N5 grammar lists are usually alphabetical, which is the least useful possible order. Here it is grouped by what each pattern does, so you can see the shape of the language instead of a vocabulary of symbols.
A note before the list: the JLPT has not published an official grammar syllabus since 2010. Every list you find, including this one, is reconstructed from past papers and textbook consensus. It's reliable in substance, but don't treat any single list as gospel.
Sentence skeletons
- AはBです — A is B. The fundamental frame.
- 〜ではありません / 〜じゃないです — negative.
- 〜でした / 〜ではありませんでした — past and past negative.
- 〜も — "also". 私も学生です。
- 〜か — question marker. No word order change, no rising intonation required.
- 〜ね / 〜よ — sentence-final particles: seeking agreement / asserting new information. Small words, enormous effect on how natural you sound.
Particles
The core of N5, and the part that rewards study most:
- は — topic. が — subject. The distinction that eats every beginner; dedicated guide here.
- を — direct object.
- に — destination, time, location of existence, indirect object.
- で — location of action, means, method.
- と — "and" (exhaustive), "with".
- や — "and" (non-exhaustive, "among others").
- の — possession and noun linking.
- へ — direction.
- から / まで — from / until.
- より — comparison.
If you learn nothing else at N5, learn the particles properly. They carry the grammatical work that word order does in English. Full particle guide.
Verb forms
- ます form — polite non-past; ません, ました, ませんでした for the rest of the grid.
- Dictionary form — the plain form you'll meet in dictionaries and casual speech.
- ない form — plain negative.
- て form — the connector. Used for requests (〜てください), progressive (〜ています), permission (〜てもいいです), and prohibition (〜てはいけません). Guide to the te-form.
- た form — plain past.
- 〜たいです — want to do.
- 〜ましょう / 〜ませんか — let's / shall we, invitations.
- 〜ことができます — can do.
The te-form is the highest-value item on this list. It unlocks a whole family of patterns at once. How conjugation works.
Adjectives
- い-adjectives and な-adjectives, including their negative and past forms (高い → 高くない → 高かった).
- 〜くて / 〜で — linking adjectives.
- 〜が、〜 — "but".
The two adjective classes conjugate differently and mixing them up is the most common N5 error. Full explanation.
Existence, quantity, and comparison
- あります / います — inanimate vs animate existence.
- Counters — 〜つ, 〜人, 〜枚, 〜本, and friends. Numbers and counters guide.
- AとBとどちらが〜ですか — which of two.
- 〜のほうが〜より — A is more X than B.
- いちばん — the most.
Question words
だれ, なに, どこ, いつ, どうして / なぜ, どう, どの, どれ, いくら, いくつ — plus the この/その/あの/どの demonstrative set.
The part lists don't tell you
You can memorize all of the above in a few weeks and still fail N5, because roughly half the exam is vocabulary and reading — and reading is vocabulary with extra steps. The N5 word list runs to around 800 words, and the grammar above is unusable without them.
The learners who struggle at N5 almost never struggle because they don't know 〜てもいいです. They struggle because they know the pattern and not the words filling it.
So: study the grammar from a textbook or a grammar site, and run vocabulary in parallel from day one. That's the split this guide recommends, and it's the half Cotobara handles — the N5 vocabulary set in frequency order, each word in a level-appropriate example sentence so you meet these grammar points in context rather than as rules. See also essential N5 vocabulary and how many words each level needs.
Start Cotobara for free — the N5 vocabulary that makes N5 grammar usable.