Open JLPT N4 reference

N4 grammar

Browse 114 N4 patterns by group. Every article comes from the same learning content used by the Kanakuma app.

114 N4 patterns

Every article repeats the guide from the app: meaning, formation, situations, notes and common mistakes.

Change and state

  1. 他動詞 / 自動詞 Detailed guide

    Transitive and intransitive verbs

    N4 · Change and state
  2. 他動詞 / 自動詞 状態 Detailed guide

    Verb pairs: state and result

    N4 · Change and state
  3. ようになる Detailed guide

    Come to be able to do

    N4 · Change and state
  4. くなる / になる Detailed guide

    Become, change into

    N4 · Change and state
  5. 〜てある Detailed guide

    Done on purpose and left that way

    N4 · Change and state
  6. 〜ていく Detailed guide

    Going on from now into the future

    N4 · Change and state
  7. 〜てくる Detailed guide

    Coming toward now, up to the present

    N4 · Change and state
  8. 〜がる/〜がっている Detailed guide

    Someone else visibly feels it

    N4 · Change and state
  9. Aくする/Aにする Detailed guide

    Make it different on purpose

    N4 · Change and state
  10. Nができます Detailed guide

    Reports that something has appeared or been completed

    N4 · Change and state

Reference, existence, and questions

  1. Nが見えます/聞こえます Detailed guide

    Describes what is naturally visible or audible

    N4 · Reference, existence, and questions

Experience and completion

  1. たことがあります Detailed guide

    Have done it before

    N4 · Experience and completion
  2. てみる Detailed guide

    Try doing it and see

    N4 · Experience and completion
  3. てしまう Detailed guide

    Finish it, or do it by accident

    N4 · Experience and completion
  4. 〜たり〜たりする Detailed guide

    Do this and that, among others

    N4 · Experience and completion
  5. Vます + 出す Detailed guide

    Suddenly start doing

    N4 · Experience and completion
  6. Vます + 始める Detailed guide

    Start doing

    N4 · Experience and completion
  7. V普通形 + こと Detailed guide

    An action turned into a noun

    N4 · Experience and completion
  8. Vます + 直す Detailed guide

    Do it over, correcting it

    N4 · Experience and completion
  9. Vます + 終わる Detailed guide

    Finish doing

    N4 · Experience and completion
  10. 〜ところだ Detailed guide

    About to, doing now, just did

    N4 · Experience and completion
  11. Vます + 続ける Detailed guide

    Keep doing

    N4 · Experience and completion
  12. V普通形 + のを/のは Detailed guide

    Turns an action into an object or sentence focus

    N4 · Experience and completion

Opinions and evidence

  1. と思います Detailed guide

    I think, in my opinion

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  2. かもしれません Detailed guide

    Might, may

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  3. そうです Detailed guide

    Looks like it, judging by sight

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  4. 〜そうだ(伝聞) Detailed guide

    I hear that, from someone else

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  5. 〜みたいだ Detailed guide

    Seems so, casual impression

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  6. 〜らしい Detailed guide

    Apparently, judging by hearsay

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  7. 〜はずだ Detailed guide

    Should be so, by logic

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  8. 〜わけではない Detailed guide

    It does not mean it is always so

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  9. 〜はずがない Detailed guide

    There is no way it is so

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  10. 〜かどうか Detailed guide

    An embedded yes-no question

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  11. 疑問詞 + か Detailed guide

    An embedded question: where, what, when

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  12. 〜ようだ Detailed guide

    A careful inference from signs

    N4 · Opinions and evidence
  13. 〜ような/〜ように Detailed guide

    Like this, in the same way as

    N4 · Opinions and evidence

Permission and obligation

  1. なければなりません Detailed guide

    Must, have to

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  2. 〜てもいい Detailed guide

    May, it is okay to

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  3. 〜てはいけない Detailed guide

    Must not, is not allowed

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  4. 〜ないといけない Detailed guide

    Have to do it, casual wording

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  5. 〜なくてもいい Detailed guide

    Do not have to do it

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  6. 〜ことができる Detailed guide

    Be able to do, formal wording

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  7. 〜させる Detailed guide

    Make or let someone do it

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  8. 〜られる(受身) Detailed guide

    The passive form

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  9. 可能形 Detailed guide

    Potential form: can do it

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  10. 疑問詞 + Vたらいいですか Detailed guide

    Asks for advice about the right action

    N4 · Permission and obligation
  11. 疑問詞 + Vばいいですか Detailed guide

    Asks for advice with the ば conditional

    N4 · Permission and obligation

Wishes, plans, and choices

  1. つもりです Detailed guide

    Intend to, mean to

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  2. 予定です Detailed guide

    Plan to, be scheduled to

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  3. ために Detailed guide

    For, in order to

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  4. 〜ことにする Detailed guide

    Decide to do it myself

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  5. 〜ことになる Detailed guide

    It has been decided for me

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  6. 〜ようにする Detailed guide

    Make a habit of doing

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  7. 〜ておく Detailed guide

    Do it in advance

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  8. 〜ように Detailed guide

    So that it turns out that way

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  9. 意向形 Detailed guide

    Let's do it; I will do it

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices
  10. V意向形 + と思う Detailed guide

    I think I will do it

    N4 · Wishes, plans, and choices

Quantity and comparison

  1. すぎる Detailed guide

    Too much, excessively

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  2. しか〜ない Detailed guide

    Only this, nothing else

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  3. 〜ばかり Detailed guide

    Just did, or does nothing but

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  4. 〜でも Detailed guide

    Even this, or at least this

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  5. 〜など Detailed guide

    And so on, such as

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  6. 〜より Detailed guide

    Than, compared with

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  7. 〜ほど Detailed guide

    So much that, to that degree

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  8. 〜やすい Detailed guide

    Easy to do

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  9. 〜にくい Detailed guide

    Hard because of the thing itself

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  10. あまり〜ない Detailed guide

    Not very, not often

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  11. 〜だけで Detailed guide

    Just this is enough

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  12. Vる必要がある Detailed guide

    There is a need to do it

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  13. 〜ほど〜ない Detailed guide

    Not as much as the other

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  14. Vます + づらい Detailed guide

    Hard to bring oneself to do it

    N4 · Quantity and comparison
  15. 〜ずつ Detailed guide

    So many each, bit by bit

    N4 · Quantity and comparison

Requests and communication

  1. ないでください Detailed guide

    Please do not do it

    N4 · Requests and communication
  2. ほうがいい Detailed guide

    Should, had better

    N4 · Requests and communication
  3. 〜させてください Detailed guide

    Please let me do it

    N4 · Requests and communication
  4. 〜てあげる Detailed guide

    Do something for someone

    N4 · Requests and communication
  5. 〜てくれる Detailed guide

    Someone does it for me

    N4 · Requests and communication
  6. 〜てもらう Detailed guide

    Have someone do it for me

    N4 · Requests and communication
  7. 〜と言う Detailed guide

    Say, be called

    N4 · Requests and communication
  8. Vます + なさい Detailed guide

    A firm instruction to do

    N4 · Requests and communication
  9. Vてほしい Detailed guide

    Want someone else to do it

    N4 · Requests and communication
  10. Vていただけませんか Detailed guide

    A very polite request

    N4 · Requests and communication
  11. V命令形 Detailed guide

    Gives a direct and forceful command

    N4 · Requests and communication
  12. Vる/Vないようにしてください Detailed guide

    Requests an action as an ongoing rule or habit

    N4 · Requests and communication
  13. いただく/くださる/やる・Vていただく等 Detailed guide

    Marks social status when giving or receiving a benefit

    N4 · Requests and communication
  14. Vてくださいませんか Detailed guide

    Makes a very polite request for an action

    N4 · Requests and communication
  15. Vさせていただけませんか Detailed guide

    Humbly asks permission to perform an action

    N4 · Requests and communication
  16. 尊敬V/おVになります/特別な尊敬語 Detailed guide

    Raises the status of the listener or senior's action

    N4 · Requests and communication
  17. おVします/ごNします/特別な謙譲語 Detailed guide

    Humbly describes one's action for a superior

    N4 · Requests and communication

Time and reason

  1. ながら Detailed guide

    Doing one thing while doing another

    N4 · Time and reason
  2. たあとで Detailed guide

    After something has finished

    N4 · Time and reason
  3. 前に Detailed guide

    Before doing

    N4 · Time and reason
  4. ので Detailed guide

    Because, a softer reason

    N4 · Time and reason
  5. 〜ことがある Detailed guide

    Sometimes it happens

    N4 · Time and reason
  6. 〜し〜し Detailed guide

    This and that: several reasons

    N4 · Time and reason
  7. 〜てから Detailed guide

    Only after this, then that

    N4 · Time and reason
  8. 〜あいだ Detailed guide

    The whole time something lasts

    N4 · Time and reason
  9. 〜あいだに Detailed guide

    A single moment within that span

    N4 · Time and reason
  10. 〜までに Detailed guide

    By the deadline

    N4 · Time and reason
  11. 〜のに Detailed guide

    Although, contrary to expectation

    N4 · Time and reason
  12. 〜とき Detailed guide

    When something happens

    N4 · Time and reason
  13. 〜たら Detailed guide

    If and when it happens

    N4 · Time and reason
  14. 〜と Detailed guide

    If A, then B always follows

    N4 · Time and reason
  15. 〜ば Detailed guide

    If: a condition and its result

    N4 · Time and reason
  16. 〜場合は Detailed guide

    In case this situation arises

    N4 · Time and reason
  17. 〜なら Detailed guide

    If that is the case

    N4 · Time and reason
  18. それで Detailed guide

    And so, as a result

    N4 · Time and reason
  19. それに Detailed guide

    What is more, another point

    N4 · Time and reason
  20. 〜ため(に) Detailed guide

    Because of: a formal reason

    N4 · Time and reason
  21. 〜て/で Detailed guide

    A cause expressed with the te-form

    N4 · Time and reason
  22. 〜ても Detailed guide

    Even if, the result is the same

    N4 · Time and reason
  23. 〜うちに Detailed guide

    While it lasts, before it changes

    N4 · Time and reason
  24. Vた/Nのとおりに Detailed guide

    Marks the model that an action follows

    N4 · Time and reason
  25. Vるのに/Nに使う・かかる Detailed guide

    Marks purpose and the resources an action requires

    N4 · Time and reason

See also: N5 grammar