Free JLPT N5 textbook · with game audio

Japanese for JLPT N5

A complete beginner's course built straight from the Noun Town game: real dialogues you can listen to line by line, word lists with pictures and native audio, and the game's own learning tips — arranged into 19 chapters that follow the JLPT N5 syllabus. Where the game doesn't cover an N5 point, we wrote the missing piece and marked it clearly.

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19Chapters
84Game lessons with audio
774Playable words
80+N5 grammar points
Yellow = real game content: dialogues, audio, characters, word lists Cyan = extra material we wrote to complete JLPT N5 coverage

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1 Hiragana: The Sounds of Japanese Learn to read every sound in Japanese with the hiragana script, plus the pronunciation rules that trip up beginners. hiragana pronunciation long vowels 2 Katakana and Your First Kanji The script for foreign words, and how kanji work — including your very first characters. katakana kanji basics loanwords 3 Greetings and Introducing Yourself Say hello at any time of day and survive your first conversation — straight from the school lessons. greetings self-introduction politeness 4 Your First Sentences: です, は and Negation Build A-is-B sentences with です, mark topics with は, and say what something is not. です topic は negation 5 Asking Questions: か and Question Words Turn any sentence into a question, and master 何, 誰, どこ, いつ and どう. question か question words 6 This and That: こそあど and the Particle の Point at the world with これ・それ・あれ, and connect nouns with の at the bakery. こそあど の possession 7 Numbers and Counters Count from zero to ten thousand, then learn the counter words from the townhall lesson. numbers counters age 8 Days, Dates and Telling Time Days of the week, telling the time, and business hours at the cafe. days time から…まで 9 The Particle Toolbox: を, に, で, へ, と, も Six little words that hold every Japanese sentence together. 10 Verbs I: Groups and the ます Form The three verb groups and the polite present tense — drilled at the farm. verb groups ます form present tense 11 Verbs II: Past Tense and まだ Say what happened with ました, deny it with ませんでした — from the office lessons. past tense まだ 12 The て-Form and Polite Requests The most useful conjugation in Japanese: connecting actions and asking politely with ~てください. て-form requests 13 Existence and Location: あります and います Say what exists and where it is, and follow Bob's directions around the office. あります/います position words directions 14 い-Adjectives and Colors Describe the world with い-adjectives — practised on the street and at the zoo. い-adjectives colors conjugation 15 な-Adjectives The second family of adjectives, with its own conjugation rules — from the supermarket. な-adjectives conjugation 16 Comparing Things: より, のほうが and いちばん Say something is bigger, better or the best of all — street and zoo lessons. comparatives superlatives 17 Wants, Invitations, Ability and Reasons Say what you want with たい, invite people with ましょう, and give reasons with から. たい ましょう できる から 18 Real Life I: Shopping and Ordering Order food, ask prices and haggle — the bakery, cafe and clothes-shop lessons. shopping ordering ください 19 Real Life II: Weather, Health and People Weather small-talk at the farm, symptoms at the hospital, and jobs on the street. weather health jobs The N5 Coverage Map Every JLPT N5 area, the game content that teaches it, and the extras this textbook added. N5 syllabus game coverage What's Next: Towards N4 You finished N5 — recap checklist, exam facts, and a map of the road to JLPT N4. N5 recap N4 preview

Common questions

About this textbook and the JLPT N5 exam.

What is JLPT N5?

N5 is the first level of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. It covers roughly 800 words, about 100 kanji, and the core grammar needed for basic everyday conversations — exactly what this textbook teaches.

Is this Japanese textbook really free?

Yes. Every chapter, dialogue, audio clip and quiz is free in your browser. The textbook is built from the dialogues and vocabulary of Noun Town, the language-learning game — you do not need the game to use it.

Does the textbook have audio?

Yes — almost every dialogue line and vocabulary word has a play button using the native-speaker audio recorded for the Noun Town game. Tap the yellow play buttons as you read.

Do I need to know hiragana before starting?

No. Chapter 1 teaches hiragana from scratch, and every Japanese example includes romaji and furigana readings, which you can toggle off as your reading improves.

This textbook pairs with the Noun Town language-learning game — every dialogue links into a free browser lesson with a quiz, and every word links into the Japanese dictionary.