100 Japanese Verbs You Should Know (Part 1)

I’m really making an effort to improve how well I can communicate in Japanese. It’s something I think about on a regular basis. I want to be able to say exactly what I want to say and have people understand. There are days when I feel like the goal is so far away. There are other days where I feel like I might just be able to pull it off. Lately I realize that there’s a pretty big disconnect between the ideas that I have in my brain and having those ideas come out in Japanese. One thing I’ve started doing is making flashcards for different verbs. I’m going to post some of the ones that I find useful, because it really does make speaking easier for me. Of course knowing the different forms of the verbs is crucial for speaking naturally, too. We’ll get more into forms in another post, I promise. For now let’s take a look at some very useful Japanese verbs:

1. Taberu- たべる　食べる- To eat　
2. Nomu- のむ　飲む- To drink　
3. Nemu- ねむ　ねむ- To sleep　
4. Okiru- おきる　起きる- To wake up
5. Miru- みる　見る- To see/To watch
6. Kiku- きく　聞く- To listen/ To hear/ To ask
7. Kagu- かぐ　嗅ぐ- To smell
8. Sawaru- さわる　触る- To touch
9. Ajiwau- あじわう　味わう- To taste
10. Hanasu- はなす　話す- To speak
11. Iu- いう　言う- To say
12. Kuru- くる　来る- To come
13. Iku- いく　行く- To go
14. Dekakeru- でかける　出かける- To go out
15. Kaeru- かえる　返る- To return home
16. Suru- する-　To do
17. Yaru- やる　遣る- To perform
18. Wakaru- わかる　分かる- To understand
19. Iru- いる　居る- In, at (used for people)
20. Aru- ある　有る- To be/exist (used for things)

(Video coming soon…)

Whether you realize it or not, one-hundred verbs really isn’t a whole lot, but as a beginner, knowing even one-hundred can be the difference between basic communication and not being ab le to say anything at all. I decided to break down the verbs into digestible chunks. I figured that doing so would not only be more conducive to learning them more easily, but it would also facilitate memorizing as well. These posts will be short but hopefully they’ll provide you with some verbs that you may need later.

Happy studying,

Donald Ash