JLPT N4 Kanji

At the N5 level, the kanji that is introduced is very rudimentary.  You only need to know around 100 characters.  That doesn’t give you much to work with.  You learn most of the numbers you will need, which is the first thing you need to know in any language.  And there are few basic characters for  your family members, actions, and some adjectives.

But you are pretty limited with what you can do.  In some ways, it makes it difficult for you to read the passages on the test because they use so much hiragana. That was one of my problems when I took the test.  I had taken a more natural way of learning Japanese and hadn’t focused on learning only the kanji for my level.

Previously, you really couldn’t make much use of radicals because the kanji were so simple.  But now you can really start to use them to build mnemonics so that you can lock these characters in. It’s important to try to make your own mnemonics, too.  I’ve always found that if you struggle to build that connection it lasts a lot longer.

The N4 level has somewhere around ~300 kanji that you need to know.  After learning all the N4 kanji you will still have a hard time reading native Japanese material, but there will be some subject areas that you should be able to survive, like ordering at a restaurant.  These kanji cover a lot more areas, so there are a lot more groups to consider.

Adjectives

You have a lot more adjectives at this level.  For example, there are a lot of the common colors, and feelings that you can use to express yourself more.  You can talk about the weight of something (軽かるい, light) strength (強つよい, strong, 弱やわい, weak), and distance (近ちかい, close 遠とおい, far).
同　広　弱　強　悪　早　明　暑　暗　楽　短　自　重　赤　軽　近　遠　青　黒　特

Art

Okay, so not all of these kanji are directly related to art, but most have to do with creating something.  With the following kanji, you can talk about things like drawings (図ず, map or drawing), colors (色いろ), and characters (字じ).  Keep in mind ‘colors’ can sometimes take on the meaning of attractive.  For instance, 色いろっぽい can mean attractive or sexy.
図　字　文　映　写　歌　画　紙　色

Daily Life

Of course at this lower level of the test, you will be doing a lot of talking about daily life.  Using these kanji you can open things (開あく), cut things (切きる), and use things (使つかう).  There are also some more general use kanji like 事こと (thing, generally figurative), 物もの (thing, generally more concrete), and 質しつ (quality).  These are used in a variety of compounds like 食たべ物もの (food), 仕事しごと (work), or 質問しつもん (question).
乗　切　事　住　使　合　帰　始　引　持　有　服　止　歩　洗　集　開　走　起　質　台　物 着

Family

At the N5 level, you were introduced to a lot of the common family kanji, like 母 and 父.  At the N4 level, you will be able to expand your ability to write about other family members like your brothers (弟おとうと, 兄あに), your sisters (妹いもうと, 姉あね), as well as your parents (親おや).
兄　妹　姉　弟　族　親

Thoughts and Feelings

You will finally be able to write about thinking (思おもう) and considering (考かんがえる) as well as what you like (好すき).  There is also figurative heart (心こころ), which can also be used to talk about your figurative mind.  In English, we might say “heart and mind” as in “winning the hearts and minds of the people”.  However, in Japanese these two concepts are covered with one word – 心こころ.
好　心　思　意　正　考

Food

Are you hungry?  You can finally write about beef (牛ぎゅう) or other kinds of meat (肉にく).  There are also vegetables (菜さい) and the general words for food (飯めし), which often just means rice.  You can also grab some tea (茶ちゃ) to drink.  お茶ちゃ by itself, typically means green tea, whereas other kinds of tea add something to the front like Oolong tea – ウーロン茶ちゃ.
味　牛　肉　茶　菜　飯

Humans

Most of you reading this are probably human, so you’ll probably want to talk about yourself.  You can finally write I (私わたし) at the N4 level, as well as talk about some handy body parts like neck (首くび), head (頭あたま), and body (体からだ), which can also be used to talk about forms in general.  You can also write about your house (家いえ) and your dog (犬いぬ).
太　声　家　体　死　民　犬　病　私　頭　顔　首

Movement

This is a pretty general category that covers everything from actually moving (動うごく) to the counter for flights that is also used to refer to mail and packages (便びん).  You can also depart (発はつ), send things off (送おくる), make progress (進すすむ), transport something (運はこぶ), and commute to work (通かよう).  Notice that those last 4 kanji use the same kanji to the left.  In general, a lot of ‘motion’ kanji use this radical.  But, be careful 運うん can also mean luck.
便 旅 発 転 送 通 進 運 別 動

Nature

Most of the fundamental nature kanji was covered at the N5 level like weather.  But, you still see a few of the more complicated kanji.  For example, the material silver (銀ぎん), which is used in the compound for bank (銀行ぎんこう).  You have wind (風かぜ) as well as more elemental kanji like power, strength (力ちから) and light (光ひかり).
光 銀 野 音 風 鳥 力

Numbers

N4 doesn’t introduce any new kanji for numbers.  Most of them are covered at the N5 level.  But, the useful ‘than’ kanji is introduced.  This is used in compounds like 以上いじょう (and up, over) and 以下いか (and under).  Notice that these compounds include the number, so 6以上いじょう refers to numbers 6 and higher.  The exception is 以外いがい(except).  You can also borrow (貸かす) and lend (借かりる) at this level.
以 低 借 貸

Places

There are numerous new kanji introduced at this level for places.  You have urban places like 市し (city), 区く (district), 京きょう (capital), 町まち (town), and 村むら (village).  There are some rural places like 森もり (forest), 林はやし (woods), 田た (rice field), and 海うみ (sea).  There are also places inside, like 室しつ (room), and two kanji for halls 館かん (large building) and 堂どう (hall).  You can also talk about districts like prefectures (県けん), or divisions (部ぶ).
京　堂　場　区　市　屋　地　室　所　村　林　森　池　洋　海　漢　町　田　界　県　都　門　院　館

Prefixes and Suffixes

Finally at the N4 level, you learn non and un~ – 不ふ.  This is a handy kanji that gets put in front of some compounds to negate them.  For example, 不全ふぜん.  全ぜん means whole or complete.  Put 不ふ in front of it and you get not complete.  Another handy prefix is 真 (true, reality).  It shows up in compounds like photograph (写真しゃしん), lit. reflection, true.  But you can use it to mean pure or totally like 真まっ暗くら (totally black), or 真まん中なか (true center).
不 主 真 方 者

Time

At this level, you can write about the seasons – spring (春はる), summer (夏なつ), fall (秋あき), and winter (冬ふゆ).  Also, you can write about the past – 去.  Or you can write about how many times you do something – 回かい and 度ど.  What’s the difference?  回かい is used for things with clear beginnings and endings like chin-ups, championships, or button presses.  度ど is used more for things without clear beginnings or endings, like lives or conversations.  And you also get a few more handy times of day like night (夕ゆう) and morning (朝あさ).
去 回 元 冬 夏 代 世 夕 夜 寒 度 待 急 春 昼 曜 朝 秋 終

School

You can now teach (教おしえる) someone something.  Also, it’s important to learn (習ならう) and take tests (試験しけん).  It is also important to answer (答こたえる) problems (問題もんだい), and do research (研究けんきゅう).
教 医 知 理 研 究 答 問 題 習 英 薬 試 説 験 勉

Work

Almost everybody has to work (働はたらく).  You might have to make something (作つくる) like a product (品ひん).  Or maybe you sell (売うる) or you build buildings (建たてる).  Whatever you produce (産さん), I’m sure it has a use (用よう).
仕 作 品 働 員 工 売 建 料 業 注 用 産 計

Good Foundation

Once you have learned the JLPT N4 kanji, you have a good base of kanji.  At this level, you will probably start to get a feel for how kanji is used.  You might want to try reading some native material to see how much of it you can understand.  Good luck studying for the test!