JLPT N5 & N4 Japanese Vocabulary — Complete Study Guide
Vocabulary is the foundation of Japanese fluency. The JLPT N5 exam tests roughly 800 words, while N4 adds another 1,500 words — bringing the total to around 2,300 items. This module covers all essential vocabulary with English meanings and Bengali translations, designed specifically for Bangladeshi learners aiming to work in Japan.
N5 Vocabulary — What to Expect
JLPT N5 vocabulary covers everyday life: greetings, family members, numbers, time expressions, common verbs (eat, drink, go, come, see, do), basic adjectives (big, small, good, bad, hot, cold), and simple nouns (school, office, station, hospital, restaurant). These words appear in listening dialogues, reading passages, and vocabulary questions.
Key N5 word categories: 家族 (family), 食べ物 (food), 乗り物 (transport), 場所 (places), 体 (body), 色 (colours), 曜日・月 (days and months), 天気 (weather), 職業 (jobs).
N4 Vocabulary — What Changes
N4 introduces more abstract vocabulary, compound verbs (〜始める, 〜続ける, 〜終わる), emotion words (心配, 楽しみ, 残念), and a wider range of workplace and social expressions. Reading comprehension passages become longer and more complex.
Also introduced at N4: the Irodori (いろどり) vocabulary set — vocabulary from the official Japanese government curriculum for people living and working in Japan. This includes words for visiting a hospital, understanding rental contracts, applying for residence cards, and communicating with teachers at a child's school.
Vocabulary Learning Strategies
- Spaced Repetition (SRS): Review words at increasing intervals — this module tracks your accuracy per word and boosts difficult items automatically.
- Context before isolation: Learn each word in an example sentence, not just as an isolated translation. Seeing 約束 in 約束を守る (keep a promise) makes it stick.
- Group by topic: Study all transport words together, then all job words together. The brain stores vocabulary in networks — topic clusters exploit that.
- Daily review: Even 15 minutes per day compounds dramatically. 20 new words + 30 review items per day = N5 complete in 6 weeks, N4 in 4 more months.
Workplace Vocabulary — Special Focus
Working in Japan requires vocabulary beyond the JLPT syllabus: 報告 (hōkoku — report), 連絡 (renraku — communication/notification), 相談 (sōdan — consultation), 確認 (kakunin — confirmation/verification), 締め切り (shimekiri — deadline), 残業 (zangyō — overtime). This module includes workplace vocabulary in both N4 and Irodori sets.
This module contains over 2,400 vocabulary items across N5, N4, and Irodori levels, with Bengali translations, English meanings, and example sentences.