Vocabulary (JLPT N4)

800 words · 40 sets · CC BY-SA 4.0 · EN

The words after N5 — none of these is on the N5 list, and the build refuses any that is, so printing both levels is each word once. Forty sets of twenty: the feelings N5 never named, the verbs that come in transitive/intransitive pairs (壊す/壊れる, 増える/減る), two sheets of adverbs, the giving-and-receiving verbs, and the set phrases of a working day. Each set is two printed pages — study, then recall in both directions — and page 1 is page 2's answer key.

Use it alongside N4 kanji (level E) and N4 grammar (level F). The kanji forms here are the ones an adult would write; readings carry you where the kanji is not yet yours; the N4 reading passages use these words in context. The whole 800 on one page if you want to search it.

Full list, all 800 words → Sets print at two pages each; the list is one long page.

Print a set that belongs together

W1 People and roles · 20 息子・娘・祖父・祖母・親・赤ちゃん・男性・… The family words N5 left out, and the people you deal with in a shop, a hospital, a company and on the street. W2 Body and illness · 20 血・骨・指・首・腕・喉・胸・… The parts of the body N5 skipped, and what you say at a clinic when something hurts. W3 Feelings · 20 嬉しい・悲しい・寂しい・恥ずかしい・怖い・眠い・残念・… Happy, sad, lonely, scared, embarrassed — and the verbs for crying, laughing and getting angry. W4 Verbs 1: around the house · 20 片付ける・準備する・用意する・手伝う・捨てる・拾う・探す・… Tidy up, get ready, throw away, look for, find, break, fix — the verbs of an ordinary evening at home. W5 Verbs 2: thinking and telling · 20 思う・考える・決める・決まる・選ぶ・比べる・調べる・… Think, decide, choose, explain, remember, tell — the verbs that carry an opinion. W6 Giving and receiving · 20 あげる・くれる・もらう・差し上げる・下さる・いただく・やる・… The seven verbs Japanese uses for one English verb, and the nouns that go with them. W7 Verbs 3: going places · 20 通う・寄る・戻る・進む・通る・出発する・到着する・… Commute, drop by, go back, hurry, be late, make it in time — the verbs between here and there. W8 Work and the office · 20 事務所・工場・会場・受付・名刺・書類・資料・… The nouns of a working life — the meeting room, the business card, overtime, the trip, the pay. W9 School subjects and study · 20 教育・科学・数学・歴史・地理・文学・経済・… History, science, economics — the subjects — and the words a language class runs on: grammar, pronunciation, review. W10 House and building · 20 壁・床・天井・屋根・屋上・廊下・門・… Walls, floors, ceilings, the futon and the drawer — the parts of a Japanese home a beginner has to point at. W11 Clothes and shopping · 20 スーツ・着物・下着・手袋・指輪・アクセサリー・サンダル・… Suits, rings, gloves and the fabric they are made of, plus the shop words: price, goods, sale, free. W12 Cooking and taste · 20 味・味噌・醤油・米・豆・油・湯・… Boil, grill, warm up, cool down — and the words for how it tastes when you are done. W13 Places in and out of town · 20 都会・田舎・郊外・村・島・港・遊園地・… The city and the countryside, the museum and the shrine, the lake and the field — where things happen. W14 Roads and transport · 20 乗り物・急行・特急・普通・席・運転・事故・… Express and local trains, seats, the traffic light, the accident, the jam — and the words for front, back and inside. W15 Nature, weather, animals · 20 台風・地震・雷・嵐・霧・太陽・空気・… Typhoons, earthquakes and thunder; the sun, air and temperature; the animals on a farm. W16 Time words · 20 最近・最初・最後・今度・昔・将来・途中・… Recently, at first, in the end, this time, long ago, in future — and the holidays and dates the calendar is built on. W17 Adverbs 1: how much · 20 ほとんど・だいぶ・ずいぶん・なかなか・ちっとも・全然・必ず・… Mostly, quite, not at all, certainly, especially — the adverbs that set the volume on a sentence. W18 Adverbs 2: when and how · 20 急に・突然・やっと・とうとう・どんどん・ますます・たまに・… Suddenly, at last, more and more, occasionally, about time — the adverbs that say how things unfold. W19 な-adjectives · 20 安全・危険・丁寧・熱心・真面目・正直・複雑・… Safe and dangerous, polite, serious, complicated, free, necessary, special — the second twenty な-adjectives. W20 い-adjectives · 20 深い・浅い・細かい・苦しい・珍しい・正しい・厳しい・… Deep and shallow, strict and correct, rare, beautiful, terrible, familiar — the い-adjectives after the basic pairs. W21 Counters and amounts · 20 〜倍・〜番目・〜軒・〜杯・〜度・〜足・〜着・… The counters after the N5 ten, and the words for more than, less than, within, except, times, and a hundred million. W22 Talking and messages · 20 意見・冗談・嘘・秘密・噂・予約・注文・… Opinion, joke, lie, secret, reservation, order — the nouns of everyday communication. W23 Events and entertainment · 20 祭り・花見・結婚・結婚式・卒業式・展覧会・音楽会・… Festivals, weddings, concerts, exhibitions — and what is on TV, in the novel, in the manga. W24 Machines, and when things go wrong · 20 コンピューター・インターネット・メール・携帯電話・画面・機械・道具・… The computer, the air conditioner, the battery — and the fire, the thief and the police you hope not to need. W25 Money · 20 貯金・現金・札・小銭・料金・費用・税金・… Savings, cash, fees, tax, paying and being paid. W26 Verbs 4: things that change · 20 増える・減る・変わる・変える・上がる・下がる・上げる・… Increase and decrease, go up and down, begin and continue, gather, open and close — in transitive and intransitive pairs. W27 Verbs 5: living, growing, ending · 20 生きる・育つ・育てる・建てる・亡くなる・無くなる・無くす・… Live, grow, raise, build, be born and pass away, be enough, be finished — the verbs of a whole life. W28 Verbs 6: with other people · 20 別れる・付き合う・喧嘩する・助ける・世話する・断る・誘う・… Part, go out with, quarrel, help, refuse, invite, look after — the verbs that need two people. W29 Verbs 7: work and study · 20 辞める・学ぶ・試す・失敗する・成功する・頑張る・努力する・… Quit, attend, be absent, be late, try, fail, succeed, do your best — the verbs of showing up. W30 Society and the world · 20 世界・社会・文化・国際・戦争・平和・人口・… The world, society, culture, war and peace, population, the government — the nouns of the news. W31 Things and materials · 20 石・砂・土・ガラス・紙・プラスチック・金属・… Stone, sand, glass, paper and plastic; the box, the bag, the lid — the nouns for what things are made of and kept in. W32 Getting ready in the morning · 20 目が覚める・起こす・洗面所・剃る・化粧する・髪を切る・結ぶ・… Wake, shave, brush, put on make-up, get dressed — the ten minutes before you leave the house, as verbs and nouns. W33 Describing people · 20 性格・態度・様子・格好・美人・年齢・大人・… Character, appearance and manner — kind, cheerful, strict, quiet — and the nouns for a person's looks and age. W34 Errands · 20 用事・手続き・申込書・書き方・記入する・印鑑・サイン・… Sending a parcel, filling in a form, showing ID — the words on the counter at a post office, a bank or the city hall. W35 Sports and outdoors · 20 水泳・スキー・スケート・ジョギング・野球・柔道・釣り・… Swimming, skiing, jogging, camping — and winning, losing and practising. W36 Connectors · 20 しかし・けれども・それで・すると・それに・または・ところで・… However, therefore, besides, by the way, in other words — the words that make two sentences into a paragraph. W37 Question words and answers · 20 なぜ・どうやって・どのくらい・どんなに・何人・何度・何か・… Why, which one, how (formal), how many people — and the ways of saying yes, no and I'm not sure. W38 Set phrases for everyday situations · 20 お疲れ様でした・お先に失礼します・お世話になりました・お待たせしました・お邪魔します・失礼しました・遅れてすみません・… What to say on the phone, at a colleague's desk, when you are late, when someone sneezes — the twenty phrases after the N5 greetings. W39 Plans, hopes and abilities · 20 つもり・夢中・希望・夢・目的・目標・機会・… Intention, hope, dream, chance, effort, promise — the nouns that go with the N4 grammar for plans and possibility. W40 Sounds, light and the senses · 20 音・声を出す・騒ぐ・鳴る・鳴く・叫ぶ・騒音・… Voice and sound, light and shadow, smell and taste as verbs — and the adjectives for loud, quiet, bright and dim.

How the sets were chosen

Like the N5 list, this is a reconstruction — the JLPT publishes none — taking the words that appear on most published N4 lists and grouping them by what they are for rather than by alphabet. Verb pairs are kept on one sheet on purpose: 壊す and 壊れる learned a month apart are two words; learned side by side they are one idea with two handles.

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