The 100 most common Japanese words, with readings

The hundred words below come up more than any others in Japanese anime, drama and film, so they’re the words of everyday speech. Many of the top ones are particles, the small words like は, が and を that mark what each part of a sentence is doing.

Each word is shown the way it’s usually written, with furigana over any kanji, and its reading in kana. Verbs are in their dictionary form, so 言う (to say) stands for 言った, 言います and the rest.

The list

#	Word	Reading	Meaning
1	の	の	possessive marker
2	は	は	topic marker
3	に	に	to, at
4	を	を	object marker
5	が	が	subject marker
6	と	と	and, with
7	だ	だ	is (plain)
8	で	で	at, by, with
9	も	も	also, too
10	する	する	to do
11	から	から	from, because
12	か	か	question marker
13	よ	よ	emphasis
14	です	です	is (polite)
15	な	な	adjective linker
16	こと	こと	thing, matter
17	ね	ね	seeking agreement
18	なる	なる	to become
19	ある	ある	to be, exist (things)
20	それ	それ	that one
21	のだ	のだ	explanatory tone
22	言いう	いう	to say
23	って	って	quotation marker
24	その	その	that (+ noun)
25	ん	ん	explanatory (as in んです)
26	この	この	this (+ noun)
27	そう	そう	that way
28	でも	でも	but, even
29	思おもう	おもう	to think, feel
30	には	には	in, to
31	さん	さん	Mr., Ms.
32	私わたし	わたし	I
33	いい	いい	good
34	ない	ない	not
35	これ	これ	this one
36	いる	いる	to be, exist (people, animals)
37	見みる	みる	to see
38	だけ	だけ	only
39	そんな	そんな	such
40	けど	けど	but, though
41	もう	もう	already, soon
42	まで	まで	until, as far as
43	し	し	and, also
44	じゃない	じゃない	is not
45	ここ	ここ	here
46	行いく	いく	to go
47	だろう	だろう	probably, I suppose
48	お	お	honorific prefix
49	だから	だから	so, therefore
50	やる	やる	to do, to give
51	なら	なら	if, in the case that
52	何なに	なに	what
53	来くる	くる	to come
54	今いま	いま	now
55	俺おれ	おれ	I (casual, masculine)
56	や	や	and, such as
57	どう	どう	how
58	できる	できる	to be able
59	もの	もの	thing, object
60	知しる	しる	to know
61	へ	へ	toward, to
62	あの	あの	that, um
63	聞きく	きく	to hear, to ask
64	自分じぶん	じぶん	oneself
65	人ひと	ひと	person
66	はい	はい	yes
67	んです	んです	it is that, the fact is
68	ああ	ああ	oh, ah
69	前まえ	まえ	before, front
70	こんな	こんな	like this, such
71	ぞ	ぞ	emphatic sentence ending
72	なんて	なんて	such as, how
73	ちょっと	ちょっと	a little
74	という	という	called, that
75	出でる	でる	to leave, to appear
76	また	また	again
77	わ	わ	sentence-ending emphasis
78	待まつ	まつ	to wait
79	では	では	well then, and
80	まだ	まだ	still, not yet
81	いや	いや	no, unpleasant
82	あ	あ	ah, oh
83	ですか	ですか	polite question
84	とは	とは	as for, called
85	考かんがえる	かんがえる	to think about, consider
86	中なか	なか	inside, middle
87	だって	だって	but, because
88	ように	ように	so that, like
89	うん	うん	yeah
90	のに	のに	although, despite
91	みたい	みたい	like, similar to
92	とか	とか	such as, or
93	そこ	そこ	there
94	持もつ	もつ	to hold, have
95	ような	ような	like, such as
96	より	より	than, from
97	かな	かな	I wonder, maybe
98	今日きょう	きょう	today
99	入はいる	はいる	to enter
100	話はなし	はなし	story, talk

How to learn them

Start with the ones you can picture. Words like 人 (person), 見る (to see) and 待つ (to wait) are the quickest to learn with a memory picture. Particles make more sense once you meet them in sentences.
Learn the reading with the word. Use furigana on new words, then try the kanji first once a word is familiar. See furigana.
Give each word a hook. A phrase that sounds like the word, pictured with its meaning. See memory hooks.
Review them on a schedule, a few each day. See how spaced repetition works.

More in how to remember Japanese vocabulary and how to remember kanji.

How Flashfriend uses this list

Flashfriend teaches these words and the next few thousand, starting with the ones you can picture and leaving the particles for sentences. Each word gets a picture you make, furigana and audio, and you’re tested on each word just before you’d forget it, with a longer gap each time you remember it. Grammar, particles included, comes one pattern at a time in sentences you can read. Read more about Flashfriend for Japanese.

Where the list comes from

Frequencies come from jiten.moe’s lists for anime, drama and film. Readings and meanings come from JMdict and JmdictFurigana, edited by Flashfriend. The list on this page is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

The list

How to learn them

How Flashfriend uses this list

Where the list comes from

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