These are the 100 most useful Japanese words from our 1000-word beginner course - the vocabulary you will hear and use most often. Learn them first and you will understand a surprising amount of everyday Japanese.
| # | Word | Japanese |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the food | 食べ物 |
| 2 | the drink | 飲み物 |
| 3 | the cup | カップ |
| 4 | the bottle | ボトル |
| 5 | the plate | 皿 |
| 6 | the spoon | スプーン |
| 7 | the fork | フォーク |
| 8 | the knife | ナイフ |
| 9 | the breakfast | 朝食 |
| 10 | the lunch | 昼食 |
| 11 | the dinner | 夕食 |
| 12 | the bread | パン |
| 13 | the butter | バター |
| 14 | the cheese | チーズ |
| 15 | the milk | 牛乳 |
| 16 | the coffee | コーヒー |
| 17 | the tea | お茶 |
| 18 | the juice | ジュース |
| 19 | the soda | ソーダ |
| 20 | the rice | 米 |
| 21 | the pasta | パスタ |
| 22 | the fish | 魚 |
| 23 | the chicken | 鶏肉 |
| 24 | the beef | 牛肉 |
| 25 | the egg | 卵 |
| 26 | the soup | スープ |
| 27 | the salad | サラダ |
| 28 | the sandwich | サンドイッチ |
| 29 | the pizza | ピザ |
| 30 | the cereal | シリアル |
| 31 | the sugar | 砂糖 |
| 32 | the salt | 塩 |
| 33 | the pepper | コショウ |
| 34 | the snack | 軽食 |
| 35 | the meal | 食事 |
| 36 | the restaurant | レストラン |
| 37 | the cafe | カフェ |
| 38 | the bakery | パン屋 |
| 39 | the cafeteria | カフェテリア |
| 40 | the dough | 生地 |
| 41 | the pan | フライパン |
| 42 | the pot | 鍋 |
| 43 | the bowl | ボウル |
| 44 | the meat | 肉 |
| 45 | the flavor | 味 |
| 46 | the toast | トースト |
| 47 | the yogurt | ヨーグルト |
| 48 | the spice | スパイス |
| 49 | the teacup | ティーカップ |
| 50 | the lemonade | レモネード |
| 51 | the jar | 瓶 |
| 52 | the milkshake | ミルクセーキ |
| 53 | the vinegar | 酢 |
| 54 | the waiter | ウェイター |
| 55 | the beer | ビール |
| 56 | the noodle | 麺 |
| 57 | the cork | コルク |
| 58 | the wine | ワイン |
| 59 | the sausage | ソーセージ |
| 60 | the pitcher | 水差し |
| 61 | the glass | コップ |
| 62 | the grapefruit juice | グレープフルーツジュース |
| 63 | the bill | お会計 |
| 64 | the menu | メニュー |
| 65 | the bagel | ベーグル |
| 66 | the pancake | パンケーキ |
| 67 | the chocolate | チョコレート |
| 68 | the candy | キャンディ |
| 69 | the cookie | クッキー |
| 70 | the cake | ケーキ |
| 71 | the ice cream | アイスクリーム |
| 72 | the honey | はちみつ |
| 73 | the bubblegum | 風船ガム |
| 74 | the gummy | グミ |
| 75 | the marshmallow | マシュマロ |
| 76 | the syrup | シロップ |
| 77 | the cocoa | ココア |
| 78 | the popcorn | ポップコーン |
| 79 | the sundae | サンデー |
| 80 | the cotton candy | 綿菓子 |
| 81 | the custard | カスタード |
| 82 | the dessert | デザート |
| 83 | the jellybean | ジェリービーンズ |
| 84 | the lollipop | 棒付きキャンディー |
| 85 | the jelly | ジャム |
| 86 | the gingerbread | ジンジャーブレッド |
| 87 | the waffle | ワッフル |
| 88 | the pastry | ペストリー |
| 89 | the pie | パイ |
| 90 | the cupcake | カップケーキ |
| 91 | the muffin | マフィン |
| 92 | the donut | ドーナツ |
| 93 | the biscuit | ビスケット |
| 94 | the apple pie | アップルパイ |
| 95 | the carrot cake | キャロットケーキ |
| 96 | the chocolate cake | チョコレートケーキ |
| 97 | the pumpkin pie | パンプキンパイ |
| 98 | the apricot jam | アプリコットジャム |
| 99 | the jam | ジャム |
| 100 | the apple | りんご |
The 100 most frequent words cover about half of everyday spoken language. With the full 1000-word core vocabulary you understand around 85% of typical conversations in Japanese - enough to follow along and make yourself understood.
They are the most frequently used words of the language, selected by word frequency. Every one of them will appear again and again in real sentences, so each learned word immediately pays off.
Listen and repeat: every word in the 1000 Words course comes with audio and an example sentence. Combined with spaced repetition in the free vocabulary trainer, most learners master the first 100 words within one to two weeks.