Japanese, from not reading a single character
to passing JLPT N5.

Writing and sound

Kana かな

The umbrella word for hiragana and katakana together — the two phonetic scripts, as opposed to kanji. When the trainer's Kana tab says “208 characters”, that is both sets, including all the variants below.

Gojūon 五十音

“Fifty sounds” — the standard order of the kana chart, five vowels across by ten consonant rows down (あいうえお, かきくけこ, …). It is Japanese alphabetical order: dictionaries, indexes and class registers all use it, so learning the chart shape pays off beyond reading.

Dakuten 濁点　゛

Two small strokes added to a kana to voice its consonant — the difference between “k” and “g”. か ka → が ga, さ sa → ざ za, た ta → だ da, は ha → ば ba. No new shapes to learn, just a mark.

Handakuten 半濁点　゜

A small circle, used on one row only: は ha → ぱ pa. That is the whole rule.

Yōon 拗音

A kana from the -i column followed by a small ゃ ゅ ょ, fused into a single beat: き + ゃ = きゃ kya. Size matters — きゃ is one beat, きや is two, and びょういん (hospital) is not びよういん (hair salon).

Sokuon 促音　っ

A small っ that doubles the next consonant and holds a beat of silence: きって kitte (stamp) versus きて kite (come). Written smaller than a normal つ.

Okurigana 送り仮名

The hiragana tail hanging off a kanji that carries the grammar while the kanji carries the meaning: 飲む, 飲みます, 飲んで all share 飲 “drink”. This is why one kanji can appear in a dozen different-looking words.

Mora 拍

The beat Japanese rhythm is counted in. Each kana is one mora, including ん and the small っ, while a yōon pair is one. とうきょう is four beats, not two — which is why “Tokyo” said the English way sounds wrong to Japanese ears.

Reading kanji

On'yomi 音読み

The “sound reading” — an approximation of how the character was pronounced in Chinese when Japan borrowed it. Usually used when kanji are stacked together in a compound: 学生 gakusei (student), 電車 densha (train). The trainer prints it in katakana, as dictionaries do: ガク.

Kun'yomi 訓読み

The “meaning reading” — the native Japanese word that already existed for that idea, later written with the borrowed character. Usually used when a kanji stands alone or carries okurigana: 学ぶ manabu (to learn), 車 kuruma (car). Printed in hiragana: まな(ぶ), where the bracketed part is the okurigana.

The rule of thumb

Kanji glued to another kanji → on'yomi. Kanji alone, or with a hiragana tail → kun'yomi. It is a tendency, not a law, and there are common exceptions, but it will get you through most of N5. Do not drill readings in isolation — learn them inside real words, which is how the trainer presents them.

Kinds of word

Particle 助詞

A short marker placed after a word to state its job in the sentence. English uses word order and prepositions; Japanese uses these. The N5 set is small — は を に で へ と が も から まで — and choosing between them is the single most common way to lose marks, which is why there is a drill just for it.

Topic vs subject — は and が

The classic sticking point. は announces what you are talking about (“as for me…”) and often disappears in translation. が points at a specific subject and is required with あります／います, with 好き and 上手, and with question words as subject (誰が来ましたか). Fluent intuition takes months; at N5 those fixed rules carry you.

い-adjective い形容詞

An adjective ending in い that changes shape itself: 高い → 高くない → 高かった. It attaches straight to a noun (高い本) and never takes な. Watch for the trap: past tense is 高かったです, never 高いでした.

な-adjective な形容詞

An adjective that behaves like a noun. It needs な before a noun (静かな部屋) and conjugates the way です does (静かです / 静かじゃありません / 静かでした). Some end in い and still take な — きれい is the famous one — so the trainer tags every adjective with its type.

Counter 助数詞

A suffix you must attach when counting, chosen by the shape or nature of the thing: 三枚 (three flat things), 三人 (three people), 三本 (three long thin things). Closest English equivalent is “three sheets of paper” — except Japanese requires it every time.

Transitive and intransitive

A transitive verb does something to an object, marked with を: ドアを開ける “open the door”. An intransitive verb just happens, with no object: ドアが開く “the door opens”. Japanese has many near-identical pairs like this, and it reaches for the intransitive far more often than English does.

Verb groups

Every verb belongs to one of three groups, and the group decides how every form is built. The trainer tags each verb, and you should learn the tag alongside the word from day one — it is almost impossible to retrofit later.

う-verb godan · Group 1

The large, irregular-looking class. The final syllable shifts through the vowel rows as you conjugate: 飲む → 飲みます → 飲んで → 飲まない. “Godan” means “five rows”, referring to that shifting. Most verbs are these.

る-verb ichidan · Group 2

The easy class. Drop る, attach whatever you need: 食べる → 食べます → 食べて → 食べない. “Ichidan” means “one row” — nothing shifts.

Irregular

There are exactly two: する (to do) and 来る (to come). Every compound ending in する — 勉強する, 旅行する, 電話する — follows する, so learning one covers dozens.

You cannot always tell by looking

A verb ending in る is not automatically a る-verb. 帰る (to go home), 入る (to enter) and 走る (to run) all end in る but conjugate as う-verbs. This is why the group is part of the word, not a guess.

Verb forms

Dictionary form 辞書形

The form you would look up, and also the plain present tense: 飲む “drink / will drink”. Several grammar patterns attach here, such as 〜前に and 〜つもりです.

ます-form polite present

飲みます. The register you speak in with anyone who is not a close friend, and the default this course teaches first. Its family: 飲みません (don't), 飲みました (did), 飲みませんでした (didn't).

ます-stem 連用形

What is left when you strip ます off: 飲み. Not a usable sentence by itself, but a hook a lot of grammar hangs on — 〜たい (want to), 〜ながら (while), 〜に行く (go in order to).

て-form て形

飲んで. Not a tense at all — a connector, and the highest-value thing you will learn at N5. Requests (〜てください), actions in progress (〜ています), permission (〜てもいいです), prohibition and chaining events all attach to it. Drill it until it is automatic.

た-form plain past

飲んだ. Built by exactly the same rules as the て-form with た/だ instead of て/で, so learning one gives you the other free. Needed for 〜たことがあります (have done before) and 〜たあとで (after doing).

ない-form plain negative

飲まない “don't drink”. Leads to 〜ないでください (please don't) and 〜なければなりません (must).

Plain form vs polite form

Politeness is grammar in Japanese, not just vocabulary. Polite forms (ます・です) end sentences addressed to strangers, colleagues and anyone senior. Plain forms (dictionary・ない・た) are for close friends — but they are also grammatically required in the middle of longer sentences, before things like 〜と思います, 〜とき and 〜から. So you need both even if you only ever speak politely.

How the trainer talks

Spaced repetition

Showing you an item just before you would have forgotten it. Each correct answer pushes the next showing further out — one day, three, eight, three weeks — so your daily effort stays flat while the number of things you know climbs.

Review / new card

A review is something you have met before and now owe a repetition on. A new card is material you have never seen. Reviews always come first: skipping them undoes past work, whereas skipping new cards only delays future work.

Interval & leech

The interval is the gap until a card returns. A leech is an item you keep forgetting no matter how often it appears — the Stats tab lists these as “trouble spots”, because they usually need a different approach, not more repetitions.