JLPT N4 Japanese Stories — Free Reading Practice
JLPT N4 stories are longer and bring in te-form, casual speech, conditionals, and chained verbs. The narratives start adding slight twists — family, hobbies, work, and school told with more nuance.
N47 pahinaSurprise - サプライズ
Matapos marinig ang kanyang roommate na umiiyak sa kabilang pader tungkol sa isang nakalimutang kaarawan, nagpasya si Towa na kailangan niyang gumawa ng isang bagay bago sumapit ang umaga.
N410 pahinaBansang Nagbebenta ng Makina
Isang Amerikano ang naglalakbay sa Hapon upang tuklasin ang laganap na mga vending machine at ang kultural na kahulugan ng mga ito.
N46 pahinaPan the Panda - パンダのパン
Nagsasanay si Pan the Panda ng martial arts sa Great Wall of China.
N47 pahinaMisteryosong Gubat - 神秘の森
Nakakita si Ken ng nakatagong templo sa kagubatan at isang kayamanang may mahirap na pagpapasya.
N49 pahinaAng Laban sa Sumo - 相撲の試合
Ang matinding paghahanda at pakikibaka ng isang sumo wrestler para sa tagumpay.
N410 pahinaPapuntang Mount Fuji - 富士山への旅
Natupad ang pangarap ng isang lalaki sa pag-akyat sa Bundok Fuji.
N410 pahinaDay at the Market - 市場での一日
Natagpuan ni Makoto ang kasiyahan at komunidad sa abalang lokal na pamilihan.
N410 pahinaEmma Pupunta sa Shibuya - エマ、渋谷へ行く
Dumating si Emma sa Hapon, at hinahanap niya ang daan patungong Shibuya.
What is JLPT N4? Lower-intermediate Japanese
JLPT N4 is the second official level — the point where you stop translating sentence-by-sentence and start reading in chunks. It corresponds to roughly 300 hours of study, or two semesters.
The N4 grammar shift is bigger than people expect. You leave the polite-only ます-form world and enter casual speech (食べる instead of 食べます), the all-important て-form (食べて, 行って, 見て) and its dozens of grammar uses, conditionals (~たら, ~ば, ~なら), and the ability to chain verbs ("go and eat", "eat while reading").
N4 stories reflect that. They run 600 to 800 Japanese characters across 7–10 pages — almost twice the length of N5 stories. Sentences get longer, characters talk to each other (sometimes politely, sometimes casually), and the narratives start adding slight twists. Family, hobbies, work, school — everything you'd discuss at an intermediate language exchange.
Mga study tip para sa N4
- Learn the te-form cold before you go deep on N4. Every other N4 grammar point builds on it (~ている, ~てから, ~てください, ~てもいい, ~てはいけない).
- Track casual vs. polite speech. When a character switches from です/ます to plain form, that's social information about the relationship.
- Sentence-mining beats flashcard cramming. Pick 5 sentences from each story, copy them out, and use those as your SRS items.
- Read with the English visible for the first 2–3 stories. Then cover it and only peek when stuck. The covered-translation method builds reading speed.
- Don't skip the descriptions of weather, food, or scenery. That vocabulary is exactly what shows up on the JLPT reading section.
Pagbasa ng N4 — madalas na tanong
I just passed N5. Can I jump straight into N4 stories?
Yes, but expect some friction in the first few. The grammar density doubles and the stories are nearly twice as long. Read with the translation visible the first couple of stories, then start covering it up.
How is N4 different from N5 in reading?
Three big shifts: (1) story length goes from 250–400 to 600–800 characters; (2) te-form conjugations everywhere — they're the spine of N4 grammar; (3) casual speech mixed in alongside polite, plus longer sentences with subordinate clauses (~から, ~ので, ~けど).
How long is an N4 story?
600–800 Japanese characters across 7–10 pages — about 8 to 12 minutes on the first read.
What grammar should I know to start?
The full N4 grammar list: te-form and its main uses (~ている, ~てから, ~てください, ~てもいい), plain vs. polite forms, conditionals (~たら, ~ば, ~なら), volitional (~う/~よう), potential (~られる), passive and causative basics.
When am I ready for N3?
When you can read an N4 story end-to-end without checking the translation, and you understand both the literal meaning and the nuance — who is speaking politely vs. casually, what mood the narrator is in. That usually takes 3–6 months at N4.
350+ kwento, native audio, tap-to-translate — nasa app
Ang libreng web library ay isang piniling slice. May 350+ unique graded stories ang Shinobi app, native audio sa bawat pahina, tap-to-translate sa bawat salita, JMDict dictionary lookups, at SRS review.