N5 Grammar Cheat Sheet: は vs が, で vs に and the Rest

N5 grammar is mostly particles — small, one-syllable words that attach to a noun and tell you its job in the sentence. There are only about ten that do most of the work, and confusing two of them is the single most common beginner mistake.

The ten to master first

は vs が, the one that trips everyone up

は sets what the sentence is about; が identifies the specific thing doing the action. 猫は好きです (as for cats, [I] like [them] — a general statement about cats) and 猫が好きです (it's cats that [I] like — answering "what do you like?") are both grammatical, but they answer different implicit questions. When in doubt, use は for what's already known or being introduced as the topic, and が when you're pointing out something new or specific.

How to actually learn ten particles

1. Learn each one inside a full example sentence, not as an isolated translation — particles only make sense in context.
2. Drill は vs が and に vs で as explicit pairs, since the confusion is almost always between two similar-looking options, not a blank slate.
3. Read simple graded sentences daily and try to explain out loud why each particle was chosen — that active step sticks far better than passive recognition.

Once these ten feel automatic, N4 grammar builds directly on top of them with connectives and conditionals — see our N4 grammar guide for what comes next.