N4 · UNIT 1

Wants & Plans

Your N4 journey opens with desire and intention. Say what you want (ほしい), what you want to do (たい), and what you're planning (つもり・予定), just in time for spring break.

About this unit

Welcome to N4. The training wheels start coming off here: two new steps appear in every unit from now on. Immersion sends you into real native Japanese, anime, websites, podcasts, with a specific, achievable mission. Speaking gets your mouth moving with ghost drills: listen, speak along, then speak alone. The grammar itself opens with wanting and planning, fittingly, since from this level on, what you do with Japanese is up to you.

語彙 · Vocabulary 36 words · 10 kanji

1

Read the words

Read straight down the list once, out loud if you can. Don't grind them here, the Anki deck at the bottom does the memorizing. Right now you only want the shapes and sounds to feel familiar.

WordReadingMeaning
travel; trip
to travel
traditional Japanese inn
hotel
reservation; booking
to reserve; to book
plan; schedule
intention
spring break
consecutive holidays; long weekend
souvenir (for others)
Buddhist temple
Shinto shrine
matcha; powdered green tea
airplane
bullet train
ticket
hot spring
to stay overnight
to depart
to arrive
wanted; desired (things)
something looked forward to
to consider; to think over
to (get to) know
work; job
to work
plan (worked out in detail)
camera
far
near; close
next time; this time
somewhere
something
and so; therefore
so; that's why
2

Learn the kanji

The 10 kanji for this unit. Tap any card to flip between its meaning and its readings, and say the reading aloud as it flips.

spring
beforehand
fixed; decided
journey
return home
think; feel
consider
know
serve; do
thing; matter
3

Read it in context

Everything above, working together. Read the conversation top to bottom, out loud. Every line is built only from words and kanji you have already met, so resist the English, tap a word only if you are truly stuck.

Show English

Spring break is almost here. After class, Maria, now comfortably conversational, and Mr. Tanaka compare their travel plans.

たなか
Maria, spring break is almost here. Do you have any plans?
マリア
Yes, I'm planning to go to Kyoto. I want to see old temples. And I also want to drink good matcha.
たなか
Nice. Kyoto has lots of temples. Will you stay at a hotel?
マリア
No, I want to stay at a traditional Japanese inn. So I've already made a reservation.
たなか
That was quick. For spring break, I'm scheduled to go back to my parents' house.
マリア
I see. Is your parents' house far away?
たなか
Yes, very far. That's why I'm flying home. I intend to buy lots of souvenirs.
マリア
I want to buy lots of souvenirs too. I can't wait for spring break!
Notice: たい attaches to the ます-stem, 行きます→行きたい, and then behaves exactly like an い-adjective. And watch the two futures: Maria's 行くつもりです is a firm intention in her head; Tanaka's 帰る予定です is a plan already on the calendar.
Stop, learn the vocabulary before the grammar

These units are short on purpose. The grammar only clicks when the words are already automatic, so front-load the deck here, and let spaced repetition do the memorizing while the lesson does the teaching.

  1. Import this unit's deck. Generate it with npm run content:deck, then import n4-unit1-deck.apkg into Anki or Migaku. (SRS connection status lives on your dashboard.)
  2. Learn all 36 words as new cards. Get through the whole deck in a sitting or two, you're aiming for recognition, not mastery yet.
  3. Review daily until every card reaches a 3–5 day interval. When the whole deck has settled at that spacing, the words are holding on their own and won't fight you during the grammar.
  4. Then come back. You'll read the patterns instead of decoding the words, and that's when a "small" unit actually soaks in.
Anki open with AnkiConnect? I can confirm the deck for you.

Tick the box above once the deck is soaking in, then the grammar unlocks.

文法 · Grammar 4 patterns

Take one pattern at a time. Read the rule, then read each example out loud until the shape feels obvious. The words should already be automatic from your deck, so all you are learning here is how they lock together.

Quick suggestion: write these patterns down by hand as you read them. It is the one habit that textbook learners and self-taught immersion learners both swear by, and a notebook is the cheapest memory upgrade there is. Not required, just recommended.
Want to do something: drop ます, add たい. The result conjugates like an い-adjective, たくないです (don't want to), たかったです (wanted to).
I want to go to Kyoto.
I don't want to eat anything today.
Note: With たい, the object often trades を for が: まっちゃが飲みたいです. Both are heard, but が puts the spotlight on the thing you crave. And たい is for YOUR wants, it sounds too direct when aimed at other people.
Want a THING (a noun). ほしい is an い-adjective too, so it conjugates the same way: ほしくないです, ほしかったです.
I want a new camera.
When I was a child, I wanted a dog.
Note: たい is for actions, ほしい is for things, and both are first-person only. For someone else's wants, Japanese switches to ほしがっています (she seems to want one). Just recognize that form for now; we'll build it later.
A firm intention, something you have decided to do. Plain form + つもりです; to intend NOT to do something, use the plain negative: 行かないつもりです.
I intend to go to Kyoto over spring break.
I don't intend to buy a car this year.
Note: つもり is strong, your mind is made up. For a soft wish, stay with ～たいです; for a booked arrangement, reach for 予定 below.
A schedule or arrangement, something already on the calendar. Nouns take の (旅行の予定), verbs attach in plain form (帰る予定です).
We're scheduled to depart at three.
A test is scheduled for next week.
Note: つもり lives in your head (intended); 予定 lives on the calendar (planned). 帰るつもりです, I mean to go home. 帰る予定です, the ticket is already booked.

文化 · Culture note

A short read on the world these words live in. Nothing to drill here, just the context that makes the grammar feel like something people actually say.

Golden Week, Obon & the Art of the Japanese Vacation

Japan vacations in unison. Golden Week, a run of national holidays from late April into early May, and Obon in mid-August send tens of millions of people onto the same trains, planes, and highways in the same few days. Shinkansen seats sell out weeks ahead, highway traffic reports become national news, and hotel prices double. This is why this unit's grammar earns its keep: nobody survives Golden Week without a 予定 and a よやく made well in advance.

The classic destination is a りょかん, a traditional inn, ideally one with an おんせん (hot spring). The rules are simple once you know them: shoes off at the entrance, wear the cotton robe provided, and wash and rinse yourself COMPLETELY at the sitting showers before entering the bath. The bath itself is for soaking, never for soap, and the small towel stays out of the water, fold it on your head like the locals do.

And you never come home empty-handed. おみやげ are not souvenirs for yourself, they're boxes of individually wrapped local sweets for coworkers, classmates, and neighbors. Every region has a famous specialty, every station sells them, and skipping the ritual reads as rude. Tanaka isn't being generous when he plans to buy たくさん, he's meeting an obligation everyone quietly tracks.

Try it: Next time you plan anything, dinner, a weekend, a trip, narrate it to yourself in Japanese: ～たいです for the wish, ～つもりです for the decision, ～予定です once it's booked. Grammar sticks fastest when it schedules your real life.

生教材 · Immersion 3 assignments · real Japanese, on rails

This week in the wild

Your first missions in the wild. This unit's grammar, たい, ほしい, つもり, 予定, is everywhere in real Japanese, because people never stop talking about what they want. You're not trying to understand everything; you're training your ear to catch these shapes in full-speed speech.

You will not understand everything, that is the point. Success is recognizing this unit's patterns in the wild, not full comprehension. Tick what you tried and move on.

発話 · Speaking 8 ghost drills · say it out loud

Ghosting

The ghost drills below are lines from this unit, plus prompts that make you build your own. Say everything out loud, travel plans are the single most common small-talk topic you will ever field in Japan, and this unit is your script.

Three passes per line: listen, speak along with the voice (that's the ghost), then speak alone. Out loud, whispering doesn't build the muscle. Prompt drills show English first: answer in Japanese before revealing.

I intend to go to Kyoto over spring break.
I want to see old temples. And I also want to drink good matcha.
I want to stay at a Japanese inn, so I already made a reservation.
I plan to buy lots of souvenirs.
Say it in Japanese: I want to drink matcha.
Hint: ます-stem + たい, object marked with が.
Say it in Japanese: I don't want to eat anything today.
Hint: たい conjugates like an い-adjective.
Say it in Japanese: I intend to go home at three.
Hint: Plain form + つもりです.
Say it in Japanese: I want a new camera.
Hint: Things take ほしい; actions take たい.

Audio uses your browser's Japanese voice. If you hear nothing, your system may need a Japanese voice installed, read the lines aloud from the text instead; the ghost pass still works.

練習 · Worksheet 8 exercises

Type each missing word in hiragana, then check your answers.

Check your answers to continue, it doesn't matter how many you miss.

Unit Quiz JLPT FORMAT

Pass mark 80% · instant explanations · passing unlocks the next unit