Basic Japanese Vocabulary for Beginners

learn you student o basic japanese vocabulary for beginners!

In the first few episodes of our basic Japanese course, I will try to focus on training a vocabulary basic Japanese language.

Basic Japanese Vocabulary for Beginners

Many more advanced level students can skip this stage without any problem, as long as they already know most of the expressions below.

Hover your mouse cursor over Japanese letters to see their pronunciation and translation.

?? - Yes

??? - Not

???? - Good Morning

????????? – Good morning (more formal)

????? – hello or good afternoon

????? - Good night

?????? - Good night

?????? it is most used when we are going to sleep or rest. It's a kind way to say goodbye.

An interesting thing about the above greetings is that each one has a specific time to use it.

???? – Usually used between the start of the day and 11:00 am.

????? – When it has the meaning of “Good afternoon”, it is used from 11:00 to 06:00 at night.

????? – Usually used from 06:00 at night until the beginning of the other day.

??? - Thanks.

????? - Thanks

???????? - Thank you very much

????????????? - Thank you very much

The four words above are used for the same purpose, but in very different ways. Depending on the level of formality in the conversation, some words take precedence.

??? – An extremely informal way. Use only among friends.

????? – An informal but general-purpose mode.

???????? – A formal and general-purpose mode.

????????????? – This word emphasizes thanks and formality.

??????- Please.

????? – I'm sorry, I'm sorry

??????– I'm sorry, I'm sorry

??????? - How is it going? Or How are you?

??????????????? - Yes I am well. Thanks for asking.

?????? – Nice to meet you, Nice to meet you, or How are you?

???????????- My name is Paulo.

The expression ??????????? it is usually used as a sentence pattern to say your name in Japanese. It consists of three parts:

????? - My name

??? – The proper name phonetically transcribed into katakana.

?? – An auxiliary of formality that can be translated as our verb to be or to be.

To say your name in Japanese, just transcribe it in katakana and change the highlighted word to your name transcribed in katakana.

???????????

?????????? – Pleasure to meet you or Delighted to meet you.

???????????? - What is your name?

????? - The pleasure is all mine or I'm happy to meet you too.

???????? – You're welcome or willing.

???????? - Welcome.

???? - That! I got it!

??????????? - Congratulations!

A simple Japanese text

Using the vocabulary above, we can read, write and participate in very simple conversations. Look at the short text below and see if you can read and understand what has been written without looking at the vocabulary above.

?????

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???????

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Kanji calligraphy exercise

Below are the Japanese ideographic symbols used in this article. Selecting the desired kanji and copy and paste them into Worksheet for Kana and Kanji Practice  clicking the Generate button will open a new window where you can see the file for printing. Then just print the symbols and try to write it yourself. Just print and practice!

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