How many grammar points are in JLPT N4?
InputDojo covers 69 N4 grammar points, on top of the 59 at N5. As with every JLPT level there is no official figure — the test has published no syllabus since 2010. The defining change at N4 is not the count but the arrival of plain form, which most of the new patterns attach to.
Key figures
- N4 grammar points in InputDojo
- 69
- Cumulative with N5
- 128
- N4 vocabulary entries
- 349
Plain form is the whole level
N5 is conducted almost entirely in polite form, which lets you postpone learning that Japanese verbs have a dictionary form at all. N4 removes that shelter. Conditionals, quotation with と思う, relative clauses, ～たことがある, ～ようになる and most of the rest attach to plain form, so a learner who never drilled the plain conjugations meets them all at once here and concludes the level is much harder than it is. It is not harder; it is one prerequisite arriving late.
Where N4 grammar starts being about nuance
N5 patterns mostly have one meaning. At N4 the pairs begin: ～たら against ～ば against ～と, all three translated as if in English and none interchangeable; ～てしまう carrying both completion and regret. This is the first level where knowing the form is not the same as knowing when to reach for it, and where reading real sentences starts to outperform studying the list.
N4 is the last level with a clean list
Roughly seventy points is still small enough to enumerate and work through deliberately. From N3 upward the reconstructions diverge sharply and the sensible strategy shifts from covering a list to reading enough that the patterns arrive on their own. Treat N4 as the last level you can reasonably brute-force.
The pages behind these numbers
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between N5 and N4 grammar?
N5 is built on polite form and basic particles. N4 introduces plain form and everything that attaches to it — conditionals, quotation, relative clauses — which is why the jump feels larger than the point count suggests.
Can I skip N5 grammar and start at N4?
Not usefully. N4 patterns attach to N5 structures, so skipping leaves you decoding the base of every sentence before you reach the part being tested.
How many N4 grammar points appear on the actual exam?
A single sitting samples a fraction of them, and the sample changes each time. Preparing for the sample rather than the level is how people pass one sitting and fail the next.