Oh! The Joy of Learning Japanese Words37

Learning a new language can be a daunting task, but it's also an incredibly rewarding one. And with Japanese, there's no better way to start than by learning some basic words.

In this article, we'll cover 100 essential Japanese words and phrases that will help you get started on your journey to fluency. We'll also provide pronunciation tips and example sentences to help you put your new knowledge to use.

Getting Started

Before we dive into the words, let's take a quick look at the Japanese writing system. Japanese has three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana and katakana are both phonetic systems, while kanji are ideograms that represent whole words or concepts.

For beginners, it's best to start with hiragana and katakana. Once you've mastered these two systems, you can start learning kanji.

100 Essential Japanese Words
こんにちは (konnichiwa) - hello
さようなら (sayonara) - goodbye
ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) - thank you
すみません (sumimasen) - excuse me
はい (hai) - yes
いいえ (iie) - no
わかりません (wakarimasen) - I don't understand
日本語 (nihongo) - Japanese
勉強 (benkyou) - study
学校 (gakkou) - school
先生 (sensei) - teacher
生徒 (seito) - student
本 (hon) - book
鉛筆 (enpitsu) - pencil
消しゴム (keshigomu) - eraser
ノート (nooto) - notebook
ペン (pen) - pen
マーカー (makaa) - marker
定規 (jougi) - ruler
はさみ (hasami) - scissors
のり (nori) - glue
テープ (teepu) - tape