JLPT N4 Grammar List

Mastering ことがある (koto ga aru): Expressing Experience and Occasionality Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning To express a past life experience or to express that an action or state happens occasionally or sometimes. 🎯 Primary Function To categorize an event as either a past experience within one’s lifetime or a recurring, non-constant phenomenon. 📋 Grammar […]

Mastering ‘Koto’ (こと): The Versatile Nominalizer in Japanese Grammar Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “Koto” fundamentally means ‘thing’, ‘matter’, ‘fact’, or ‘abstract concept’. Its primary grammatical role is to function as a nominalizer, turning a preceding clause (verb, adjective, or sentence) into a noun phrase. 🎯 Primary Function Nominalizer (to convert clauses into noun

Mastering 頃 (koro) and ごろ (goro): Expressing Approximate Time in Japanese Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning An expression used to indicate an approximate time, point, or period; translates to “about,” “around,” “when,” or “the time of.” 🎯 Primary Function To make a time expression non-specific or approximate. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb Plain Form (present/past)

Mastering きっと (kitto): Expressing Certainty and Conviction in Japanese (JLPT N4) Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning Surely, certainly, definitely, without fail. 🎯 Primary Function To express the speaker’s strong conviction or high degree of certainty (near 100%) regarding an action, state, or event. 📋 Grammar Structure きっと + Verb (Plain or Polite Form) きっと

Mastering から作る (kara tsukuru): Indicating Material or Source Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “To make from,” “to be manufactured from,” or “to produce out of.” It indicates the source material or ingredient used to create a new product. 🎯 Primary Function To designate the original material or source ingredient from which something new is

Mastering the Japanese Particle かな (kana): Expressing Doubt and Wonder Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning I wonder if…, I guess…, perhaps. 🎯 Primary Function To convey personal speculation, doubt, or an internal question about a fact or possibility. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (Plain form) + かな I-Adjective (Plain form) + かな Na-Adjective (Stem) +

Mastering かもしれない (Kamoshirenai): The Japanese Grammar for Expressing Possibility Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “Maybe,” “might,” “perhaps,” or “it is possible that…” 🎯 Primary Function To express probability, possibility, or conjecture (low certainty). 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (plain form: dictionary, past, or negative) + かもしれない I-adjective (plain form) + かもしれない Na-adjective stem + だ

Mastering かしら (Kashira): Expressing Doubt and Wonder in Japanese Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “I wonder if…”, “I wonder whether…”, or “Perhaps…” 🎯 Primary Function To express internal doubt, speculation, or a gentle rhetorical question, adding a soft, often feminine, tone to the speech. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (plain form: dictionary, ta, nai) +

The Japanese Volitional Form (意向形): How to Express Intent and Suggestions

Mastering はずだ (hazu da): Expressing Certainty and Expectation in Japanese Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “It must be…”, “It is expected that…”, “It should be…” 🎯 Primary Function To express a speaker’s high conviction or certainty about a situation, relying on objective evidence, logic, or prior knowledge. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (Plain form: Vる,

Japanese Grammar: ～がする (ga suru) – Expressing Senses and Feelings Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning To perceive a sensation such as a smell, sound, taste, or physical/mental feeling. 🎯 Primary Function Expressing passive perception of senses and feelings. 📋 Grammar Structure Noun + がする i-Adjective + Noun + がする na-Adjective + Noun + がする

Mastering the Casual Question: Japanese Grammar 〜かい (kai) Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning An informal question particle used primarily in casual conversation. It functions as an informal, less polite version of 「か」. 🎯 Primary Function To transform a statement into an informal, casual question. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (Plain Form) + かい I-adjective (Plain

Mastering かどうか (Ka Dou Ka): The Essential Grammar for “Whether or Not” Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “Whether or not,” “if.” 🎯 Primary Function To turn a yes/no question into a noun clause that serves as the object or subject of the main verb in the sentence, expressing uncertainty or asking for verification. 📋

Mastering じゃないか (Janai ka): Confirmation, Realization, and Strong Assertion Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “Isn’t it…?”, “It is, right?”, or “See?” 🎯 Primary Function To express confirmation, realization, or a strong, sometimes rhetorical, assertion. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (Plain Form: Dictionary, た, ない, ている, etc.) + じゃないか い-adjective (Plain Form) + じゃないか な-adjective (Stem/Dictionary

Mastering Japanese Keigo: Understanding いたします (Itashimasu) – The Humble Form of します Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning The humble/modest form (謙譲語, Kenjōgo) of the verb します (shimasu), meaning “to do” or “to perform.” 🎯 Primary Function To express an action performed by the speaker (or the speaker’s in-group) while explicitly humbling oneself toward the

Master “いらっしゃる”: The Ultimate Guide to Honorific Japanese (Sonkeigo) Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning The honorific (Sonkeigo) form of three common verbs: いる (to be/exist, animate), 行く (to go), and 来る (to come). 🎯 Primary Function To show profound respect (Sonkeigo) to the subject of the sentence (the person performing the action), elevating their

Mastering 必要がある (Hitsuyō ga aru): Expressing Necessity in Japanese Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “There is a necessity/need for,” or “It is necessary to/must.” 🎯 Primary Function To state that an action, item, or condition is essential, required, or mandatory. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (Dictionary/Plain Form) + 必要がある Rarely used directly. Rephrase by turning

Analyzing the Japanese Grammar: はずがない (Hazu ga Nai) – It Can’t Be! Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning “It cannot be the case,” “It’s impossible that,” or “There is no way that.” 🎯 Primary Function To assert the logical impossibility of a situation or event with strong subjective confidence. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (plain form:

V-始める (V-Hajimeru): Mastering the Grammar for ‘To Start V-ing’ in Japanese Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning To begin (an action); to start V-ing. 🎯 Primary Function To form a compound verb indicating the initiation of the action described by the first verb. 📋 Grammar Structure Verb (Masu Stem) + 始める (はじめる) N/A (Verb pattern

ございます (Gozaimasu): The Highly Formal Way to Say “To Be” or “To Have” Meaning & Usage ✨ Basic Meaning A highly polite and formal equivalent of the existence verb あります (arimasu) or the copula です (desu). It means “to be,” “to exist,” or “to have.” 🎯 Primary Function To elevate the level of politeness (teineigo)