Common Japanese Words

Feb 27

japanese-words


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.

Japanese words list

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

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
Three san さん
Four shi
Five go
Six roku ろく
Seven shichi しち
Eight hachi はち
Nine ku
Ten juu じゅう
One hundred hyaku
One thousand sen せん
Ten thousand man まん
Time jikan じかん
~O’clock ji
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

214 comments

  1. Yukiko Kaneko /

    how would i know the japanese transLation of the numbers .. it is not stated there ! like how would you say 15 in japanese . yet you don’tlend examples ?

  2. the Japanese system for numbers is pretty simple. Once you get past ten you take ten and then add on the number you want. So 11 would be 10, 1. 24 would be 2, 10, 4.

    12-jyu+ni
    34-san+jyu+yon

    I hope that helps

  3. =japanese translation=
    11- ju ichi
    12- ju ni
    13- ju san
    14- ju shi
    15- ju go
    16- ju roku
    17- ju shichi
    18- ju hachi
    19- ju ku
    20- niju
    30- sanju
    40- shiju
    50- goju
    60- rokuju
    70- shichiju
    80- hachiju
    90- kuju
    100- hyaku

    ^^kima :)

  4. =korean translation=
    1- il
    2- ee
    3- sahm
    4- sah
    5- oh
    6- yuk
    7- chil
    ^^kima :)
    8- pal
    9- ku
    10- ship

  5. jyugo = 15 in nihongo :)

  6. Deema /

    Arigatou Gozaimasu ^_^
    I love Japan sooooo much =D

  7. i like to learn japanese so much ! because my cousins are japanese too

  8. xiaolin /

    nice i can learn some jeja

  9. pangga ramos /

    very nice…
    ..arigatou gozaimasu!

  10. thank you for this web site to try to learn at home. I have a son that married Japanese and they have a little girl and her mother speaks to her more japanase than English I’m 59 yrs old and an american and concerned that i may need to learn Japanese so I can understand my grand daughter. Looks very complicated. They live in Japan now and we talk on facebook eventho she writes English to me when she talks to her friends in Japan she writes in Japanese. Would love to be able to read it also. Thanks Regenia Morgan

  11. japanese translation
    1- ichi
    2- ni
    3- san
    4- shi
    5- go
    6- roku
    7- shichi
    8- hachi
    9- ku
    10- ju
    11- juichi
    12- juni
    13- jusan
    14- jushi
    15- jugo
    20- niju
    100- hyaku

    ^^kima

  12. korean translation in number
    1- il
    2- ee
    3- sahm
    4- sah
    5- oh
    6- yuk
    7- chil
    8- pal
    9- kyu
    10- ship
    ^^kima

  13. Nicole /

    THank you!! This really works! :D

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