What are the most useful N1 grammar points?

11 comments

1. Just read stuff you enjoy and you’ll encounter plenty. Whatever is useful to you is whatever you regularly encounter through natural immersion.

2. The most common one I saw so far was: とはいえ. Since finding it the first time and reading about it, I saw/heard it everywhere: dialog, newspaper article, novel whatever, in fact another two times the same day.

3. If you just want a list of N1 grammar so you can recognize them as grammatical structures later, you could go to Bunpro and check out the N1 deck. There are so many that are common that it would require a lot of effort for someone to make a whole new list for this.

4. Isn’t ってば N1? Probably a good one to remember.

5. After taking a look at the [Bunpro N1 grammar list](https://bunpro.jp/decks/lzqrdc/Bunpro-N1-Grammar), I have to agree with the others are saying. I feel like I see pretty much all of these all the time lol

   Though I can try to list out the ones I feel like I’ve personally seen the most often. If it means anything, I think about 75% of the list shows up in Rune Factory 5 alone.

   に到るまで

   たところで

   如く・如き・如し

   極まりない・極まる

   といえども

   きらいがある

   ならまだしも

   までもない

   となると・にもなると

   をいいことに

   如何

   にあって

   とは

   じゃあるまいし

   かたわら

   を皮切りに

   なり

   ともなく・ともなしに

   塗れ

   であれ

   とはいえ

   ならでは

   すら

   あっての

   ～たまでだ

   を経て

   の極み

   にしてみれば

   だの

   あくまでも

   べく

   ところを

   からある

   飽くまで

   が最後

   なりい

   Verb[passive]＋ままに

   たる

   をものともせず

   には当たらない

   を踏まえて

   ゆえに

   にとどまらず

   と思いきや

   どうにも

   ことだし

   たら～で

   まま（に）

   る～に～ない

   なくして（は）

   にかかっている

   ぐらいなら

   ってば・ったら

   でもなんでもない

   ぐるみで

   に至って・に至り

   がてら

   いかん～ず

   にも～ない

   い-Adj[く]＋もなんともない

   ないでもない

   もさることながら

   ものと思っていた

   はさておき・はさておいて

   折には

   とばかり（に）

   に至っても

   を兼ねて

   Verb[て]＋みせる

   相まって

   に足りない

   べからず

   んばかりに

   Adj限りだ

   はおろか

   めく・めいた

   にもほどがある

   まくる

   や否や

   次第です

   というところ

   ときたら

   びる

   としたところで

   ～ばこそ

   には及ばない

   ないまでも

   をよそに

   まじき

   ずじまい

   に言わせれば・に言わせると・に言わせたら

   ずくめ

   か早いか

   ならいざ知らず

   を禁じ得ない

   に堪えない

   始末だ

   ものなら

   それまでだ

   ずにはおかない

   を限りに

   ～て＋やる

   ただ～のみだ

   ものとする

   以前

   ときたら

   を前提にして

   ものとして

   並み

   に先駆けて

   を機に

6. Nearly all of them come up all the time. They are worth learning.

   I recommend this playlist:

   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLynCeSdpMqxCBtZzRikWkdbRGS9csjDYT

7. >What N1 grammar points do you encounter most often in whatever activities involving japanese you do?

   Going quickly through a list…

   * さ and わ as ending particles come up often enough in casual dialogue
   * べく being N1 is a perfect example of how flawed the system is – should be N4
   * ぶり is a less perfect but still decent example
   * まみれ is one of the first things I ever encountered when I started immersing but it’s not very common otherwise, which helps demonstrate the “your mileage may vary” element of these lists
   * およそ you have already covered – fairly common
   * でもあり／でもある is a good example of how arbitrary what is and is not “grammar” is – it’s just でも and ある
   * ことなしに and もので have the same problem as でもある
   * かつて you are going to come across eventually
   * ゆえに will come up
   * もしくは and すら don’t come up too often that I can think of, but they stand out to me as “must knows”

   >but wondering if I’m missing any points because of just not knowing that is a grammar thing

   Honestly I sort of doubt it. If you read something and you don’t get it then it should be fairly obvious and you can just look it up. Then you will discover it is “grammar” during that but try not to get too hung up on it. Some of the “grammar” is either puffed up (see でもある) or actually just a word (is およそ really worthy of being a “grammar point”?). That said to echo what others have said you should aim to learn most if not all of them eventually.

8. I think if any of them appeared significantly more often than other grammar points, they wouldn’t have been categorized as N1, but as one of the lower levels.

9. I hear と見られる quite often, and it’s really intuitive to understand.

10. Since learning　「旁」 かたがた, I’ve heard it occasionally watching the news. (Means “incidentally; at the same time; simultaneously”)
    edit: though it’s more common when you hear かたがた that they are actually saying “everybody” in sonkeigo 方々

11. Not many. But studying them can teach you to get into the logic of advanced J, which can be a struggle.