N5
First steps
It starts with the writing: hiragana and katakana become second nature, and the first kanji for numbers, days and the bare essentials come with them.
Sentences are short and polite: what something is, what you have, what you do and when. The particles は, が, を, に and で already carry almost all of the grammar.
Script and the basic sentence12
Writing Japanese
4N5HiraganaForty-six signs that can write every sound of Japanese, and two small marks that nearly double them.N5KatakanaThe same sounds as hiragana in a sharper hand, used for loanwords, foreign names and emphasis.N5Kanji and their readingsCharacters that carry meaning, most with a native reading and a Chinese-derived one, and furigana to say which.N5Long vowels, small tsu and small ya, yu, yoIn Japanese a sound held for one beat longer is a different word, and the spelling shows every beat.
The basic sentence
8N5X は Y ですThe topic, then は, then what it is, then です.N5Questions with かAdd か to a statement, put the question word where the answer will go, and nothing else moves.N5Is not, was and was notじゃありません or ではありません for "is not", でした for "was", and the two put together for "was not".N5の between two nounsA の B: the B that belongs to, comes from or is a kind of A — always in that order.N5も: also, too, neitherも replaces は, が or を and adds "also"; も…も means "both", and with a negative "neither".N5This, that and whichこれ, それ, あれ and どれ stand alone; この, その, あの and どの need a noun after them.N5Here, there and whereここ, そこ, あそこ and どこ for places, こちら for the polite version, and positions built with の.N5There is: ある and いるある for things, いる for people and animals — and two word orders, depending on what is new.
Particles8
Particles
8N5は and が: topic and subjectは sets up what you are talking about; が picks out who or what does something or is somewhere.N5を: the object and the pathを marks what an action is done to — and the space a movement passes through or leaves.N5に: a point in time, a goal, a place of beingに points at a target: a moment, a destination, the place where something is, or the person who receives.N5で: where it happens, and with whatで marks where an action takes place, the means it uses, what something is made of, and a cause.N5へ for direction, と for and and withへ points the way; と joins a complete list of nouns or names the person you do something with.N5から and まで, and the deadline までにから is the starting point, まで the end point, and までに the deadline before which something happens.N5や, とか and など: lists that are not completeや and とか give examples from a longer list; など says "and so on".N5ね, よ and よね at the end of a sentenceね looks for agreement, よ tells the listener something new, and よね checks that you both know it.
Verbs and adjectives13
Verbs
4N5The three verb groupsEvery verb belongs to one of three groups, and the group decides every form it takes.N5The ます-formThe polite form of every verb, for habits, for now and for the future.N5Past, suggestions and invitations in ますChange the end of ます to talk about the past, to suggest and to invite.N5The te-formOne form that links verbs, asks politely and carries a dozen later patterns, built by rules that depend on the last kana.
Adjectives and adverbs
4N5i-adjectivesAn adjective that ends in い, goes straight before a noun and can end a sentence on its own.N5na-adjectivesAn adjective that behaves like a noun: な before a noun, だ or です at the end.N5Past and negative of adjectivesAn i-adjective changes its own ending; a na-adjective changes the だ or です after it.N5Comparing thingsA Japanese adjective has no comparative form: より, のほうが and いちばん do the work.
Using the te-form
3N5てください: asking someone to do somethingThe te-form plus ください asks someone to do something; ないでください asks them not to.N5ている: in progress, or the state that remainsている describes an action going on now, or the state that a finished change has left behind.N5てから and a chain of て: one thing after anotherA string of te-forms tells actions in order; てから insists that the second waits for the first.