Top 3 Common Questions from

Japanese Learners

1. What are the 100 must-know Japanese words?

You're not going to be able to say everything you want to say with only 100 Japanese words,
but if you can learn these 100 words and understand how they're used, you'll be a long way
toward being able to communicate freely in Japanese.

Click Here to Listen to the Audio Pronunciation and Examples for Each Words

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# Word Kana Romaji English Class

1 週 しゅう shū week noun

2 する する suru do verb

3 使う つかう tsukau use verb

4 できる できる dekiru can verb

5 時計 とけい tokei clock noun

6 時 じ ji o'clock noun

7 分 ふん fun minute noun

8 時間 じかん jikan hour noun

9 秒 びょう byō second noun

10 カレンダー カレンダー karendā calendar noun

11 昨日 きのう kinō yesterday noun

12 明日 あした ashita tomorrow noun

13 年 とし toshi year noun

14 今日 きょう kyō today noun

15 小さい ちいさい chiisai small i-adjective

16 遠い とおい tōi far i-adjective

17 見る みる miru see verb

18 作る つくる tsukuru make verb

19 笑う わらう warau laugh verb

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20 来る くる kuru come verb

21 行く いく iku go verb

22 良い よい yoi good i-adjective

23 きれい きれい kirei Beautiful na-adjective

24 醜い みにくい minikui ugly i-adjective

25 難しい むずかしい muzukashii difficult i-adjective

26 簡単 かんたん kantan easy na-adjective

27 悪い わるい warui bad i-adjective

28 近い ちかい chikai near i-adjective

29 初めまして。 はじめまして。 Hajimemashite. Nice to meet you. expression

30 こんにちは。 こんにちは。 Konnichiwa. Hello. expression

31 おはよう。 おはよう。 Ohayō. Good morning. expression

32 こんにちは。 こんにちは。 Konnichiwa. Good afternoon. expression

33 こんばんは。 こんばんは。 Konbanwa. Good evening. expression

お休みなさ
34 おやすみなさい。 O-yasuminasai. Good night. expression
い。

お元気です
35 おげんきですか。 O-genki desu ka. How are you? expression
か。

36 ありがとう。 ありがとう。 Arigatō. Thank you! expression

37 いいえ。 いいえ。 Iie. No. expression

38 美味しい！ おいしい！ Oishii! Delicious! expression

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 Watashi wa
39 私は～です。 わたしは～です。 I'm...(name). expression
~desu.

40 さようなら。 さようなら。 Sayōnara. Goodbye. expression

41 はい。 はい。 Hai. Yes. expression

42 月曜日 げつようび getsu-yōbi Monday noun

43 火曜日 かようび ka-yōbi Tuesday noun

44 水曜日 すいようび sui-yōbi Wednesday noun

45 木曜日 もくようび moku-yōbi Thursday noun

46 金曜日 きんようび kin-yōbi Friday noun

47 土曜日 どようび do-yōbi Saturday noun

48 日曜日 にちようび nichi-yōbi Sunday noun

49 五月 ごがつ go-gatsu May noun

50 一月 いちがつ ichi-gatsu January noun

51 二月 にがつ ni-gatsu February noun

52 三月 さんがつ san-gatsu March noun

53 四月 しがつ shi-gatsu April noun

54 六月 ろくがつ roku-gatsu June noun

55 七月 しちがつ shichi-gatsu July noun

56 八月 はちがつ hachi-gatsu August noun

57 九月 くがつ ku-gatsu September noun

58 十月 じゅうがつ jū-gatsu October noun

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59 十一月 じゅういちがつ jūichi-gatsu November noun

60 十二月 じゅうにがつ jūni-gatsu December noun

61 零 れい rei zero noun

62 一 いち ichi one noun

63 二 に ni two noun

64 三 さん san three noun

65 四 し、よん shi/ yon four noun

66 五 ご go five noun

67 六 ろく roku six noun

68 七 しち、なな shichi/ nana seven noun

69 八 はち hachi eight noun

70 九 きゅう kyū nine noun

71 十 じゅう jū ten noun

72 コーヒー コーヒー kōhī coffee noun

73 ビール ビール bīru beer noun

74 茶 ちゃ cha tea noun

75 ワイン ワイン wain wine noun

76 水 みず mizu water noun

77 牛肉 ぎゅうにく gyū niku beef noun

78 豚肉 ぶたにく buta niku pork noun

79 鶏肉 とりにく tori niku chicken noun

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80 ラム肉 ラムにく ramu niku lamb noun

81 魚 さかな sakana fish noun

82 足 あし ashi foot noun

83 足 あし ashi leg noun

84 頭 あたま atama head noun

85 腕 うで ude arm noun

86 手 て te hand noun

87 指 ゆび yubi finger noun

88 体 からだ karada body noun

89 胃 い i stomach noun

90 背中 せなか senaka back noun

91 胸 むね mune chest noun

92 看護師 かんごし kangoshi nurse noun

93 従業員 じゅうぎょういん jūgyōin employee noun

94 警察官 けいさつかん keisatsukan police officer noun

95 料理人 りょうりにん ryōrinin cook noun

96 エンジニア エンジニア enjinia engineer noun

97 医者 いしゃ isha doctor noun

98 マネージャー マネージャー manējā manager noun

99 先生 せんせい sensei teacher noun

100 プログラマー プログラマー puroguramā programmer noun

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If you'd like to get the most out of this list, we recommend you to learn hiragana and
katakana in 10 days with our ​Kana video series​ available on our website.
This list of 100 Japanese words will get you through an untold number of situations,
problems, and feelings. Did you know that the 300 most frequently-used words represent
about 65% of all the words you’ll use on a regular basis. Make sure to ​check out our Japanese
word lists for everyday use​ and master the basics of Japanese language!

2. What are the 10 strategies to learn Japanese faster?

Learning Japanese is not such an easy task. Many methods, techniques and resources are out
there, and it’s difficult to find what suits you best. For you Japanese learner, we give you 10
proven simple learning strategies to help you boost your language skill in a fun easy way.

1. Listen and read along to understand Japanese better.

When you listen to any Japanese audio, try following along with a transcript of the
audio while listening. All of our audio and video lessons and accompanied by a lesson

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 transcript and lesson notes so that you don’t miss any point. Listen to the lesson, read
along with the transcript and get a better, deeper understanding of what you are
listening to.

2. Record your voice and compare your pronunciation with native Japanese
speakers.

3. Download dialog tracks and listen to the Japanese conversations.

4. Repeat the phrases that you hear out loud again and again.

5. Review old lessons to master them completely​.

Once you ​signed up at JapanesePod101​ for a Free Lifetime Account, and you will
receive weekly Throwback Thursday lessons – a free random lesson every Thursday,
sent directly to your email inbox.

6. Improve your listening skills by reviewing each line of the conversation with the
Line-by-Line Audio tool.

7. Stay motivated by tracking your learning progress with the Dashboard​ - Want a
guaranteed, step-by-step way to learn Japanese – without getting lost or wondering
what to learn next? We take you by the hand and guide you, lesson by lesson, until you
reach your Japanese goals.

8. Read lines slowly at first. Then re-read and increase your speed.

9. Set small and measurable learning goals with a deadline. ​- Need help setting up
your goals? ​Check out this list, of the top monthly goals our users set up for
themselves!

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 10. Try harder lessons to challenge yourself and improve faster​ - If our ​Absolute
Beginner lessons​ are too easy for you, try ​Beginner lessons​, ​Intermediate lessons​ and
even ​Advanced-level lessons​!

3. What are the particles any Japanese beginner should learn?

Most of Japanese learners are not found of particles and most teachers don’t make things
easier. If you have trouble keeping all the particles straight, this spotlight will explain them
and illuminate any Japanese beginner.

➔ は​ (wa) marks a topic, emphasizing what follows it as being specific to that topic.
There is no real equivalent in English, but people often say that “AはB” = “As for A, B”.
The “topic” is often the grammatical subject, but can be anything (including the

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 grammatical object, and sometimes the verb), and it may also follow some other
particles.

➔ が​ (ga) marks the grammatical subject of a sentence. It can also be used to join
sentences, like the word “but”, but that が is technically a different word.

➔ を​ (o) marks the grammatical object of a sentence.

➔ も​ (mo) functions as “also” in English. It can be used most places where you’d use は.
That means, when used, it replaces は and が (and usually を, although I’ve seen them
used together) and can follow some other particles directly.

➔ に​ (ni) indicates direction (and arrival of) of coming/going or giving/receiving verbs. It

usually means “to” (I.e. “I go to work”), but in the case of giving/receiving verbs, can
also mean “from”. In the case of passive verbs, it marks the grammatical agent,
making it the same as “by” in English. (i.e. “my wallet was stolen by my brother.” ) に
is also used to indicate the location of existence when combined with the verbs いる
or ある, making it the Japanese version of “at” (in some instances).

➔ へ​ (e) is basically the same as に, except it emphasizes direction over arrival. The main
difference is usage. へ is never used as “from”, “by”, “at”. In addition, the particle の
can follow the へ particle directly, whereas it cannot follow に.

➔ で​ (de) is used to indicate location of an action, so it also means “at”, but is not used
together with the verbs いる or ある.

➔ から​ (kara) indicates a temporal or spatial starting point. (”from”, “since” )

➔ まで​ (made) indicates a temporal or spatial finishing point. (”all the way to”, “until”)

➔ と​ (to) is used to join nouns together into an exhaustive list that functions as a single
noun. (”with”, “and”). It’s also the particle used to indicate a direct quote (from

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 someone’s mind or speech), functioning like quotation marks in English.

➔ や​ (ya) is used in the same way as the first sense of と, but the list is not exhaustive. It
means “such things as A, B, and C”.

➔ の​ (no) indicates possession (functioning like the English “apostrophe-S”), but can
also be used (before a copula) to give a reason for something (as in のです, のだ).
Similarly, it also functions as an indefinite pronoun. It is also one of the nominalizers,
converting verb phrases, etc. into noun phrases.

➔ ね​ is used at the end of sentences, basically in the same way as an English tag
question. Generally, if said with rising intonation, it indicates a request for
confirmation from the listener (i.e. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” ), whereas if it’s said
with falling intonation, it’s used as rhetorical device (i.e. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it.” )
Over-generalization, but a decent starting point.

➔ よ​ is used to add emphasis to a sentence, i.e. to strengthen one’s argument during a

debate.

You've got questions about life in Japan, Japanese culture, or any language questions you
don’t want to sift through textbooks for the answer? Don’t forget to ​Ask Risa​!

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