Vocabulary of Essential Terms

If you are not familiar with Japanese verbs, click here to learn about verb groups and conjugations.

Click the link to hear the pronunciation.

Group 1 Verbs

Dictionary Form (Basic Form)	English	Formal Form	The ~ te Form
aruku 歩く	to walk	arukimasu 歩きます	aruite 歩いて
asobu 遊ぶ	to play	asobimasu 遊びます	asonde 遊んで
au 会う	to meet	aimasu 会います	atte 会って
hairu 入る	to enter	hairimasu 入ります	haitte 入って
hajimaru 始まる	to begin	hajimarimasu 始まります	hajimatte 始まって
iku 行く	to go	ikimasu 行きます	itte 行って
kaeru 帰る	to return	kaerimasu 帰ります	kaette 帰って
kakaru かかる	to take	kakarimasu かかります	kakatte かかって
kaku 書く	to write	kakimasu 書きます	kaite 書いて
kau 買う	to buy	kaimasu 買います	katte 買って
kiku 聞く	to listen	kikimasu 聞きます	kiite 聞いて
matsu 待つ	to wait	machimasu 待ちます	matte 待って
motsu 持つ	to have	mochimasu 持ちます	motte 持って
narau 習う	to learn	naraimasu 習います	naratte 習って
nomu 飲む	to drink	nomimasu 飲みます	nonde 飲んで
okuru 送る	to send	okurimasu 送ります	okutte 送って
omou 思う	to think	omoimasu 思います	omotte 思って
oyogu 泳ぐ	to swim	oyogimasu 泳ぎます	oyoide 泳いで
shiru 知る	to know	shirimasu 知ります	shitte 知って
suwaru 座る	to sit	suwarimasu 座ります	suwatte 座って
tatsu 立つ	to stand	tachimasu 立ちます	tatte 立って
tomaru 止まる	to stop	tomarimasu 止まります	tomatte 止まって
tsuku 着く	to arrive	tsukimasu 着きます	tsuite 着いて
uru 売る	to sell	urimasu 売ります	utte 売って
utau 歌う	to sing	utaimasu 歌います	utatte 歌って
wakaru 分かる	to understand	wakarimasu 分かります	wakatte 分かって
warau 笑う	to laugh	waraimasu 笑います	waratte 笑って
yomu 読む	to read	yomimasu 読みます	yonde 読んで

Group 2 Verbs

kangaeru 考える	to think	kangaemasu 考えます	kangaete 考えて
miru 見る	to see	mimasu 見ます	mite 見て
neru 寝る	to sleep	nemasu 寝ます	nete 寝て
oshieru 教える	to teach	oshiemasu 教えます	oshiete 教えて
taberu 食べる	to eat	tabemasu 食べます	tabete 食べて

Group 3 Verbs

kuru 来る	to come	kimasu 来ます	kite 来て
suru する	to do	shimasu します	shite して

The ~ te form of verbs is one of several other verb forms. It does not indicate tense by itself and is used to string together sequences of verbs. One of the ~te form structure is "~ te kudasai （～てください）," which expresses a request.

Kaite kudasai. 書いてください。	Please write.
Matte kudasai. 待ってください。	Please wait.

By: Namiko Abe
Source: About.com

Japanese Pronunciation - Part 3 (Hiragana)

How to pronounce hiragana - ひらがな :

The first step is to learn the alphabet. Or, at least, the sounds that exist in the Japanese language. There are absolutely no "tones" like in Chinese, Thai, etc. and there are only 2 exceptions within the alphabet which will be explained later. The characters listed below are called Hiragana. It is the main alphabet for Japanese. The Japanese language also consists of Chinese characters (Kanji), which we will get into later, and another alphabet, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words.

There are 5 vowels in the Japanese language. (a), pronounced "ahh", (i), pronounced like "e" in "eat", (u), pronounced like "oo" in "soon", (e), pronounced like "e" in "elk", and (o), pronounced "oh". All Hiragana characters end with one of these vowels, with the exception of (n). The only "consonant" that does not resemble that of English is the Japanese "r". It is slightly "rolled" as if it were a combination of a "d", "r", and "l".

あ (a)	い (i)	う (u)	え (e)	お (o)
か (ka)	き (ki)	く (ku)	け (ke)	こ (ko)
さ (sa)	し (shi)	す (su)	せ (se)	そ (so)
た (ta)	ち (chi)	つ (tsu)	て (te)	と (to)
な (na)	に (ni)	ぬ (nu)	ね (ne)	の (no)
は (ha)	ひ (hi)	ふ (fu)	へ (he)	ほ (ho)
ま (ma)	み (mi)	む (mu)	め (me)	も (mo)
や (ya)		ゆ (yu)		よ (yo)
ら (ra)	り (ri)	る (ru)	れ (re)	ろ (ro)
わ (wa)				を (o)
ん (n)

Combinations:

きゃ kya きゅ kyu きょ kyo ぎゃ gya ぎゅ gyu ぎょ gyo しゃ sha しゅ shu しょ sho じゃ ja じゅ ju じょ jo ちゃ cha ちゅ chu ちょ cho にゃ nya にゅ nyu にょ nyo ひゃ hya ひゅ hyu ひょ hyo びゃ bya びゅ byu びょ byo ぴゃ pya ぴゅ pyu ぴょ pyo みゃ mya みゅ myu みょ myo りゃ rya りゅ ryu りょ ryo

Exceptions:
1. は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence. It is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word.
2. へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very simple to detect.

Note:
You probably noticed that there are 2 "zu" and 2 "ji". づ (zu) and ぢ (ji) are very rarely used. づ (zu) only occurs when there is a つ (tsu) in front of it like in つづく (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji (Chinese character) that starts with つ (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the つ (tsu) to a づ (zu). The same applies for ぢ (ji). Since they are used so rarely I wouldn't worry about them too much.

Japanese Pronunciation - Part 2

The Japanese language has only 5 vowels: a, i, u, e, o. They are terse vowels, pronounced clearly and sharply. If one pronounces the vowels in the following sentence one will have their approximate sounds. Please note: the "u" is pronounced with no forward movement of the lips.

Ah (a), we (i) soon (u) get (e) old (o).

You can Listen to the audio files for the 46 basic Japanese sounds.

Japanese Pronunciation - Part 1

Japanese Pronunciation
Meeting Vowel Sounds

The vowel sounds in Japanese are as follows:

A as in "father" E as in "seven eleven" I as in "Easter treat" O as in "open, Pope" U as in "fruity moogle".

You'll notice that the vowels are pronounced the similarly to Spanish, Italian, and Latin (and several other European languages).

Pronunciation of these vowels is very consistant. There are no silent vowels (although sometimes the Japanese choose not to voice a vowel). Each vowel sound is pronounced distinctly.

For example, the word kaeru would be pronounced "KAH eh roo". In English, you might want to pronounce it "KAY roo" or "KAY ruh".

The vowels 'i' and 'u' are weak vowels. That means that many times they are not pronounced. The most important example is:

desu (the u is silent - pronounced DESS)

However, don't just go around dropping u's and i's. People will have no idea what you're saying.

Consonant sounds are generally pronounced the same way as in English, but there are a few differences:

R - Prounounced like a combination of 'L' and 'D', with a bit of 'R' mixed in. It's pretty close to how the R is pronounced in Spanish. (It isn't "trilled", however) In Spanish, an R sounds a lot like a 'D'. Consider this: Say "lu." Notice how you drag the tip of your tongue along the roof of your mouth. To say a Japanese R, just briefly touch the tip to that spot at the moment you say the consonant, and use a little more "punch" in your voice.

F - You can pronounce it like an F, but often it sounds more like an 'H'.

There is no accent in Japanese, meaning there is no emphasis on a particular part of a word. English and Spanish have accents, Japanese does not.

Japanese does have pitch inflections, and this is their substitute for accents. For example, in English, we put stress on a certain part of a word to make it sound right and this is marked by an apostrophe-like symbol in the dictionary.In Japanese , they do not put stress on their words but raise the pitch of their voices instead. In Chinese, there are patterns to move between five different pitches to distinguish a word's meaning.In Japanese, there are only two pitches, but the only real way to grasp where to raise the pitch of your voice is from listening to Japanese speech and repeating it.

Source: elanguageschool.net