Toward N4
N4Plain form, casual speech, and the grammar that turns careful textbook sentences into the way people talk.
13 lessons · about 90 minutes
Plain form, casual speech, and the grammar that turns careful textbook sentences into the way people talk.
- Plain form: everyday JapaneseThe ます form is polite. Plain form is the default everywhere else, and N4 is built on it.8m
- The た form and casual speechThe plain past, built exactly like the て form, plus how casual sentences drop their edges.7m
- Quoting, thinking, and describing nounsと思う, と言う, and relative clauses: the three things that let you build long sentences.8m
- Potential form: being able toOne conjugation that replaces "can", and changes which particle you use.6m
- Volitional: let’s, and intending toThe よう form: making suggestions, and stating what you plan to do.5m
- Conditionals: と, ば, たら, ならFour ways to say "if", and which one to reach for.9m
- Giving and receivingあげる, くれる and もらう: three verbs where English has two, and the difference is who benefits.7m
- Passive formBeing done to, including the uniquely Japanese "suffering passive".7m
- Causative formMaking and letting someone do something, and the polite request built from it.6m
- Transitive and intransitive pairsJapanese has two verbs where English has one: opening a door, and a door opening.7m
- Endings that do a lot of work〜ながら, 〜すぎる, 〜やすい, 〜にくい, 〜そう: small additions with big range.6m
- Keigo: a first look at polite speechThe honorific and humble forms you will hear every day in shops, offices and stations.7m
- N4 kanji: the next 200How the second batch differs from the first, and the highest-value characters in it.7m