100 Essential Japanese Words for Beginners (with Pronunciation)

Greetings & basics

16 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
hello	こんにちは	konnichiwa	interjection
goodbye	さようなら	sayounara	interjection
yes	はい	hai	interjection
no	いいえ	iie	interjection
please	お願いします	onegai shimasu	interjection
thank you	ありがとう	arigatou	interjection
sorry	ごめんなさい	gomennasai	interjection
and	と	to	conjunction
but	しかし	shikashi	conjunction
or	または	matawa	conjunction
because	なぜなら	nazenara	conjunction
here	ここ	koko	adverb
there	そこ	soko	adverb
always	いつも	itsumo	adverb
never	決して	kesshite	adverb
together	一緒に	issho ni	adverb

People & family

14 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
man	男性	dansei	noun
woman	女性	josei	noun
boy	男の子	otokonoko	noun
girl	女の子	onnanoko	noun
friend	友達	tomodachi	noun
mother	母	haha	noun
father	父	chichi	noun
brother	兄	ani	noun
sister	妹	imouto	noun
son	息子	musuko	noun
daughter	娘	musume	noun
child	子供	kodomo	noun
husband	夫	otto	noun
wife	妻	tsuma	noun

Everyday verbs

16 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
to be	だ	da	verb
to have	持つ	motsu	verb
to do	する	suru	verb
to go	行く	iku	verb
to come	来る	kuru	verb
to eat	食べる	taberu	verb
to drink	飲む	nomu	verb
to want	欲しい	hoshii	verb
to need	必要とする	hitsuyou to suru	verb
to know	知る	shiru	verb
to speak	話す	hanasu	verb
to read	読む	yomu	verb
to write	書く	kaku	verb
to listen	聴く	kiku	verb
to work	働く	hataraku	verb
to buy	買う	kau	verb

Describing words

10 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
good	良い	yoi	adjective
bad	悪い	warui	adjective
new	新しい	atarashii	adjective
old	年老いた	toshioita	adjective
young	若い	wakai	adjective
tall	背が高い	se ga takai	adjective
short	背が低い	se ga hikui	adjective
nice	素敵な	suteki na	adjective
kind	親切な	shinsetsu na	adjective
shy	内気な	uchiki na	adjective

Colors

8 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
red	赤い	akai	adjective
blue	青い	aoi	adjective
green	緑の	midori no	adjective
yellow	黄色い	kiiroi	adjective
black	黒い	kuroi	adjective
white	白い	shiroi	adjective
orange	オレンジ	orenji	adjective
purple	紫の	murasaki no	adjective

Numbers

12 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
one	一	ichi	number
two	二	ni	number
three	三	san	number
four	四	yon	number
five	五	go	number
six	六	roku	number
seven	七	nana	number
eight	八	hachi	number
nine	九	kyuu	number
ten	十	juu	number
zero	ゼロ	zero	number
twenty	二十	nijuu	number

Time

10 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
today	今日	kyou	adverb
tomorrow	明日	ashita	adverb
yesterday	昨日	kinou	adverb
morning	朝	asa	noun
afternoon	午後	gogo	noun
evening	夕方	yuugata	noun
night	夜	yoru	noun
day	日	hi	noun
week	週	shuu	noun
month	月	tsuki	noun

Food & drink

10 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
water	水	mizu	noun
coffee	コーヒー	koohii	noun
tea	お茶	ocha	noun
milk	牛乳	gyuunyuu	noun
bread	パン	pan	noun
cheese	チーズ	chiizu	noun
fruit	果物	kudamono	noun
apple	りんご	ringo	noun
egg	卵	tamago	noun
rice	米	kome	noun

Home

4 words

English	Japanese	Pronunciation	Type
house	家	ie	noun
door	ドア	doa	noun
window	窓	mado	noun
bed	ベッド	beddo	noun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Japanese for beginners questions

What are the first Japanese words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Japanese that means words like こんにちは (hello), ありがとう (thank you), 水 (water) and 食べる (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

Do I need to learn the Japanese script before these words?

You can start without it: Japanese is written in kanji, hiragana and katakana, and every word here has a pronunciation in Latin letters beside it so you can sound it out. Learning the script soon after is still worth it, because real signs, menus and messages are not romanised. Treat the Latin-letter pronunciation as a guide to the sound, and listen to the language as well.

Is 100 words enough to speak Japanese?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Japanese words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.

100 Essential Japanese Words for Beginners

Greetings & basics

People & family

Everyday verbs

Describing words

Colors

Numbers

Time

Food & drink

Home

Learn these Japanese words for good

Keep going with Japanese

Japanese for beginners questions

What are the first Japanese words to learn?

Do I need to learn the Japanese script before these words?

Is 100 words enough to speak Japanese?

How do I remember these Japanese words?