How many words do you need for JLPT N4?
About 1,500 words cumulative is the figure normally quoted for N4, roughly doubling N5. As at every level there is no official list — the JLPT withdrew its content specification in 2010. InputDojo covers 349 N4 entries beyond its 651 N5 entries.
Key figures
- Commonly cited N4 requirement
- ~1,500 words cumulative
- N4 entries in InputDojo
- 349
- Cumulative N5 + N4 in InputDojo
- 1000
The second thousand is harder than the first
N5 vocabulary is concrete and high-frequency: water, to eat, tomorrow. N4 moves into words that are common but abstract — 用意, 場合, 都合, 経験 — which are harder to anchor to an image and easier to confuse with each other. The same study effort produces noticeably less retention here, which catches people out.
Verbs start doubling up
N4 introduces many transitive and intransitive pairs: 開ける and 開く, 始める and 始まる, 出す and 出る. They look alike, mean nearly the same thing, and take different particles. Learning them as pairs in real sentences works; learning them as separate list entries produces a persistent low-level error that survives for years.
The pages behind these numbers
Frequently asked questions
How many kanji does N4 need?
Around 300 cumulative is the common estimate, again unofficial.
Is N4 vocabulary useful in daily life?
More than N5. N4 is roughly where you can follow the gist of simple conversation between native speakers rather than only speech directed at you.
How long from N5 to N4?
Commonly three to six months of steady study, driven mainly by vocabulary and kanji rather than grammar.