What are the "Unique" Grammar Points in N2 and N1?

Bunpro
#1

So, I’ve been on a bit of haitus from actually learning new things from Bunpro, as I’ve started to try more immersive techniques. I fully completed n5-n3 and halfway through N2, and i still keep up with my reviews, including vocabulary reviews. I am wondering, though, Whate are the unique grammar points in the more advanced levels.

By unique, I mean words and vocabulary that is not used in previous levels.

An example of something that I wouldn’t consider being unique would be something like つもりで or ようがない or even 以上に, where all the words can easily be implied and reasoned from previous levels or used vocabulary.

Unique would be grammar points like まい, および, とばかり where they have different meanings than the words normally used or different meanings than the lower level grammar one initially learns from, thus are harder to imply.

I intend to learn them all at some points, but at the same time, filtering down what could be “more important” for understanding, or harder concepts would be nice, as most of the n2/n1 appear to be just remixes of n5/n4/n3 grammar.

1 Like
#2

Gives me hope that I can complete them both in 45 days if I want)

#3

knowing the kanji, and having the kanji setting “on” on bunpro helps a lot with this, for example, に相違ない (にそういない) the kanji gives you all you need to know, but just seeing the hiragana, it can be confusing.

#4

Do you use “reading mode”?

#5

typically, I normally use it after a few days of doing the “type in” mode. So like until apprentice 3, then I’ll switch to reading mode. Though don’t take my advice for it, as I have a strange learning style to begin with. lol

#6

where do I find this setting?

#7

I just came across this function a few days ago and wondered if I should used it, because my main objective here is to “hardly learn everything and map topics in head so I can identify them all in texts”. It’s kinda feats my speedrun
Also, what is apprentice 3?

#8

I meant adept, lol.

I really do not remember, I set it up like a year ago, and now I cannot find the settings for it.

Also, can we get back on topic about the grammar question? lol

#9

Ye sorry)
I think this is necessary as well (filtering), because those points that are same are usually easy to grasp in context, and also they are easy to learn, and sometimes I get like 5 of them in one day, and 5 of absolutely new in another and then I have a lot of ghosts.

Maybe adding some sort of rating for “intuitivety” so person can search and learn unintuitive at first.
But it’s kind of vague sorting, that’s actually can be a hard task to solve.

#10

This is quite an interesting question and I think the answers you’ll get will depend on who you ask. Just to use an English example: Is the word “up” the same or different in the following phrases? Use up, tie up, finish up, give up, go up, upgrade, up end, end up. Some people may say it’s all the same and some may even say they’re all different. So in terms of words you already know being used again I’d say it’s personal feeling.

I terms of flat out new words there are probably a few (如何、如し、etc). They’re normally older or more formal versions of things you’ve seen before.

It is true that N1 stuff is generally much easier to remember, if you’re at that level and especially if you read, however I often see people say that this makes the higher level grammar “easier”. In my personal opinion this isn’t true since at N1 the thing you need to know is in what exact context to use certain phrases. Collocations and context become far more important at that level. This is the actual difficult part of N1 material, not remembering the words themselves. A big caveat is that if you never plan on taking the JLPT and if you don’t plan to go beyond casual everyday conversation for output then you can kind of ignore these nuances to a certain extent (not entirely) and just get enough of a grasp to comprehend the stuff when it comes up in media.

As for N2, I’d say it is vastly made up of everyday grammar still (a large chunk of N1 is also everyday stuff but not to the same extent). Mostly it is offering different fairly common ways to say the same things you’ve already seen. The contextual nuances are not as pronounced as they are for the N1 synonymous phrases and most the phrases have a broader set of contexts in which they’re used. N2 grammar is still very much “synonym hell” in the same way N3 generally is. It was for me anyway.

So I guess in conclusion my not so useful opinion is “it depends on the person”. As for practical advice, I used to go through the Bunpro grammar list periodically and bookmark any items I had seen before or that looked learnable with low resistance and then when I was ready to learn a new item I’d manually add them from my bookmarks list. This only works if you aren’t “learning ahead”, so to speak. You could also do the opposite and bookmark anything that looks totally incomprehensible and learn that first.

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#11

I agree with your analysis here, N1 IS easier to remember soley because it is stuff you’ve learned before, in a new context. and yeah, it’s far more about nuance. (oh nuance, even children’s light novels kill me in that regard)

Though that is also why I set clear criteria, like the lack of imply-niessness(? really no idea how i would say that, lol.)
like だろう is used in a lot of grammar points, and has a very good hint as to what it is in any of the relating grammar points. but then you get to things like どう you’ll see どうか, どうして, どうやら and others but you’ll get to かどうか where the meaning of the main grammar point is muddled to the point of no recognition. the others imply how or why, but かどうか implies something about “Whether or not” and used in a totally different way than that of the other “どう” grammar points. so this idea pops up even in different sections the jlpt ladder.

I’m aware that this is a very opinion based question, i just wanted to get a feel for what people find to be particularly tricky or a new concept to them in these levels, to kinda wade out “how important/how difficult is this specific grammar point.”