sample questions with audio and the Official Practice Workbooks (Vol.1/Vol.2).

The next step after N4 is the N3 study guide, which builds cumulatively on the N4 and N5 material.