This is the Forum for the N5 Grammar course:
From Level 10 onwards, the levels become much more difficult because of the spaces that are added into the sentences. The spaces mean that it won’t tell you right away when you’ve typed the right answer (unless you type the spaces, too); you have to hit “enter” to get any feedback. I’m not about to memorize where the spaces are, so this is a big problem with items that have more than one potentially correct answer.
Starting at Level 25 it gets even worse, because the sentences start having ideographic spaces and full stops together. I’m not sure exactly what the common factor is, but in some sentences with ideographic spaces and/or full stops, a right answer will be marked wrong if it leaves out the spaces and/or the full stop. (At first I thought it was if I leave out either two spaces or a space and a full stop, but there are sentences that were marked correct in spite of this, so I really don’t know what the exact cause is. Either way though, it would be solved by taking out the spaces and full stops.)
In some levels (I’m thinking especially of 25 and 27), the translations don’t give nearly enough context to know exactly which wording is expected:
- The answer for “Is this good?” is 「これでよいですか」, but 「これはいいですか」 would also make sense.
- The answer for “Take that, please” is 「あれを取ってください」, but 「それを取ってください」 would also make sense.
- The answer for “(I) bought it at that store over there” is 「あそこの店でそれを買いました」, but if you don’t remember what level the sentence is from, 「あの店でそれを買いました」 would also make sense.
- The answer for “Is it morning there?” is 「そちらは朝ですか」, but 「そこは朝ですか」 would also make sense.
(And of course, this is compounded by the aforementioned fact that it doesn’t automatically tell you when you’ve typed the right answer, because of the spaces.)
Up to now I felt like these issues weren’t worth bringing up, but just now I discovered that I’m going to have to skip Level 31 entirely, because the issue with the spaces means I would have to either “ignore” nearly all of the sentences, or memorize where the spaces are and worry about putting in the full stops. (Before today, I already had to ignore nearly half of the sentences in Levels 27 and 29, and I might have to ignore a decent chunk of the sentences in 33 and 35.)
First off, sorry for all the frustration the spaces have caused. I can totally understand how this can be a huge pain.
All answers should be marked correct without spaces and without periods. The spaces are there for the shown phrase, because well that is the format of the N5 and this is a course for N5 grammar. If there is one that is giving you fits please let me know. Keep in mind that I have to put in all permutations in order for it to be marked correct. With/without kanji and with or without some kanji, with or without periods (or full stops) etc… I have to put in about 10-12 different possibilities for the average sentence. For example, I just added all the variations for “Is this good?” I could think of, which ended up being about 20, and yes, I sometimes miss one. The Memrise interface is clunky at best. I apologize for that.
I don’t have time today, but I’ll audit the levels one by one and make sure nothing is missing. Needless to say, it will take some time, so please be patient.
SavannahJ,
I think I’ve fixed most of the obvious mistakes in the answers. Let me know if you are still having trouble getting correct answers. For best results, don’t use spaces and use periods if you can.
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All answers should be marked correct without spaces and without periods.
Rereading my post, I realize I could’ve been more clear: Answers only get marked wrong (despite being correct) if there are ideographic spaces and/or a full stop involved. If there are just regular spaces, the issue is that if I don’t type those spaces, it doesn’t automatically mark it right if I’ve typed the right answer. I have to hit the enter button to find out if it was right or not. It just creates a lot of uncertainty when there’s more than one way to answer the question. Without the spaces, I could just keep trying different variations until I got the right answer.
I understand if you want to leave the spaces in because you want to mimic the test format, but if you could change the ideographic spaces to regular spaces, and maybe take out the full stops, that alone would help a lot, as I believe that will prevent correct answers from being marked wrong.
For best results, don’t use spaces and use periods if you can.
I’ll try that, thank you!
Hi, I have also been having some trouble with the grammar course.
For level 27. “A small dirty room”
“小さくて汚いへやです” - incorrect
“小さくてきたないへやです” - correct
To me it feels like the use of kanji is random, even though both are N5 kanji. Obviously the solution would be to write in hiragana, but I have found questions that if written in hiragana still need exact spacing, which makes some questions impossible to answer unless I know which kanji it needs
Here is an example, as I was too scared to type the kanji and get it wrong, I decided to just write in hiragana. Yet writing in hiragana is expecting arbitrary spaces and periods! Even though what I wrote was 100% correct
And I can’t just add spaces because some of the other questions will make them wrong if I add spaces
E.g. The dog was energetic
そのいぬは げんきでした - incorrect
そのいぬはげんきでした - correct
Another one
Basically Talisha, what I try to do is add alts for each of the following:
- The whole sentence without spaces in hiragana
- The whole sentence without spaces in N5 kanji
- The whole sentence without spaces in full native kanji
- 1-3 without periods
Here’s what that looks like:
Ok, so this is in level 29, actually right?
I think the problem for this particular one is you used 汚, which is actually an N2 kanji, at least on most of the common lists I check. There isn’t an officially list, but I don’t think this would be at the N5 level. If you have a list that lists it as such, let me know.
I did add your sentence in there since I was in there anyway.
Generally speaking just don’t use spaces ever. You’ll have much better luck if you do. I don’t add any ‘Japanese’ spaces to any of the alts. Typing out all the possible alts and where to put spaces would be an absolute nightmare.
Memrise, when giving you feedback, only uses the main entry. The main entry does include ‘English’ spaces. This enables the sentence order tap tests on desktop and in the app. It also makes it a little more readable. And yes that is confusing, but an unfortunate weakness of the Memrise system.
So, moral of the story is don’t add spaces. It’s a bad habit to get into, anyway.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback. If you find any other issues, please let me know.
Hi, thanks for the advice. I totally understand what you mean by the memrise feedback only showing a single entry.
汚い was taught to me in your N5 vocab/readings course, so that is why I assumed it was N5
I have just finished a review session which I think is all the questions I have had some issue with. Basically I try and use 100% hiragana but I still run into some half kanji/half hiragana words in questions, plus some words that will not accept plain hiragana at all.
きれいなのをかいました
This gets marked incorrect unless I use 買いました
Start small
小さくはじめて - correct
ちいさくはじめて - incorrect
ちいさく はじめて - correct
That blue one is mine
そのあおいのはわたしのです - incorrect
そのあおいのは わたしのです - correct
Learn fast
はやくまなぶ - incorrect
はやく まなぶ - correct
Isn't this cake sweet and delicious
このケーキはあまくておいしいですね - incorrect
このケーキは あまくておいしいですね - correct
The following questions required "full" N5 Kanji,
which seems inconsistent to the others only needing hiragana
(I) like black tea
(I) don't read books
(I) eat breakfast
This is durable
(As for me) I understand Japanese
She isn't a teacher
Is this good?
これでよいですか
Just a question with this, not sure why で is used instead of は
Is that just a natural japanese way to say it or is there a rule
Hi, I posted earlier but I think the spam filter has removed my message.
I totally understand what you mean by the feedback and it makes sense, however there are still some questions that wont accept full hiragana without spaces. I have completed a review session and these were the words I had trouble with.
The fire got bigger (N4 word kaji btw)
（その）かじがおおきくなりました
(in The birds flew through the air, sono is needed)
Same thing with トイレはあちらあります, question states "the toilet"
It isn't clear when その is needed, not sure if this is an actual issue or just how it would sound better in japanese
That is a bakery
そこはパンやです would imply /there/ is a bakery, not /that/
I bought the pretty one
きれいなのをかいました - incorrect
きれいなのを かいました - correct
Start small
小さくはじめて - correct
ちいさくはじめて - incorrect
ちいさく はじめて - correct
That blue one is mine
そのあおいのはわたしのです - incorrect
そのあおいのは わたしのです - correct
Learn fast
はやくまなぶ - incorrect
はやく まなぶ - correct
Isn't this cake sweet and delicious
このケーキはあまくておいしいですね - incorrect
このケーキは あまくておいしいですね - correct
I left college
だいがくをでました - incorrect
だいがくを でました - correct
The following questions required "full" N5 Kanji,
which seems inconsistent to the others only needing hiragana
(I) like black tea
(I) don't read books
(I) eat breakfast
This is durable
(As for me) I understand Japanese
She isn't a teacher
(It) isn't raining. [polite]
Is this good?
これでよいですか
Just a question with this, not sure why で is used instead of は
Is that just a natural japanese way to say it or is there a rule
The fire got bigger.
The toilet is over there.
Have been corrected to accept その. It is not needed, but it is the strict translation of ‘the’.
That is a bakery.
Actually, そこはパンやです。 actually means ‘That ‘place’ is a bakery.’, so I corrected the prompt.
There is a bakery. → パンやがあります。
There is a bakery there. → そこにパンやがあります。
I bought the pretty one.
This should be fixed. I also added その for good measure.
Start small
That blue one is mine
Learn fast
Isn’t this cake sweet and delicious
I left college
Should be fixed
I’ll take a look at the rest later. It seems like Memrise doesn’t ignore spaces on the alts. Sorry about that.
I ended up fixing all of these. Please let me know if you have issues with any other ones. Thanks for the feedback!
Thank you so much, this is much easier
I have found quite a few more that would not accept only kana, I feel that the grammar should be done in kana for consistency, as I am learning kanji and vocabulary from your other courses.
(It) is a wallet. [casual, masculine]
pretty girl
The curry was expensive. [polite]
Who is coming? (e.g. to the party) [polite]
That isn't a hat. [casual]
This is durable. [casual, masculine]
(As for) Jack (he) is coming. (I don't know about other people.) [polite]
(It) isn't raining. [polite]
Jack (and only Jack) is coming. [polite]
The curry wasn't spicy. [casual]
(I) went to Kyoto.[casual]
(I) watched a movie.
Also for
Jenny is my big sister. (polite)
I feel like (my) should be shown as implied, as it only wants あね and not わたしのあね