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N5 grammar

N5-level grammar points, each linking to an existing explanation on Tae Kim's guide, Imabi, or Tofugu. The explanations live on those sites; this page only indexes what each point is and where to read about it. See docs/sources for why these sources and not others.

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The copula and basic sentences

Attaches to nouns and na-adjectives to state what something is, in polite (です) or plain (だ) speech.

The polite speech style used with strangers, in business, and by default when starting out.

Particles

Marks the topic of the sentence, what the rest of the sentence is about.

Marks the grammatical subject of a sentence or clause.

Marks the direct object, the thing a verb acts on.

Marks where something exists, where something is headed, or a point in time.

Marks where an action takes place, or the means/method used to do something.

Connects nouns as a complete list, marks who you did something with, or introduces a quote.

Replaces は or が to mean "also" or "too" for the marked word.

Links two nouns, most commonly to show possession or description, similar to "of" or apostrophe-s.

Added to the end of a sentence to turn it into a question.

Adjectives

Adjectives ending in い that conjugate on their own, without needing です/だ to change tense.

Adjectives that behave like nouns and need な to directly modify a noun, and です/だ to state tense.

Verb basics and conjugation

How Japanese verbs are grouped (ru-verbs, u-verbs, irregular) and their base dictionary form.

The polite conjugated form used for present and future tense in polite speech.

A connecting verb form used to link actions in sequence, make requests, and build many other grammar patterns.

Puts a plain-form verb into the past tense.

Puts a plain-form verb into the negative.

Questions

The core question words: what, when, why, where, who.