JLPT N4 in 16 weeks

For after the N5 plan: sixteen weeks at thirty-five to forty-five minutes a day, and everything is here, free, in order. N4 is roughly twice N5 — 158 new kanji, 50 patterns, 800 words — and the passages stop being about you and start being notices, emails and adverts. That is the level at which Japanese begins to be useful, and the plan is built to get you reading those.

What the plan assumes

That N5 is done — you read both kana without thinking, know the 80 kanji, and can write です/ます sentences. If you cannot, go back; this plan does not repeat any of it. About 70 hours in all. The numbers are the site's own: 23 kanji units (18 sets plus their reviews), 12 grammar units (9 sets plus reviews), 40 vocabulary sets and 20 passages, all tickable on the course page.

The sixteen weeks

WeekFocusCourse unitsAlongsideMin / day
1 Kanji: time, body, food E1–E4 Vocabulary W1–W3 35
2 Kanji: colours, town, adjectives E5–E8 Vocabulary W4–W6 · Reading S1–S1 35
3 Kanji: opposites, counting, money E9–E12 Vocabulary W7–W9 · Reading S2–S2 35
4 Kanji: family, motion, school E13–E16 Vocabulary W10–W12 · Reading S3–S3 35
5 Kanji: talking, work, handling things E17–E20 Vocabulary W13–W15 · Reading S4–S4 40
6 Kanji: the last sets, and the reviews E21–E23 Vocabulary W16–W18 · Reading S5–S6 40
7 Grammar: plain forms and the て-form F1–F3 Vocabulary W19–W21 · Reading S7–S8 40
8 Grammar: comparison, limits, time clauses F4–F6 Vocabulary W22–W24 · Reading S9–S10 40
9 Grammar: conditionals, intention, change F7–F9 Vocabulary W25–W27 · Reading S11–S12 40
10 Grammar: connectors, guessing, and the reviews F10–F12 Vocabulary W28–W30 · Reading S13–S14 40
11 Vocabulary and reading — Vocabulary W31–W34 · Reading S15–S16 35
12 Vocabulary and reading — Vocabulary W35–W37 · Reading S17–S18 35
13 Vocabulary and reading — Vocabulary W38–W40 · Reading S19–S20 35
14 Recall: every vocabulary set, page 2 only — Print page 2 of all 40 N4 sets and do them cold 35
15 The list, and the kanji reviews again every E review Your list from week 14, on genkōyōshi, twice 35
16 Everything, timed every E and F review Reading S15–S20 again without the vocabulary box · the N5 reviews once, for pride 45

Week by week

Week 1 — Kanji: time, body, food. N4 kanji come faster than N5's because you already read the 80 that make up their compounds. Four units a week is the pace; the review unit in each stretch is the test.

Week 2 — Kanji: colours, town, adjectives. The first N4 passage is 200 characters and uses only what you have. Read it after the kanji, not before, and do question 4 in writing.

Week 3 — Kanji: opposites, counting, money. Opposites are the sheet to learn as pairs — 強/弱, 明/暗 — and to write as pairs on the review.

Week 4 — Kanji: family, motion, school. The verbs-of-motion set is the one that pays off first in reading: 帰る, 通る, 進む are in half the passages.

Week 5 — Kanji: talking, work, handling things. Work-and-business is eleven kanji on one sheet — the biggest set. Give it two days.

Week 6 — Kanji: the last sets, and the reviews. All 158 are behind you. Redo every E review in one sitting at the end of the week; under 80 % on any of them means that set again, not the review again.

Week 7 — Grammar: plain forms and the て-form. Plain forms are the hinge of N4 — everything after this (と思う, たら, かもしれない) attaches to them. Do not move on until you can produce the ない, た and dictionary forms of a verb you have never seen.

Week 8 — Grammar: comparison, limits, time clauses. The passages this week — the notice, the email — are written in exactly these patterns. Find each one in the text after you have done the sheet.

Week 9 — Grammar: conditionals, intention, change. たら, ば, と, なら: four conditionals, one sheet. Write one sentence of your own for each, on genkōyōshi, and keep them.

Week 10 — Grammar: connectors, guessing, and the reviews. そうだ, ようだ, かもしれない, はずだ — the guessing sheet is where N4 stops sounding like a textbook. Then the F reviews, cold.

Week 11 — Vocabulary and reading. The set phrases and the connectors. Band 3 passages are 300–400 characters; read the first sentence of each paragraph before the whole thing.

Week 12 — Vocabulary and reading. The job-interview passage is 480 characters — the longest on the site. If it takes ten minutes, that is the right speed.

Week 13 — Vocabulary and reading. Last sets, last passages. Then reread S1: it will feel like a children's book, which is the point.

Week 14 — Recall: every vocabulary set, page 2 only. Anything you cannot produce goes on a list. Expect 60–100 words; that list is next week.

Week 15 — The list, and the kanji reviews again. Write each missed word in a sentence, not alone. Then the kanji reviews, timed: under eight minutes each.

Week 16 — Everything, timed. A sample paper from the JLPT site in one sitting, with the clock. Then stop studying the day before the exam; there is nothing left to learn in an evening.

Where each thing lives

What this site does not have

Listening, as at N5, and it matters more here: N4 listening is real conversation at natural speed. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day from week 7 with the official JLPT sample audio or any beginner podcast. The plan also has no N4-level speaking or free writing beyond the "your turn" boxes on the reading sheets; a tutor or a language exchange once a week fills that, and is the single addition most worth making.

If sixteen weeks is too fast

Stretch weeks 1–10 to two weeks each and leave 11–16 as they are: the kanji and grammar are what take time to settle, and the vocabulary and reading go faster once they have. Do not skip week 14; producing words cold is the one thing this plan asks that a textbook does not, and it is the reason the reviews are numbered like units.

The N3 plan picks up exactly here: twenty-four weeks, 354 kanji, 136 patterns, 1,200 words, and texts printed the way Japanese is actually printed — without spaces.

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