N5 Nouns List (Part 3) - Let’s Pass the JLPT!

Welcome to Part 3 of the N5 Nouns article collection. In this part, we will introduce nouns useful for travelling, understanding directions to places, and other good to know nouns. They total 115 that you need to know for the N5 level. 

Table of Contents

1. N5 Nouns List - Places
   1. General Places
   2. Names of Places
2. N5 Nouns List - Directions and Describing Placement
   1. 4 Cardinal Directions
   2. To Understand Directions
   3. For Object Placement Also
3. N5 Nouns List - Vehicles
4. N5 Nouns List - Other Nouns 
5. Example Simple Sentences at N5 Level

In this article, we have compiled 81 nouns for the places, directions, and vehicles category. How are they related? 

• Places : Destinations or Landmarks

• Directions : To understand or give directions to a place, to describe placement

• Vehicles : Transportation to places

Not just to pass the N5 test, these are practical words that are useful in everyday life as well as for travels.

N5 Nouns List - Places

General Places

General places, or types of places, to know. Many of these can be used as a suffix, for example:

•  ~駅 : 渋谷駅 (shibuya eki) - Shibuya Station

• ~橋 : 祖谷かずら橋 (iya kazura-bashi) 

• ~町 : 麹町 (koujimachi) 

• ~店 : 〇〇書店 (〇〇 shouten) - 〇〇 book shop

In some cases, the reading may change. 

Names of Places

Specific names of places that you should know at the N5 level. 

Note that Kanji in BOLD need to be memorised. 

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N5 Nouns List - Directions 

4 Cardinal Directions

You will need to remember the kanji for the 4 cardinal directions. 

The most common place to encounter them are at train stations to mark exits - “北口 (kitaguchi) - north exit”, “南口 (minamiguchi) - south exit”, and so on. 

To Understand Directions

Knowing how to ask for directions is one thing, but more importantly, you need to be able to understand them. From hereon are N5 vocabulary that will help with that, including key landmarks and objects that you should know. 

For Object Placement Also

Not just for directions, these are also used to describe object placement. 

For example, “つくえの上にねこがねています (tsukue no ue ni neko ga neteimasu) - a cat is sleeping on the table”. 

Note : At the N5 level, the kanji in BOLD need to be remembered. 

N5 Nouns List - Vehicles

The kanji in BOLD need to be remembered at this level. 

N5 Nouns List - Other Nouns 

This part is unrelated to the above. They are, unfortunately, nouns that do not belong in any of the other categories. There are 34 of them. 

These 4 are useful for describing things in certain situations. 

As for these, they are nouns for a variety of things that you need to know at the JLPT N5 level. As usual, the Kanji in BOLD need to be memorised. 

Example Simple Sentences at N5 Level

A quick lesson on how to put these nouns to good use. The words in BOLD are ones that you’ve learnt above. 

1. わたしの学校はえきの前にあります。
(watashi no gakkou wa eki no mae ni arimasu)
- My school is in front of the train station.

2. すみません、おてあらいはどこですか？
(sumimasen, otearai wa doko desuka?)
- Excuse me, where is the toilet? 

3. おてあらいは下のかいにあります。エスカレーターを降りたらすぐそこです。
(otearai wa shita no kai ni arimasu. esukareetaa wo oritara sugu soko desu.)
- The toilet is on the floor below. Ride the escalator down and it’s right there. 

4. わたしはじてんしゃで大学へ通います。
(watashi wa jitensha de daigaku he kayoimasu.)
- I commute to university by bicycle. 

5. しんかんせんははやいですね。
(shinkansen wa hayai desune.)
- The bullet train is so fast. 

6. お金がほしいです。
(okane ga hoshii desu.)
- I want money. 

7. このスカートはほかの色はありますか？
(kono sukaato wa hoka no iro wa arimasuka?)
- Is this skirt available in another colour? 

8. つぎは何がしたい？
(tsugi wa nani ga shitai?)
- What do you want to do next?