Japanese frequency lists look unlike European ones. The top entries are not nouns or verbs but particles — one- or two-character words that mark the role every other word plays in the sentence.
They have no clean English equivalent, which makes them hard to translate and essential to learn. English uses word order to show who did what; Japanese uses these.
The top hundred words cover roughly half of everything spoken. Getting the particles first turns Japanese from an undifferentiated string into something with visible structure.
The particles (learn these before anything else)
- は (wa) — topic marker. Written ha, pronounced wa. "As for X..."
- が (ga) — subject marker. The subtlest thing in the language — see below
- を (o) — direct object marker. Written wo, pronounced o
- に (ni) — to, at, in. Destination, time, indirect object
- で (de) — at, by, with. Location of an action, or the means
- の (no) — possessive, linking. Often the single most frequent word of all
- と (to) — and, with. Exhaustive "and" for nouns
- も (mo) — also, too
- から (kara) — from, because
- まで (made) — until, as far as
- か (ka) — question marker. Turns any statement into a question
- ね (ne) — right?, isn’t it. Seeks agreement
- よ (yo) — emphasis. Asserts new information
The は versus が distinction is the one that takes years. The short version: は marks what you are talking about, が marks who is doing it, and new information tends to take が while established information takes は. Do not expect this to click quickly. It clicks through exposure.
The core verbs
Japanese verbs come at the end of the sentence and conjugate for politeness rather than person. The plain and polite forms are both given where they differ usefully.
- する (suru) — to do. Attaches to nouns to make verbs: 勉強する = to study
- いる (iru) — to be, to exist. Animate things
- ある (aru) — to be, to exist. Inanimate things
- です (desu) — to be. The polite copula — enormously frequent
- なる (naru) — to become
- 行く (iku) — to go
- 来る (kuru) — to come. Irregular
- 見る (miru) — to see, to watch
- 言う (iu) — to say
- 食べる (taberu) — to eat
- 飲む (nomu) — to drink
- 思う (omou) — to think
- 聞く (kiku) — to listen, to ask
- 分かる (wakaru) — to understand
- 持つ (motsu) — to hold, to have
- 作る (tsukuru) — to make
- 出る (deru) — to leave, to exit
- 入る (hairu) — to enter
- 会う (au) — to meet
- 使う (tsukau) — to use
People and pointing
Pronouns are used far less than in English, because Japanese drops anything obvious from context. Learn them, then expect to omit them.
- 私 (watashi) — I. Neutral and polite
- あなた (anata) — you. Used less than you would expect — names are preferred
- 彼 / 彼女 (kare / kanojo) — he / she. Also boyfriend / girlfriend
- これ / それ / あれ — this / that / that over there. Near me, near you, near neither
- この / その / あの — this / that / that. Used before a noun
- ここ / そこ / あそこ — here / there / over there
- 誰 (dare) — who
- 何 (nani / nan) — what
- どこ (doko) — where
- いつ (itsu) — when
- どう (dou) — how
- みんな (minna) — everyone
Time, degree and everyday nouns
- 今 (ima) — now
- 今日 (kyou) — today
- 明日 (ashita) — tomorrow
- 昨日 (kinou) — yesterday
- 時間 (jikan) — time
- 年 (toshi / nen) — year
- 日 (hi / nichi) — day, sun
- 人 (hito / jin) — person
- 物 (mono) — thing. Physical objects
- 事 (koto) — thing. Abstract matters — the distinction matters
- 所 (tokoro) — place
- 家 (ie / uchi) — house, home
- 水 (mizu) — water
- とても (totemo) — very
- もっと (motto) — more
- 少し (sukoshi) — a little
- たくさん (takusan) — a lot
- よく (yoku) — often, well
- また (mata) — again
- でも (demo) — but
- そして (soshite) — and then
- だから (dakara) — so, therefore
- はい / いいえ — yes / no
What a frequency list will not do
The usual caveat applies, that function words are structure rather than content, but Japanese adds a much larger one.
Knowing a Japanese word spoken is not the same as being able to read it. The vocabulary and the writing system are two separate projects.
A word like 時間 is straightforward to learn as a sound. Reading it requires knowing two kanji, each with multiple readings depending on context. This list will help your listening long before it helps your reading, and that gap is normal rather than a sign you are doing it wrong.
Two further limits. Frequency depends on the corpus, and spoken Japanese differs sharply from written. And politeness levels mean the "same" word has several forms, since the plain and polite versions of a verb are both common, in different situations.
How to actually learn them
A frequency list is a syllabus, not a method.
- Learn them in sentences, never alone. Function words mean almost nothing in isolation. Learn them inside a phrase and let the pattern do the teaching.
- Fifteen a week, not a hundred at once. A hundred words crammed on Sunday are a hundred words gone by Wednesday.
- Cover the English and produce the word. Reading down a list feels like studying and mostly is not. Make yourself retrieve it.
- Get to real material fast. The list exists so that real Japanese becomes partly comprehensible. Once it is, the input teaches you faster than any list can.
You can look any of these up with pronunciation and usage examples in our dictionary, and our learning paths introduce them roughly in this order rather than alphabetically.
Start with the particles. Everything else in a Japanese sentence is hanging off them.
