N5 · First steps
Kana, greetings, and the most useful words in the language — sequenced conversation-first, so you're saying real things from week one. This level is designed backwards from N4 Unit 1: finish it and the cooking lesson's assumed words are all yours.
Your N5 progress
Your path is saved on this device as you finish lessons.
Where N5 starts: kana
Nobody should hit an N5 lesson before they can sound out hiragana, so the track begins in thekana section: recognition first, real words from the lessons as your reading practice. Every kana there now has a 🔊 button — hear it, then say it.
Units, in order
Unit 1 · あいさつ Greetings ← start here
Say hello, say your name, and say what you like — your first real sentences in Japanese.
Say hello, say your name, and say what you like — your first real sentences in Japanese.
Unit 2 · すうじと じかん Numbers and Time ← start here
Count from one to ten, tell the time, and ask what time it is now — the numbers that run your day.
Count from one to ten, tell the time, and ask what time it is now — the numbers that run your day.
Still coming in N5
- Home and family
- Food basics — the words the N4 cooking lesson leans on
- Colors and describing things
- Going places
- Every day — and the bridge into N4
💬 Stuck on something? Tell Mimi
Feedback goes with the page you were on, so Mimi can find the exact spot. If it was one word or one line, name it below.