Lesson 1 wordlist
This is the wordlist for the first lesson, and contains all the Japanese words used in the lesson, as well as supplementary words that are good to know in relation to the lesson words. The list is split up in a few categories so you can study them targetly. Words with an asterisk (*) are supplementary words that are good to know if you're learning the ones in the wordlist anyway.
For a first lesson this wordlist might seem huge. That's because it is. We're not going to take it easy and only do 10 or 20 words, you want to learn Japanese, and I want you to learn Japanese, and that means learning some essential vocabulary. Many of these words are written in kanji with furigana, rather than in hiragana. Why? Rest assured, I'm not going to test your kanji knowledge, but I do want you to be familiar with what the words "sort of look like". Even if you cannot reproduce the kanji, at least this way you see what the word really looks like instead of only getting half a glimpse from a pure hiragana form. No real conversation or text is written in pure hiragana, showing you the words with their kanji is a good way to prepare you for the fact that most of the texts you will read the coming year or two at least, you're going to encounter words you don't know the kanji of at all. But with furigana you at least know how to pronounce them, and that's half the work. Rest assured, the practice session will quiz you on these words based only on hiragana form of course.
expressions
Most expressions are usually written in kana, but the more "literate" the context, the more likely you are to find it presented in kanjiform instead.
| said when meeting someone for the first time | |
| good day [は is pronounced わ] | |
| good evening [は is pronounced わ] | |
| お | good night |
| excuse me | |
| ご | I am sorry |
| thank you | |
| どう | you're welcome |
particles
| の | genetive particle. use: XのY |
| が | subject marker. use: suffixed to the (sub)sentence's subject |
| は | context marker. use: suffixed to the already known context |
| と | noun listing (in this lesson). use: XとY[とZ...] |
| に | point/frame in spacetime. use: suffixed to the point/frame in timespace |
| relational marker. use: suffixed to a word/subphrase which relates to a verb action | |
| を | direct object marker. use: suffixed to what the action of a verb is performed on |
| か | question marker. * use: placed at the end of a sentence, before the 。 |
nouns
| greetings | |
| I, me | |
| book | |
| name | |
| town | |
| city * | |
| metropolis * | |
| mountain | |
| field | |
| stone | |
| valley | |
| wood, tree | |
| woods * | |
| forest | |
| upper, above, over | |
| inside, inner, middle, center | |
| lower, under | |
| ペット | pet |
| cat | |
| dog | |
| horse * | |
| fish * | |
| bird * | |
| cow * | |
| sheep * | |
| うち | (my/our) house/family |
| (anyone's) house/family * | |
| お | (your) house [formal polite word]/family * |
| telephone | |
| コンピューター | computer * |
| ファミコン | console (game) computer * |
| window | |
| (Japanese style) door * | |
| ドア | (western style) door * |
| テーブル | table * |
| chair (kanji form rarely used) * | |
| tatami mat * | |
| this morning * | |
| today * | |
| this day | |
| this evening | |
| current～ | |
| now * | |
| morning * | |
| day, sun | |
| afternoon * | |
| evening | |
| night * | |
| cleaning, housekeeping * | |
| laundry | |
| next year | |
| next～ | |
| ～ | year (suffix) |
| year | |
| month, moon * | |
| week * | |
| Japan | |
| Japanese (language) | |
| Japanese (person) | |
| person, man, woman | |
| formal polite version of 人 * | |
| adult | |
| child | |
| parent * | |
| teacher, "one with knowledge" | |
| previous～ / ahead (yes, this is confusing =) | |
| life | |
| (someone's conceptual) life * | |
| who (pronoun) | |
| どこ | where (pronoun) |
| それ | that (pronoun) |
| コーヒー | coffee |
| お | (green) tea * |
| red/black tea * | |
| ご | food / (cooked) rice |
| uncooked rice * | |
| my older sister * | |
| (my) older sister | |
| お | (your) older sister * |
| my older brother * | |
| (my) older brother * | |
| お | (your) older brother * |
| my younger sister * | |
| younger sister * | |
| my younger brother * | |
| younger brother * | |
| siblings (general) * | |
| siblings (sisters) * | |
| family | |
| grade (in a ranked list) * |
verb terminology
| imperfect base | |
| conjunctive base | |
| prepositional/attributive base | |
| classical imperfect base | |
| commanding base | |
| "five row" verb class | |
| "one row" verb class | |
| "upper, one syllable" verb class | |
| "lower, one syllable verb class | |
| "upper, two syllables" verb class | |
| "lower, two syllables" verb class |
verbals
each verb is indicated as being of a particular type (v5, v1), and of a particular transitivity (tr/intr/bitr)
| to play (v5) (intr) | |
| to walk (v5) (bitr) | |
| to fly (v5) (intr) | |
| to run (v5) (bitr) * | |
| to wait (v5) (intr) | |
| to hurry (v5) (intr) | |
| to talk (v5) (intr) | |
| to say, to call (something some other thing) (v5) (tr) * | |
| to call (someone) (v5) (tr) * | |
| to die (v5) (intr) | |
| to live (v1) (intr)* | |
| to help, rescue (v5) (tr) | |
| to help, lend a hand (v5) (tr) * | |
| to write (v5) (intr) | |
| to see (v1) (tr) | |
| to hear (v5) (bitr) | |
| to sleep (v1) (intr) | |
| to stretch (v1) (tr) | |
| to eat (v1) (tr) | |
| to drink (v5) (tr) | |
| to become (v5) (intr) (kanji form essentially never used) | |
| to open (v1) (tr) | |
| to open (v5) (intr) | |
| to close (v1) (tr) * | |
| to close (v5) (intr) * | |
| to begin (v1) (tr) * | |
| to begin (v5) (intr) * | |
| する | to do (sa-v) (tr) |
| ます | helper verb of politeness |
| ない | adjective denoting negation |
| です | polite copula |
| だ | plain colula |
| to exist, to be for animate things (vu1) (intr) (kanji form rarely used) | |
| to exist, to be for inanimate things (v5) (intr) (kanji form rarely used) |