Words are the building blocks of language. In order to have any type of conversation in Japanese, you will need to know a certain amount of Japanese words. The more Japanese words you know, the more you will be able to communicate. However, it’s not just the number of Japanese words that’s important, but also which ones.
When most people think of learning the Japanese language, they think of the years of hard work they will need to put in. The majority of people consider this hard work and the amount of time it will take to reach fluency, and decide it’s impossible. Having studied Japanese and language learning for over 9 years, I have heard quite a few people say they could never do it. However, learning a new language, even one like Japanese, isn’t as difficult and doesn’t take as long as most people think. In fact, with diligent study and the right materials, I believe someone can have a level of fluency within a matter of months.
The Japanese language has hundreds of thousands of words, but it is only a small fraction of those words that makes up the majority of both the spoken and written language. Since the written words and spoken words will be slightly different, and because most of your communication in Japanese will be spoken, the quickest way to gain fluency is to learn the most commonly spoken Japanese words and phrases.
The key is too choose the right materials. I have used literally dozens of Japanese books and most of them have one common problem, they are full of Japanese words and situational phrases that you don’t need to know. Most also focus too much on learning to say things a proper way. This is great for someone who wants to learn proper Japanese, but will slow down someone who wants to gain conversational fluency. Also, don’t be afraid to use use materials such as comic books, tv shows, and movies. The latter two not only allow you to learn commonly used Japanese words, but practice your listening as well.
Below I have created a short list of some of the most common and most helpful Japanese words. These are words that should definitely be in a Japanese learners vocabulary and will especially be helpful for someone planning to visit Japan. Note that this list is by no means comprehensive or complete, but should help you get around when you visit Japan. In addition to the words listed here, I highly recommend that you study as many common Japanese phrases as possible. Learning common Japanese phrases will help you to better communicate and also to put words in context.
You can also find a much larger list containing 1000+ Japanese words in a downloadable pdf format at the below link.
Common Japanese Words
| English | Japanese | Japanese |
| Me, I | watashi | わたし |
| Me, I (for males | boku | ぼく |
| Yes | hai | はい |
| No | iie | いいえ |
| What | nani | なに |
| Name | namae | なまえ |
| Nice to meet you | Hajimemashite | はじめまして |
| want to go to~ | ~ni ikitai | 〜に いきたい |
| want to eat~ | ~wo tabetai | 〜を たべたい |
| want to drink~ | ~wo nomitai | 〜を のみたい |
| water | omizu | おみず |
| can’t eat~ | ~wo taberarenai | 〜を たべられない |
| excuse me/sorry | sumimasen | すみません |
| thank you | arigatou gozaimasu | ありがとうございます |
| want to buy~ | ~wo kaitai | 〜を かいたい |
| want to see~ | ~wo mitai | 〜を みたい |
| sorry | gomen nasai | ごめん なさい |
| good morning | ohayougozaimasu | おはようございます |
| good afternoon | konnichi wa | こんにちは |
| good evening | konnban wa | こんばんは |
| how are you? | ogenki desu ka | おげんき です か |
| I’m fine | genki desu | げんき です |
| taxi | takushii | タクシー |
| hotel | hoteru | ホテル |
| train | densha | でんしゃ |
| station | eki | えき |
| hospital | byouin | びょういん |
| where is~ | ~wa doko | 〜は どこ |
| bathroom | otearai | おてあらい |
| ticket | kippu | きっぷ |
| money | okane | おかね |
| bank | ginkou | ぎんこう |
| police | keisatsu | けいさつ |
| How much? | ikura | いくら |
| plane | hikouki | ひこうき |
| foreigner | gaijin | がいじん |
| Japan | nihon | にほん |
| Japanese | nihonjin | p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; }
にほんじん |
| person | hito | ひと |
| hurts | itai | いたい |
25 Other Helpful Japanese Words
| noon | ohiru | おひる |
| morning | asa | あさ |
| evening | yoru | よる |
| meal | gohan | ごはん |
| play | asobu | あそぶ |
| listen | kiku | きく |
| expensive | takai | たかい |
| half | hanbun | はんぶん |
| cheap | yasui | やすい |
| room | heya | へや |
| art museum | bijutsukan | びじゅつかん |
| park | koen | こうえん |
| zoo | doubutsuen | どうぶつえん |
| express train | kaisoku | かいそく |
| subway | chikatetsu | ちかてつ |
| car | kuruma | くるま |
| close | chikai | ちかい |
| far | toi | とおい |
| tasty | oishii | おいしい |
| spacious | hiroi | ひろい |
| narrow | semai | せまい |
| warm | atatakai | あたたかい |
| cold | samui | さむい |
| bright | akarui | あかるい |
| dark | kurai | くらい |
Numbers and Time
| One | ichi | いち |
| Two | ni | に |
| Three | san | さん |
| Four | shi | し |
| Five | go | ご |
| Six | roku | ろく |
| Seven | shichi | しち |
| Eight | hachi | はち |
| Nine | ku | く |
| Ten | juu | じゅう |
| One hundred | hyaku | 百 |
| One thousand | sen | せん |
| Ten thousand | man | まん |
| Time | jikan | じかん |
| ~O’clock | ji | じ |
| Fall | aki | あき |
| Winter | fuyu | ふゆ |
| Spring | haru | はる |
| Summer | natsu | なつ |
| Monday | getsuyoubi | げつようび |
| Tuesday | kayoubi | かようび |
| Wednesday | suiyoubi | すいようび |
| Thursday | mokuyoubi | もくようび |
| Friday | kinyoubi | きんようび |
| Saturday | doyoubi | どようび |
| Sunday | nichiyoubi | にちようび |
| weekend | shuumatsu | しゅうまつ |
| vacation, rest | yasumi | やすみ |
Mjulx,
Thanks for your comment. I am glad this was helpful for you. There are a lot of ways to get to Japan (study, work, travel, etc). If you want it bad enough you will be able to find a way.
i want to speak japanese really bad know any books??
Michael,
Genki is still a pretty good book. Though I generally recommend something a little more interactive. You might check out some of the ads in the side. Also check out http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar
Thank you. This is pretty helpful when finding words in japanese and having the words in Japanese characters is nice too. Arigatou gozaimasu~! -right?-
Douitashimashite! I am glad the site has been useful for you.
Thanks to all the makers of this.It will really help me,cause my family will go to japan to have our vacation.so,thanks
BJ. I am glad that you found it useful. Have a great time in Japan, and please visit again to tell us all about your experience. Maybe you would be interested in writing a guest post about your experiences?
how do you say greetings from
i love this!! can you pleae add some jap. word? arigatou !!
if you want a fun as in interesting way of learning japanese and are an anime/manga fan, i highly reckomend “Kanji De Manga”, yeah it has cartoons to depict what your learning.
personally i like what this site has to offer, it’s like a refresher, would have been the same stuff i looked up before i hit the books. also watching anime in japanese with subtitles is a easy way to pick up on alot of common words/ pronounciation/ customs.
jaane.
please teach me more about Japanesse words arigatou gozaimasu
it will help me a lot..:)
Hi:
This is a great site. I love the word list. For me, a beginner, it will be so very useful. Thank you for having it. What is the difference between Kana and kanji? I am excited to begin to learn words and write the alphabet. Rosemary
Hi Rosemary,
I am very glad you are finding the site helpful. Kana is made up of two “alphabets” hiragana and katakana. These are basically simplified characters used for phonetics. Kanji are the more complex characters that were imported from the Chinese writing system.
arigatou gozaimasu
for the japanese terms you have given here
it helps me a lot because we have the subject
nihongo..
i really appreciate it…
i want to learn japanese so that i could understand everything in the dbz and naruto anime series manga and anime sound better with japanese
this is being a good realisation site for who r going to japan for a while visit. Thanku for making this site
cool ne ^^
i wanna know how to say thanks for the food :]
pls helpp