N4 · UNIT 7

Obligation ～なければ

Must, don't have to, and please don't, なければなりません, なくてもいいです, ないでください. The grammar of rules, duties, and deadlines, learned the honest way, Maria signs up for the JLPT.

About this unit

Every language needs a way to say must, and Japanese builds it, characteristically, out of a double negative: if-you-don't-do-it, it-won't-become. なければなりません sounds enormous, but a formula this common wears smooth fast, and its casual short form なきゃ is two syllables. Alongside it come the mercies: なくてもいい (you don't have to) and ないでください (please don't). The occasion is real: Maria and Mr. Tanaka sign up for December's JLPT.

～なければなりません～なくてもいいです～ないでください～なさい

語彙 · Vocabulary 36 words · 10 kanji

Read the words 語彙

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.

Word	Reading	Meaning
試験	しけん	exam
受けます	うけます	to take (an exam)
合格	ごうかく	passing (an exam)
合格します	ごうかくします	to pass (an exam)
落ちます	おちます	to fail (an exam); to fall
申し込みます	もうしこみます	to apply; to sign up
宿題	しゅくだい	homework
問題集	もんだいしゅう	workbook (of practice problems)
教室	きょうしつ	classroom
授業	じゅぎょう	class; lesson
教えます	おしえます	to teach; to tell
習います	ならいます	to learn (from someone)
覚えます	おぼえます	to memorize; to remember
忘れます	わすれます	to forget
復習	ふくしゅう	review (of learned material)
予習	よしゅう	preparation (for a lesson)
字	じ	character; letter; handwriting
文法	ぶんぽう	grammar
単語	たんご	vocabulary word
意味	いみ	meaning
説明	せつめい	explanation
説明します	せつめいします	to explain
間違えます	まちがえます	to make a mistake
直します	なおします	to correct; to fix
点	てん	points; score
ページ	ページ	page
鉛筆	えんぴつ	pencil
消しゴム	けしゴム	eraser
ノート	ノート	notebook
教科書	きょうかしょ	textbook
準備	じゅんび	preparation
準備します	じゅんびします	to prepare
頑張ります	がんばります	to do one's best
無理	むり	impossible; overdoing it
厳しい	きびしい	strict; severe
ずつ	ずつ	each; at a time

Learn the kanji 漢字

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.

勉

exertion

強

strong

問

question

題

topic; title

試

test; try

験

examine; effect

教

teach

室

room

習

learn

宿

lodge; home-

Read it in context 会話

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

An announcement in class, JLPT registration closes next week. Yamada-sensei lays out what passing N4 will take, and Maria does the math on her evenings.

やまだ

みなさん、十二月のJLPTをうけたい人は、来週までに、もうしこまなければなりませんよ。

Everyone, if you want to take December's JLPT, you must apply by next week.

マリア

私、N4をうけたいです！せんせい、何をべんきょうしなければなりませんか。

I want to take N4! Sensei, what do I have to study?

やまだ

まず、かんじですね。N4までのかんじを、ぜんぶおぼえなければなりません。

Kanji, first of all. You'll need to know all the kanji through N4.

マリア

ぜんぶですか……。毎日、何時間べんきょうしなければなりませんか。

All of them...? How many hours a day do I have to study?

やまだ

何時間でもいいですよ。でも、毎日しなければなりません。少しずつでいいんです。

Any number of hours is fine. But it must be every day. A little at a time is enough.

たなか

マリアさん、私もN4をうけますよ。いっしょにべんきょうしませんか。

Maria, I'm taking N4 too. Want to study together?

マリア

ぜひ！じゃあ、まいしゅう、としょかんでべんきょうしましょう。

Absolutely! Then let's study at the library every week.

やまだ

それから、試験の日は、じしょはつかえません。でも、しんぱいしなくてもいいですよ。問題は、ぜんぶ、ならったことばですから。

Also, no dictionaries on exam day. But don't worry: every question uses words you've learned.

マリア

わかりました。しゅくだいはありますか。

Got it. Is there homework?

やまだ

もちろん。この問題集の十ページまでです。あ、こたえを見ないでくださいね。

Of course. Through page ten of this workbook. Oh, and please don't look at the answers.

マリア

はい！がんばります！

Yes ma'am! I'll do my best!

Notice: しなければなりません is literally “if I don't do it, it won't become”, Japanese duty is a double negative. And hear the two reliefs: 心配しなくてもいいです (you don't HAVE to worry) and 見ないでください (please DON'T look). One removes an obligation; the other requests an absence.

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.

Import this unit's deck. Generate it with npm run content:deck, then import n4-unit7-deck.apkg into Anki or Migaku. (SRS connection status lives on your dashboard.)
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.
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.
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.

I've learned this unit's vocabulary deck to a 3 to 5 day review interval.

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.

～なければなりません

Must; have to. Take the ない-form, drop い, add ければなりません: 行かない→行かなければなりません. In speech it shrinks: なければ→なきゃ, so 行かなきゃ = gotta go.

来週までに、もうしこまなければなりません。

You must apply by next week.

もう帰らなきゃ。

I've gotta head home. (casual)

Note: Twin form: なくてはいけません, same meaning, shortened to なくちゃ. Both live on the ない-stem you built in N5-10. までに in the example is “by (a deadline)”, different from まで (until).

～なくてもいいです

Don't have to. ない-form, drop い, add くてもいいです: 来なくてもいいです, you don't need to come. The merciful mirror of なければなりません.

あしたは、早く来なくてもいいですよ。

You don't have to come early tomorrow.

ぜんぶおぼえなくてもいいです。

You don't have to memorize all of it.

Note: Literally “even if you don't do it, it's fine”, the ても you met in Unit 6, running on the negative. Answering しなければなりませんか with いいえ、しなくてもいいです is a complete, natural exchange.

～ないでください

Please don't: ない-form + でください. The polite negative request, the mirror of てください from N5-8.

こたえを見ないでください。

Please don't look at the answers.

ここでは、しゃしんをとらないでください。

Please don't take photos here.

Note: Softer than てはいけません (that's a rule; this is a request). Casual speech drops ください: 見ないで！ Adding んです context softens further: すみません、ここは入らないでくださいね.

～なさい

The gentle command: ます-stem + なさい. 食べなさい, べんきょうしなさい. The voice of parents, teachers, and exam instructions, authority with a warm coat on.

もう十一時ですよ。早くねなさい。

It's already eleven. Get to bed.

ただしいこたえをえらびなさい。

Choose the correct answer. (exam instructions)

Note: なさい flows downhill only, parent to child, teacher to student. You'll SAY it rarely but READ it on every test you ever take in Japan: 書きなさい, こたえなさい. Consider it JLPT survival vocabulary.

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.

Exam Country じゅけん

Japan takes tests the way other countries take national holidays, seriously, collectively, and with ritual. The word じゅけん (exam-taking) names a whole season of life: middle schoolers cramming for high school entrance exams, high schoolers for university, adults for an astonishing menagerie of certification tests. Bookstore chains devote whole floors to 問題集, workbooks, and evening cram schools (じゅく) light up every station district at 8 p.m. with uniformed students.

The rituals are half the charm. Before exams, students eat カツ丼, pork cutlet on rice, because カツ sounds like 勝つ, to win. They buy omamori charms at shrines dedicated to the god of scholarship, and hang wooden ema plaques inscribed with their target school. KitKats became the unofficial exam candy because きっと勝つ (surely win) sounds like キットカット in Tohoku dialect. Nestlé leaned in; exam-season packaging says がんばれ！

The JLPT itself, 日本語能力試験, runs twice a year, December and July, in Japan and 90+ countries. N4 is the level where the test starts believing you: it certifies you can follow daily conversation and read simple texts. Everything this course has taught you is in scope, nothing else is. The registration deadline in this unit's dialogue is real advice, by the way, JLPT seats in major cities routinely sell out the week registration opens.

Try it: Register for a real JLPT sitting, even if December feels far away. A date on the calendar converts なんとなく study into しなければならない study, and this unit just taught you exactly what that feels like in Japanese.

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

This week in the wild

Obligation grammar is the sound of school, work, and every rule posted on every wall in Japan. This week you eavesdrop on duty, and meet the JLPT's own voice.

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.

Sample a real JLPT question jlpt.jp, the official sample questions page (無料, no signup) Open the N4 sample questions and attempt three, cold. Notice the instruction verbs, えらびなさい, 書きなさい, this unit's なさい, running the whole show. Wrong answers cost nothing and teach the test's voice. You tried three real questions and recognized なさい in the instructions. School-anime rules hunt Any school-setting anime episode with Japanese subtitles School shows are obligation-grammar dense, teachers with なさい, students with なきゃ and なくちゃ. Catch three duty-shapes in one episode; note who says which form to whom. The politeness gradient IS the lesson. You caught なきゃ or なくちゃ in casual speech and matched it to its polite parent. Read the rules around you Photos of Japanese signs, search 日本注意書き, or any train/pool/park sign image Public signs run on this unit, 入らないでください, さわらないでください, けいたい電話はつかわないでください. Find three ないでください signs and decode what each forbids. Three signs, three prohibitions, all understood.

発話 · Speaking 8 ghost drills · say it out loud

Ghosting

The duty forms are long, that's exactly why they need mouth-drilling. Say them until なければなりません stops being seven syllables you count and becomes one word you mean. Then enjoy the short forms; you've earned them.

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.

来週までに、もうしこまなければなりません。

You must apply by next week.

毎日、少しずつべんきょうしなければなりません。

You have to study a little every day.

しんぱいしなくてもいいですよ。

You don't have to worry.

こたえを見ないでくださいね。

Please don't look at the answers, okay?

Say it in Japanese: I have to get up early tomorrow.

あした、早くおきなければなりません。

Hint: ない-form, drop い, + ければなりません.

Say it in Japanese: Gotta head home. (casual)

もう帰らなきゃ。

Hint: The two-syllable short form of なければ.

Say it in Japanese: You don't have to take off your shoes.

くつをぬがなくてもいいです。

Hint: The merciful mirror, なくてもいい.

Say it in Japanese: Please don't smoke here.

ここでたばこをすわないでください。

Hint: ない-form + でください.

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 form in hiragana, then check your answers.

（1）毎日、かんじをおぼえ（　　　　　）なりません。, “I must memorize kanji every day.”

（2）あした、六時におき（　　　　　　　　　　）。, “I have to get up at six.” (full polite form)

（3）もう行か（　　　）！, “Gotta go!” (casual)

（4）しんぱいし（　　　　）もいいですよ。, “You don't have to worry.”

（5）ここで、しゃしんをとら（　　　）ください。, “Please don't take photos here.”

（6）早くね（　　　）。, a parent, at 11 p.m.

（7）「試験」のよみかたは？（ひらがなで）

（8）「宿題」のよみかたは？（ひらがなで）

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