100 Basic Japanese Vocabularies
We believe in learning the most important vocabularies first to start off your learning journey on the right foot. The list below contains 100 of the most frequently used Japanese vocabularies. For more vocabularies like that, check out our yellow vocabulary book towards the end of this page.
| English | Japanese |
|---|---|
| I | 私 (watashi) |
| you | あなた (anata) |
| he | 彼 (kare) |
| she | 彼女 (kanojo) |
| it | それ (sore) |
| we | 私達 (watashi tachi) |
| you | あなた達 (anata tachi) |
| they | 彼ら (kare ra) |
| what | 何 (nani) |
| who | 誰 (dare) |
| where | どこ (doko) |
| why | なぜ (naze) |
| how | どのように (dono yō ni) |
| which | どれ (dore) |
| when | いつ (itsu) |
| then | そして (soshite) |
| if | もし (moshi) |
| really | 本当に (hontō ni) |
| but | でも (de mo) |
| because | だから (da kara) |
| not | ではない (de wa nai) |
| this | これ (kore) |
| that | あれ (are) |
| all | 全て (subete) |
| or | 又は (mata wa) |
| and | と (to) |
| to know | 知る (shiru) |
| to think | 考える (kangaeru) |
| to come | 来る (kuru) |
| to put | 置く (oku) |
| to take | 取る (toru) |
| to find | 見つける (mitsukeru) |
| to listen | 聞く (kiku) |
| to work | 働く (hataraku) |
| to talk | 話す (hanasu) |
| to give | 与える (ataeru) |
| to like | 好む (konomu) |
| to help | 助ける (tasukeru) |
| to love | 愛する (aisuru) |
| to call | 電話する (denwa suru) |
| to wait | 待つ (matsu) |
| 0 | 零 (rei) |
| 1 | 一 (ichi) |
| 2 | 二 (ni) |
| 3 | 三 (san) |
| 4 | 四 (yon/shi) |
| 5 | 五 (go) |
| 6 | 六 (roku) |
| 7 | 七 (nana) |
| 8 | 八 (hachi) |
| 9 | 九 (kyū) |
| 10 | 十 (jū) |
| 11 | 十一 (jū ichi) |
| 12 | 十二 (jū ni) |
| 13 | 十三 (jū san) |
| 14 | 十四 (jū yon) |
| 15 | 十五 (jū go) |
| 16 | 十六 (jū roku) |
| 17 | 十七 (jū nana) |
| 18 | 十八 (jū hachi) |
| 19 | 十九 (jū kyū) |
| 20 | 二十 (nijū) |
| new | 新しい (atarashī) |
| old | 古い (furui) |
| few | 少ない (sukunai) |
| many | 多い (ōi) |
| wrong | 間違った (machigatta) |
| correct | 正しい (tadashī) |
| bad | 悪い (warui) |
| good | 良い (yoi) |
| happy | 嬉しい (ureshī) |
| short | 短い (mijikai) |
| long | 長い (nagai) |
| small | 小さい (chīsai) |
| big | 大きな (ōkina) |
| there | あそこ (asoko) |
| here | ここ (koko) |
| right | 右 (migi) |
| left | 左 (hidari) |
| beautiful | 美しい (utsukushī) |
| young | 若い (wakai) |
| old | 年寄り (toshiyori) |
| hello | こんにちは (konnichiwa) |
| ok | はい (hai) |
| of course | もちろん (mochiron) |
| bye bye | またね (mata ne) |
| good bye | さようなら (sayōnara) |
| excuse me | すみません (sumimasen) |
| sorry | ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) |
| thank you | ありがとうございます (arigatō gozaimasu) |
| please | お願いします (o negaishimasu) |
| now | 今 (ima) |
| hour | 時 (ji) |
| minute | 分 (bun) |
| second | 秒 (byō) |
| day | 日 (hi) |
| week | 週 (shū) |
| month | 月 (tsuki) |
| year | 年 (toshi) |
| evening | 夕方 (yūgata) |
Japanese Vocabulary Books
Learn Japanese - Quick / Easy / Efficient
This vocabulary book is a curated Japanese word frequency list with 2000 of the most common Japanese words and phrases. Following the Pareto principle (80/20 rule), this book is built to streamline the learning process by concentrating on the core words and sentence structures. The result is a unique book ideal for driven learners and language hackers.
Japanese Vocabulary Book
This Japanese vocabulary book contains more than 3000 words and phrases and is organized by topic to make it easier for you to pick what to learn first. It is well suited for learners of all levels who are looking for an extensive resource to improve their vocabulary or are interested in learning vocabularies in one particular area of interest.
Japanese Flashcards
Flashcardo is our new flashcard website which we will improve step by step over the coming months and years. If you want to get notified when we make major changes, please sign up using this link. To check out the flashcards, click on the link below.
1:1 Teaching
At Pinhok Languages we concentrate on vocabulary acquisition through vocabulary books and flashcards. To provide you with an additional option, we have partnered with italki where you can find language teachers for 1:1 online teaching at great rates. Click on our partner link here for extra credits after your first purchase!